{"id":4153,"date":"2025-09-18T15:03:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/?page_id=4153"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:25:07","slug":"ahiska-turkish-american-community-center-ahiska-turk-amerikan-toplum-merkezi-camii","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/mosques\/local-mosques-association\/ahiska-turkish-american-community-center-ahiska-turk-amerikan-toplum-merkezi-camii\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahiska Turkish-American Community Center Mosque"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From Tradition to the Future\u2026<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Cleveland Ahiska Turks Mosque (Grafton\/Ohio)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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History of the Mosque<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Turkish Community of Cleveland is a nonprofit organization founded in 2019 by Ravil Lamidze and Kamran Askarov. The organization's goal is to meet the cultural, religious, and social needs of the Meskhetian Turk community in Cleveland while also fostering community unity. These two leaders, who initiated the organization, worked to secure the necessary funding for the construction of a mosque by May 2020, using donations collected from Meskhetian Turks living in Cleveland.<\/p>

Towards the end of 2020, five different companies secured a total loan of US$300,000 to purchase a church for the mosque. This financial support was a significant step in ensuring the mosque's continued existence and creating a permanent place of worship for the community. The mosque officially opened for worship during Ramadan 2021. Since its opening, the mosque has undertaken a significant mission beyond simply performing religious duties such as daily prayers, Friday prayers, and Eid prayers, but also for the religious and national development of the community. This mission aims to cultivate individuals equipped with religious knowledge and who uphold cultural values, placing particular emphasis on the education of children.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Association Presidency<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kamran Askarov and Ravil Lamidze served as co-chairs of the Turkish Community of Cleveland Association from 2019 to 2025. During this period, the association implemented numerous activities and projects to meet the social needs of the Meskhetian Turks. Ravil Lamidze assumed the role of president alone from 2025 onward.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Mosque Ownership Information<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The mosque is owned and operated by the Turkish Community of Cleveland Association. The association uses the mosque both as a place of religious worship and as a center for social and cultural activities. Religious holidays and national celebrations, in particular, are celebrated together by community members under the mosque's roof, preserving the traditional values of the Meskhetian Turks.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Additional Information<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Meskhetian Turks in Cleveland previously held religious services, such as Ramadan, in various rented spaces. However, a major step was taken in 2020 to meet this need by acquiring a central location. This new mosque is crucial not only as a place for worship but also as a space where the community can celebrate religious and national holidays together.<\/p>

These developments strengthened the role of the mosque and the association within the community, and an important step was taken in meeting the religious needs of the Ahiska Turks.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u00a0Address: <\/strong>1306 East 5th St Dayton, OHIO 45402<\/p>

President of the Association: <\/strong>Islam Shehbenderov
937-760 8029
s.islom@ataccdayton.org
shakhbandarov@att.net
<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gelenekten Gelece\u011fe\u2026 Cleveland Ah\u0131ska T\u00fcrkleri Camii (Grafton\/Ohio) Caminin Tarih\u00e7esi Turkish Community of Cleveland, 2019 y\u0131l\u0131nda Ravil Lamidze ve Kamran Askarov\u2019un \u00f6nc\u00fcl\u00fc\u011f\u00fcnde kurulmu\u015f bir sivil toplum kurulu\u015fudur. Kurulu\u015fun amac\u0131, Cleveland\u2019daki Ah\u0131ska T\u00fcrkleri\u2019nin k\u00fclt\u00fcrel, dini ve sosyal ihtiya\u00e7lar\u0131n\u0131 kar\u015f\u0131lamak ve ayn\u0131 zamanda toplulu\u011fun bir araya gelmesini sa\u011flamakt\u0131r. Kurulu\u015fun ilk ad\u0131mlar\u0131n\u0131 atan bu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2783,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4153","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"campaignId":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4153"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4971,"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4153\/revisions\/4971"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tarfus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}