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THE MUSLIM FORUM OF ALBANIA PRESS RELEASE
MFA is worried about the Christianizing campaign and the abuse with Mother Theresa 19-September-07 Muslim Forum of Albania is worried about the failure of the government institutions to respond to the request of Presidency of the General Council of Islamic Union of Albania (representative of an important part of our country), which has requested that the identity cards of the Albanian citizens should not show the figure of Mother Theresa, because with this manner the laic character of the Albanian nation is encroached, which is ratified on the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. According to the constitution, our country has to respect the religious beliefs of everyone, protects the freedom of belief and religious communities, and should not be biased on taking anyone’s sides. Instead of working with it, recently our government has announced “ Ten Days of Mother Theresa”, over passing every measure on the exaggeration of things. Muslim Forum of Albania expresses contrition that in this manner the respected figure of Mother Theresa is being misused for political purposes. Now it is clear to everyone, that in order to fulfill their objectives and including Albania in the European Union, our politicians try to benefit from every event to make “the catholic roots” of our people become obvious, despite the fact that the majority of Albanians are detached from it for centuries. Our forum noticed that our politics today is following the same line defined before by former President Alfred Moisiu, announced on his speech at the Oxford`s Union in 2005 where he declared that “Albanians are not Muslims, and if you scratch them a bit they will come out Christians”. In a cynical and speculative way, Mr. Moisiu has classified those that live inside the borders of Republic of Albania as Albanians, whereas he erased the nationality of the Albanians that live in the ethnical lands such as Kosova, Macedonia and Montenegro where the vast majority are of Islam religion. To make the “Christian roots of Albanians” obvious to Europe, lately everywhere in our places Mother Theresa’s monuments are being erected and a lot of institutions, boulevards and buildings of interest are taking her name. The peak of this idol creating campaign was achieved lately when at the Mother Theresa national airport, the cross-like statue of her was inaugurated, whose view will be the first landmark to be seen for every foreigner that visits Albania. Furthermore, in the service to this bill, Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu (whom our pioneers of Renaissance with wisdom consider as the national hero of union, freedom and renaissance for the whole Albanians), lately has started to be shown as “Christ’s athlete”, “saviour of Christian Europe from the Ottoman danger” etc. Our politicians are very obsessed with their strategy of false representation of the Albanians in the eyes of Europe, despite the fact that President George W. Bush characterized Albanians as “Muslims that live in peace”, or when Ms. Doris Pack declared that Islamic identity of the majority of Albanians is not a barrier at all for the acceptance of our Country in EU, and even Albania’s membership in the Organization of Islamic Conference is not an barrier. With the placement of Mother Theresa’s figure in the Identity Cards of Albanian citizens - the one which Catholic Church is preparing to sanctify - our politics intend to color the whole Albanian society with a Christian image. Facing the Christianization campaign, is it hard for us to understand if our politicians want to be shown more Catholic than the Pope himself?
MUSLIM FORUM OF
ALBANIA _____________________________________________________________ Note for Editors: The Muslim Forum of Albania is an NGO, part of the Albanian Civil Society whose aim is the fight against racism, discrimination and Islamophobia. For having more information on us please visit: www.forumimusliman.org |
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