Most people in the Czech Republic and Slovakia would ban a possible construction of minarets, the daily Lidove noviny (LN) reports Wednesday, referring to a poll conducted by the NMS agency simultaneously in both countries.
The poll has reacted to the recent controversial referendum in Switzerland in which most people voted against the construction of more minarets, tall spires with onion-shaped or conical crowns used for the call to prayer, in their country.
According to the NMS poll conducted on 424 voters in the Czech Republic and 502 in Slovakia, 78 percent of Czech respondents and 70 percent of Slovaks would vote against minarets in a referendum.
Moreover, 54 percent of Czechs and 56 percent of Slovaks would ban the construction of both minarets and new mosques, Tomas Dvorak, from NMS, told LN.
The poll also shows that Czechs and Slovaks mind new mosques less than minarets. Only one-third of the polled strictly oppose mosques, others do not want them only in “their surroundings.”
Nevertheless, Muslims in the Czech Republic are not considering building minarets for the time being, LN writes.
Muneeb Hassan, from the Islamic community, said minarets are rather a pretext. “Those who mind Islam and Muslims are against minarets,” he told LN.
Muslims in the Czech Republic and Slovakia face more serious problems with the construction of their houses of prayer.
In the Slovak capital of Bratislava, for instance, they bought a plot ten years ago but they have not obtained a building permit yet, LN writes.
The first mosque in the Czech Republic is in Brno where Muslims are planning another one, but many people have protested against the project. The Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and representatives of the extra-parliamentary ultra-right National Party (NS) have disagreed with it.
In addition, a decree to regulate the maximal height of buildings in various parts of the city is being prepared in Brno, which could affect the construction of minarets, LN writes.
The paper recalls that there is only one minaret in the Czech Republic, in the UNESCO-listed Lednice-Valtice chateau and park complex, south Moravia, that has actually nothing to do with Muslims. The minaret with quotes from the Quran on the walls was built in 1804 to house exotic collections of the Liechtenstein noble family.