Turkey sends Samoan Quran to Samoa for 130 Muslims

Meltem Özgenç – ANKARA

AA photo

Turkey has sent a total of 2,000 Qurans to Samoa after translating them into Samoan for the 130 Muslims living in the remote South Pacific country, which has a population of 193,200. 

The Qurans, translated by Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), reached Samoa via ship. 

Samoa Muslims Union Representative Mohommad İrfan Ahmed had asked Diyanet head Mehmet Görmez to help them publish and send Samoan Qurans to the country at the First Summit of the Religious Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Countries in October 2015. 

Efforts were subsequently launched in cooperation with Turkey’s General Directorate of Religious Publications and the General Directorate of Foreign Affairs. 

The Department of Publications in Foreign Languages and Dialects then printed a total of 2,000 medium and small-sized Qurans at the end of 2016, which were sent to Samoa via ship.