Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) ROMANIA Megdidia Case Study Report - D9 Nicoleta Zagura Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………3 1. Abstract……………………………………………………………………………..5 2. Presentation of the town…………………………………………………….……...5 2.1 Introduction .................…………………………………………………...5 2.2 Brief presentation of the majority and the minority presence………....…6 2.3 Brief presentation of the local welfare system………………….........….11 3. Context and timeframe……………………………………………………..….......15 4. Methods and sources………………………………………………..……….…......16 4.1 Choice of groups….....………………………………………………..…..16 4.2 Methodology...............…………………………………………….……...17 5. Findings……………………………………………………………………..……...18 5.1 Examples of cooperation and cohesion between groups.……….………..18 5.2 Examples of tensions/problem points between and within groups…….....21 5.3 The ‘grey areas’ in between…………..…………………….……………..23 6. Analysis: emergent values…………………………………………..…………........23 6.1 The analysis of values with regard to the “welfare areas”………….....…..24 6.2 Relation of revealed values to religion, minorities and gender……..…….30 7. Policy recommendations: local, national and European Union levels……….........32 7.1 Mechanisms and practices leading to cooperation or cohesion on local level…..............................................................................32 Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) 7.2 Mechanisms to avoid tensions or conflict…………………………...…....32 7.3 “Direct” and “indirect” activities……………………………………........32 7.4 Preliminary policy recommendations………………………..……………33 References…………………………………………………………………………......34 Web references………………………………………………………….….…….…....36 2 Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) A short introduction on Islam and Europe to the research work on the Romanian town of Medgidia By Martin Hauser The Romanian case: positive aspects and the pressure of transition You may imagine this marvellous picture of villages and towns near the Black Sea coast where mosques and churches are located in a peaceful neighbourhood. What becomes visible and tangible through the research concerning the Romanian town of Medgidia is that the Islam and Christian churches – especially the Romanian Orthodox Church – have been cohabiting for centuries. Through this long adaptation process a viable situation has been created. However, we have to be aware of the fact that in Romania Islam has been only a minority and, historically speaking, for a long period it had the right to build up mosques only and exclusively in the Black Sea area. We may mention as well that cohabitation in this case did not and still does not mean any “mélange” of creed or faith; every group has remained faithful to its own convictions. The peaceful situation, which also existed under Communist rule, could come under pressure, if in the present period of transition the Muslim part of population grows for different reasons as society is changing in many places. A very interesting fact is that Romanian legislation included Islam as an officially recognized cult and creed from the very beginning of modern Romania. This situation remained unchanged in the Communist period. All this may be very interesting and even surprising for Western Europeans. Western Europe The historical evolution and situation of continental Western Europe is different enough from the Eastern one and – especially – from the Romanian paradigm. At one level, Karl Martell and the Reconquista signified for the West the limits of Islamic influence and rule. This changed for continental Western Europe significantly only in the second half of the 20th century and there is a continuous influx of Muslim people. At another, namely philosophical and mental level, the influence of Islamic thought upon Western Europe via the Western European universities was fundamental in the second part of 3 Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) the Middle Ages. And so, Islamic thought became even co-responsible for the beginning of the process of secularization and secular thinking in the West. The – philosophically and politically speaking – very secularized West may be able to accept Christian faith and Islam, standing side by side as personal traditions, attitudes or options of parts of its population. This may also happen because of the mentioned connection between Islamic thought and the philosophical and mental evolution of the West, even if this connection remains often hidden and is not in the awareness of many intellectuals. However, if Islamic influx means new theocratic manifestations of Islam – some kind of imitation of Islamic Republics – at the political, cultural and religious level, in the end, Europeans will react. Given the present situation, we must recognise some kind of uncertainty with regard to the future of Western Europe from a political, cultural and religious point of view. But also in the Eastern part of Europe, for instance in Romania, our changing world can annihilate even favourable situations of the past. 4 Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) 1. Abstract The following report presents the research results of the WAVE project by the Romanian team. The research was conducted from July 2006 to December 2007 in the city of Medgidia, situated in the Eastern part of Romania, in the Black Sea Region. Its cultural and religious diversity illustrates the multicultural aspect of modern Romanian society. The city is composed of two large national (and at the same time religious) communities: the Romanian Orthodox and the Turkish-Tatar Muslims and a few other minority groups, such as the Orthodox Roma and Muslim Roma, also called Horhane. The most vulnerable group, dependent on welfare services, is the Horhane community; many of them are living only from welfare state allowances and occasionally from the welfare services offered by the Pentecostal Church and the “Open Doors” Foundation. Other groups of people dependent on welfare also include pensioners, families of more than two children, and people with disabilities. The study illustrates the different ways of transition from a Communist social system to a new welfare structure that did not define itself clearly; it specifically shows the problems that the population of Medgidia are facing during this long process of transition from one social and economic system to another. 2. Presentation of the town 2.1. Introduction Medgidia is a small industrial city located in the Eastern part of Romania, not far from the Black Sea, in the Constanta region belonging to the Dobrogea Country. The name of Medgidia comes from the name of Sultan Abdul Medgid, the founder of the city (who ruled between 1839 and 1861). The population of the city of Medgidia includes 44,843 inhabitants, of which 35,554 are Romanians, 8,122 are Turks and Tatars and other minorities, such as gypsies and Old Rite Russians (Lipoveni). There are two large religious communities in Medgidia: 35,228 Orthodox (most of which are Romanian and Roma) and 8,168 Muslims (mostly Turks and Tatars) (http://www.emedgidia.ro). The other religious communities are: Roman-Catholics (Romanians coming from Bucovina and Transylvania), Greek-Catholics (Romanians from Transylvania), Pentecostals (Romanian, Roma, Horhane Roma - former Muslim Roma, and Turks), Baptists (Romanian, Roma), and Adventists (Romanian, Roma). The city is quite specific in that it represents an interesting cultural and religious syncretism between Christians and Muslims with diverse customs and traditions. The French writer Jules Verne was so impressed by the colourful image of the city that he situated the action of one of his stories, “Keraban the Terrible”, in Medgidia. By the end of the 19th century the region was characterised, not only by writers, but also by anthropologists, such as Swiss researcher Eugene Pittard, as a bridge between East and West, where one can find an exotic landscape of Muslim and Baroque buildings. The unusual geometry of the architectural landscape can still be observed on the old city streets of Medgidia. The colourful character of 19th century 5 Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) buildings that reminds us past times and old Empires, dominated by grey buildings raised during the Communist period, speak of the unfortunate history of this place. From this mixture of architectural styles in the small city centre one can easily feel the diversity of characters and people living in the city. The streets are as different as their inhabitants: some are recently renovated, others are immersed in mud. There is abundant luxury next to deep poverty: on the streets one can observe very expensive cars, motorcycles, vans, as well as, horse carriages. Even if Medgidia is diverse and pluralistic as it was in its past, the relations between groups are in a permanent change. The Orthodox and Muslims are the most influent groups in public life, characterised as traditional groups, they are fighting against the invasion of Neo- Protestant Churches, such as Pentecostals, Jehovah Witnesses and Baptists. During the last year of the research we came across a conflict situation between Romanian Muslims and foreign Muslim organisations from Arab countries. After 1989 Medgidia faced the collapse