PDF Dosyası - Ankara Üniversitesi Kitaplar Veritabanı

THE NORTHERNMOST TURK COMMUNITY-ACASE OF EURO-ISLAM IN FINLANDProf. Dr. Tapani HAR VIAINEN*At present, the Volga Turk Tatar community in Finland consists ofapprox. 950 Sünni Muslims. During the last three decades other Muslimshave also immigrated to Finland from the Arab countries, from Turkey,Iran, Somalia and, to a lesser degree, from south-eastern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In total, the number of Muslims in Finland is between fîfteenand twenty thousand. Among the population of Finland, i.e. 5 million,the Müslim minority constitutes 0.4 per cent of the total. 86% ofFinns are members of the Lutheran Church, one per cent members of theOrthodox Church. Jews have lived in the country from the middle of the19th century onvvards; at present they number approx. 1100; and some10% of Finns remain without religious affıliation. These figures indicatethat the population of Finland is stili very homogenous in comparisonvvith the majority of European countries.The Tatar community represents the earliest settlement of Muslimsin Finland vvhither their forefathers came from the guberniyas of NizhniyNovgorod and Simbirsk, east of Moscovv, in the period 1880-1930. Thisimplies that in three or four generations they have adapted to Finnish societyin numerous respects, and, as a consequence, their position in thecountry and their attitudes to daily life in Finland differ remarkably fromthe approach of their co-religionists vvho have more recently settled in thecountry.Tvvo factors have brought Tatars to Finland. In 1809 Finland vvasseparated from Svveden and became a Grand Duchy vvithin the RussianEmpire. Troops of the Russian army vvere stationed in Finland and theseincluded Tatars and other Muslims vvho served in several garrison tovvnsin the country. In 1858 a Russian military regulation vvas issued concerningsoldiers discharged from the Russian army. According to this ukase, asoldier in possession of a letter of retirement, passport or a travel documenthad the right to settle dovvn and support himself in Finland. The* University of Helsinki.723