People across Turkey, N. Cyprus celebrate Eid al-Adha

By Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - People across Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Sunday celebrated the first day of Eid Al-Adha, a Muslim holiday.

Many mosques in Turkey packed for early morning prayers and people hosted friends and families at their homes.

Thousands of worshippers exchanged greetings with each other and celebrated the Muslim religious day.

Families also visited the graves of their loved ones.

Also, many people chose to travel to their hometowns or coastal cities for vacations.

After performing Eid prayers, mosques imams, delivered a khutba (sermon) in which they stressed the importance of sacrifice and Muslim unity.

Eid-al-Adha commemorates the readiness of Prophet Ibrahim -- also known as Abraham to Christians and Jews -- to sacrifice his son on God’s command.

Muslims on this day sacrifice animals to remember Prophet Ibrahim’s sacrifice, and the meat from those animals distributed to poor in the community.

Muslims in the TRNC also flocked to the mosques to perform the Eid prayer.

Among them was Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, who is in the TRNC to attend the memorial ceremonies, to inspect the troops and to hold a series of talks with the officials.

Later, Akar attended the ceremony hosted by the TRNC President Mustafa Akinci at the presidency.

Akinci celebrated the Eid al-Adha of the Muslim community in Turkey and across the world and wished peace, health and happiness for everyone.

*Muhammet Ikbal Arslan in Lefkosa contributed to this story.