Excerpt:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent re-election is fueling concerns about his growing powers not just in Turkey but here in the U.S., according to experts who believe he’s determined to spread his controversial brand of Islamist-nationalistic fervor through a network of mosques and religious centers.
Some of that concern is focused on the Diyanet Center of America (DCA), a mosque and Islamic center in Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. The DCA was built with the strong support and funding from the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, which under the 15-year Erdogan adminstration has pushed for the building of mosques and Islamic centers around the world.
Erdogan himself attending the opening of the $110 million center in 2016. But while the DCA’s primary goal, according to its website, is to “providing religious services without regard to politics,” critics say that’s not the case.