Foundation Islamic Union
Makedonya-Kuzey
Official Name: Republic of North Macedonia
Capital city : Skopje
Important Cities: Monastir, Kumanovo, Pirlepe, Tetovo, Tetovo.
Area: 25,713 km2
Population: 2.069.160 (2021)[1]
National Income Per Capita: 6,712 USD (2021)[2]
Ethnicity: Macedonian 64.18%, Albanian 25.17%, Turkish 3.85%, Roma 2.66%, Serbian 1.77%.
Bosniak 0,84 per cent, Vlach 0,47 per cent, Other 1,10 per cent.
Language : Macedonian, Albanian (second official language),
Religion: Orthodox Christian 65%, Muslim 33,3%, Catholic Christian 0,34%, Other 1,63%.
Geographical Situation: Macedonia, which is a mountainous country, has gained a rejuvenated land appearance as a result of tectonic movements in the recent geological period, although it is covered with very old land.
The dominant climate type in the country is continental climate with cold winters and hot, dry summers. As natural vegetation, dense forest cover is found in mountainous areas. Steppe appearance is dominant in the summer season in the hollow areas.
The most important river in Macedonia is the Vardar River, which passes through the capital city Skopje and divides the country into two. This river, which reaches the Aegean Sea after passing through Greece, has become a symbol of the country.
Less than a quarter of its territory is arable and 10 per cent of the national income is based on agriculture, 32 per cent on industry and 58 per cent on the services sector. Agriculture is diversified in the less hilly parts of the country and in the hollows. Rice, tobacco and wheat are cultivated, as well as various fruits (grapes and especially blackberries). During the Yugoslav Federation period, although large-scale industrial establishments were built, they could not be very useful for the country's economy because their establishment locations were not well chosen. Apart from the metal industry, the main industries are textiles, wood products and tobacco. The main underground riches in the country are chromium, zinc, manganese, tungsten and iron.[3]
History: Macedonians began to settle in the vicinity of Aigai near Thessaloniki after 1200 BC. After the defeat of Serbian and allied forces in the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, it came under Ottoman rule. The name Macedonia was forgotten under Ottoman rule. However, as the Ottoman rule in the Balkans was shaken, the name started to be used again in Europe as of the beginning of the XIXth century. After the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1878, this name became widespread among the newly established Balkan countries and was not officially used by the Ottoman government. The region covered by Old Macedonia was part of the province of Rumelia under the central administration of the Ottoman Empire. In the XIXth century, it was located within the borders of elviye-i selâsenin (three provinces) (Thessaloniki, Bitola and Kosovo provinces). The Greater Bulgaria, which was established with the Treaty of Ayastafanos after the 1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian War, included the Macedonia region to a great extent. Greater Bulgaria was also divided into three. The part including the Danube province was established as the Principality of Bulgaria, while the southern part was turned into an autonomous province under the name of Eastern Rumelia.
Ethnic conflicts and bloody gang wars were in full swing in Macedonia when the Ottoman Freedom Society was founded by the Young Turks in Thessaloniki in 1906. This organisation, which was founded as a reaction of the Muslims of Macedonia to the developments in Macedonia, merged with the Ottoman Terakki ve İttihat Cemiyeti in Paris under its name in 1907 and became its internal centre-umûmî . The organisation succeeded in recruiting many officers of the Third Army in Thessaloniki, who were in charge of pursuing the gangs, to the Young Turk movement. In June 1908, when the British and Russian monarchs met in Reval and began to prepare a new reform package that would allegedly eliminate Ottoman rule in Macedonia, the Young Turks revolted against the regime of Abdul Hamid II, which they claimed was failing to protect the rights of the Ottoman state. The rebellion led by officers such as Enver Bey and Niyazi Bey in Macedonia went down in history as the Young Turk revolution and resulted in the proclamation of Constitutional Monarchy II by Abdül-Hamid II on 24 July 1908. Turkish, Albanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian. Serbian, Vlach, Vlach, and Jewish deputies entered the Ottoman Majlis-i Meb'usan. Thereupon, the arms collection movement started in Albania in 1910 was continued in Macedonia. Bulgaria, which declared its full independence in 1908, started to complain against the Ottoman government in Europe and before the great powers and to propagandise that its compatriots in Macedonia were forcibly Turkified by the Young Turks. In 1912, the Balkan states formed an alliance and declared war on the Ottoman Empire, with the support and indoctrination of Russia. In the war that ended with the Treaty of London signed in May 1913, the Ottoman Empire completely lost Macedonia along with other regions. The Muslims of Macedonia, who were subjected to heavy massacres during the war, started to flee and migrate from the region by being subjected to the pressure of the Balkan states in the following years. However, the states that formed the Balkan alliance could not agree on the sharing of Macedonia. Greece, Serbia and Romania united and defeated Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War. In the war, which ended with the Treaty of Bucharest in August 1913, most of Macedonia fell into the hands of Greece and Serbia.
