TIRANA, Feb. 19 – Albania will not take part in the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to be held in Tehran, Iran, a spokesperson for Albania’s parliament said.
The organizers had sent a request to Albanian Parliamentary Speaker Ilir Meta, who declined the invitation, citing “budgetary limitations this year and a busy agenda.”
Meta’s predecessor, Jozefina Topalli, took part at the meeting held from the organization in 2012 in Indonesia.
Albania has been a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference since 1992, when the country had just come out of a brutal communist regime that made it the only officially atheist country in the world. Then-president Sali Berisha moved the country into the organization, making it the only European country to have full membership the the UN-like organization that promotes Muslim solidarity in economic, social, and political affairs.
Membership has sparked some debate in Albania, with those opposed to it saying they disagree with many of the stances of the OIC and that membership is incompatible with Albania’s EU hopes. Proponents of the membership say Albania can serve as a bridge between West and East with its membership.
The move comes as right-wing Dutch members of parliament had cited Albania’s membership in the organization as one of the reasons that the country’s bid to join the European Union should be delayed.
Though EU officials insist religion has nothing to do with an unexpected delay in granting Albania EU candidate status, the possibility has started a debate about the perceptions EU residents hold about Albania and the realities of life in country.
Muslims make up more than half of Albania’s population, but the country is one of the world’s least religious countries, staunchly secular and tolerant. Of the 56 percent of Albanians who declared Islam as their religion in the 2011 census, only 7 percent (about 120,000 people) consider religion as a very important factor in their lives, which was the lowest percentage in the world among countries with significant Muslim populations, according to a recent survey. Another survey lists Albania as the thirteenth least religious country in the world.
