Sofia, Bulgaria - When Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state of the Vatican, visited Sofia in May for the consecration of the capital city’s new Roman Catholic Church, he said that the city was turning into a “little Jerusalem” because of the close proximity of Christian, Muslim and Jewish places of worship.
This optimistic view has faded in recent days after ultra-nationalist group Ataka began a campaign against the use of loudspeakers at the Muslim place of worship, the Banya Bashi mosque, to call the faithful to prayer.
The mosque dates from the 16th century and is the last one in Sofia still in use as a house of worship. It takes its name from the nearby central baths.
Speaking ahead of a July 18 protest outside the mosque, Ataka leader Volen Siderov said that the calls from the loudspeakers could be an “invitation to jihad (holy war)”.
It was a claim that provoked laughter when put to worshippers at the mosque during a July 17 interview by Nova Televisia. They said that the recording was the standard call to prayer.
Ataka claims that it has 35 000 signatories to a petition against the use of the loudspeakers, and said that it would approach Sofia municipality for an order for their removal by the end of July.
Siderov alleged that the current Chief Mufti, Mustafa Alish Hadji, was linked to radical Islam, and asked whether the Interior Ministry was aware of what was being preached from the mosque.
The ultra-nationalist group, which won a minority share of seats in Parliament in the June 2005 elections on a platform of xenophobia, racism, and specifically anti-Turk and anti-Semitic sentiments, has had a stand outside the mosque for some weeks, countering the calls to prayer by using loudspeakers to play the Bulgarian national anthem.
Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov wrote to the Chief Mufti’s office two weeks ago requesting the removal of the speakers.
His request led to a July 17 meeting with Hussein Hafsazov, representative of the Chief Mufti’s office.
After the meeting, Borissov said that the volume of the loudspeakers had been turned down. He said that the volume had been measured and it had been found that at the end of Maria Louisa Boulevard, which the mosque adjoins, the loudspeakers could not be heard at all.
He said that he had urged Christian and Muslim leaders to continue the Bulgarian tradition of peaceful co-existence.
If the respective communities did not “live peacefully as we have always done,” nothing good would come of it, Borissov said.
“The more the positions are strengthened, the more difficult it would be to solve the problems after that,” he said.
After meeting Borrisov, Hafsazov said that the decibels from the mosque and from Christian churches should be measured to enable comparison, and if the calls to prayer were louder, they could be turned down. The loudspeakers had been turned down as low as possible, and were the volume was reduced any further, would be completely inaudible, he said.
“The call is an inseparable part of our ritual and we will not give it up but will continue to carry it out in all mosques in Bulgaria,” he said.
According to official statistics, about 12 per cent of Bulgaria’s 7.7 million population is Muslim. Islam spread in the country in particular during the five centuries of Ottoman rule.
While Muslims are required to pray five times a day, the mosque broadcasts the call to prayer only three times a day, omitting the calls early in the morning and at night.
Hafsazov said that the sound from the loudspeakers was less than that of the noise from the nearby tram line.
Interviewed on Info Radio on July 17, Ivan Zhelev, of the Cabinet’s directorate of religious denominations, said that if noise was the issue, it was notable that loud music emanated at all times of day from restaurants and clubs, yet nothing was done.
Borissov rejected calls for comparison measuring of the sound from churches and the mosque.
He said that he would not allow the sparking of conflict in the city on the basis of religious issues.
Certain parties were trying to make political gains by stirring religious conflict, and this was “dangerous”, Borissov said.
There has been no official reaction to the dispute from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, but on Nova Televisia on July 18, the church’s Father Alexander said that all people of faith should live in harmony with each other.
In an incident on July 18, Bulgarian-language media reported that hackers had placed Turkish symbols on the newspaper of Ataka’s eponymous mouthpiece.
Siderov said that the group responsible called itself “Crescent and Star”.
He told Focus news agency that it was not known whether such a group really existed, but that the incident demonstrated that there was “more politics than religion” in the presence of mosques in Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection Against Discrimination has been asked to rule on a case of two Muslim school pupils banned from wearing traditional Islamic headscarves to classes.
A ruling by the commission is expected some time in the week starting July 24, according to a report by Darik Radio.
Fatme Kehayova and Mihaela Vassileva, who study at the economics high school in the south-eastern town of Smolyan, were banned from wearing headscarves but have refused to comply. The school has been supported by Education Minister Daniel Vulchev, who was quoted as saying that Bulgaria is a secular state. School authorities said that the two pupils were breaching school uniform rules and were causing tension at the school.
The case, the first of its kind in Bulgaria, is reminiscent of a similar dispute in France, where the state forbids the display of religious symbols, including Islamic headscarves, in schools.
The Organisation for Islamic Development and Culture in the town referred the case to the commission, saying that the school’s ruling contradicted a 2003 decision by the Education Ministry and ran against Bulgaria’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.