VZCZCXRO7106
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #1392/01 2841754
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111754Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1589
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 001392 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SR KV BK
SUBJECT:  Violence within Serbia's Muslim Community in Sandzak 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Serbia's non-Albanian Islamic community in the Sandzak, 
split along political and party lines, dramatically and repeatedly 
clashed in Novi Pazar, the week of October 1.  The series of 
disturbances began with Belgrade's attempt to oust Serbia's chief 
Islamic religious leader, followed with brawling in a mosque, and 
culminated with an attack by a masked man at a television station. 
All of this occurred, perhaps coincidentally on the eve of the 
Ambassador's planned October 9 Iftar dinner in Novi Pazar, the 
capital of the Sandzak (septel). The conflict involves politics, 
economics, money, land and very little religion.  And the story's 
not over yet with the new Belgrade-anointed Mufti due to participate 
in a public investiture ceremony on October 11.  The Sandzak remains 
one of Serbia's multiple flashpoints, where political forces can and 
do cause violent confrontations at will.  End Summary. 
 
Mufti Wars 
---------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In a move allegedly orchestrated in Belgrade, 
approximately 20 imams from Serbia's Sandzak region on October 3 
elected Imam Adem Zilkic their chief religious leader, or Reis.  The 
election ousted Serbia's Chief Mufti, Muamer Zukorlic, who was out 
of the country at the time.  The election also challenged the 
authority of the traditional head of the Islamic community in the 
former Yugoslavia, Sarajevo-based Reis-ul-Ulema Mustafa Ef. Ceric. 
Whereas the rift was an obvious Belgrade orchestration, it more 
closely reflects the rift between Sandzak's dominant political 
figures and parties, the Sarajevo-based Democratic Action Party 
(SDA), headed by Novi Pazar Mayor Suleyman Ugljanin and its now 
hostile off-shoot, the Sandzak Democratic Party, led by Minister of 
Social and Labor Affairs Rasim Ljajic. 
 
Parties Clash 
------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Zukorlic's followers publicly rejected the apparently 
fraudulent nature of the election and on October 6 incident, in the 
town of Prijepole, they attempted to oust local imams with ties to 
the Belgrade Muslim community.  Police intervened, making several 
arrest and confiscating weapons.  On October 6 police entered a 
mosque in Sjenica, near Novi Pazar, and using cattle prods, broke up 
a brawl that ensued when Zukorlic's supporters allegedly disrupted a 
service that a Zilkic imam had been officiating.  On October 7, an 
armed, masked man entered two separate Novi Pazar TV stations during 
a broadcast of an interview with Zilkic.  In one, he destroyed 
equipment and injured an employee before fleeing.  The night of 
October 10, someone returned to the previously undamaged station and 
poured gasoline on the floor starting a fire that cut television 
broadcasts to Novi Pazar.  Ahead, a planned public celebration of 
the new Mufti's investiture as Reis on October 11, could easily 
spark confrontation. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Zukorlic, who continues to claim his title and authority, 
explained his version of the recent events to the Ambassador on 
October 9, on the eve of the Ambassador-hosted Iftar in Novi Pazar. 
He said he believed national security forces had orchestrated his 
removal.  Sandzak imams, echoing their leader, told emboffs that 
they believed Serbia's security forces might have been involved and 
that Belgrade's Mufti Jusufspahic certainly was. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The conflict is based on political lines, each faction 
aligning with a different home-grown political champion.  Zukorlic's 
supporters line up behind Labor Minister Rasim Ljajic and Zilkic's 
line up behind Novi Pazar Mayor Sulejman Ugljanin.  Ugljanin 
supports greater autonomy for the Sandzak region, yet maintains 
close ties with Belgrade cleric Jusufspahic.  Ljajic's Sandzak 
Democratic Party (SDP) calls for greater participation of "Bosniaks" 
in Serbian institutions, democratization, and development of civil 
society. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The fight is likely also about money and land.  Sandzak's 
140,000 Muslims represent over 60% of the local population.  They 
are active in all aspects of Sandzak political, economic, academic, 
and business life, and the religious leader of this community yields 
significant power.  Zukorlic, for example, is rector of a secular 
university and is involved in planning for the economic development 
of the region.  The rijasat's (Islamic civic foundation under 
control of the reis) claim to potentially vast holdings of property, 
once Serbia undertakes restititution of communal property, also is 
very much at stake. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (U) The Sandzak remains a flashpoint and a prize for warring 
political interests.  Politicians and parties will continue to 
manipulate religion to position themselves as claimants to the vast 
lands and enterprises that once belonged to the Islamic community of 
Sandzak.  As December 10 and its aftermath draw nearer, Sandzak 
 
BELGRADE 00001392  002 OF 002 
 
 
remains at risk of being drawn into whatever violence may ensue. 
End Comment. 
 
BRUSH