MAG press release: Israel murders civilians

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Gaza is bleeding and so are the people who support and love Gaza, but this time literally.

The Muslim Association of Greece highly condemns the hijacking of the unarmed freedom flotilla by the Israeli Navy in international waters. Thanks to the indifference of the world opinion, we were led to this bloody attack resulting in tragic deaths of passengers and dozens of other injured activists who were armed with nothing else but the sense of hope, justice, and the determination of a free Mediterranean.

We have actively participated since the beginning of the movement with plenty of tireless volunteers. The president, Naim Elghandour was on board of the cargo ship, Free Mediterranean, representing all of us.

People from every corner of the world, every age, ideology and status and religion have united for a just cause and now others are dead, others are wounded and some are prisoners. In the holds of the ship are dozens of electric wheelchairs for the disabled, prefabricated homes, desalination systems, building materials, and medical supplies which will never reach the receipts in Gaza who are in dire need.

Amongst the six ships of the “Freedom Flotilla” two Greek vessels and crews, the Free Mediterranean and Sfendoni were severely attacked in international waters as they also witnessed the bringing down of the Greek flag and its humiliation which is something that frightens us.

At least 4o Greek poeple are missing with Israel being the only one able to give us answers. Indeed, these are the very same poeple that killed so many civilians. How reliable can their data be and what is the fate of the hundreds activists?

The international community must act now because today civilians were killed while fighting in the name of liberty.

We express our sincerest condolences to the families of the victims, dead, wounded and prisoners and we dearly wish that one day Gaza will stop bleeding and the Mediterranean will be free.

 ——

Photo taken from aljazeera.net.

Ship to Gaza video update – May 28, 2010

Click on the photo to watch the video.

 

For live updates and videos, visit http://digitalship.shiptogaza.gr.

Cargo ship to Gaza leaves Greece (full photo gallery)

Note from the people from the “Ship to Gaza”:

Subject: The Greek ships leave for Gaza!

First the truck (FREE MEDITERRANEAN) and after the cruise (Sfendoni) depart from Piraeus today bound for the port of Gaza. After weeks of preparation and hard work uploading the truck for three days and nights, ready to join other ships of the “Liberty Fleet” and become the means for breaking the siege of the Zionists, who threatened to stop it. The briefing will be ongoing and will be from the site and from the digital platform. They should be ready for mass mobilization, when it enters the latter part of the business (about four days). We want you all with us!!!

More information and digital broadcasts boat picture of the ships for all of us who can not travel, visit the site www.shiptogaza.gr.

Click on the photo to view the photo gallery from the Muslim Association of Greece.

Mosque designed by Greeks

I was told that the Bin Madiya Mosque in Al Nasser Square in Dubai is built by a Greek architect firm, www.meletitiki.gr.  Although it was built in 1990, its style is contemporary and different from the classical design you would normally think of. 

Actually, that’s why I like it.  It’s pretty cool.

 

 

Photos are taken from www.meletitiki.gr.

 

Erdogan visits Greece on a Friday but no mosque

Source:  Today’s Zaman (Turkey News)

‘Mosque in Athens a bitter story, but hopefully one with a happy ending’

Athens is the only European capital that does not have a mosque — although it does have a Muslim population of around 700,000. Elghandour, a naturalized Egyptian Greek, and his wife, Anna Stamou, say that like other Muslims in Athens, they pray in garages, shops and homes, but they are hoping that within a couple of years, they will be able to pray in a real mosque.

“[Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s visit coincided with Friday [the day of Muslim congregational prayer], but there’s no place to worship here,” Elghandour said, noting that the Greek administration’s announcement that a mosque would be constructed came shortly before Erdoğan’s visit, but that soon after this announcement, debates began over whether or not it would have a minaret.

“To those who propose a minaret-less mosque, we ask whether it would do to have a church without a steeple. But I’m sure that we’ll also overcome this problem,” he said. Elghandour said that the mosque to be built will be constructed in a style that is in harmony with Athenian architecture. “We’ll explain that the mosque will not affect the city’s overall silhouette, and we’ll convince the public. The Athenian public is slowly getting used to Islam, and they’ll also get used to the idea of a mosque.”

The fact that Athens has a Muslim minority but no mosque has to do both with Greece’s slow-moving bureaucracy and the memory of the Ottoman years. More urgently than a mosque, the Muslims of this city need a cemetery; there had once been a plan to create one on land allocated to the Muslim community by a church, but as the spot was on a cliff it wasn’t suitable for usage as a cemetery. Now, however, a new location is being prepared to be a cemetery, Elghandour said.

“The church allocated some land in the town of Shisto. We’ll convert it to a cemetery. Until now, our Muslim dead were sent to their home countries or to cemeteries in Thrace.”

