Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 7 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/yme Yearbook of Muslims in Europe Volume 7 Editor-in-Chief Oliver Scharbrodt Editors Samim Akgönül Ahmet Alibašić Jørgen S. Nielsen Egdūnas Račius LEIDEN | BOSTON issn 1877-1432 isbn 978-90-04-29889-7 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-30890-9 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. 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Contents Preface ix The Editors xv Editorial Advisers xvii List of Technical Terms xviii Islams in Europe: Satellites or a Universe Apart? 1 Jonathan Laurence Country Surveys Albania 13 Olsi Jazexhi Armenia 33 Sevak Karamyan Austria 41 Kerem Öktem Azerbaijan 62 Altay Goyushov Belarus 79 Daša Słabčanka Belgium 87 Jean-François Husson Bosnia and Herzegovina 114 Aid Smajić and Muhamed Fazlović Bulgaria 130 Aziz Nazmi Shakir Croatia 145 Dino Mujadžević vi contents Cyprus 157 Ali Dayıoğlu and Mete Hatay Czech Republic 174 Štěpán Macháček Denmark 182 Brian Arly Jacobsen Estonia 201 Ringo Ringvee Finland 209 Teemu Pauha France 226 Anne-Laure Zwilling Georgia 247 Thomas Liles and Bayram Balci Germany 272 Mathias Rohe Greece 289 Konstantinos Tsitselikis and Alexandros Sakellariou Hungary 302 Esztella Csiszár Iceland 314 Kristján Þór Sigurðsson Ireland 321 Colette Colfer Italy 337 Stella Coglievina Kosovo 353 Driton Morina Contents vii Latvia 364 Simona Gurbo Lithuania 370 Egdūnas Račius Luxembourg 378 Elsa Pirenne and Lucie Waltzer Malta 391 Martin R. Zammit Moldova 397 Aurelia Felea Montenegro 407 Sabina Pačariz Netherlands 421 Martijn de Koning Norway 436 Sindre Bangstad and Olav Elgvin Poland 450 Agata S. Nalborczyk Portugal 465 José Mapril Romania 474 Irina Vainovski-Mihai Russia 486 Elmira Akhmetova Serbia 503 Ivan Ejub Kostić Slovakia 515 Jaroslav Drobný viii contents Slovenia 523 Christian Moe Spain 534 Jordi Moreras Sweden 549 Göran Larsson Switzerland 562 Mallory Schneuwly Purdie and Andreas Tunger-Zanetti Turkey 579 İştar Gözaydın Ukraine 592 Mykhaylo Yakubovych United Kingdom 607 Asma Mustafa Preface This is the seventh volume of the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, covering the calendar year 2014. Over the last six years, the Yearbook has become an impor- tant reference work for academics and students, government and NGO offi- cials, as well as journalists and policy makers in search of a comprehensive overview of the situation of Muslims across Europe. The particular strength of the Yearbook has been its comprehensive geographical remit. No other publi- cation provides country-by-country reports on Muslims spanning the entire European continent, from Albania to the United Kingdom, from Iceland to Malta, from Portugal to Azerbaijan. This seventh volume sees changes in the editorial board of the Yearbook. Jørgen S. Nielsen steps down as editor-in-chief, while remaining a member of the editorial board, and Oliver Scharbrodt takes over the position. Samim Akgönül, Ahmet Alibašić and Egdūnas Račius are, as in previous years, the other members of the editorial board. As in the past, this Yearbook includes reports on the situation of Muslims in almost every European country, 44 altogether in this volume. The Vatican and the four mini-states Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino have been omitted. Unfortunately, we were not able to secure a report on Macedonia this year but hope to include one on this country again in the next volume. The appointment of a new editor-in-chief provided an opportunity to rethink the structure and format of the Yearbook while retaining its particular strengths and merits. While ensuring continuity to a certain extent, this vol- ume of the Yearbook contains some significant changes in terms of its struc- ture and format. Following discussions among members of the editorial team and feedback we have received from colleagues, we decided to give the country reports a more current and topical focus. Therefore, each report in this vol- ume primarily concentrates on events, trends, and developments of 2014. As in the past, the reports provide factual (though not necessarily neutral) informa- tion. By focussing on developments of the previous calendar year, each report offers a fresh annual overview. Over the years, the reports provide cumulative knowledge of on-going trends and developments around Muslims in different European countries. To facilitate particular attention to events, trends and developments of the previous calendar year, each report consists of the following sections: Introduction: The introduction of the report might provide some basic back- ground information in order to contextualise data presented and discussed in the report. It primarily includes an overview of significant developments and x preface major trends of 2014 with regards to the Muslim population in each country which are then discussed in more detail in the report. Public Debates: This section presents major issues of public debate around Muslims in each country in 2014. Starting each report with a presentation of topics that dominated public discourse on Muslims in the particular country and of the major actors (whether state or non-governmental, Muslim or non- Muslim) involved in them sets the scene for the entire report. Thereby, each report highlights what was important in the calendar year. Transnational Links: Muslim communities and organisations across Europe, in particular those that have an immigrant background, entertain a variety of transnational links to their countries of origin, to other Muslim-majority coun- tries, and across Europe. Likewise, the autochthonous Muslim populations in Eastern Europe have various links with other Muslim communities that have, for example, the same ethno-national or linguistic background (e.g. Tatars and their links across Eastern Europe), or are connected with governments and non-governmental organisations from Muslim-majority countries. This section investigates significant transnational links of Muslim communities and organ- isations in each country. Very often, these links have a long history and continued in 2014, in other cases, existing links were reiterated or strengthened by new initiatives, and in some cases, new connections were formed in 2014. Law and Domestic Politics: In addition to these transnational links, Muslims across Europe are situated in very specific national contexts with their own political and legal cultures, particular church-state relations and various types of government interaction with Muslim organisations and institutions. Legal changes and accommodations introduced in 2014 that either directly or indi- rectly affect Muslims are discussed in this section as well as policies and gov- ernment initiatives that were launched or implemented in that year. Activities and Initiatives of Main Muslim Organisations:1 Muslim commu- nities and organisations are involved in and run a variety of activities some of which are regular and determined by the Islamic religious calendar (iftar dinners during the month of Ramadan, celebrations around major Muslim holidays), while others respond to particular events that happened in 2014. Activities and initiatives, presented in this section, can be of a religious, edu- cational, cultural and/or political nature and can include major public events organised in 2014, the creation of new Muslim organisations or the opening of new facilities for Muslims such as mosques, schools, cemeteries etc. 1 The report on Turkey does not include this section because of the sheer volume of activities in this country. Preface xi As in previous volumes of the Yearbook, the information is presented under the same headings for each country, so that readers who wish to make com- parisons across countries can find the information they seek within the same section of each country report. For instance, it is possible to read the section on public debates in different country reports to identify topics that domi- nated public discourse around Muslims across Europe in 2014. As reports include less generic information and primarily focus on events, trends and developments of 2014, they are of different lengths. In some coun- tries, there is little public discourse around Islam and Muslims, in others, no particular legal changes occurred in 2014. We have therefore not imposed any strict guidelines for the length of individual country reports, except to keep within a guideline maximum—and even that we had to breach in certain, in our view, justified cases. While each report focuses on 2014, particular issues and events often need to be contextualised; certain legal cases might be ongo- ing for several years, mosque projects initiated and stalled for a number of years, particular pieces of new legislation only make sense when placed in the wider context of church-state relations. Therefore, authors have been asked to provide background information