New Mosque Welcomed in Brighton Beachl

BRIGHTON BEACH — On a Sunday evening during Ramadan, Turkish Muslims poured into their new mosque and cultural center here. Women in headscarves and men carrying platters of food rode the elevator to the fourth floor and entered the dining room. Together they broke their fast under a large golden chandelier, savoring the completion of the $2 million house of worship.

Amid the Park51 controversy, this mosque — Brooklyn’s largest — is quietly opening in Brighton Beach. After nearly a decade of fundraising and construction, the four-story American-Turkish Eyup Sultan Cultural Center on Brighton Third Street is scheduled to officially open in early December.

The mosque opened temporarily in August for Ramadan, and unlike the controversial Ground Zero cultural center, received very little attention. The Turkish cultural center also escaped the scrutiny of the Bay People, the Sheepshead Bay organization that has feverishly protested a proposed mosque on Voorhies Avenue.

Like the proposed mosque in Sheepshead Bay, the Turkish Center is at the end of a quiet residential street, sandwiched between bungalows and an apartment complex. Although in many ways similar to the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood on Voorhies Avenue — residents in both areas are mostly Russian speakers — the Brighton community’s reaction could not be more opposite.

‘They Are Welcome Here’

The idea of protesting the mosque had not even occurred to Suzanne Hogan, assistant administrator at the Shore View Nursing home down the street.

“They are welcome here,” she said. As in Sheepshead Bay, the only major problem she could foresee concerned parking.

“But this is a problem all over Brooklyn — too many people and not enough parking,” she added. Hogan described the diversity of the Brighton Third Street neighborhood as something that might foster acceptance. The street contains low-income houses and apartments, along with NYPD horse stables and the nursing home.

Pat Singer, founder and executive director of the Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association, had only heard rumors about the mosque, but was not surprised it had been built in a predominantly Russian-speaking, Jewish neighborhood.

“It’s more than a Little Russia — it’s a little world here,” she said, adding that the diverse residents of Brighton Beach were used to coexistence.

Kenan Taskent, the president of the new Eyup Sultan cultural center, reflects the diversity on Brighton Third Street. Taskent is the clergy liaison officer for the 61st Precinct, a proud Brooklynite and a devout Muslim who has lived in Brighton since he emigrated from Turkey as a child.

Taskent, who also owns a local carpet business, has been volunteering much of his time overseeing the construction of the mosque.

“We have been so busy trying to get our mosque finished that we can’t worry about the mosque in Sheepshead Bay,” Taskent admitted.

Taskent’s community of roughly 5,000 Turkish-Americans spent nearly a decade struggling with contractors and desperately trying to attain funds for their much-needed center.

“People kept asking, ‘Where’s all the money going?’ So they started to pitch in, saying, ‘I’ll buy bathroom tiles,’ and so on,” explained Muhterem Taskent, Taskent’s sister and a member of the community.

‘Old-Fashioned Feel’

Treading through the main prayer room, Kenan Taskent seemed in proud awe of his project. “It gives you that old-fashioned feel — like back in the 16th century,” he said, admiring the swirling Arabic scriptures painted on the walls of the mosque.

Besides a mosque, the cultural center also has a dining hall and an apartment for the imam.

Since the temporary opening for Ramadan, Taskent and his crews have continued to work on the finishing touches of the new building. After a broken pipe flooded the main prayer room, Taskent and his workers have had to re-carpet the entire room with lush new red rugs imported from Turkey.

These minor setbacks pale in comparison to the previous location, said Muhterem Taskent. She explained that the community used to meet and pray in a crumbling building off Avenue U.

“It was a small family home — it was never big enough, and I hate to say it, but it smelled. And there was mildew everywhere,” she recalled.

For both Taskent siblings, the new Turkish cultural center is a place where personal politics must be put aside.

“Islam is about friendship, dialogue, getting along with each other, no matter what your religion is,” explained Muhterem Taskent. “And we don’t want to go into politics — that’s not us.”www.brooklyneagle.com

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