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December 26, 2006

Bulgaria: Muslims' Hopes And Fears Of EU Accession

On April 25, 2005, Bulgaria officially signed the European Union Accession Treaty. Germany became the 25th member nation to drop its opposition to Accession on November 24 2006, paving the way for the nation to officially join the EU on January 1, 2007. Romania will also join the EU on the same day.

When the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland joined, the British government seemed unprepared for the flood of immigrants and migrant workers from these countries. With these individuals prepared to work for less than the minimum wage, the flooding of central European workers has led to resentments, and fears of the employment marketplace becoming destabilized. The government had predicted only 5,000 to 13,000 would arrive. In practice, 600,000 came. The government of Britain has placed some restrictions on new migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, but the immigration minister, Liam Byrne, admitted this month that the UK government has no idea how many from these countries will be subject to employment restrictions.

There are 7.5 million citizens in Bulgaria. The population of Muslims in Bulgaria is 966,978 (12.2% of the population), according to the 2001 Census. The vast majority of these are ethnic Turks (713,000), with 131,000 ethnic Bulgarian Muslims, and 103,000 of Roma (gypsy) descent. Most of the nation's Muslims are Sunni, with about 100,000 Shia.

Islam arrived in Bulgaria in the 15th century, with the invading Ottomans, and in general, Muslims and Christians in Bulgaria are said to have fairly peaceful relations, which are called "komshuluk", meaning neighborliness. Under the regime of the Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov (1954 - 1989), a crackdown was mounted on Muslim "identity" from 1984-5. Muslims were urged to abandon customs, such as circumcision and Islamic funeral rites. 100 Muslims died during this campaign.

A report in Reuters today highlights the uncertainties of Muslims in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is the only EU nation to have had a centuries long population of Muslims.

Around the time that Todor Zhivkov was ousted from the presidency and expelled from the Communist party in November 1989, Bulgaria opened its border with Turkey, and about 300,000 Muslims fled. Some did return later. At the time of Zhivkov's ouster, there were 1,267 mosques in the country. Several new mosques have been built since the end of his rule. Democracy returned to Bulgaria in June 1990, after 59 years of Communism.

Reuters suggests that Muslims in Bulgaria are looking forward to uniting with millions of "brothers in faith" in the European Union, and hope that accession to the EU will bring an end to the poverty and high unemployment which is prevalent in the country.

However, they have fears. One fear is that the EU nations will be hostile to them, and also there are fears that with a reduction in border controls, extremists from the EU will try to have influence in Bulgaria.

Salikh Arshinski, secretary of the Union of Muslims in Bulgaria, is quoted as saying: "We have to stop the infiltration of radical Islamic groups here to avoid what is happening in Western Europe."

The issue of headscarfs has recently come to the fore in Bulgaria as it has done in countries like France (where it has been banned in schools since September 2004) and Germany, and also Britain and the Netherlands, where politicians and public have expressed concern about the wearing of the full face-veil.

On Friday July 28 this year, two 17-year old BUlgarian girls, Fatme and Mikhaela, lost their claim against the authorities which had prevented them from wearing the hijab, or headscarf. The girls attended a state-run school, which had ordered them not to wear the headscarf. However, the girls also attended an Islamic school, an establishment which of a type which has become increasing common recently. Most of these schools are funded by the Wahhabist regime of Saudi Arabia.

The girls had claimed that they had been told by their "madrassa" to cover their heads. When banned by their formal school from wearing the items, a group based in their town of Smolyan, southern Bulgaria, took on their case in June this year. This group is the Organization for Islamic Development and Culture. The ruling that the school was within its rights to ban all religious symbols was made by a parliamentary anti-discrimination commission.

The decision came just two days after it was announced that a 15th century mosque in Stara Zagora, central Bulgaria, became the subject of an arson attack.

Bulgarian nationalists from the party Ataka (Attack) have been campaigning in Sofia this year for a mosque in the capital to have its noise-levels reduced, as the calls by the muezzin to prayer, broadcast on loudspeakers, are said to be upsetting non-Muslims. The mayor of Sofia, Boyko Borissov, sent a letter to the mufti of the mosque on July 12, requesting the noise levels be reduced. The mosque claimed it had already pandered to local feeling by reducing the muezzin's calls to prayer from the required five times a day down to only three.

The issue of the girls in headscarfs has been seen as a result of the imminent joining of Romania to the EU, though it could also be seen as a sign of Arab/Islamist influence coming from groups such as the Organization for Islamic Development and Culture.

Reuters quotes from a 27-year old carpenter who hopes his future wife can wear a hijab. He said: "I hope things change for better and this problem with the headscarves is solved. I want my future wife to be able to wear one without being laughed at."

Simeon Evstatiev, a lecturer on Islam at Sofia University said: "The whole headscarf issue in Bulgaria has been 'imported' from France. It can change the status quo."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 26, 2006 9:31 PM

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