Greek government gives green light for Athens mosque

Athens - The Greek government Tuesday gave the green light for the construction of a mosque in Athens after years of delay, the Athens News Agency said. Environment and Planning Minister Giorgos Souflias said the mosque will be constructed in the central Athens neighbourhood of Votanikos and be funded from the City of Athens. Construction should begin within the next 10 months. The predominantly Orthodox Christian country's capital is the only European capital which does have a mosque. The vast majority of its 200,000-strong Muslim community from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have been forced to pray in hundreds of basement apartments, garages or abandoned warehouses. The Greek capital has not had an official, functioning mosque since the end of Ottoman rule in the early 1800s. Greece's powerful Orthodox Church and local residents have long blocked the construction of a mosque, warning Greece would be depicted as Muslim. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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