Community invited to Turkish Food Festival

The Turkish Food Festival started Friday and continues through the weekend.

The Northern Virginia branch of the United American Muslin Association invites the community to a Turkish Food Festival this weekend in the parking lot of the Suleymaniye Center at 4200 Daniels Ave., Annandale.

Harun Karabulat carves off a piece of gyro meat.

There will be food (kabobs, gyros, köfte, and more), a moon bounce, and vendors 10 a.m.-9 p.m. July 21 and 22. There are tents, so rain won’t be a problem.

The association purchased the office building at that address in 2015 and is transforming it into a mosque and school. They hope to finish the project before Ramadan next May, says Selman Yuce, the head of the Northern Virginia group and the general secretary of the United American Muslim Association.

The men’s prayer room in the Suleymaniye Center.

The building has separate prayer rooms for women and men, offices, a kitchen, and play area. The classrooms are under construction.

The Suleymaniye Center offers afterschool programs with religious instruction and homework help 4-8 p.m. with teachers from Turkey. There is also a weekend school and a boarding school for home-schooled students.

4200 Daniels Ave., Annandale, was built in 1978 as an office building.