Russian muftis ready to reconcile Moscow and Ankara

The Russian Muftis Council is ready to join the process of normalization of relations between Moscow and Ankara, the chairman of the Council, Ravil Gaynutdin, said.

"We believe that the Russian Muslims should be peacemakers. We will be doing what we can, we continue developing human relations between good people," Gaynutdin assured.

He believes that often "politics and diplomacy cannot solve complex problems, namely, the human relations, some spiritual relations." In this regard, Gaynutdin stressed that the Council's efforts have always been aimed at "creation of a good image of Russia in the Arab Islamic world."

"We considered it necessary that, without being politicians, we do not assess or comment, because we do not know what happened and why it happened, because we are the religious leaders," the chairman of the Russian Muftis Council said.

"Today, ordinary people should not suffer, neither the Russian nor Turkish people. We understand that Turkey and Russia are the Eurasian countries. We are Eurasia and it very much depends on Eurasia," he said.

Gaynutdin has no doubt that "Transcaucasia,Caucasus, Central Asia - these Turkic-speaking states treat Turkey and Russia equally" and "they will not tear any relations with Turkey or Russia."

"We believe that today we need to calm down. Of course, it's a shame what happened, but we believe it's still possible to find a compromise through diplomacy, through negotiations. I am sure it's possible to resolve any conflict," the head of the Russian Muftis Council said.

The Vice-President of the Association of Russian Muslim entrepreneurs, Marseille Sabirov, told a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of various subjects of the federation and the Turkish muftiate have been cooperating for over 20 years, adding that many Russian imams were educated in Turkey during this period.

"Ankara also helped to publish various Muslim books. In addition, the two countries have close spiritual ties, as most of the Russian Muslims follow the Hanafi school [which is one of the four religious Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence - VK]. Turkey is one of its capitals. The Muslims of Moscow and Ankara have close relations, so I think that an initiative of the Russian Muftis Council is very correct, and it can bring closer the positions of Russia and Turkey," Marseille Sabirov concluded.