Turkey: Collapsed wall reveals Ottoman-era mosque

By Halil Ibrahim Sincar

MARDIN, Turkey (AA) - Turkish architects found the ruins of an Ottoman era mosque after a retaining wall collapsed on Monday in the southeastern province of Mardin.

Emin Selcuk Tasar, a research assistant at Mardin Artuklu University, told Anadolu Agency that heavy rains cracking the wall led to its collapse which revealed the ruins -- thought to be the Muhammed El Gazi Mosque -- underneath.

Tasar said researchers were seeking traces of a domed structure seen in old pictures when the wall fell.

A UNESCO Turkey commission board member, Murat Caglayan said the mosque is believed to have been built in the 17th or 18th century during the Ottoman era.

Also known as Qazi Mullah, Ghazi Muhammad was an Islamic scholar and the first imam of the Caucasian Imamate in Dagestan fighting against the Russian Empire during the Murid War from 1829 to 1859.