Religions

For Eid, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the city of Thessaloniki offered believers the opportunity to pray in the historic Yeni Cami: a highly symbolic act in a country with a large Orthodox majority

Synthesise and integrate two "failed", seemingly antithetical political thoughts, the Marxist and the Islamic one. This is what EKP-dominated Turkey needs according to Recep İhsan Eliaçık, Turkish thinker and activist, animator of the first collective of "anti-capitalist Muslims”

In Sirobuja, on the outskirts of Split, a clandestine mass was held on the day of Catholic Easter, in spite of all the prohibitions imposed by the coronavirus epidemic. The journalists documenting the fact were beaten up and verbally abused

Soon the Chechen women will be able to take taxis driven by women and only for women. An initiative sponsored by an Arab investment fund that caused very different reactions

An exceptional trip to the Strofades islands, regarded as home to the mythical Harpies, and the breathtaking beauty of an ancient hermitage that risks disappearing

In the new episode of the podcast The Southeast passage, Elif Becan discusses the integration of Muslim migrants from the Balkans into the Turkish Republic during the interwar period

Current and prospective paths for researching Islam in Southeast Europe and the legacy of Alexandre Popovic in this field are the focus of the new podcast in the series The SouthEast passage

The terrorist risk in the country is rooted in the war of the Nineties, and in the presence of groups assessing themselves as alternative to the official Islamic Community

Despite the local ecclesiastical institutions' disapproval, in the Monastery of Saharna, a hundred kilometres from the Moldovan capital Chişinau, mass exorcism rites are taking place

Protests in Nardaran, a majority conservative Shia village in the outskirts of Baku, indicate a growing discontent for the country's difficult social and economic conditions

Pope Francis' visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina is a message of peace. Conversation with Franjo Topić, president of the cultural association Napredak

The forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to Bosnia Herzegovina prompts comments and analyses on the issue of catholic identity in the Balkan country. Our interview to academic and mediaevalist Dubravko Lovrenović

Pope Francis' visit to Sarajevo could help putting an end to the limbo blocking Bosnia's society since over 20 years. Much will depend on his words, and actions

For his first European journey, Pope Francis chose Albania, a land that has become a symbol of interfaith dialogue. The visit was experienced with great expectation by the majority of Albanians

After a major police operation, that recently resulted in 40 arrests of people suspected of engaging in conflicts in Syria and Iraq and supporting terrorist organizations, Kosovo institutions mobilized to fight religious extremism in the country

In the Iranian town of Isfahan, in the ancient district of New Julfa, lives an Armenian community. From the Ararat supermarket to the Ani cafe, everything here is reminiscent of the deep link of the Armenians to their homeland

On the Zlatište hills above Sarajevo, from where citizens were bombed on a daily basis by the Bosnian Serb Army during the war of the nineties, a 26-meter high cross should rise to remember Serbian victims

The dialogue between the government and Alevis stalls, while the largest Turkish minority is protesting against Erdoğan. The difficult situation in the province of Hatay

The state in Azerbaijan seems to be strictly in control of religious structures. Yet, many are turning to clerics deluded by social injustice and lack of acceptable forms of opposition

Trabzon is a millennial hub of trade and passage. Within its maze of streets stands the church of Aghia Sophia, whose fate is currently at stake as that of its more famous namesake in Istanbul

Armenians have followed closely the election of the new Pope, debating its possible consequences in the process of international recognition of the Genocide. In social networks, however, the event became an opportunity to discuss the role of the Church in modern society

Revelations on the sexual abuses by the Tuzla bishop - Karadžić and Mladić’s spiritual guide - have dragged the Serbian Orthodox church through one of the major scandals of the latest years. The victims’ declarations, the reconstruction by the Bosnian reporter who was able to get a hold of the records of the witnesses’ depositions

It is open clash between the Croatian Catholic Church and the center-left government. The disputed issue is sex education in schools, recently introduced in the broader context of civic education and health

Two weeks ago, 16 items allegedly belonging to Prophet Muhammad arrived in Grozny. It is not the first time that alleged relics of the Prophet have arrived in the Chechen capital - it has become a frequent occurrence lately – yet such events never fail to find an audience

Religion, education, politics. Observations on some recent events in the Bosnian news, a few weeks before the activities scheduled to remind Europe and the world of the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo and the war in Bosnia Herzegovina

In Skopje the construction of a church has increased hostility between the ethnic groups living in the Macedonian capital. Behind the clashes and protests hide the different political agendas of VMRO and DUI, the two ruling parties. An example of how the political leadership's behavior can contribute to the escalation of inter-ethnic tensions

Azerbaijani authorities recently instituted an outright ban on headscarves which, according to officials, was already part of existing law. The leader of the unregistered Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, who vocally opposed the ban, has been arrested

For the last 13 years, Bulgaria's Islamic community has been split by competing leaderships. However, the fight for control of the General Council of the Muftis – the representative body of Islam in Bulgaria – is not only a clash between factions but also between old and new generations

In Chechnya there is official support for attacks on women when they are considered to have ‘flouted’ Islamic rules by not wearing a headscarf or covering up enough. Tanya Lokshina listened to some of the women’s despairing accounts. From openDemocracy.net

Leader of the Turkish feminist movement, Fätmagül Berktay has defended the right to university even for those wearing the veil. “The Kemalist constitution let us move forward in society, but it had no effect on domestic violence, widespread in any class and ethnicity. The EU would make us stronger”. Our interview