Religious authority repairing mosques damaged by PKK

ANKARA

Scores of mosques that suffered heavy damage from recent terrorist PKK attacks in Turkey’s southeast are being restored by the state Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) and an associated foundation, said the directorate head on Tuesday.

Mehmet Gormez, Turkey’s top cleric and head of both the directorate and the Diyanet Foundation, told Anadolu Agency that 57 mosques in Cizre and Silopi districts of the Sirnak province are being repaired and restored.

“As part of the ‘Now it is time to heal the wounds campaign’ which we initiated with Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate and the Diyanet Foundation, we started repair and restoration work on 57 mosques in Cizre and Silopi. With the end of operations in Idil [also in Sirnak] and other areas, we’re examining those mosques. We will be spending 2 million Turkish liras (US$700,000). God willing we will complete the work soon and we will reopen these sanctuaries for worship.”

Turkey’s Diyanet Foundation, meant to support the activities of the state Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), was founded in 1975 by Dr. Lutfi Dogan, then directorate head, and his deputies.

The PKK – also seen as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.

Since then, over 350 members of the security forces have been martyred and thousands of PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.

Cizre and Silopi are some of the districts where Turkish security forces recently conducted counter-terrorism operations to root out the PKK terror group.