A two day conference devoted to Muslims in Europe is being held in Warsaw, organized by the European Islamic Institute at Warsaw University.
There are some 38 million Muslims resident in Europe, the majority in Central and Eastern Europe.
Islam is the religion of 80 percent of Albanians, and 90 percent of the inhabitants of Kosovo as well as a vast majority of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
In western Europe the over 10 million immigrant Muslim population resides in Great Britain, Germany and France.
A key element of the “Muslims in Europe- a wealth of diversity or a source of conflict?” conference aims to show that Islam should not be identified with terrorism.
“Terrorism can be found in many places and perpetrated by those from all religions. It is vital that we refrain from identifying it exclusively with Islam,” said Anna Parzymies from the Islamic Centre in Warsaw.
Muslims in Poland constitute less than one tenth percent of the population. The largest agglomeration lives in the Podlasie region in the east, mainly among the Tartar population who have been living in Poland for over 600 years.