The story of the Ahiska Turkish Islamic Center began in 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States. The Ahiska Turks, who migrated mostly from Russia in 2005, continued their worship and religious traditions in mosques belonging to various Muslim nations in St. Louis until 2016. However, they longed for their own mosque and cultural center. In 2016, the Ahiska Turks living in St. Louis decided to come together and form an association. We hear the rest of the story from the association's first president, Ömer Mamakhov.

"Sir, we started working on it in 2016. It was October at the Troy restaurant (owned by Ruslan Ghuneshev, one of the association's members). I never went to a meeting. It was the first time I went. So, they said, 'Let's all come, let's do something.' We went there, and then they unanimously elected me as president. They elected me as the first president. After that, my cousin Mustafa Mamakhov and Bayram Abi (Bekirov) became my deputies. The three of us took office. After that, some money was collected to pay a lawyer, and they said, 'Go and open the association. Do whatever you want with this money.'"

"We opened the association. It opened on November 11th. I opened it on my birthday."

"I submitted all the documents on November 11, 2016. Our association officially opened under the name Ahıska Turkish Islamic Center on November 11, 2016. We rented a warehouse-like space on South Broadway for $2,000 a month. Then we decided to bring in our first teacher for Ramadan. Ahmet Sezikli "He became a teacher. We spent the month of Ramadan with that teacher. So, he came for a month."

“The year after that Ismail Basaran The teacher came. Ismail Başaran had previously worked as a consultant in Norway. He had studied at the University of Chicago. He had previously taught in Oregon. After he arrived, he said,President, we must not stop anymore' So we need to do something to get people together and take part in the work. Because we're doing really well."

"For two years, during Ramadan, İsmail Hoca came. Then we talked to people and said, 'What are we going to do? Let's buy the place we rented.' We couldn't buy that place because it was asking for 450,000 $. At that time, it was a nice place, like a warehouse, but we couldn't buy it."

"Later Ibrahim Corakli The teacher came. We brought İbrahim Hoca. The teacher stayed here for about three and a half months. Then the coronavirus pandemic began. Because no one could go out during the pandemic, no one could come to the warehouse-like space we rented to the association. That's why the owner didn't charge us rent. But one day, he called me over and said the following.

-'We are very good friends, but I am also quitting my job now. I will not work anymore and I am leaving everything to my son.'

"I also knew his son, 'Jaush.' I went to him and said, 'You don't need to give me money. Because I'm getting another job. That's why I need this place, I need storage. If I give you three months, can you leave? You don't need to give me money either.' He said, 'Okay, let it be three months. After three months, we vacated the place.'"

"We haven't had a place for about a year. While we were thinking hard about where to build it and what would happen, one of our friends Kamil Ibrahimov He came. He saw that our current mosque, once a church, had been ruined. We immediately wrote to the group. We said, "Let's go see it, let's take a look." We went and saw it ourselves. After that, we'll have a meeting with friends in Jefferson Park in June or July 2022. The place we were going to buy was a church built in 1958 at 3400 Lemay Road. It costs $900,000. There are 130 of us here; 90 families, excluding 40 due to financial difficulties. I said, "If each family contributes 10,000 $, we'll buy this place." We'll have no problems. So, I said, "We'll buy it ourselves." Then I started asking who would pay how much. At that point, I started reading the list I had, looking at the last names in alphabetical order. I started asking questions, starting with Zakir Akhmedov, who had arrived late to the meeting.

“-Do you give away 10,000 $? He hadn't listened to the conversation. He looked left and right. He didn't understand what was going on.

– “Okay, I give it,” he said.

We did the math, and we had $500,000. Then I said, "Okay, then, let's gather the congregation next week, go as a group, and see the place." We called the real estate agent and made an appointment. We'll go and see it. They said, "Okay." I gathered the congregation, showed them the church, and showed them everything. They said, "Everything was great, both in the back and the front." It's a fantastic place, and you couldn't find anything better.

I started collecting money. We paid about 5,000 $ more than that price because we heard that others wanted to buy it. After that, I went to other mosques in our area to meet with their presidents and religious leaders. Everyone knows us. That's how we started collecting money. Of the $500,000 promised by the community members, we collected about 300,000 $. I've been searching everywhere, and no one is saying anything. Meanwhile, rumors have spread that 'Mayor Ömer is collecting the money and will flee to Türkiye.' So, we're dealing with these rumors. Some people are doing everything they can to prevent us from buying the mosque.

"Then, fundraisers started appearing on other platforms. After that, I went to other Muslim mosques in St. Louis. They said, 'Come on Fridays, whatever you collect is yours.' We went on a Friday. I gave a speech at the Pakistani Islamic Center."

"After Friday, we set up tables. They even gave us a postal machine inside.

They said that people don't bring cash these days. If they bring cards, have them scanned.

"A woman came and said she needed to give something but I didn't have any money on me. What should I do?" she asked.

“So I said:

-Sister, your prayers are enough. I hope you pray for us. Let's collect this money.

While I was busy with others, a woman brought something wrapped in a napkin in a small bag and placed it in front of me. She said, "This is on me too."

"Around 30,000 $s were collected. Then we opened the box, and there was a bag. In the open was a necklace. He took the necklace off his neck and gave it to me. We were almost in tears there. I mean, I wasn't the only one there. There were about 15 people there. Everyone was very touched."

"I said, 'With God's permission, we will buy this place.' I said, 'These sacrifices are not made in vain.' Then there was one week left. 300,000 $ isn't enough; we have a shortfall. I called the real estate agent. I said, 'Give us another 10 days, and God willing, we'll complete it in 10 days.' With a week left, I called the association members back there. I said, 'Look, we have $600,000.'

We're short 300,000 $ units. I said, "Let everyone give as much as they can." For God's sake, we're starting again.

My uncle (Muhammed Mamakhov later changed his last name to Alimsoy after obtaining Turkish citizenship) said, "I will give you 40,000 $. Thus, we collected another 230,000 $. But there is still 70,000 $ missing."

"I had a friend from India. He's a doctor, the one we came with. I called him. I said, 'Afitap, this is what I said. We're short 70,000 $. Can you help me?'

"-Your money is ready, come and take it" he said.

"Share the good news with the youth. I said, I have a friend who is giving 70,000 dollars.

Everyone started shouting, "Allahu Akbar." Some even cried. Finally, we will have a place.

saying."

"After that, I signed; we already have a group. I sent photos to that group. I congratulated everyone, saying, 'This place is ours now.' May God bless you all. I did something like that. Then, we went and got the keys with my friends. A week later, I went to Türkiye.

"I recited the first call to prayer. Then we brought in Mufti Asif Ömer from Manchester. Then, a week later, there was a Mawlid program."

I resigned from the presidency because I was going to Türkiye permanently. The vice presidents also changed along with me. Rustem Bekirov became the new president. His deputies were Kamil İbragimov and Mahmut Bekirov. Towards the end of that year, our first long-term teacher, Fatih Özden, began working at our mosque on December 27, 2022. Our mosque offers morning and night prayers, as well as classes on weekdays and weekends. Conferences are also held. Our mosque has classrooms and lecture halls at the lower entrance, and our central building, where we organize programs, is adjacent to it.