MACEDONIA: GOVERNMENT PULLS TEXTBOOK DEEMED

UNCLAS SKOPJE 000735 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/SCE (PFEUFFER) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL MK SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: GOVERNMENT PULLS TEXTBOOK DEEMED OFFENSIVE TO MUSLIMS ¶1. (SBU) On September 7, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced it would withdraw from circulation a high school history textbook deemed offensive to Muslims because it included a portrait of the Prophet Mohamed, which is forbidden under Islam. According to the MOE, the textbook, used by 9th grade students since July 2006, originally was published under the former Minister of Education (from the ethnic Albanian DUI party). In addition to pulling the volume, the MOE issued a public apology to the Islamic Community of Macedonia (ICM). ¶2. (SBU) The ICM's Secretary General and Spokesperson, Afron Tahiri, told us on September 7 that the picture of the Prophet Mohamed was discovered by some concerned parents, who alerted the media, the MOE (headed by junior government coalition partner eAlbanian DPA),and the ICM. Tahiri said he was pleased that the MOE immediately contacted him and addressed the problem promptly. The ICM expects the authors of the history textbook to apologize publicly for their lapse. In the meantime, Tahiri sees a potential problem with a similar depiction of Mohamed in a philosophy textbook that is currently in use in Macedonian high schools. ¶3. (SBU) Comment: The MOE's prompt action to remove the offending textbook, and its public apology, will play well in the Islamic community here. As such, those actions might also have been calculated to soften objections from the ICM to the newly-passed law on religious communities (septel), which has raised concerns that other Islamic sects, such as the Bekteshi, will be able to legally register in Macedonia and threaten the ICM's local monopoly on Islamic believers. In addition, it is likely that the MOE's public announcement that the textbooks were approved under the previous DUI-dominated MOE was aimed at casting DUI as an insensitive party when it comes to issues that affect Macedonia's Muslim population. End comment. NAVRATIL