Classroom for Islamic religious education opened in Split, Croatia

A classroom for Islamic religious education, whose equipment was financially assisted by city and county authorities, was opened in the coastal city of Split, Croatia, on Friday.

Attending the opening ceremony was, among others, the head of the Islamic community in Croatia, Mufti Aziz Hasanovic, who said that the key to preventing extremism and radicalism was education.

"We are proud to say that we did not have in Croatia any departures for foreign battlefields and that we do not have that kind of problems owing to places of learning like this one, where children are taught the true values of faith," said Hasanovic.

Commenting on the relationship between Croatian state institutions and the Islamic community, Hasanovic said that it was the best regulated relationship not just on a European but on a global scale as well.

The head of the Split Islamic Community Majlis, Vahid Hadzic, said that Split has a community of some 1,000 Bosniaks, there are around 2,300 Bosniaks in Split County and 103 children attend Islamic religion classes.

"Around 60 children will attend religion classes in this new classroom and that is very important to us. According to existing regulations, other children can attend Islamic religion classes in the schools where there are at least seven Muslim children," said Hadzic.