Internal Problems: The greatest internal turmoil the Republic of Macedonia faced after independence was the ethnic division between Slavic Macedonians and Albanians. In the middle of the same year, the Albanian National Liberation Army, UÇK, led by Ali Ahmeti, Fazli Veliu and Gezim Ostreni, operated in a wide area from Tanushe, Breza and Malina in the Skopje Montenegro to Kumanovo, Skopje and Tetovo, and clashed with Macedonian troops. The armed organisation, the Albanian National Liberation Army, was disbanded and transformed into a political party led by Ali Ahmeti.[4]
External Problems: Macedonia's historical problems between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia continue.
Islamism in the Country: With the establishment of Ottoman rule in the Balkans, the conversion of Albanians and some Slavic people to Islam and the intensive settlement of Turks resulted in a significant Muslim population in the region. The majority of the Turks in Eastern Macedonia and the majority of both Turks and Albanians in Western Macedonia migrated to Turkey.
After the Ottoman period, the religious organisation that took care of the religious life of the Muslims here and was directly affiliated to Sarajevo under the name of 'Vakufska Direkcija', then the Mashihat of the Islamic Union of Macedonia, still continues its activities. There are 13 mufti offices under this organisation. Today, under the administration of this muftiate, there is an Imam Hatip High School and a Faculty of Theology in Skopje, the Isa Bey Madrasah. Since 1987, a monthly newspaper called 'el-Hilal' has been published in Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish. Religious publications are also partially published in all three languages.
There were three madrasas in Skopje between 1918 and 1945 (Meddah Madrasah, King Aleksandar Madrasah, Isâ Bey Madrasah), and the Yucel Organisation, which was active in Skopje during and after World War II, voiced the national problems of the Turks in Macedonia and most of its members were executed by the communist regime.
Fifty-seven mosques were destroyed as a result of the civil war that started in Macedonia in March 2001. Among them, Pirlepe Bazaar Mosque (1475) and Fazil Ahmed Pasha Mosque (18th century) in Köprülü, known as historical monuments, were completely burnt down by Macedonian para-military forces. The Ishakiye Mosque (1506), Hasan Baba Mosque (1629), Hamza Bey Mosque (18th century), Pasha Mosque (1495) and Harabati Baba Tekke (16th century) in Tetovo were partially destroyed during the war. In 2003, during the restoration of the Stone Bridge (Karneni Most) in Skopje by the Skopje Metropolitan Municipality, the inscription and the mihrab were demolished, which led to a new political crisis between Muslim intellectuals and politicians and the Macedonian state. Similarly, in the early 199Os, Macedonian nationalists caused a crisis because of the crosses on the Ottoman clock towers in Bitola and Pirlepe, and this situation has not been resolved until today.[5]
Today, there are over 600 mosques open and in use in Macedonia. With branches in 4 different cities, educational institutions such as Skopje Isa Bey Madrasah - Imam Hatip High School and Faculty of Islamic Sciences continue their activities. The Muslims of Macedonia have the Hanafi sect in the practical field, the Maturidi school according to the principles of faith (belief), and the Turkish - Ottoman - Islamic cultural heritage as culture and tradition.
Muslims, who were oppressed and persecuted under these systematic oppressions for years, were very happy with the collapse of the communist system and multi-party life. But unfortunately, Muslims could not find what they were looking for in this new process. Muslims continued to face many obstacles in obtaining their democratic rights.
In those troubled times, oral tradition was the most widely used method. Muslims learnt new things about Islam from the officials at almost every opportunity. First and foremost, the first knowledge of the catechism was not forgotten in this way. They learnt how to perform prayers, fasting, ablution and other essential acts of worship.
The first Islamic press in the Republic of Macedonia was published in 1959. This was the 'Small Ilmihal' translated from Serbian into Turkish by Hafiz Kamil Abbas. The Islamic Union printed 10.000 copies of this 46-page mini work. In this work, the conditions of faith and Islam were explained.
With the collapse of the communist system, both the works containing religious literature and Mushafs started to come from Turkey since 1990. The Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey and other associations and foundations started to present books and Qur'ans to the Islamic Union of Macedonia, and Qur'an banquets were organised.
The Islamic Union of Macedonia attaches great importance to the construction of Qur'an courses attached to mosque complexes. For this reason, there are madrasahs adjacent to all our mosques.
Education: Literacy Rate: 97.4%
Ratio of urbanised population: 60
Agricultural Land: 665,891 hectares
Forest Land: 2,824 ha
Currency: Macedonian Denar
State Form and Structure: Republic - Parliamentary Democracy. President directly
is elected by the people.
Main export items: Ferro-nickel, iron and steel products, tobacco textiles and garments
Main import items: Petroleum and derivatives, electricity, automobiles and other road vehicles
and spare parts
Major Export Countries: Germany, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece respectively,
Belgium, Italy, (Turkey ranks 9th. is in order).
Major Import Countries: Germany, England, Greece, Serbia, China respectively,
Italy, Turkey (Turkey 7th. ranked)
International Organisations: WTO; UN; NATO; IMF.
[1] www.ticaret.gov.tr(Accessed October-2021)
[2] www.ticaret.gov.tr(October-2021 Access)
[3] Encyclopaedia of Islam, TDV.
[4] Encyclopaedia of Islam, TDV.
[5] Encyclopaedia of Islam, TDV.
