Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 8
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Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 8 Editor-in-chief Oliver Scharbrodt Editors Samim Akgönül Ahmet Alibašić Jørgen S. Nielsen Egdūnas Račius LEIDEN | BOSTON For use by the Author only | © 2017 Koninklijke Brill NV Contents Preface ix The Editors xv Editorial Advisers xvi List of Technical Terms xvii Researching Muslims in Europe: Four Decades of Development 1 Jørgen S. Nielsen Country Surveys Albania 19 Olsi Jazexhi Armenia 34 Sevak Karamyan Austria 45 Kerem Öktem Azerbaijan 69 Altay Goyushov Belarus 82 Daša Słabčanka Belgium 91 Jean-François Husson Bosnia and Herzegovina 119 Muhamed Jusić, Aid Smajić and Muhamed Fazlović Bulgaria 143 Aziz Nazmi Shakir Croatia 161 Dino Mujadžević For use by the Author only | © 2017 Koninklijke Brill NV vi contents Cyprus 174 Ali Dayıoğlu and Mete Hatay Czech Republic 194 Štěpán Macháček Denmark 203 Brian Arly Jacobsen Estonia 221 Ringo Ringvee Finland 239 Teemu Pauha France 255 Anne-Laure Zwilling Georgia 285 Thomas Liles and Bayram Balci Germany 305 Mathias Rohe Greece 324 Konstantinos Tsitselikis and Alexandros Sakellariou Hungary 337 Esztella Csiszár Iceland 352 Kristján Þór Sigurðsson Ireland 362 James Carr Italy 380 Maria Bombardieri Latvia 403 Simona Gurbo For use by the Author only | © 2017 Koninklijke Brill NV Contents vii Lithuania 410 Egdūnas Račius Luxembourg 422 Elsa Pirenne and Lucie Waltzer Macedonia 441 Piro Rexhepi Malta 456 Arsalan Alshinawi Moldova 463 Aurelia Felea Montenegro 479 Sabina Pačariz The Netherlands 495 Martijn de Koning Norway 514 Sindre Bangstad and Olav Elgvin Poland 531 Agata S. Nalborczyk Portugal 549 José Mapril Romania 562 Irina Vainovski-Mihai Russia 578 Elmira Akhmetova Serbia 598 Ivan Ejub Kostić Slovakia 611 Michal Cenker For use by the Author only | © 2017 Koninklijke Brill NV viii contents Slovenia 627 Christian Moe Spain 639 Jordi Moreras Sweden 656 Göran Larsson Switzerland 669 Mallory Schneuwly Purdie and Andreas Tunger-Zanetti Turkey 688 İştar Gözaydın Ukraine 701 Mykhaylo Yakubovych United Kingdom 717 Asma Mustafa For use by the Author only | © 2017 Koninklijke Brill NV Ukraine Mykhaylo Yakubovych1 Introduction 2015 was the second year of the turbulent political and military crisis, afffect- ing all religious groups in Ukraine. Domestic Islamic networks experienced a geographical reconfijiguration. Most of the trends, related to Islam in Ukraine, need to be described within three separate geographic areas: the main part of the country, the Russia-controlled Crimean peninsula and, fijinally, the self- proclaimed “Donetsk” and “Luhansk People’s Republics” (constituting more than half of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions). In Crimea, the Russian authorities (both federal and local) started to imple- ment their traditional policy of supporting “offfijicial Islam,” with the ulti- mate benefijiciary being the former Духовне управління мусульман Криму (Spiritual Administration of the Crimean Muslims). In 2014, it was re-named as the Centralised Religious Organisation of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Crimea and Sevastopol City (CRO SAMCS). Since most of the “non-traditional” Islamic groups (as they are usually described in Russian offfiji- cial discourse) like Salafijis and member of the Hizb al-Tahrir party already left Crimea for Ukraine, CRO SAMCS became the only important player in the area. In the rest of Ukraine, excluding the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk, the influx of Crimean Muslims activated the development of old Islamic networks as well as the creation of the new ones. These developments afffected the Western part of Ukraine, where the number of Muslims increased in a very short period (in the cities of Vinnytsia, Lviv etc. in particular).2 Despite the Government’s special attention towards regulating Muslim communities, many actions of the Government towards the issue of ethnic 1 Mykhaylo Yakubovych, PhD, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, The National University of Ostroh Academy, Ostroh, Ukraine, is the author of the fijirst complete translation of the Qur’an into Ukrainian (2013). He held numerous academic fellowships in Poland (Warsaw University, Warsaw), Saudi Arabia (Academic Department, King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex, Medina) and USA (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton). Currently, he works on the history of Islamic intellectual traditions in Eastern Europe. His recent publications include monographs on the history of the Islam in Ukraine and intellectual traditions of the Crimean Khanate. 2 In the Lviv region, more than 2,000 Crimean Tatars already settled (according to personal conversation with Alim Aliev, head of the “KrymSos” initiative). