Omonia looks like a ghetto. The migrants remain within the district, hoping that sooner or later they will be able to move to the West or, perhaps, find employment, which at the moment is unlikely. Many do not have a residency permit and the state is unable to guarantee any benefits due to the current financial situation. They are abandoned and must make do even when organising places of worship. Dozens of mosques have been created in recent years in this district, some illegal and others in rented locations.
The phenomenon involving micro-mosques, about a hundred in this city, is the direct consequence of a Muslim organisation recognised by the authorities. Athens is the only European capital without a real mosque, in spite of the 200,000 Muslims living in the Hellenic metropolis.
In 2011, the left-wing government led by Georges Papandreou tried to fill this void, proposing the creation of a mosque in a former naval complex in the Eleonas district. The idea to ensure Athens was in line with the rest of Europe.
For the moment not one single brick has been laid and the plans have been abandoned for a variety of reasons, including the economic crisis that does not appear to be improving and has further depleted state funds. One must also take into account that contributions previously made for buying school books are now at risk and funds allocated to the health care system are no longer sufficient for guaranteeing assistance to all citizens. Within this context it is hard to politically justify the allocation of one million euros for building a mosque. The current government, presided over by the conservative leader Antonis Samaras, does not seem willing to run the risk, although it has often promised in the past that it would respect the decision made by the Papandreou cabinet.
Obstacles, however, are not only mathematical ones. The extreme right has spoken out against this project. In 2011, The Popular Orthodox Rally LAOS) now no longer represented in parliament, had the provision concerning the mosque removed from a package of environmental laws in which it had been initially listed. This has resulted in the entire procedure having to be started again from zero. More recently voices were raised by members of the Golden Dawn party, which won 6.9% of the votes and 18 seats in the June 2012 elections. A number of members of this party, characterised by strong xenophobic ideas, were allegedly responsible for beating Muslim immigrants and for vandalising a number of private mosques. The Eleonas place of worship has now become a security issue.
Finally there is also the Orthodox Church and a large number of the clergy oppose the construction of this mosque. In January 2012 the Metropolitan of Piraeus, supported by about a dozen citizens, questioned the constitutionality of the provision concerning the creation of a Muslim place of worship and lodged an appeal.
This was not the first time the authorities had promised a place of worship to Muslims living in Athens. In 2000 parliament had approved plans to build a large mosque in the Peania district near the international airport, with the Saudi government paying for it. Nothing came of this and, in this case also, the Church opposed the plan and people supported the metropolitans as custodians of Greece’s orthodox identity.
The position assumed by religious leaders is linked to the country’s history. Independence from the Ottoman Empire, acquired in 1832, coincided with a need to mould official state policy based on remembrance, roots and culture. After four centuries of domination by the Sublime Port (Athens was conquered in 1458), strategies were implement based precisely on identity values, starting with the Christian-Orthodox religion perceived as being in opposition to the old occupying power and its official religion, Islam. The results of those choices are still present today in the approach shown by the Church, which still exercises great influence over society and the political establishment. More than the economic crisis and opposition from the extreme right, which will hopefully be dealt with in the future, it is the Orthodox clergy who are the greatest obstacle to the construction of a mosque in Athens, which would be the first built since independence.
It is a step that should be taken as required by European values concerning freedom of worship and the demographic revolution experienced by Greece in the past twenty years. The country’s ethnic-cultural fabric has become extremely varied following migratory phenomena with Greece acting as a bridge between the Middle East and western Europe, as well a destination for migrants. About 10% of the total population of about ten million people are foreigners, and of these 5% are Muslims, with half of them living in Athens. They are waiting for a mosque.
Translated by Francesca Simmons