Muslim immigrants plan mosque after Greek law change

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

ATHENS, June 1 (Reuters) Immigrant and human rights groups today welcomed a Greek parliament decision that paves the way for building the first mosque in the predominantly Orthodox Christian country since the 19th century.

The head of the Pakistani community in Greece said work on securing a license to build a new mosque would start soon after the assembly effectively revoked a veto power held by the Church of Greece over construction of non-Orthodox places of worship.

''This is wonderful news for about 50,000 Pakistanis in Greece and it is a great step forward for exercising our religious rights,'' Pakistani community president Javied Aslmam told Reuters.

''We will immediately start procedures to get all the necessary licences to start building a very large mosque,'' he said.

The parliament late on Tuesday approved several amendments to an existing law, allowing non-Orthodox religious groups to build their places of worship without having first to get approval from the Church of Greece.

''The application for a licence to erect and operate places of worship for any dogma apart from Greek Orthodox is now submitted directly to the Education Ministry and not to the church authority,'' the amendment said.

About 130 windowless, airless basements or warehouses in Athens currently serve as makeshift mosques for an estimated 200,000 Muslims in the Greek capital.

Hindus and other religious groups also have to make do with makeshift places of worship.

''We welcome and support this decision by the parliament,'' National Human Rights Committee president Aliki Marangopoulou told Reuters. ''Granting licences must be a matter for the state and not for the Church of Greece.'' Continuing objections from the Orthodox Church and the public regarding the location of a proposed mosque had blocked plans for years.

The government has now earmarked a site near the city centre for building the mosque, Education and Religious Affairs Minister Marietta Giannakou said this week.

Decked with minarets two centuries ago, Athens has not had a functioning mosque since the end of Ottoman rule in the early 1800s.

REUTERS SI RN1852

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