A file photo of the Islamic Sheikhdom in Tirana

By Hany Salah, IOL Correspondent

TIRANA, February 2 (IslamOnline.net) – Albanian Muslims reacted angrily to a law ratified by the parliament allowing land swap or compensation for Muslim bodies which had their endowment lands (waqfs) confiscated during the Communist era.

“The law, which was enacted late January 2005, runs counter to the Helsinki agreement, adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on the ownership rights,” the Islamic Sheikhdom in Tirana said Tuesday, February 1, in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net.

The Helsinki agreement bans giving compensation for the confiscation of  endowment lands, considered as public property.

Successive Albanian governments eyed Muslim endowments land for its unique and picturesque downtown location, building skyscrapers and parks on them, IOL correspondent says.

A government architectural committee planning the Albanian cities, supervised by Prime Minister Fatos Nano, has decided not to rebuild the ancient Balliasit mosque, which was built during the Ottoman era but destroyed under the Communist yoke.

The government said the mosque’s land would be used as parks and rebuild the mosque on a remote land, which was roundly rejected by the Sheikdom, the highest Islamic body in the country.

In the northern city of Shkodra, the city council decided to build a series of five-star shopping malls on confiscated waqfs, paying no heed to impassioned appeals from the city mufti to return back the Muslim rights.

Waqfs confiscated by the government are stretching across the country in cities such as Elbasan, home to many mosques and historic Islamic fortresses.

The Sheikhdom is currently working to count the confiscated waqfs to press for their return.

Financing Source

Sheikdom deputy chairman Blidar Myftari hit out at the new law, saying it is tailored for tourist projects.

“We want the endowment lands back to rebuild the mosques destroyed during the Communist era,” he said in the Sheikdom’s missive.

He said parks have been built on vast swathes of confiscated waqfs.

Calling for an even-handed treatment, Myftari complained that the government sold some pieces, already designed for parks, to churches over the past few years.

Though Muslims make up a majority of 75 percent of Albania’s 3.2 million population, the country’s president is a Catholic and its prime minister is an Orthodox.

The number of churches in the country also outnumbers that of mosques, which are estimated roughly at 270 out of 1667 established before the Communist era.

“The Sheikhdom is an independent religious body that mainly depends on foreign aid, mostly from Arab and Islamic bodies though it actually owns a lot of [confiscated] waqfs and lands, which all stand idle.”

Myftari added the return of the confiscated waqfs will provide the Islamic body with a permanent financing source instead of waiting eagerly every month for foreign aid.

On the status of the confiscated waqfs, Myftari said bitterly that they have been either leased, sold or ironically given to other parties in compensation.