Greek Parliament Allows Athens Mosque

The Greek parliament gathered last Tuesday to vote on the legal amendment proposed by the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), TRT World reported on Wednesday, May 13.

The long-awaited approval passed despite the junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL)'s opposition.
Opposition the mosque construction, Defence Minister Panos Kammenos’ far-right ANEL party voted against the amendment in a parliamentary meeting.

The disagreement marks the first rift to occur in the coalition between SYRIZA and ANEL since the two parties united to form the country’s new government after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was elected in January.
However, the amendment passed parliament with the support of opposition parties, the New Democracy and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

ANEL and neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have consistently opposed the building of the mosque in the Athens district of Votanikos, with ANEL lawmaker Stavroula Xoulidou calling the project “unacceptable and provocative.”
The mosque is planned to be constructed in Votanikos area in Athens.

Repeated plans for a mosque in Athens began in earnest in 1880, with an act of parliament, but all fell through, including one timed for the 2004 Olympic Games.

The plans have angered far-right groups, which vowed to block the building of the mosque.
Decked with minarets two centuries ago, Athens has not had a functioning mosque since the end of Ottoman rule in the early 1800s.

About 130 windowless, airless basements or warehouses in Athens currently serve as makeshift mosques for an estimated 200,000 Muslims in the Greek capital.
The Orthodox Church has for years insisted that Greeks were not ready to see a minaret in downtown Athens.
/SR