Dispute in IRC over Grand Mufti Position, Finance Police enters IRC Premises

Officers from the Finance Police entered on Tuesday the premises of the Islamic Religious Community of Macedonia (IRC) in order to examine the working of the current grand Mufti of IRC Sulejman Rexhepi. The police officers were called by IRC member Skender Buzaku, who claims he is the new rightful head of IRC in the place of Rexhepi. “According to a decision made by a the Basic Court Skopje 2, I am the new Grand Mufti for Macedonia. I called the finance police because Rexhepi was usurping IRC for way too long to provide employment and existence for his close relatives,” Buzaku said. Shortly after this, representatives of IRC said that only the Riaset (High Council) of IRC has the power to decide who will be the new Grand Mufti. “The Grand Mufti Rexhepi has not yet filed resignation from his position, and even if he does, the Riaset maintains the right to reject it, thus only the Riaset can decide who will be the new Grand Mufti and whether the old one will be replaced or not. Not a single of the state institutions has the right to interfere with the decisions of the Riaset; if it was so, the why don’t they appoint the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church too,” said Muhamed Veseli from IRC. Rexhepi himself commented on the incident, stating that this is a coup attempt against him and the current management of IRC.