The Balkan Chronicle

Muslim Community of Montenegro got everything it asked for

Muslims in Montenegro have now legally obtained the right to, on every Friday at noon, stop all activities and focus on the central prayers - Friday prayers. They also got to carry traditional hats and scarves, and to appear in the official documents pictures like that. All this is guaranteed by the Agreemnt signed between Montenegrin government and Montenegrin Islamic Community (MIZ).

The document aslo guarantees the right for the MIZ to establish own Islamic schools, and that official public institutions provide special diet for Muslims who wish for it. Same Agreement encourages private firms to accommodate their Muslim employees, to allow them to use their lunch breaks for Friday prayer.

Most importantly,

Macedonia: After the desecration of Islam tenssions high between Christians and Muslims

Very disturbing new trends in Macedonia are causing high tensions between Orthodox Christians and Macedonian Muslims. It seems like the Macedonian Christians want to join a "clash of civilizations" and be on the side of aggressors. But it remains unknown why are they choosing such wrong policies.

At the recent the Vevcani Carnival, Macedonian Muslims were offended when drunken Christian Macedonians tried hard to make fun of the Qur'an and Islam with some despicable imagery. People were disturbed but thought that Macedonian government would intervene and sanction the troublemakers.

Zizek: Europe is Turkey's greatest problem

Billed flashily as the “Socrates of the modern era,” the eminent Marxist and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek took the stage across İstanbul this weekend to address eager audiences in venues as far afield as a student-packed lecture hall at Mimar Sinan University and a bizarre talk on the fundamentals of marketing at the International Advertising Cup.

For all the fascination centered on the visit of Mr. Zizek, however, the bulk of questions leveled at this “Elvis Presley of contemporary philosophy” would not be about Lacanian theory or Badiou. Rather, Zizek took on the Turkish press's customary checklist for visiting European intellectuals, answering questions about the image of Turkey in the West, the troubled state of European multiculturalism and France's recent genocide denial bill. Sensing...