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/9789004336025_045 For use by the Author only | © 2017 Koninklijke Brill NV 702 Yakubovych minorities (fijirst of all Crimean Tatars) were in focus in 2015. Recently, due to the high public tensions concerning the issue of migration and terrorism, the Security Service of Ukraine (Служба безпеки України, СБУ) reported the arrests of some Muslims, alleged to be connected to ISIS. Some changes, made in state laws on education and religious freedom, also had their efffects on the development of Muslim communities. The main Islamic organisations were active in 2015 not only in organising usual local events (such as the celebration of Islamic festivals), but also in participating in offfijicial state functions, interreligious conferences, and media programmes. The activities of the All-Ukranian Council of the Churches and Religious Organisations (Всеукраїнська рада Церков і релігійних організацій, ACCRO), one of the most important government-initiated platforms for inter- religious dialogue, included also Muslim representation with Ahmad Tamim, the Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims being its mem- ber. The opening ceremony of new Islamic centres (such as the largest one in the city of Lviv in June 2015) attracted the attention of the local media. In general, issues related to Islam in Ukraine were portrayed in the Ukrainian media in a positive way. One of the reasons for that is public sympathy for the plight of Crimean Tatars who are perceived as a pro-Ukrainian group, which became the focus of Ukrainian public debates soon after Russian control over Crimea. In 2015, one of the government initiatives included the formation of the state-owned company “Crimean House” (located in Kiev), which, accord- ing to its statutes, will pay signifijicant attention to preserving the religious and cultural heritage of Crimean Tatars. In their interviews in 2015, leaders of Ukrainian Muslims supported the trend of Muslims actively participating in the Maidan and Post-Maidan events of recent Ukrainian history, varying from the moderate3 up to very strong nationalistic attitudes.4 The recent increase in the production of Islamic literature in Ukrainian (despite the continued use of Russian in most mosques in sermons delivered by local imams) shows a kind of indigenisation of Islam in Ukraine. The phenomenon of Islamic chaplaincy (for the fijirst time in the history of Ukrainian army) also appeared in 2015. 3 Муфтій ДУМУ Ахмед Тамім: Мені не треба доводити, що я—патріот (Mufti of SAUM Ahmed Tamim: I do not need to prove that I am a patriot), http://risu.org.ua/ua/index/ expert_thought/interview/60716/, accessed 4 December 2015. 4 Мусульмани України: історія солідарності (Muslims of Ukraine: History of Solidarity), www.day.kiev.ua/uk/article/cuspilstvo/musulmany-ukrayiny-istoriya-solidarnosti, accessed 4 December 2015. For use by the Author only | © 2017 Koninklijke Brill NV Ukraine 703 Public Debates The main topic of public discussions on Islam in Ukraine was the role Muslims have played in contemporary history. First of all, this is about their attitude to the Maidan and Post-Maidan events (Антитерористична операція, Counter- terrorist Operation, CTO, as the military conflict in the Eastern Ukraine is offfijicially defijined by Ukrainian authorities) and their position regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine; some media outlets also disseminated the opin- ions of Ukrainian Muslim leaders on the terrorist attacks in France as well as the actions of ISIS. As a long-standing tradition in Ukraine, Muslim communities received greetings from the highest authorities during the main Islamic festivals. On the occasion of ‘Id al-Adha, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko offfiji- cially highlighted the struggles of Muslims in combating foreign aggression— a reference to the Russian takeover of the Crimean peninsula.5 In May 2015, the Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims (Духовне управління мусульман України, SAUM) Ahmad Tamim presented his report “Social Activity as the Manifestation of Patriotic Feelings” at the conference “Patriotism in the Context of the Contemporary System of Social Values.” His presentation was dedicated to the role of patriotic Muslims in modern Ukraine.6 The same topics were recently highlighted in an interview with another Islamic leader, the Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims “Ummah” (Духовне управління мусульман України «Умма», SAUM “Ummah”) Said Ismagilov.7 The Mufti explicitly sanctioned the Muslim par- ticipation in the military conflict for the Ukrainian side, stating that “all 5 Порошенко привітав мусульман України зі святом Курбан-Байрам (Poroshenko congratulated Muslims of Ukraine on the Festival of Qurban-Bayram), www.unian.ua/ politics/1132788-poroshenko-privitav-musulman-ukrajini-zi-svyatom-kurban-bayram.html, accessed