Earlier this year, Ljubljana commercial POP Television prepared a programme about the construction of a mosque. Not only that the idea to conduct a polemic talk show was entirely legitimate, but it also came in the wake of recent local and presidential elections, where the issue of the construction was addressed as one of the most urgent matters among local politicians, and even among presidential candidates. The Muslims of Slovenia have been fighting for the construction of Islamic Religious Centre for over thirty years, even from the times of mono-party regime, which was very skilful in taking up carefully differentiated approaches to various religious communities and their employment in passing indirect messages to Catholic Church that cooperation with authorities brings certain privileges.

However, if the treatment of Muslims and their religious needs by socialist authorities in former Yugoslavia contained any relevance for Catholic Church, the messages were certainly not appealing. Namely, those authorities had their mouths full of religious freedoms and phoney promises that the issue of the construction of Islamic religious temple would soon be finalised. When the matters reached the level of near realisation, “conscientious” representatives of local communities entered the scene: in principle, they supported the construction of mosque, but not in their vicinity, and not at that time, and not in that form.

Faith in the service of politics

There is no need to specifically emphasise how the voice of “conscientious” individuals was not quite clear in some cases; in this particular case, it was suddenly made curiously democratic. This pattern went through several changes; with the democratic transformation of the regime into pluralistic politics, it stayed the same – except that the reasons of delay are now not being coined by one party, but by five or six of them. 

Catholic church, with its greatly improved position in the new regime, have failed to significantly help its Islamic brothers or to back them in their striving, although it should follow the example of the Pope John Paul II, whose personal support helped the efforts of building a new mosque in Rome.

After conflicts in the Balkans ended, and when the Muslims of Slovenia thought the time had come to finally realise the long-standing promise of a new mosque construction, the story started all over again. The site was identified, draft changes to the town planning map prepared, however, the last point of the construction permit was continuously delayed. Then-authorities, which in principle supported the construction, awaited local elections, so that the issue of mosque would not be turned into a “spot of contest among different political interests”, as they used to say at that time.

Correct Media Coverage

Media immediately detected public interest in this issue, and started intensely exploring the question of the construction of Islamic religious temple in Lubljana. In doing so, they were abundantly aided by the new, dynamic and energetic Mufti of Slovenia, Osman Đogić, who apparently thought that continuous political excuses had come to an end. Thus the Muslims’ right to have their own religious temple came into the focus of pre-electoral campaign. It needs to be noted, though, that media did their job professionally and impartially, sometimes even with an air of sympathy for the Muslim community in Slovenia.   

Slovenian media refrained from manipulations, such as those addressed at the recently held Round Table in Ljubljana by Bashy Qourtashy, Pakistani journalist with residence in Denmark and the President of European Association Against Racism. Qourtashy described a similar campaign to construct a mosque in Copenhagen, when one of the mainstream newspapers deliberately publicised the photograph of the GREATEST mosque in Turkey, with a caption: “Would you like such a marvel in Copenhagen?” Slovenian media did not use manipulations of that type, indeed.

However, let us return to the Round Table on the mosque in the commercial POP TV station. In addition to the talk, editors conducted a public survey through televise voting. They started their research two hours ahead of the show; the results indicated support to the construction of mosque in Ljubljana. As the show started, the number of supporters was 10 percent higher than that of opponents. However, when the talk in studio started the picture turned over, and those opposing the building of mosque in Slovenia won against those backing it with the advantage of twenty percent. What happened?

Public opinion changes its mind?!

The host of the programme, journalist Uroš Slak, thinks that the turning point happened when Mufti, answering a question concerning the number of mosques that should be built in Slovenia, answered: “Around thirty”. People, principally agreeable that the construction of religious temple remains Constitutional right of the Muslims in Slovenia, were caught by the overconfidence of the request, unsuited for the situation. They might have agreed that five to ten temples should be built, in due course, for several tens of thousands of Muslims in Slovenia; but in reality, the key point is in winning the right to build the first mosque, and then, patiently, come to the others, too.

Another handicap of present Mufti is his lack of the knowledge of Slovenian language. He came to Slovenia relatively recently, and is only learning the language. As a small nation, Slovenians are very concerned about the issue of their language, and have great sympathies for foreigners who are skilled in it. On the same token, they have strong reserves for those living in Slovenia who do not speak their language. So, Mufti made a start from the lower position.

The above-mentioned Bashi Qourtashi says that self-induced ghettoisation of Muslims in European countries remains one of his greatest concerns. If they want to bring their position and the advantage of their culture to the attention of majority nations and majority religion representatives, they will have to step into the publicity, employ their most brilliant minds in participation in the talks like the one mentioned, and actively work on breaking up the prejudices spreading about themselves in media.

The Genesis of a Stereotype

In Slovenian and other western media, adds young publicist Ahmed Pašiæ, author of the books Islam and Muslims in Slovenia, certain contents are still associated with the attribute Islamic: Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic extremism, Islamic terrorists. “Have you ever read in any newspapers about CATHOLIC terrorist Irish republican armada?” That brotherhood of the attribute “Islamic” with certain activities and doings has been slowly crating impression of an equation: all Muslims are fundamentalists, terrorists, murderers, jihad activists…

These things are always more sensitive when minority races, languages or faiths are concerned. A syndrome of a stranger coming into a strange village is in place here. Even though everyone in the village knew that the poultry belonging to one villager was slaughtered by the neighbour with whom he was in conflict, everyone still threw all culpability on a stranger accidentally travelling through the village. This attitude in Slovenian media was analysed by Dr Tonči Kuzmanić in his book People with half-stress – meaning people whose surnames end with iæ, rather than “hard” Slovenian –iè; when their names appear in the criminal blocks of Slovenian press, they are always followed by the information on their ethnic backgrounds, while these same newspapers never write that this or that SLOVENIAN committed some criminal act.

In that respect, Slovenian media are not different from the western ones – in fact, they tightly follow the example of great western media houses, stereotypically reducing Islam and Muslims to simple formulas: long beard, fanatic masses on their knees offering prayers to Allah, shouting and protests, filth and poverty. A funny side of this stereotype was pointed at by Bashi Qourtashi, who showed a photograph of two Egyptian policemen taking away a long-bearded young man exactly of the type described above. The caption to this photograph, published in one western medium, read: “The Police taking away the arrested MUSLIM”. As the policemen concerned were Egyptians, it means that this MUSLIM IS TAKEN AWAY BY TWO POLICEMEN WHO ARE MUSLIMS THEMSELVES – but you cannot find that specified.                                                                                                            

Gojko Bervar works as journalist-commentator for internal policy and religious issues in the Radio of Slovenia. Translation: O.H. ©Media Online 2003. All rights reserved.