Skopje downtown
FYROMacedonia’s Islamic Religious Community, IVZ, the second largest religious group in the country, has complained about unequal treatment by the state in the case of mosque and church reconstruction in the main square in Skopje.
The IVZ, which is keen to rebuild the Burmali mosque on Skopje’s main square, said that the same rules should be applied in their case as in the case of the "Macedonian" Orthodox Church, MPC, which plans to rebuild an old church in the same area.
Last year the state sold the lot designated for the church to the MPC in a direct deal for a price considered to be symbolic rather than reflective of market value.
“If the state helped MPC, the same kind of help should be offered to IVZ. We simply ask for equal treatment” IVZ head Hadzi Sulejman Efendi Rexhepi told media.
He explained that they would keep silent if the state decided that the idea for building a church and a mosque on the central plaza was rushed and too risky for ethnic and religious relations.
IVZ voiced its demand last year for the rebuilding of the mosque that was torn down in the early 20th century after the government announced its plan to rebuild the church St. Constantine and Helena, which was damaged during the 1963 earthquake that wreaked havoc on Skopje.
Faced with charges brought before the Constitutional Court regarding the secular nature of the project, the government later sold the lot to the MPC and now says it no longer has anything to do with the building's reconstruction.
In 2001 "Macedonia" suffered a short-lived armed conflict between the state security forces led by the "Macedonian" majority, and ethnic Albanian militants. The country’s "Macedonian" majority is mainly Orthodox Christian while the ethnic Albanians, which make up one quarter of the population, are mostly Muslim.
Last year the state sold the lot designated for the church to the MPC in a direct deal for a price considered to be symbolic rather than reflective of market value.
“If the state helped MPC, the same kind of help should be offered to IVZ. We simply ask for equal treatment” IVZ head Hadzi Sulejman Efendi Rexhepi told media.
He explained that they would keep silent if the state decided that the idea for building a church and a mosque on the central plaza was rushed and too risky for ethnic and religious relations.
IVZ voiced its demand last year for the rebuilding of the mosque that was torn down in the early 20th century after the government announced its plan to rebuild the church St. Constantine and Helena, which was damaged during the 1963 earthquake that wreaked havoc on Skopje.
Faced with charges brought before the Constitutional Court regarding the secular nature of the project, the government later sold the lot to the MPC and now says it no longer has anything to do with the building's reconstruction.
In 2001 "Macedonia" suffered a short-lived armed conflict between the state security forces led by the "Macedonian" majority, and ethnic Albanian militants. The country’s "Macedonian" majority is mainly Orthodox Christian while the ethnic Albanians, which make up one quarter of the population, are mostly Muslim.
