By J Malik
Garages and dilapidated warehouses repurposed as unofficial, hidden prayer spaces have for decades been where Athens’ community of 200,000 Muslims have worshipped, out of sight. After lengthy campaigns that stretch back decades, spearheaded by the Muslim Association of Greece, the Greek government has finally allowed the building of Athens’ first mosque. The vote on beginning construction passed overwhelmingly, with 206 of 230 members of the Greek Parliament voting in favour.
The move is truly welcome for Athenian Muslims but also a reminder that even in an age of rising populism and waning public commitment to multiculturalism, a combination of diligent and patient activism can still cause cooler heads to prevail. Amidst profound economic turmoil in the nation, Greece’s comparatively hospitable and quiet response to the waves of refugees arriving daily on its shores, as well as this decision, indicate the nation retains the will to move forward and avoid the temptation to scapegoat vulnerable minorities.
Still, Athens has arguably waited too long for its first mosque. Large numbers of Muslim migrants from Egypt settled in the city in the 1950s and other Muslim communities date back to Ottoman times. It is estimated that there are over a hundred informal mosques in the city already and the new mosque would be in a somewhat remote, industrial part of the city. Greek Education Minister Nikos Filis has said: “The existence of makeshift mosques is a shame for the country as well as for the Muslim community and a danger to national security.”
“Not a single new mosque has been sanctioned since the country’s 1832 independence from the Ottoman Empire.”
Still, the government’s response is a delayed one. The Greek government gave the go-ahead for this same mosque in 2006 but the project has stalled since. After the recent parliamentary vote, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church suggested delaying construction, saying: “This is part of a plan. A well-organised plan that is executed precisely.” This opposition is worrying in a country that even today has no formal separation of church and state. Conversely, the Church worries that the acceptance of multiple religions in Greek public life may lead to the de-facto secularisation of Greek government and society. Greece’s current Prime Minister, Syriza’s Alexis Tsipras, is a self-declared Atheist and has shown himself willing to lock horns with the Church — one of Europe’s most powerful. He has suggested holding a constitutional referendum to enshrine a separation of church and state in Greek law for the first time.
If the project goes ahead, it would be the first mosque to be constructed in Greece for 180 years. Not a single new mosque has been sanctioned since the country’s 1832 independence from the Ottoman Empire. Greece is a nation that has been embroiled in near-perpetual tension with neighbouring Turkey ever since. A paper by the London School of Economics argues the formation of the national identities of Greece and some Balkan states is tethered to demonising ‘the other’ — in this case, the Turks. To this day Turkish and Greek jets regularly engage in mock dogfights over the Aegean Sea, matched in regularity perhaps only by the recent hyper-activity over the South China Sea. The deep memories some Greeks harbour over Ottoman rule have facilitated the idea that Islam was and will forever remain foreign to Greece.
Even so, Greece remains a multicultural nation. In Northern Greece it is even common to hear the Muslim call to prayer springing from multiple mosques in the areas where remnants of Ottoman society remain, and Muslim residents, including Greeks, Slavic-speaking Pomaks and Turks, have lived for generations. When thousands of refugees poured into Europe, no nation had greater cause for concern than Greece itself, Europe’s main point of entry beyond Turkey. Despite this, whilst anti-migrant and anti-refugee sentiments have ballooned across the continent, most notably in Hungary and Poland, Greece has been absent from such news. Greece’s own far-right Golden Dawn party has at times looked threatening; they murdered a popular liberal rapper in 2013 and accepted responsibility for the act last year. However, its electoral support is a shadow of France’s National Front or the Netherland’s PVV. A poll 2 months ago put their support at a measly 7.5%. Indeed, when Greek voters turned to populism in the elections of 2015, they elected Syriza — a party far more interested in reclaiming economic sovereignty than turning back desperate refugees.
Given the alarmism in countries relatively far-removed from the core of the refugee crisis, Greece’s mostly graceful response is praiseworthy. Indeed, the example evokes the example of another European country in particular; Turkey. The UN calculates that Turkey hosts 2.7 million mostly Syrian refugees, which is the highest figure of any country in the world. This Biblical influx of people triggered no populist electoral revolt or marked rise in xenophobia; indeed, over four million refugees fleeing to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan was never called a crisis until a small fraction of them started going to Europe. Perhaps in recognising this profoundly humanitarian shared response Greece and Turkey can find cause for better relations.
Wars, empire, nation states and the 180-year wait for an Athenian mosque was originally published in Convivencia Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