According to Elghandour, the turning point in the story of Athens’ mosque-to-be was 2006, when a law went into effect mandating the construction of a mosque using public funds.

“The issue of the construction of a mosque in Athens first came to the agenda in the late 1930s, but was forgotten when World War II emerged. Then in the 1980s, the ambassadors of Arab nations in Athens began pressuring for a mosque to be built. In 2000, a law was passed for the construction of a mosque and an Islamic cultural center. But that never happened, either. As it is, we’d prefer a mosque built with Greek public funds, because that is more appropriate — and a mosque built with our money will also affect our mentality. Back then, the space allocated for this was near the airport. But the Muslims in Athens have slowly but surely made themselves accepted in this society, and outside of a few fanatics — and there are fanatics everywhere — there’s nobody left who opposes the idea of a mosque,” Elghandour relates.

Elghandour first came to Athens 40 years ago and recalls that everyone thought it was strange when he performed the Muslim prayers. “But now, I can take out my prayer rug anywhere and perform my prayers and nobody thinks it odd. The Athenian public has started reading up on Islam,” he says.

His wife, Stamou, says that it is no longer strange to be a Muslim woman in Athens, and while people used to stare at women wearing the Islamic headscarf, it’s no longer so unusual a sight. “They used to look so queerly! In fact they still wonder why I wear the headscarf and they ask questions about it, but they no longer think it strange. This doesn’t mean that we don’t encounter discrimination though — for example when on the job search, we’re not chosen sometimes because of our clothing,” she said.

The Elghandour couple are parents to two small children, Ismail and Iman. They’re not concerned about the future of their children as Muslims in Greece, however, and they don’t expect them to encounter the same difficulties their elders did. The Muslims of Athens hope to be worshipping in a new mosque within the next two years. Despite the economic crisis in Greece, they think that public funds will still be used to build a mosque, emphasizing that the necessary money for this project has already been earmarked. In order to get Athenians themselves used to the idea, they prayed the last holiday prayers at the site where the mosque is to be built.

The 17-decare plot of land set aside for the mosque is in the Votanikos district. On a section of that land, there is still an auto repair garage belonging to the Greek naval forces. The planned mosque is to be 840 square meters and big enough to hold 500 worshippers. When asked whether a mosque with a 500-person capacity isn’t just a bit small for 700,000 people, Elghandour laughs and winks in reply, “Let’s get the first one built, get the Athenian public used to a mosque — the second and third ones will be built soon after, I’m sure.”

 By AYŞE KARABAT

Muslims in the Balkans, now and then

I came across this promising website that seems to be a hub for Balkan news for Muslims and Islam.  As Greece is a part of the Balkan countries (South Eastern European countries), I find there are many similarities between Islam in Greece and Islam in the Balkan countries.

The website offers a mix between news, historical information and art, not to mention the good resource links it provides.

All in all, a good one-stop-shop to learn about Muslims in the Balkans, now and then.

Check it out:  www.balkanchronicle.com.

Egypt in Athens festival – highlights and photos

By Julie Jalloul

© Muslim Association of Greece

The highly anticipated festival, Egypt in Athens, took place on April 24 and 25, 2010 at Gazi. The festival, being the first of its kind in Greece, aimed at highlighting the depth of the overgrowing relationship that has brought Egypt and Greece together and closer for centuries especially in artistic, literary and traditional arenas.

Saturday morning of April 24th, during the informational zone, a conference was held in which well-established speakers discussed Egyptian folklore and literature. Also, they could not miss to mention the importance of the Egyptians living in Greece and Greeks living in Egypt – two very strong links which together create this special atmosphere in their relations.

Mr. Efthimios T. Soulogiannis, professor of history of Athens, presented the Greek writers of Egypt.  Mr. George Economides, graduate from Cairo University in folklore and literature, took everyone back in time reminiscing his memories from old Alexandria,  Ms. Persa Koumoutsi, an author and official translator of the famous Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz in Greece mentioned her point of view of the subject, and  Christina Florou, an artist, spoke about art in ancient Greece and Egypt. Last, Nikos Nikitaridis, B’ vice president of Egyptian Greek league and Mohamed Rasad El Zafzaf emphasized the coexistence of the Egyptian and Greek communities.

In between these discussions a documentary was being screened entitled The Egypt of Greeks in History, which was produced by ERT national television.

In the afternoon, during the artistic zone, the well known movie Yacoubian Building was put on view by Marouan Hamendi.  Based on the novel by the same title, the author Dr. Alaa El-Aswany does not shy away from weaving sordid tales of political corruption, sexuality and torture in his story. The film portrays all these elements through the lives of those who reside in the Yacoubian building, representing segments within the Egyptian society.

After that followed classical Arabic music concert by the band Al Mahabba creating a very warm and cheerful environment. Ayman Al Habachy, a famous Egyptian chef of Athens, closed the night leaving the visitors astonished by demonstrating live Egyptian delicatessens.

