Brussels, November 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The historical experience of Muslims in the Balkans can contribute to the development of a ‘Euro Islam,’ a seminar has concluded.

Experts at the seminar, held in Brussels under the title "Balkan Muslims and the future of Islam in Europe," said that the accession to the European Union of a number of Balkan states in the years ahead will bring some predominantly Muslims countries into the expanding bloc and nearly double its Muslim population, the Iranian news agency reported.

Xavier Bougarel, a French scholar on Islam in the Balkans, said that before the collapse of communism, there was only one Muslim-majority state in the western Balkans, Albania.

“Today there are three countries with an overwhelming majority of Muslims,” he told the seminar, which was organized by the European Policy Centre in cooperation with the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation.

“Some eight million Muslims are living in the Balkans,” nowadays, he said.

According to recent estimates, there are now some 12-15 million Muslims who live in EU member states, both immigrants and citizens, compared with only 800,000 in 1950.

Bougarel also said that the Turkish entry into the EU would have a considerable impact on the development of a European Islam.

The debate over Ankara’s EU membership has raised questions over whether a country with a Muslim majority could become part of a European identity.

European leaders agreed in December to launch “qualified” membership talks with Turkey.

Backers of Turkey's EU hopes, including heavyweights Britain and Germany, have long argued that the country was a vital bridge between Europe and the Muslim world.

Krassimir Kanev, associate professor in Sofia University in Bulgaria, also said that European human rights standards impose restrictions on the practice of Islam.

He criticized the prevalent view in Europe that the Shari`ah is against democracy.

Prominent scholars have said that democracy is compatible with the spirit and teachings of Islam which opposes autocracy and tyranny.

And European intellectuals and professors have further maintained that as Muslims should accept the European values, Europe should in turn accept Muslim integrationist efforts, saying that any culture has its own way of practicing Islam.

A recent study has showed that since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racial discrimination have been on the rise across Europe.

The study, commissioned by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), maintains that immigrants and refugees from Muslim countries and Islam itself are primary targets of politicians, who exploit feelings of insecurity in an increasingly complex and multicultural world.

The study also showed that Turkey’s bid to join the newly-enlarged EU was a main focal point for the rightists.

They exploited voters’ fears of the admission of a Muslim, though secular, country with a population over 70 million people in their euro bloc.

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