Serbian mufti sends prayer for Turkish PM
Mufti Mevlud Dudic says Turkey's greatest cultural and economic breakthroughs have come under Turkish PM Erdogan.
By Erol Avdovic
Source Faruk Vele AA - Sarajevo
The newly elected president of the Islamic Community in Serbia says he has sent a prayer to God to help Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Mufti Mevlud Dudic said he sent the special prayer, known as a Dua, so that Erdogan could “persist in his path.” A Mufti is an Islamic cleric.
Dudic is based in Novi Pazar, a city in southwest Serbia that was once part of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey.
“I am very glad that the support to Prime Minister Erdogan was sent from Sandzak,” Dudic said. Sandzak is a cross-border region that extends over parts of two countries – Serbia and Montenegro. The region's name is of Turkish origin.
Dudic said he thought opponents were trying to undermine Erdogan's government. "The least we can do is to send a public message from Sandzak,” Dudic told Anadolu Agency.
"I think that the greatest civilizational, cultural and economical breakthrough, and every other step in Turkey were made by very distinguished Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Dudic said.
He said it was particularly worrisome that people were dissatisfied at a time when Turkey was experiencing prosperity. He said he had asked Turkish people if they were missing something.
"They told me, 'Nothing,' he said. “So why you are protesting?” They responded: 'Well, I don’t know, we got bored. Unfortunately, that’s who we are – Muslims, Bosniaks, Turks…,” Dudic said.
He added that he believes Turkey deserves to be the leader within Muslim World. He said he feared that Turkey was, in part, paying a price for its support for the Syrians opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Dudic was elected the President of Islamic Community in Serbia on January 4th. He will be inaugurated in February. In an exclusive interview with AA in Sarajevo, he said the people of Sandzak should bear in mind that more than three million Bosniaks -- Bosnian Muslims -- live in Turkey.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
