Excerpt:
Two decades of praying, planning and building came to fruition Saturday as thousands from across the country and beyond gathered to celebrate the official opening of a $110 million facility in suburban Maryland designed to support and honor Turks and those of the Muslim faith living in the United States.
The Diyanet Center of America, which bills itself as the largest Islamic campus "in the Western Hemisphere," welcomed Turkish immigrants from Canada and Muslims from the Washington region to the facility, which includes a 20,236-square-foot mosque, a cultural center, guest quarters and an underground sports complex.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been a big backer of the cultural center, was the featured speaker. He spoke of the more than 20-year effort to complete the complex.