The event also included a zone dedicated to children which was operated at the Haridimos Shadow Theatre Museum inside the cultural center, Melina.  Over the two days, individuals of all ages had the great opportunity to learn the secrets of creating shadow theatre characters and attend two performances named Karagiozis at Luna Park and Karagiozis the Baker by the S. Haridimos troupe. They also had the chance to learn about the traditional Egyptian puppet theatre and Aragoz, a traditional puppet in Egyptian popular culture, and the Egyptian shadow theatre techniques as well as attend two authentic Egyptian puppet theatre performances by top Egyptian artists, Nabil Mohamed Bahgat, Moustafa Osman Moustafa Osman and Aly Abu Zeid Souleiman.

This successful event was organized by the Intercultural Centre of Migration Service of City of Athens with the collaboration of the Muslim Association of Greece and the support of the Egyptian Cultural Center of Athens.

Construction of mosque in Botanical – green light after three decades

Source:  Kathimerini

© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece

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In the near future the tens of thousands of Muslims living in Attica (and the visitors as well) will be able to pray at the first official place of worship that will be constructed in the capital after about two centuries. The government announced their decision settling, in fact, a pending case of three decades.

 

Discussions, laws, plans on paper, bureaucratic obstacles, reactions of citizens and ecclesiastic leaders, in combination with the “political cost” intercepted every attempt dealing with a social matter that was putting the respect of human rights and religious freedom to trial.

“We are very satisfied that an official place will exist. It will be a significant step for the unobstructed practice of our religious duties,” states to “K” Mr. Naim Elghandour, president of the Muslim Association of Greece.

Already, in the last months, the issue was frequented in meetings with the participation of the related factors meaning the ministries of Education, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, City of Athens, Navy General Headquarters, and the Organisation for Regulating Planning of Athens.

As was decided in a meeting, the mosque will be constructed in an area of 17.000m² at the Votanikos area, where today the Maintenance Centre of Navy Vehicles exists. According to the plan, from the moment that all legal procedures will finish in order to bestow the usage of the area to the ministry of Education, it will take 6 -12 months to relocate this Navy department.

The mosque will be constructed by the expenses of the Hellenic state by the Program of Public Expenditure Fund. According to the relative law that was forwarded from 2006 by the former Minister of Education Marietta Giannakou, the building of the mosque must agree with the terms and limitations of building of this area. According to these terms, the building area should cover 839m², its entrance being from Iera Odos Avenue through to Asyrmatou Street and will be close to the church of Saint Christopher.

History

 

The matter of constructing a mosque in Athens was on the table for the first time since the late 30s. The discussion was forgotten after World War II began. After the change-over and particularly in the 80s, the issue was brought again by ambassadors from Muslim countries. In mid 90s the issue concerned the government again.

The negotiations between those who were concerned led to voting for law 2833 in 2000 that described the construction of a mosque and an Islamic cultural centre funded by Saudi Arabia. For this reason, the state bestowed an area at Peania, but was confronted by the citizens of the area and the deceased Archbishop Christodoulos, who did not agree that the first view of visitors landing to Greece from the new airport to be an Islamic minaret.

As the solving of the matter was not proceeding, the proposal of the former mayor (and right after Foreign Minister) Mrs. Bakoyiannis, to operate the Monastiraki mosque again that today is known as a popular art museum. Finally, after ‘fermentations’ in the internal affairs of New Democracy government the Votanicos solution was forwarded.

Associates of the former foreign minister expressed their satisfaction for the decision to proceed with the construction of the mosque.  Mrs. Bakoyiannis was always in favor of the construction of a mosque. She played a significant role in choosing the place and to the disengagement of the issue from the ‘protection’ of foreign interests,” they state at “K” associates of the former minister. In 2006, the minister of Education Mrs. Giannakou presented the existing law that describes the construction of a mosque with funds from the Hellenic state.

By Nikos Papachristou

Translated by Anna Stamou

Finally, the mosque! (memoir of a Greek Muslim)

Source:  Protagon.gr

© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece

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by Gerasimos Loukatos

As a Greek, I learned to be proud for the country I was born and raised in, the cradle of democracy and of a great civilization that our ancestors established. As a Muslim, I met another great civilization whose achievements benefit humanity but are known only by a few.

When joining the team of the Muslim Association of Greece, on the road to our meetings with officials of the Ministry of Education, I had doubts about the outcome. The mosque should have stood upright since 2004 so what could change after six years?

To my great surprise, I met people there that showed a sincere interest for the thousands of Muslims that have no official place to pray and they feel isolated. For all those who do not find the guidance of an acknowledged imam when they need it, and for those who cannot be buried to the country that they were born in, raised or spent most of their lives in.

