The Bucharest Mosque is a proposed mosque to be built in Bucharest, Romania using funds provided by Turkey and land provided by the Romanian government.
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The building of the mosque was negotiated with the Turkish government by Prime Minister Victor Ponta in 2015 and discussions continued under President Klaus Iohannis.
Negotiations with Turkey
There discussions between Romania and Turkey about the construction of a mosque in Bucharest were stalled for 14 years because the Romanian government demanded that the Romanian Orthodox Church also be allowed to build a church in Istanbul, something which the Turkish government refused.
In 2015, Prime Minister Victor Ponta signed a deal which allowed the Turkish government to build the mosque in Bucharest without getting the right for the Orthodox Church to build a church in return. The Turkish president only agreed for the Romanian side to build a chapel and a pilgrim center.
During Klaus Iohannis's visit in Turkey in March 2016, president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked Iohannis to help the Muftiate to obtain the construction authorization from the Bucharest city hall.
Building
The Turkish government will give 3 million € for the building of the mosque, while the Romanian government will provide for free 11,000 m2 of land near ROMEXPO, in the northern part of Bucharest, evaluated at 4 million €. The Mosque will have 2000 places and it will also include a Koran school and a library.
Opposition
Opposition to building a big mosque in Bucharest mainly came from the Christian Orthodox and nationalist circles, but also from mainstream politicians.
Former president Traian Băsescu argued that Romania doesn't need "an accelerated Islamization process" and that the Muslims of Dobruja already have the mosques they need.
All of the major candidates to the office of Mayor of Bucharest (including Social-Democrat Gabriela Firea, National-Liberal Ludovic Orban and independent Nicușor Dan) either voiced opposition to the construction or demanded a local referendum.