Daily Times

ATHENS: In a landmark move, Greece has allowed its first official mosque to be erected in the capital, Athens, ending a near two-century ban prohibiting the construction of Muslim worship places.

This month, the government passed a bill to fast-track 10-year-old plans to build a mosque in Athens neighbourhood of Votanikos. No new mosque has been built in Athens since the end of Ottoman rule over Greece in 1829. Greece is home to nearly one million Muslims. In Athens, approximately 200,000 Muslims use garages or converted basements for worship purposes.

Following the recent influx of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, the number has risen, increasing the need for more mosques. Athens is the only EU capital without a mosque. Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis described the new bill as “a decisive step in regards to rights and in particular in regards to the self-evident right to practise religious worship in conditions that respect the dignity of believers.”

According to the bill, 946,000 euros ($1.1 million) will be allocated to build a mosque at an unused naval base owned by the Greek navy. However, some Muslims feel the site is out-of-the-way, situated between haulage companies and abandoned warehouses and not fitting for an official mosque which would be more convenient for the public near or in the city center.

“We are Greek citizens and taxpayers and it is our right. We deserve to have a place to pray with dignity,” says Naim Elghandour, an Egyptian who has lived in Greece for 44 years and is the president of the Muslim Association of Greece. The present Tzistarakis Mosque in the center of Athens was one of the last remaining mosques in Athens from the Ottoman era which was converted into a prison and later into a folk art museum.