The Flemish Interior Minister Gwendolyn Rutten (liberal) has suspended the official recognition that had been granted to a mosque in the East Flemish city of Aalst for one year. The suspension of official recognition means that the Diyanet Mosque won’t receive any funding from the provincial authorities for the coming year. Previously the Flemish authorities only had the option of revoking recognition from mosques and other places of worship definitively. Now they also have the option to suspend recognition. It’s the first time that the Flemish authorities have suspended recognition from a place of worship.
The Kevser Mosque has been in the eye of a storm for some time. Ms Rutten told VRT News that there was suspicion of foreign interference in the mosque. “The mosque is part of the Diyanet group of mosques and these are often said to be antennae for the Turkish president Erdogan”.
However, this is not the reason that Ms Rutten has decided to suspend the mosque’s recognition. Recognition has been suspended as the Flemish Decree on places of worship says that they must have a publically-accessible area where believers can got and prey. For the past 2 years this has no longer been the case in Aalst, despite promises made by the mosque to rectify things. Now Ms Rutten says that enough is enough and “I can’t do anything other than to follow the law and suspend the mosque for one year”.
Financial consequences
The decision to suspend the mosque’s recognition will have financial consequences. Places of worship that enjoy recognition from the Flemish authorities receive financial support from the provincial authorities, in this case East Flanders. The financial support is designed to, for example, help pay utilities bills.
It will be up to the federal authorities to take a decision on whether the Imam at the mosque will no longer be paid from the public purse. imams, priests, rabbis…are paid by the (federal) Belgian state and not by the province of the Flemish authorities.