[FRANCE24] Beneath a majestic Ottoman dome, waving Turkish flags outside their brand new mosque, a group of US Muslims -- the faithful and the curious -- jostled Saturday to welcome a president.Shucks. I oughta pop on down to see it. It's only a few miles. I used to work in Lanham. Sure is nice to have an enormous gaudy Ottoman mosque that conveniently located.
Hailing the beauty of its location near the capital Washington, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
officially inaugurated the Diyanet Center of America.
Ankara's leader, whose country bankrolled the massive project at a cost of $110 million, said its presence in the small town of Lanham -- and during a US election year that has seen Donald Trump call for a ban on Muslims entering the country -- made sense.
"Unfortunately, we are going through a rough time all around the world. Intolerance towards Muslims is on the rise not only here in the United States but also around the globe," said Erdogan, who is accused of increasingly autocratic rule.
"That's why I believe this center will play a crucial role," he added, drawing cheers from the crowd of thousands of men, women and kiddies packed behind security barriers.
The complex, the only one in the United States to feature two minarets, echoes the golden age of 16th century Ottoman architecture, with its central dome, half domes and cupolas in the style of Istanbul's Suleymaniye Mosque.
"Terrorism will never have a religion, will never have a nation, will never have a nationality, nor will it ever have a root or ethnicity," Erdogan said.
"It is unacceptable for the Muslims of the world to be forced to pay the price of the horror and pain created by a handful of turbans in the aftermath of 9/11."