Spiritual power over Crimean Muslims will be returned to supporters of the Mejlis
Moscow - Simferopol, April 1 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - To build a vertical spiritual power structure in Crimea, the authorities chose the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea, which a year ago, together with the Mejlis, advocated for the preservation of Crimea as part of Ukraine and sharply opposed the politicians currently in power in Simferopol, the Moscow publication NG-Religion is surprised.
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“By the decision of the head of Crimea, all mosques will be transferred to the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea,” Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea Ruslan Balbek said on March 25 at a meeting with a Turkish delegation consisting of business representatives and politicians. As can be understood from this statement, on the anniversary of the “Crimean spring” the authorities of the peninsula decided to leave the only religious association of local Muslims in the legal framework, the publication recalls.
NG-Religions cites an example when the head of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea (SAMK), Emirali Ablaev, spoke at rallies held in January-February 2014 in the capital of Crimea in support of European integration and the unity of Ukraine.
The “turn” of the Crimean authorities towards the SAMK may also be associated with their attempts, according to political scientist Andrei Nikiforov, “to reboot the Mejlis, find a foothold in it and identify loyal people.”
“The authorities adopted the concept of “reforging” the Mejlis into a pro-Russian organization,” confirms the head of the Crimean Tatar organization “Milli Firka” Vasvi Abduraimov. “That’s why they started flirting with the SAMK and its leader Emirali Ablaev.” However, according to the head of Milli Firka, this idea is doomed to failure from the very beginning, because the mufti of the SUMK is “closely devoted to Mustafa Dzhemilev,” who headed the Mejlis in 1991–2013, and is now in Kiev and has become an adviser to Petro Poroshenko on the affairs of the Crimean Tatars .
Earlier, Abduraimov proposed a different scheme for building a new spiritual administration of Muslims on the peninsula: “First, register local communities - there were about 2014 of them at the beginning of 400, and then help them hold a unification congress, create a unified spiritual administration and elect its head.”
“Mosques belong to local Muslim religious communities and they have the right to choose with whom to work and how to develop,” Ruslan Saitvaliev, the mufti of the newly created Tauride Muftiate, told NGR. “Therefore, I consider Balbec’s statement a gross violation and illegal interference of government officials in the activities of religious organizations.”
However, the Crimean authorities decided to take a different path, collaborating only with one of the Islamic structures already existing on the peninsula - the Majlis.
English version :: Read in English: Supporters of the Mejlis will regain spiritual authority over Crimean Muslims.