Grand Mosque inauguration set for October 10th with Turkish President Erdogan attending

On Thursday, October 10th, the Grand Mosque of Tirana, known as the Namazgah Mosque will officially be inaugurated, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attending the ceremony. Turkey, the primary funder of the mosque’s construction, contributed significantly to the project.

Why is this important: The construction of the Namazgah Mosque was completed over a year ago, but the inauguration was delayed due to tensions between Ankara and the Muslim Community of Albania. Erdogan does not recognize Bujar Spahiu, the head of the Muslim Community of Albania, due to his alleged ties to the Gulen movement, which Erdogan holds responsible for the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. As a result, Spahiu will not attend the inauguration, which will instead be represented by Tirana’s Mufti, Gazment Teqja.

Context: Since the failed 2016 coup in Turkey, Erdogan has accused the FETO organization and its leader, Fethullah Gulen, of orchestrating the plot. Ankara has pressured Albania to extradite individuals linked to FETO, providing a list of names, though Albania has officially stated that no extraditions from this list have been made.

Mosque administration: The Namazgah Mosque will be managed by a joint foundation between the Muslim Community of Albania and Turkey. The board will be led by Tirana’s Mufti, Gazment Teqja. Additionally, Turkish Imam Enes Bastur announced via social media that he will be leading the mosque’s religious activities.

It remains to be seen how this arrangement will work because besides the tensions between the Muslim Community and Erdogan, there is also concern about the involvement of another country, albeit a friend and an ally, in the affairs of the Albanian Muslim Community. The Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, for instance, has come under sustained criticism over the years for the fact that the Head of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, Archbishop Anastasios is Greek.  

History: Construction of the Namazgah Mosque began after decades of discussion, in 2015, with the foundation stone laid by President Erdogan himself. The Turkish government invested €30 million in the project. The mosque, located in the center of Tirana, is the largest in the Balkans and can accommodate up to 10,000 worshippers at once. With the opening of the Namazgja Mosque the Muslim Community will finally have a modern and central place of worship, just as the other religious communities. The Orthodox and Catholic cathedrals, and the Bektashi Headquarters have already been completed years ago, with the Namazgja Mosque the final missing piece in Tirana’s religious mosaic.