{"id":6058,"date":"2015-09-23T16:23:06","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T15:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=6058"},"modified":"2015-09-23T16:23:06","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T15:23:06","slug":"putin-opens-one-of-europes-biggest-mosques-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/putin-opens-one-of-europes-biggest-mosques-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin opens one of Europe\u2019s biggest mosques in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Putin<\/a>Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday opened one of the biggest mosques in Europe, warning against the lure of jihadists as the government frets over its citizens fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
\nTurkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas were the guests of honor at the unveiling of the 20,000-square meter mosque in the Russian capital.
\n\u201cThis mosque will become an extremely important spiritual center for Muslims in Moscow and the whole Russia,\u201d Putin said in a televised speech.
\n\u201cIt will be a source for education, spreading humanist ideas and the true values of Islam.\u201d
\nPutin in his speech lashed out at jihadist groups for their \u201cattempts to cynically exploit religious feeling for political ends.\u201d
\n\u201cWe see what is happening in the Middle East where terrorists from the so-called ISIS group are compromising a great world religion, compromising Islam, in order to sow hate,\u201d he said.
\nPutin was later set to meet Erdogan for talks that were expected to focus on the Syrian conflict, as the West frets about a buildup of Russian forces in the war-torn country.
\nThe United States says Moscow has recently sent troops, tanks and fighter jets to Syria, sparking fears that Russia could be looking to join the fight alongside its ally President Bashar al-Assad.
\nTurkey and Russia stand on opposing sides over the crisis in Syria, with Ankara fiercely backing the rebels trying to oust Assad.
\nTurkey is currently waging what Ankara describes as a two-pronged \u201cwar on terror\u201d against both ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK), although so far air strikes have overwhelmingly focused on bases of the Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.
\nMoscow has been on a diplomatic push to try to get Western and regional powers involved in a coalition against ISIS to join forces with Assad.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\r\n