IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 9 ENGLISH | Page 121

Best Stand in 2013 and 2014. Thanks to
a grant from the Saudi kingdom, UAC
already has a modern laboratory for
teaching Arabic language. It is hardly
used by the bulk of the Cuban Muslims
for reading or reciting some short
Surahs.
Physical and mediatic presence
Cuban Muslims should have some
space in radio and television to narrate
their vital experiences and to
communicate what Islam is through
codes that will be intelligible for the rest
of the Cuban people. It is also necessary
that they create more websites and
circulate much more on the Internet to
provide firsthand testimonies. The
Google searches on Islam in Cuba
shows that 99% of the links are sites or
media outside the Isle, with sources that
neither respond to nor go along with the
Cuban reality.
The official website of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (Spanish acronym:
MINREX) announced years ago the
intention to build the first mosque. This
and many other previous offers petrified
in time, but in mid-April 2014 the
breaking news was that the Foundation
for Religious Affairs of Turkey (TDV)
had sent a delegation to Havana. The
TDV Vice President Mustafa Tutkun
met with officials of the Office for
Attention to Religious Affairs (Central
Committee of the Communist Party of
Cuba). He asked for permission to erect
a mosque like the famous Ortakoy in
Istanbul.
Tutkun was accompanied by Erdal
Atalay (Ministry of Religious Affairs of
Turkey), Carlos Clavijo (TDV) and
architect Mehmet Tartik. Tutkun said
the mosque would fit well in the
architecture of Old Havana and in just a
year it would be ready to serve about
3,500 Muslims.
The members of the Turkish delegation
visited the site donated by Cuban
authorities to build the mosque. They
also met with members of LIC and the

Interfaith Platform. However, the Cuban
Muslims participated neither in the
deliberation nor in the decision about
the mosque. They learn about it in the
news, after the Turkish delegation had
returned home.
The mosque