Ljubljana Mosque Still Far Away
After the project of building a mosque in Ljubljana survived a looming referendum and it seemed that the Muslim community would finally get a place of worship, new problems have emerged.
The City of Ljubljana is yet to send the Muslim community an official offer for the purchase of the agreed plot of land, but even that will be smaller than initially expected.
The city's real estate management department maintains that the preparation of documentation for construction is in line with the agenda, although it was announced in the summer that an offer would be sent in October.
It has also been discovered that of the nearly two hectares of land allocated for this purpose on the southern outskirts of the city, almost 3,000 sq. metres, are subject to a denationalisation claim by the Lazarist order, filed 12 years ago.
Besides the fact that the available land will be smaller, the denationalisation claim should not obstruct the building of the mosque as the Muslim community can assert the right of easement.
The leader of the Muslim community in Slovenia, Mufti Osman Djogic, has been informed that the plot will be smaller. But even this surface will suffice for the construction of a religious and cultural centre. The centre is to spread over 4,000 sq. metres.
Djogic believes that the community could buy the undisputable 1.5 hectares and pursue the project. The procedures for the purchase of the land should not last too long, he said.
Although surmountable, this is only the last obstacle in the Muslim community's 20-year effort to build a mosque, the first in Slovenia, for the 50,000-strong community of Slovenian Muslims.
The project faced a referendum in mid-2003 as Mihael Jarc, an extremist Ljubljana city councilor, collected the signatures to call a referendum against the construction of the mosque. The Constitutional Court blocked the effort.
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