Nestled among the many kebab outlets, Caribbean takeaways and flashy new-build flats in Dalston, north-east London, sits the UK’s first Turkish mosque. Like many issues constructed by and for the deep-rooted communities on this closely gentrified a part of London, it’s preventing for survival.
“Our payments have tripled, prices to keep up the constructing have soared and we aren’t amassing sufficient cash,” stated Erkin Güney, 59, who runs and owns Masjid Ramadan, also referred to as the Shacklewell Lane mosque. He stated the mosque could possibly be compelled to shut its doorways by subsequent Ramadan.
Month-to-month prices are available at about £4,000. “We get about £200 to £300 per week if we’re fortunate,” he stated. He not too long ago obtained an electrical energy invoice for £17,000.
When the Guardian visited the mosque final Friday, a funeral service was beneath method. That is the mosque’s essential supply of earnings. The remaining is supplemented by donations which have sharply declined. The demise of a beloved one just isn’t solely successful to the group, it typically additionally means the lack of an everyday donor.
Güney owns the land on which the mosque sits. He stated the mosque could possibly be compelled to cave into affords from builders throughout the 12 months. Ten years in the past, he obtained a suggestion of £13m and in recent times a bid of £18m. “They wish to take it down and switch it into flats. It’s tragic,” he stated.
If the land is offered to builders, the present constructing could be knocked down and it’s hoped {that a} “mixed-use mosque” would change it. “If we now have to redevelop it, we’d have a mosque and a few shops on the bottom flooring and flats on high. It wouldn’t have the identical power,” stated Güney.
The mosque was first in-built 1903 and was initially used as a synagogue for the Jewish group. By the Nineteen Seventies, the constructing was deserted and brought over by Erkin’s father, Ramadan Güney, who turned it into the UK’s first Turkish mosque. “In these days, it was thriving, it was heaving with folks and assist. There have been no monetary points again then,” stated Güney.
In recent times, the Turkish Cypriot congregation who used to attend the mosque have “handed away, moved out or they’ll’t get right here”, stated Güney.
Dalston has undergone heavy gentrification for the reason that 2000s and campaigners have fought to maintain the close by Ridley Highway market out of builders’ fingers. Nonetheless, rents have soared and plenty of longstanding locals have been compelled out.
Güney stated: “Lots of the group has moved out as a result of they couldn’t afford to reside within the space. They moved out as a result of they’ll’t afford to exist. We’ve misplaced our group.”
Youthful generations of British Turkish Cypriots have additionally stopped attending the mosque as a result of they’re “westernised and disconnected”, stated Güney. “We preserve reaching out to them and encourage them to come back again. We attempt to construct that bridge but it surely’s troublesome,” he stated.
There has additionally been elevated competitors regionally, with about 10 mosques opening within the space since Masjid Ramadan opened. Rising prices are additionally hitting those that worship on the mosque. “The congregation just isn’t sturdy round right here, everyone seems to be on the breadline,” stated Güney. Some folks have resorted to placing buttons within the assortment field.
Güney took over the working of the mosque about 12 years in the past. Earlier than this, he used to personal a nightclub. “In the future I stated, ‘I’m not doing this no extra’, and I shut the doorways,” he stated. Michael, the “good Christian boy” who helps keep the mosque, has been by Güney’s facet all through. “He has gone from John McVicar to Gandhi,” he stated.
The sound system that used to blare funky home within the nightclub now sits within the mosque. Generally, the audio system are placed on the roof whereas the adhan, the Muslim name to prayer, performs out to the streets beneath. “I’m not your common mosque chairman,” stated Güney.
He’s calling for normal donations to maintain the mosque afloat. “If 100 persons are giving us a fiver or a tenner a month, it should take the strain off,” he stated. He’s additionally elevating cash for repairs to the historic constructing. Not too long ago a damaged window within the mosque’s roof price greater than £2,000 to repair.
Güney stated: “I’m not right here for cash, if I used to be, I’d have offered the constructing and gone. It’s a mosque, it shouldn’t be up on the market, it shouldn’t be interfered with. It’s a sacred place.”