Greece Moves Toward Approving First Official Mosque Left-wing government backs plan to give Athens’ growing Muslim population a purpose-built place of worship By Stelios Bouras
http://www.wsj.com/articles/greece-moves-toward-approving-first-official-mosque-1469586256
ATHENS—Greece took a major step toward approving the construction of the first officially sanctioned mosque in Athens, after decades of objections that were often colored by the country’s fraught relationship with neighboring Turkey.
Greece’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, this month dismissed objections from some local residents to the planning application to build a mosque, clearing the way for the issuance of a building permit.
The development now goes to the environment ministry and interior ministry for procedural approvals, a process that could take weeks or over a year as it winds through Greece’s bureaucracy.
A spike in refugees fleeing the Middle East has swelled the capital’s Muslim population, already on the rise over the past decade from immigration from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Asian countries.
The political mood has also shifted under the left-wing government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, only a few years after the rise of the anti-immigrant fascist movement Golden Dawn. The government supports the mosque and plans to cover the €1 million ($1.1 million) construction costs.
“The refugee crisis has increased the pressure for the mosque to be built,” said John Dimakis, political analyst at Athens-based communications consultancy STR.
The planned building, on state-owned land in the western Athens neighborhood of Elaionas, is an inconspicuous low-rise complex with no minaret and a prayer hall for up for 350 people.
Athens is one of the few capital cities in the European Union that has no purpose-built mosque, despite being home to an estimated 200,000 Muslims, according to a senior government official.
Until now, Muslims have worshiped in unofficial locations such as private homes, basements, and abandoned warehouses. Greek government officials estimate there are 70 to 80 unauthorized mosques in Athens and the surrounding region. Four such sites have been given a license, but none is a purpose-built mosque. All places of religious worship need a permit in Greece.
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