Slovakia Maintains Status as Last EU Member State Without a Single Mosque
Slovakia is continuing to maintain its status as the last EU member state without a single mosque. Islam is also not officially recognized in the country, meaning they cannot have official religious leaders, marriages that would be considered equal to civil marriages or receive funds from the government like 18 or the countries other religious groups.
This is the result of a policy that states that in order to be officially recognized, a religion needs to have at least 50000 adult signatures from its group. This number was increased from 20000 in 2007. the current Islamic population of Slovakia is sitting at around 5000. This could technically mean that they could achieve the construction of a mosque if their numbers are allowed to grow.
However, Slovakia has long fought the European Union on the number of refugees it is required to let it and culturally has a very anti Muslim sentiment with many politicians emphasizing their concerns about nearby European countries that have opened their borders.
Slovakia has a history of occupation by Islamic nations when the Turks seized lands in the Southern Central region of the country during the Ottoman-Hapsburg Wars fought between the 16th and 18th centuries.
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