Sixth annual ‘Coffee of Tolerance’ held in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv

The leaders of the Muslim community in Bulgaria’s city of Plovdiv held on February 14 the sixth annual “Coffee of Tolerance” event at the Dzhumaya Mosque, hosting representatives of the city’s Christian and Jewish communities.

Organised by the Regional Mufti’s Office and the Muslim Board of Trustees in Plovdiv, the event has been held ever since an incident in 2014 when a large of group of “football fans” attacked the mosque in Plovdiv.

Hosted by the chairman of the board of the mosque, Ahmed Pehlivan, and Regional Mufti Taner Veli, guests included district governor Dani Kanazireva, Bulgaria’s Chief Mufti Mustafa Hadji, consul-general of Turkey in Plovdiv Hussein Ergani, the Plovdiv leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms Ali Bairlev, Svetlozar Kalev, head of the Plovdiv regional organization of the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom” and Plovdiv deputy mayor in charge of culture, Plamen Panov.

Plovdiv news website podtepeto.com noted that for the sixth consecutive year, the Plovdiv Metropolitan of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Nikolai, failed to send a representative.

(Photo: podtepeto.com)