Turkish President Erdogan makes explosive claims at Latin American Muslim summit.
Photo: AP
Erdogan claims Muslims discovered America before Columbus
Turkish president vows to build a mosque in Cuba where Columbus noted seeing a mosque shape in his diary.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan made the explosive claim that "America was discovered by Muslims, not by Christopher Columbus" during a public address in Istanbul on Saturday, the Hurriyet reported. The Turkish president also vowed to build a mosque on a hill in Cuba where Christopher Columbus noted seeing a mosque in his diary.
Erdogan made the controversial claims regarding the discovery of the Americas at the closing ceremony of the first Latin American Muslim leaders summit in Istanbul on Saturday.
President Tayyip Erdogan speaking at the first Latin American Muslim Leaders Summit in Istanbul on Saturday. (Photo: Reuters)
Erdogan said that "Muslim sailors had arrived in the shores of America in 1178" before Columbus' discovery of the New World in 1492 and that "Christopher Columbus referred to the presence of a mosque on top of a mountain in Cuba" in his diaries.
Erdogan said the diary was proof that "the religion of Islam was widespread" when Christopher Columbus discovered the New World.
"I will talk to my Cuban brothers (the representatives of Cuba at the summit). A mosque on top of that mountain today would be appropriate. Their permission is enough (for Turkey to build the mosque)," Erdogan said at the summit.
In April, Turkey’s Presidency for Religious Affairs (Diyanet) sent a delegation to Cuba for a project involving the construction of a mosque to be located in Havana’s historic center. Cuban authorities did not release any public statement regarding the project.
Erdogan claimed the difference between Islam and Colonialism is that Islam does not convert by force saying, "Converting people by force, by the sword, has never been a part of Islam. Our religion has never been a tool of exploitation."
"Those who colonized America for its gold and Africa for its diamonds, now do it in the Middle East for its oil with the same dirty plot," Erdogan continued.
Erdogan also indirectly criticized the Islamic preacher and former imam Fethullah Gulen, who lives in a self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and is considered an enemy by Turkey.
Gulen is the founder of the Hizmet Movement which teaches an Anatolian version of Islam that derives from a Sunni-Muslim scholar Said Nursi.
The BBC described Gulen as promoting a "tolerant Islam which emphasizes altruism, hard workd and education."
"Islam is being abused by those who use the Quran for their own interests, by those who open schools abroad," Erdogan said and added that "Latin American Muslims should not hesitate to keep in touch with (Istanbul's Presidency for Relgious Affairs) for their complaints."
Latin America has a network of pro-Gulen schools.
Erdogan also issued criticism of wealthy Muslim oil tycoons for not paying benefits to the poor, called a Zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam.
"And do rich Muslims in the Islamic world pay their Zakat for their oil revenues?" Erdogan rhetorically asked. "Nobody can answer this question positively," he responded.
"Muslims should first criticize and correct themselves. Then, we should be subjects to nobody but Allah," Erdogan concluded.
