President of the Turkish “Diyanet” Prof. Dr. Ali Erbaş with a number of meetings during his official visit to Bulgaria

The President of the Presidency on the Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey “Diyanet” Prof. Dr. Ali Erbaş was on a several-day official visit to our country. He arrived in Bulgaria at the end of the last week.

On June 14 (Friday) the high-ranking guest from Turkey visited Grand Mufti’s Office and then – the High Islamic Institute in the capital. During the Friday Jumu’ah prayer at the central mosque “Banya Bashi” Prof. Erbaş had the honor to read the Friday sermon (khutbah) and to lead the prayer itself.

The program of the visit of the guest included also an official Friday lunch at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Bulgaria where he was invited by the hosts for a meeting with prominent public figures and intellectuals, representatives of different associations and organisations.

Furthermore, Prof. Ali Erbaş held a meeting with the Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte. The meeting took place on Friday afternoon at the Palace of the Holy Synod and was attended also by the Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi. The two parties discussed various issues related to the Orthodox and the Muslim communities, and along with this they wished the good mutual relations and the opportunities for cooperation between the Orthodox Church and Grand Mufti’s Office to increase in the future.

In honor of Prof. Dr. Ali Erbaş the Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi gave an official dinner on Friday, June 17. It brought together at one table representatives of the different religious communities in Bulgaria. There were Orthodox Christians and the representatives of the National Council of the Religious Communities in Bulgaria (NCRCB).

“It is a great honor to us to be together. But this is not something new to the people in Bulgaria – to discuss and to help each other in issues that concern each of the religious communities. Our gathering this night, at one table, takes place at the background of the contemporary events, when religion is used for self-serving aims. But we oppose everything this. It is a great honor to us to be together, regardless the religious differences between us.” – said in his address to the guests of the dinner the host Dr. Hadzhi.

After the dynamic Friday prayer the official visit of Prof. Erbaş to our country continued with participation in the official opening of the renovated “Esqi Mosque” in the town of Haskovo on Sunday.

Author: L. Chausheva