The needs and the problems of the Muslims in the municipality of Varna were discussed during an official meeting with the Mayor Ivan Portnih

An official meeting between the Mayor of the Municipality of Varna Ivan Portnih and the management of Regional Mufti’s Office – Varna was held on January 15, (Wednesday), 2020. It took place at the initiative of the local mufti’s office and was attended by the Regional Mufti Nuray Shukri, the expert from “Waqf” Department lawyer Sezay Cholakov and the secretary at Regional Mufti’s Office – Varna Fahredin Mollamehmed.

During the held official meeting the two parties discussed important and current issues related to the life of the Muslim community in the maritime capital. They included the problem in the Central cemetery – Varna and the filled capacity for new burial sites in the Muslim block, as well as the possibilities for cleaning the cemetery, the filing and providing new places. The management of the mufti’s office in Varna asked the Municipality of Varna in the person of the Mayor Ivan Portnih, for assistance in solving this case, because the funeral works in the Muslim block of the cemetery has been stopped at the moment.

The Mayor was also asked for assistance in solving several other problems – removing several mobile facilities with a questionable legality from the waqf property at “Hayrie” mosque in the city; starting the construction and repair works for reinforcement of the minaret of the central mosque in Varna “Azizie”, which is cracked and currently is in a poor condition as a whole. In connection with this issues the Mayor Ivan Portnih expressed his readiness for assistance with granting municipal funds for the beginning of the repair works, but before this a construction and architectural expertise must be done by specialists.

During the meeting the Municipality of Varna also committed itself to provide a municipal site in Maksuda quarter to be used as a cultural and religious house for the needs of the local Muslim population.

The two parties also discussed the idea for the differentiation and the tourist identification of various less known so far historical sites from the Ottoman period – fountains, monuments and others, located on the territory of the city. For this purpose, a future meeting was foreseen with a historian from the Muslim community in Varna and the Chief Architect of the Municipality of Varna, the idea of which is these sited even to become part of the ongoing project for establishing a “tourist ring” in the maritime capital.

At the end of the meeting the Mayor of the Municipality of Varna Ivan Portnih and the Regional Mufti Nuray Shukri parted with mutual best wishes, and the guest presented as a gift to the host of the meeting, Portnih, the latest edition of the translation of the Holy Qur’an.

Author: L. Chausheva