Controversial mosque to go up in Ljubljana

After a dispute that went on for years, the zoning plan for the construction of an Islamic mosque and cultural centre has been approved in Ljubljana. For Delo newspaper this does not mean the end of the conflict: "It looks as if collecting the money for the land and construction costs will be the smallest problem. Now city councillor Mihael Jarc has announced that a referendum will be held on the mosque. What bothers him is the planned minaret, which will be 40 metres high. It seems that events surrounding the construction of the mosque will remain in the centre of the public eye, even outside Slovenia. There are roughly 60,000 Muslims here, most of them members of the so called second generation with either one or both parents from Bosnia or Kosovo. These are Slovenians of Muslim faith, and that is also the reason for their decade-long desire for a mosque and a cultural centre. ... Relations between the state and the Muslim community are ... entirely respectable, and that is a good thing, too."

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