Greece to build €15 million mosque in Athens to replace private prayer houses

Giorgos · 9th October 2006, 09:29

Quote:

Greece to build €15 million mosque in Athens to replace private prayer houses

Greece will spend €15 million (US$19 million) to build a new mosque in Athens in the next three years, replacing private prayer houses set up in basements, apartments, and converted coffee shops used by tens of thousands of immigrants.

Religious Affairs Minister Marietta Giannakou announced the plan Thursday to create the first working mosque in the Greek capital since the end of Ottoman rule more than 170 years ago.

A previous proposal to build a mosque outside Athens before the 2004 Olympics was blocked because of objections by residents, and opposition from Greece's Orthodox Church, which disagreed with the location and plans for funding to come from Saudi Arabia.

"The Greek government has decided to fund a mosque," Giannakou said. "Essentially, the site will be state-owned and used by concession as a place of worship."

Under the plan, which received initial government approval in July, the mosque will be built in Votanikos, an impoverished part of central Athens, which has been slated for major redevelopment.

Giannakou said a former military base on 4.2 hectares (10.4 acres) of land would be used.

Draft legislation for the new mosque will be submitted to parliament before next month, Giannakou said, adding that several hundred thousand Muslims live in greater Athens and nearby areas.

She said a government-appointed committee would chose the head imam of the new mosque, but that individual communities could bring their own imams to the site.

"It is not our intention to interfere in the religious affairs of the mosque. We will create the provisions for the site to operate," Giannakou said.

Some 97 percent of the native-born population in Greece, which has an 11 million population, is baptized Orthodox. Greece also has a 120,000-strong Muslim minority in the northeastern Thrace region, many of whom are ethnic Turks. About 300 mosques operate in that area.

Many Muslims living in Athens have to travel to Thrace for weddings, funerals and other religious ceremonies.

International human rights reports, including a 2005 report on religious freedom issued by the U.S. State Department, had previously criticized Greece's government for failing to create an official site for Muslims to pray in Athens.

I think its good that Greece is catering for the minorities but why is the government paying for it?

Istanbullu · 9th October 2006, 09:41

The Greek church seems pissed off?

Giorgos · 9th October 2006, 09:46

The Greek Church gets pissed of at everything which seems to challenge its perspective.

gm2263 · 9th October 2006, 18:10

You cannot please them all, guys. All religions praising God or its prophets should be represented in our city. In this case though, the Church did not object -Finally- the construction of the mosque.

Giorgos · 9th October 2006, 18:58

Apparently it should be finished by 2009.

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