UK’s first Turkish mosque under threat from rising costs

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – The UK’s first Turkish mosque in Dalston, east London, is under threat due to rising costs and falling income.

The Guardian reports a conversation with the owner of the land on which the mosque is built, Eric Gürney, whose father Ramdan created it from a synagogue in the 1970s.

He said that the Turkish Cypriot congregation who used to attend, have died, moved out or are unable to visit.

The area has moved upmarket in the past 20 years forcing rents up and locals out. Those that remain are on the breadline and sometimes give buttons instead of cash.

The gentrified area is much in demand and he has been offered £18 million to sell to developers for flats, but he said: “It’s a mosque, it shouldn’t be up for sale, it shouldn’t be interfered with. It’s a sacred place.”