[MGSA-L] MOSQUE IN PAIANIA

[June Samaras]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=lifeAndLeisureNews&storyid=2006-03-06T131108Z_01_N05424973_RTRUKOC_0_US-GREECE-MOSQUE.xml

By Deborah Kyvrikosaios

ATHENS, Greece (Reuters) - In a small, cold and decrepit apartment in
central Athens, scores of Muslims trip over each other to find a space to
pray as rain drips onto their heads from the leaky roof.

The stairwell is in darkness and there is grime in every corner. But for
these faithful, there is no other choice.

About 130 makeshift mosques like this -- windowless, airless basements or
rooms in warehouses -- are all these Muslims have until the Greek capital's
first mosque is erected.

"On Friday, many people come here for prayer, it's a very old and congested
place. We are afraid a slab is going to fall on us, and it's raining
(inside)," said Monjur Moshed, an immigrant from Bangladesh who was in the
crowded apartment.

A mosque has long been planned for the estimated 150,000 Muslims living in
Athens but has been held up over objections from the powerful Orthodox
Church, and the public.

Studded with minarets two centuries ago, Athens has not had a functioning
mosque since the end of Ottoman rule in the early 1800s. The only working
mosques are near the Turkish border in the northern Greek prefecture of
Xanthi, home to a Muslim minority of some 120,000, remnants of the Ottoman
empire.

Although the steady immigration of Muslims to Athens continues -- mostly
economic migrants from the Middle East and Asia -- the city remains the only
capital in Western Europe without an Islamic place of worship.

DECADES OF WAITING

Muslims say holidays and funerals pose the most problems as thousands of
people spill out onto the city's streets, a sight they fear will create
resentment among neighbors.

"As people gather here, at some point they end up outside in the street to
hold religious festivals. I believe surely in this environment there could
be a problem with the community," said Tahir Ali Shah, a Pakistani Muslim
doctor.

Government plans for a mosque and an adjoining Islamic cultural center date
back to 1979, with funding pledged by Saudi Arabia. Officials say the
government remains committed to building the mosque, but admit it is a
sensitive issue.

Opposition from the Greek Orthodox Church, coupled with resentment after
some 400 years of Ottoman rule and past political rivalries with mainly
Muslim Turkey, have created reservations among Greeks, who are 95 percent
Orthodox.

The plan seemed close to materializing when the capital hosted the 2004
Olympic Games -- authorities promised a mosque and Islamic center would be
built for Muslim athletes.

A site was chosen 21 miles outside the city after the Orthodox Church
expressed displeasure over the prospect of a minaret rising on the Athens
skyline. But construction in the town of Paiania, near the international
airport, never began.

NOT IN OUR TOWN

Incensed by the project, the town's residents built a large wooden cross on
the land allocated for the mosque. A small Orthodox chapel has also appeared
on the site.

Paiania Mayor Paraskevas Papakostopoulos said residents are angry that the
site is on a hill, meaning the mosque will be visible from afar and seen by
visitors flying into the airport.   Continued...
"It spoils the religious and cultural character of our region, as well as
all of Greece," he said. "It's not pleasant to enter a country and the first
thing you see is a mosque."

The mayor said residents also did not want thousands of worshipers
congregating in their town.

"Our residents look at it as a foreign object in their area, that is being
forced on them without anyone asking their opinion," he said.

The Orthodox Church, which had long opposed the mosque, has recently
softened its stance. But although it gave its approval to the mosque, it
still opposes the cultural center.

It says recent attacks by suspected militants in European capitals have
fueled its concerns that the Islamic center may incite fundamentalism.

"The Church of Greece does not find this center necessary for the worship
needs of the Muslim community in Athens, it thinks that it may operate, as
European experience has shown, as a hotbed of extreme fundamentalist views,"
said Haris Konidaris, spokesman for the Orthodox Church of Greece.

Greece has not experienced attacks by foreign militants in years. Its worst
foreign attack was in 1988 when Arab guerrillas killed nine people and
wounded about 80 on a cruise ship near Athens.

Muslims say Paiania is too far away for a community mainly based in central
Athens but their options are limited.

"It's far from the center (of Athens), but it's better than nothing," said
Shah.

(c) Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

--
June Samaras
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