President Erdoğan attends opening ceremony of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Islamic Culture Center in Sisak
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the opening ceremony of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Islamic Culture Center in Sisak, Croatia, the last leg of his Balkan tour.
Greeting the guests at the ceremony, President Erdoğan said: “Through you, I would like to send my greetings to all our friends, all my brothers and sisters whose hearts beat with us in Croatia and the Balkans.”
Voicing his pleasure to visit Croatia, a friend and ally of Türkiye, after 6 years, President Erdoğan said: “I would like to begin my words by conveying the greetings of your 85 million brothers and sisters in Türkiye to each and every one of you. I thank Allah for bringing us together here with our friends, brothers and sisters from various cities in Croatia, from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries. I am very glad to be among you today on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the Sisak Islamic Culture Center, one of the most meaningful examples of the cooperation between Türkiye and Croatia. I would like to extend my gratitude to Mr. President, President of the Islamic Union Mr. Hasanovic, and the Croatian authorities for showing the kindness of naming this outstanding center after me. May the Lord make our unity and solidarity everlasting!”
“WE HAVE COMPLETED THIS PRECIOUS SYMBOL OF FRIENDSHIP AND BROTHERHOOD TOGETHER”
Recalling that building an Islamic culture center in Sisak was first raised by former President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović during his visit there in April, 2016, President Erdoğan said: “When Mrs. Kitarović asked for our country’s support to the project, we accepted gladly without even thinking about it. The Islamic Union of Croatia started the project, then TİKA came aboard in December, 2018. During Mrs. Kitarović’s visit to Türkiye on January 16, 2019, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Islamic Union of Croatia and TİKA. Thanks be to Allah, we have completed this precious symbol of friendship and brotherhood together. I believe this center will become one of the major meeting and interaction points in the city, where our friends from other religions will also spend time together.”
“CROATIA IS AN EXEMPLARY COUNTRY IN EUROPE IN TERMS OF RESPECT FOR MUSLIMS”
“Croatia is an exemplary country in Europe in terms of the climate of freedom, respect and peace ensured for Muslims. The cooperation, established between the State of Croatia and the Islamic Union of Croatia, is of utmost importance in this regard. Surely, this climate of freedom and peace is available not only for our Muslim brothers and sisters, but also for other religions and cultures,” President Erdoğan said.
Underscoring that Türkiye has never forgotten its friends, brothers and sisters in this region, with which it has a shared history, social and cultural ties, President Erdoğan said: “In our hearts, we have never distinguished Sisak from Amasya, Petrinja from Bursa, Zagreb from Ankara, Sarajevo from İstanbul, and Mostar from Rize. We shared both the sufferings and the joys of our friends. In this spirit, we tried to support the friendly government and people of Croatia with all the means at our disposal following the earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina in 2020. I would like to take this occasion to reiterate my get-well wishes. I offer my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the earthquake. Our Croatian friends also has always stood with us whenever a disaster occurred in Türkiye. During the wildfires in Türkiye last summer, Croatia sent a firefighting aircraft to our country. On behalf of my country and my nation, I would like to thank once again to the Croatian authorities for their solidarity. I believe this cooperation and solidarity between us will continue in the period ahead as well.”
