Islamic leader expects "radicalization"

“There is no doubt about it, the situation will radicalize,” Muamer Zukorlic, the head of the Islamic Community in Serbia, has told daily Politika. “If you ask me how—I don’t know, especially because I am not someone who plans such things,” Zukorlic said. Islamic leader expects "radicalization" “I am speaking and trying to illustrate the feeling that is slowly growing in the new generations,” he said. Asked whether he had also been saying over the last two years that the rights of Muslims in the region were not being respected, just as Mustafa Ceric had said last week in Tutin and Novi Pazar, Zukorlic replied: “This is true.” “In the last two years, we’ve put up with the efforts to pull away and break apart the Islamic Community through the direct intertwining of politics and the administration, with the goal of controlling the Islamic Community,” he said. “The events in Tutin confirmed that an alliance of people has formed between Ugljanin’s groups in Sandzak and people in Belgrade. This time we are talking about the Interior Ministry,” Zukorlic said. “The second problem is the respect of the Constitutional and legal principles of equality of churches and religious communities. According to the law for churches and religious communities, only one church or community can be registered as traditional,” he said. “In the case of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), the government did not allow the Montenegrin Orthodox Church to be entered into its register. In the case of the Islamic Community, we have doors wide open with parallelism. Our blockade in the media and the so-called public sector as a whole is a story in itself, as is discrimination based on the return of property,” Zukorlic said.

Islamic leader expects "radicalization"

“I am speaking and trying to illustrate the feeling that is slowly growing in the new generations,” he said.

Asked whether he had also been saying over the last two years that the rights of Muslims in the region were not being respected, just as Mustafa Cerić had said last week in Tutin and Novi Pazar, Zukorlić replied: “This is true.”

“In the last two years, we’ve put up with the efforts to pull away and break apart the Islamic Community through the direct intertwining of politics and the administration, with the goal of controlling the Islamic Community,” he said.

“The events in Tutin confirmed that an alliance of people has formed between Ugljanin’s groups in Sandžak and people in Belgrade. This time we are talking about the Interior Ministry,” Zukorlić said.

“The second problem is the respect of the Constitutional and legal principles of equality of churches and religious communities. According to the law for churches and religious communities, only one church or community can be registered as traditional,” he said.

“In the case of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), the government did not allow the Montenegrin Orthodox Church to be entered into its register. In the case of the Islamic Community, we have doors wide open with parallelism. Our blockade in the media and the so-called public sector as a whole is a story in itself, as is discrimination based on the return of property,” Zukorlić said.