With great joy, I read about the announcement of the Minister of Education for the immediate construction of the Islamic mosque, not only because there will be an official place for me to pray but for the guidance I need as a new Muslim. I am also happy because this is an action in the right direction that is in harmony with the ideals of democracy. An action that I do not read in a history book but in articles that talk about tomorrow!

I am as much Greek as a Muslim and those who know Islam in depth know that this is the middle way. It is no more than the famous saying ‘Metron Ariston’ [free translation all in good measure], applied in every aspect of Muslim’s life.

In the middle of this crisis, maybe the necessary changes shall succeed that will lead to a harmonious coexistence and equal rights and obligations, no matter what religion, beliefs or other factors. The only negative point is the inadequate capacity that comes from the statements of the officials for the mosque and the future problems they might occur.

The steps to the right direction could be more correct if the ‘future’ factor was considered into the equation.

*Gerasimos Loukatos is member of the Muslim Association of Greece

Translated by Anna Stamou

Επιτέλους, τέμενος

 Πηγή:  Protagon.gr

Read in English

του Γεράσιμου Λουκάτου

Ως Έλληνας, έμαθα να είμαι υπερήφανος για την χώρα στην οποία γεννήθηκα και μεγάλωσα, την γενέτειρα της δημοκρατίας και ενός μεγάλου πολιτισμού που δημιούργησαν οι πρόγονοι μας. Ως Μουσουλμάνος, ήρθα σε επαφή με έναν άλλο μεγάλο πολιτισμό, του οποίου τα επιτεύγματα προς όφελος της ανθρωπότητας, μόνο λίγοι είναι αυτοί που τα γνωρίζουν.

Συμμετέχοντας σε κλιμάκιο της Μουσουλμανικής Ένωσης Ελλάδος, στον δρόμο προς την συνάντησή μας με στελέχη του υπουργείου παιδείας, είχα αμφιβολίες για το αποτέλεσμα. Το τέμενος θα έπρεπε να στέκεται όρθιο από το 2004, τι θα μπορούσε να αλλάξει μετά από έξι χρόνια;

Προς μεγάλη μου έκπληξη όμως, συνάντησα εκεί ανθρώπους που έδειξαν ειλικρινές ενδιαφέρον για τους χιλιάδες μουσουλμάνους που δεν έχουν έναν επίσημο χώρο προσευχής και αισθάνονται περιθωριοποιημένοι. Για όλους εκείνους που δεν βρίσκουν την καθοδήγηση ενός αναγνωρισμένου ιμάμη όταν την χρειάζονται και για αυτούς που δεν μπορούν να ταφούν στην χώρα που γεννήθηκαν, μεγάλωσαν ή πέρασαν εκεί το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της ζωής τους.

Με μεγάλη χαρά διάβασα σχετικά με την ανακοίνωση της υπουργού Παιδείας για την άμεση ανέγερση του Ισλαμικού τεμένους, όχι μόνο γιατί θα υπάρχει επίσημος χώρος για να προσεύχομαι και η καθοδήγηση του ιμάμη που χρειάζομαι ως νέος Μουσουλμάνος. Χαίρομαι επίσης, γιατί αυτή είναι μια ενέργεια προς την σωστή κατεύθυνση και σε αρμονία με τα ιδανικά της δημοκρατίας. Μια ενέργεια που δεν την διαβάζω σε βιβλίο ιστορίας αλλά σε άρθρα που μιλάνε για το αύριο!

Είμαι τόσο ¨Έλληνας όσο και Μουσουλμάνος και για όσους γνωρίζουν το Ισλάμ σε βάθος, γνωρίζουν ότι είναι ο μέσος δρόμος. Δεν είναι τίποτε άλλο από το γνωστό ρητό ”πάν μέτρον άριστον” , εφαρμοζόμενο σε κάθε πτυχή της ζωής ενός Μουσουλμάνου.

Εν μέσω κρίσης, ίσως να επιτευχθούν οι απαραίτητες αλλαγές που θα οδηγήσουν σε αρμονική συνύπαρξη και ίσα δικαιώματα και υποχρεώσεις, ανεξαρτήτως θρησκείας, πεποιθήσεων ή άλλων παραγόντων. Το μόνο μελανό σημείο είναι η ανεπάρκεια χώρου που προκύπτει από τις δηλώσεις των αρμόδιων για το τέμενος και τα πιθανά μελλοντικά προβλήματα που μπορεί να δημιουργηθούν.

Τα βήματα προς την σωστή κατεύθυνση θα ήταν ακόμη σωστότερα, αν στην εξίσωση είχε ληφθεί υπόψη και ο παράγοντας ”μέλλον”.

*Ο Γεράσιμος Λουκάτος είναι μέλος της Μουσουλμανικής Ένωσης Ελλάδος

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