Pristina, Rabi Thani 26/July 17 (IINA) - Yacoub Hasib, one of the Macedonian Muslim militants in the Albanian Freedom-fighters Army has appealed to Muslims in the world to lend support and help their brethren of Macedonia. He said the number of Muslim refugees has reached 100,000, the majority of them now in refugee camps in Kosovo and Albania, but they are going through very trying and difficult times. He added that the situation of the Muslims who have remained in Macedonia is even worse, in that they lack even the barest means of existence.

Hasib said: "We have been attacked because we clung to our rights, this being the main cause of the conflict." He said the Macedonian constitution does not recognize the rights of even those who have been living in the country for thousands of years, and only recognizes the indigenous Macedonians.

Hasib told ALMADINA newspaper that ethnic Albanian Muslims in Macedonia constitute more than 45 percent of the total population of two million. He said they have around 2,000 mosques, in each of which there are Qur’an learning circles, adding that there already are about 2,000 who have committed the Qur’an to memory.

Hasib said there are about 3,000 of Macedonian Muslim students studying at various universities in various parts of the Muslim world, many of whom have already graduated with flying colors. He added that in Macedonia there is a secondary school for Shari’a Studies, plus a college for Islamic Studies.

He said there are only a few Islamic charitable organizations that have established a presence in Macedonia, adding that the problems facing the Macedonian Muslims are no less acute as those that faced Bosnian and Kosovar Muslims.

HI/OB/IINA