KMDLNJ concerning the mosque debate: Double Standards Even in the Field of Religious Freedoms

KMDLNj via a media communique estimates that double standards regarding the area of religious freedoms are being implemented in Kosovo.

This response by KMDLNJ comes after launching a petition opposing the construction of the large mosque in Pristina, as well as failing to grant construction permits.

That was after KMDLNY was allowed to build cathedrals instead of the school where it was, the church in Lapusnik as well as Peja Patricka, who has also diverted the river.

KMDLNJ communications:

Now, in recent days a petition was issued signed by 30 civil society activists to continue with online signatures of citizens contrary to mosque construction in the divided location of the mosque on the grounds that this was not meant by the regulatory plan for this neighbourhood.

KMDLNj recognises petition rights as one of the democratic means with which an initiative that goes to the expense or benefit of citizens is opposed or supported. With the last petition, exemptions are being made on religious grounds, the rights of a religious community (Albanians of Islamic, Turkish, Goran, Bosniak, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian citizens of Kosovo) are being violated, denying them the basic right to building cult objects even if they are not opposed to the law. It is estimated that approximately 85% of Kosovo's citizens are of the Islamic faith, so with this petition, there is no legal, human, moral and logical basis being rendered a very bad service to the good interreligious reports that have been in Kosovo so far

With this petition, the human rights of Islamic believers in Kosovo are being jeopardised despite ethnic affiliation as if a dangerous discurs is encouraging, that of division on religious grounds.

With this petition, a pressure is being put on Pristina municipal authorities, who are responsible for granting urban permit to build the mosque at the location shared by the same municipality, with another mayor.

The KMDLNj commemorates the opinion that Peja's Patriarchate also diverted the river by building a wall without construction permits and was supported by foreign diplomats with the reasoning that there are thousands and thousands of items without permission in Kosovo, and that Patriot's wall is nothing more than an object without permission.

The Decani Monastery clearly violates human rights to citizens of this municipality by restricting freedom of movement and hindering free access to the property of these citizens. The Milosevic Orthodox Church is standing in the spaces of the University of Pristina, is being renovated illegally, and no one is signing a petition for its collapse because, behind that, internationals stand, while petition signatories are not ready to face internationals. In Pristina's best location, without any public debate the cathedral was built only because of one person's decision, Ibrahim Rugova.

There was no petition against that decision, although the thousands of students in the Eqrem Nebla High High became domestic refugees by moving from one school to another until the school construction work was completed in the Lakrish district that was the worst place to build the school.

A huge Catholic church was built in the village of Lapusnik at a pre-arranged location for the next design and in large disparity with the real needs of the Catholic community on that side. This is like building a school for 1,000 students at a time when you only have 30 students. That is the case with the Lapusnik Catholic Church, and all opposition has been neutralised with the reasoning that they have international backing.

The flat mosque in northern Mitrovica is not being built because it is being rejected by northern Serbs and internationals, and no one is signing a petition in favour of mosque construction on previous foundations. Representatives of the gospel church for years seek locations for burials, as well as permission for the construction of a religious temple (with their money), but this right is unjustly denied by municipal and central authorities.

KMDLNI supports religious rights and freedoms, without making any distinction in their belief as basic human rights and as such, regulated with the laws in power in Kosovo and opposes any form of discrimination on religious grounds, as well as preventing the construction of cult objects when they are allowed by law, and in this context supports the mosque's construction at the location shared by the Pristina Commission. In the context of local, regional and global developments when religious rights and feelings are manipulated for political and other purposes, Islamic believers in Kosovo are being deprived of human rights because any demand they make is easily rejected by the reasoning that they are strengthening Islamic radicalism.

Meanwhile, as far as the selection of the project on what the mosque will look like is the responsibility of the assessment and selective commission within BIK ut. If there is anything contrary to Kosovo's laws, there are competent bodies dealing with this issue as they have been taken so far.

As for the location where the mosque is to be built, compared to the sites where the Orthodox Church and the cathedral are in Pristina, the location for the mosque is at large with the position it deserves and will not be able to meet the needs of Islamic believers.

This petition should not be ignored because it is contrary to human rights and the religious rights of a religious community to which such rights were flagrantly revealed. Law-defined standards in the field of religious rights, such as human rights, cannot be applied to double criteria by discriminating one community and favouring others. Unfortunately, implementation of double standards is taking place in Kosovo, even in the field of religious rights and freedoms at the time when we are talking about the universality of human rights as a precondition for a democratic society.