Bulgarian Ethnic Turks Demand Changes in Religious Act

Muslims have organzied many protests against the court's decision to reinstate Nedim Gendzhev as a Chief Mufti in Bulgaria. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) has proposed an amendment to the Religion Act, which envisions that the court should be able to rule on problematic subjects.

The amendment is supposed to allow the Sofia City Court, in exceptional cases, to convene meetings of the supreme authority of the religious communities.

DPS has demanded that when there are exceptions circumstances, which lead to a failure of convention of the supreme authorities following the rules of the religion, the court should be able to convene the meeting.

The magistrates will decide on the request of more than half of the registered local offices of the respective religious community.

The proposal of the ethnic Turkish party is a result of the longstanding problems and disputes about the leadership of the Muslim community in Bulgaria.

In May, thousands of Muslims in Bulgaria started protesting against the decision of the Supreme Court of Cassations, which confirmed the ruling of the Sofia Appellate Court, which canceled the election of Mustafa Ali Hadzhi as a Chief Mufti in Bulgaria.

The decision of the court triggered the announcement of Nedim Gendzhev, registered in 1996 as a Chief Mufti, that he was the legitimate religious leader of the Muslims in Bulgaria.

The legitimacy of the Muslim conferences and the decisions taken there were a problem since 1997 because the court cancels the voted changes in the religious leadership every time.

According to the rules of the religious community, only the operating leadership, announced after a ruling of the Sofia City Court in 1996 by Nedim Gendzhev, could convene a meeting of the supreme authority and to choose a new Chief Mufti.

However, thousands of Muslims all over the country, discontent with Gendzhev, periodically initiate meetings, which they announce as national conferences, and elect a new Chief Mufti.

In 1997 and 2000, the conferences appointed Mustafa Hadzhi and Selim Mehmed as the new religious leaders. The Sofia City Court, however, has declared that the two conferences have been illegitimate because the supreme authority has not been convened in compliance with the rules.

In the last conference in 2008, the Muslims elected Mustafa Hadzhi as their religious leader.

According to DPS, it was impossible to follow the rules and to convene a Muslim conference, which to choose a Chief Mufti or to change the rules.

The MPs from the ethnic Turkish party have also pointed out that many members of the operating leadership of the Muslim community in Bulgaria have died, which prevents the gathering of 2/3 of the members, needed to convene a legitimate meeting.

DPS has proposed that in such cases, the Sofia City Court should be able to convene a meeting of the supreme authority of the religious leadership.

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