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The mayor of Prilep has acted to calm religious tensions in Macedonia after the head of the Muslim community, Sulejman Rexhepi, wrote on Facebook that Allah would strike him down for his alleged role in the burning of the Charshi-Mosque in Prilep in 2001.
The mosque went up in flames on August 8, 2001 during the short-lived Macedonian conflict and has not been rebuilt. The arson attack was the work of ethnic Macedonians after Albanian insurgents had killed several soldiers from the town in an ambush near Karpalak.
“Dear brother Muslims, this is the mosque in Prilep that in 2001 was burned by a group of 30 people. They were all punished by death by the magnificent Allah,” Rexhepi wrote on Facebook on Wednesday under a picture of the burned mosque.
“Many were eliminated among themselves, and not so long ago four of them lost their lives in car accidents. The next to the last died yesterday on a motorcycle,” Rexhepi noted, adding that “The last of them, as it seems, is Marjan Risteski who will face the punishment from the almighty Allah.”
The prediction of divine punishment by a religious leader in Macedonia is seen as unprecedented. The Muslim community, the IVZ, has confirmed that the post was authentic.
“He has published only what has been determined by God,” Abaz Islami, the spokesperson of IVZ, said, adding that, “It is bad that they had burned the mosque and that it has not been rebuilt to this day.”
Mayor Risteski said that he forgave Rexhepi for his ill intended words, however.
“In the spirit of Christianity I forgive him for his clumsy reckless and unlucky statement. I appeal to all who felt hurt by this statement to refrain from further reactions as its aim is to provoke problems,” Risteski said.
“I plead his Allah to give him the strength to stay true to the principles of his faith, which call for tolerance and understanding, instead of doing things that do not befit a religious leader,” the mayor added.
In 2001, a brief armed conflict between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents ended in the signing of a peace deal that granted greater rights to Albanians, who make up a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population.
The Karpalak incident took the lives of ten Macedonian soldiers, all from Prilep, and injured three more. It happened when Albanian insurgents ambushed a Macedonian Army convoy on the Skopje-Tetovo highway.
News of the killing sharply raised ethnic and religious tension, threatening to topple ongoing domestic and international efforts to end the conflict. In Prilep, angry mobs rioted and destroyed property owned by Muslims, including the mosque.
Since the torching of the mosque there were several initiatives to rebuild it, but work on the ground has not started yet.
While most ethnic Macedonians are Orthodox Christians, most Albanians are Muslims.
The main organization of war veterans in Prilep said the call for divine punishment was as absurd as the torching of the mosque. Risteski served in the Macedonian Army at the time and was deployed in the town of Tetovo that was at the heart of the armed hostilities.
“That day on August 8, 2001 Risteski was with us in Tetovo, defending the sovereignty and integrity of Macedonia. He has nothing to do with the vandalism of burning the mosque in Prilep because he was with us defending his fatherland,” Igor Petreski, head of the veterans organization, called “Karpalak”, said.
The head of IVZ, the second largest religious comunity in the country after the Macedonian Orthodox Church, was recently accused of indecent behaviour after posting pictures of himself on Facebook dressed as a Turkish Sultan holding a half-drawn sabre. He wrote that the pictures were taken during a recent visit to Istanbul.
The mayor of Prilep has acted to calm religious tensions in Macedonia after the head of the Muslim community, Sulejman Rexhepi, wrote on Facebook that Allah would strike him down for his alleged role in the burning of the Charshi-Mosque in Prilep in 2001.
The mosque went up in flames on August 8, 2001 during the short-lived Macedonian conflict and has not been rebuilt. The arson attack was the work of ethnic Macedonians after Albanian insurgents had killed several soldiers from the town in an ambush near Karpalak.
“Dear brother Muslims, this is the mosque in Prilep that in 2001 was burned by a group of 30 people. They were all punished by death by the magnificent Allah,” Rexhepi wrote on Facebook on Wednesday under a picture of the burned mosque.
“Many were eliminated among themselves, and not so long ago four of them lost their lives in car accidents. The next to the last died yesterday on a motorcycle,” Rexhepi noted, adding that “The last of them, as it seems, is Marjan Risteski who will face the punishment from the almighty Allah.”
The prediction of divine punishment by a religious leader in Macedonia is seen as unprecedented. The Muslim community, the IVZ, has confirmed that the post was authentic.
“He has published only what has been determined by God,” Abaz Islami, the spokesperson of IVZ, said, adding that, “It is bad that they had burned the mosque and that it has not been rebuilt to this day.”
Mayor Risteski said that he forgave Rexhepi for his ill intended words, however.
“In the spirit of Christianity I forgive him for his clumsy reckless and unlucky statement. I appeal to all who felt hurt by this statement to refrain from further reactions as its aim is to provoke problems,” Risteski said.
“I plead his Allah to give him the strength to stay true to the principles of his faith, which call for tolerance and understanding, instead of doing things that do not befit a religious leader,” the mayor added.
In 2001, a brief armed conflict between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents ended in the signing of a peace deal that granted greater rights to Albanians, who make up a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population.
The Karpalak incident took the lives of ten Macedonian soldiers, all from Prilep, and injured three more. It happened when Albanian insurgents ambushed a Macedonian Army convoy on the Skopje-Tetovo highway.
News of the killing sharply raised ethnic and religious tension, threatening to topple ongoing domestic and international efforts to end the conflict. In Prilep, angry mobs rioted and destroyed property owned by Muslims, including the mosque.
Since the torching of the mosque there were several initiatives to rebuild it, but work on the ground has not started yet.
While most ethnic Macedonians are Orthodox Christians, most Albanians are Muslims.
The main organization of war veterans in Prilep said the call for divine punishment was as absurd as the torching of the mosque. Risteski served in the Macedonian Army at the time and was deployed in the town of Tetovo that was at the heart of the armed hostilities.
“That day on August 8, 2001 Risteski was with us in Tetovo, defending the sovereignty and integrity of Macedonia. He has nothing to do with the vandalism of burning the mosque in Prilep because he was with us defending his fatherland,” Igor Petreski, head of the veterans organization, called “Karpalak”, said.
The head of IVZ, the second largest religious comunity in the country after the Macedonian Orthodox Church, was recently accused of indecent behaviour after posting pictures of himself on Facebook dressed as a Turkish Sultan holding a half-drawn sabre. He wrote that the pictures were taken during a recent visit to Istanbul.
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