Ukraine is not an Islamic state. Nevertheless, “Islam’s two most important festivals, Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, will become official state holidays in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on May 18, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide.” This signifies Ukraine’s alliance with Islam against Russia.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine have been sour ever since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, and relations between nearby Turkey and Russia are tense.
Muslims in Ukraine and the Ukraine government have now formed a convenient alliance, further sealed by Turkey. Less than four months ago, Zelensky boasted that” relations between Ukraine and Turkey have significant potential for development and have already reached a new level.” Ukraine has been “struggling to put together a coherent strategy for resolving the military conflict with pro-Russian forces in the eastern region of the Donbas, which has already killed more than 13,000 people.” Amid Turkey’s “growing regional power,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is certain to be pleased with the new national holidays in Ukraine.
“Two Islamic festivals to become state holidays in Ukraine,” by Artur Korniienko, Kyiv Post, May 17, 2020:
Islam’s two most important festivals, Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, will become official state holidays in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on May 18, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide.
“We want to build a state in which everyone feels like a citizen of Ukraine. I would like everyone to feel like a full-fledged citizen, not forgetting the history and traditions of one’s own people. We want to support you not only in words, but in actions, at the legislative level,” Zelensky told representatives…..