MAG press release: Israel murders civilians
May 31, 2010
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.
Construction of mosque in Botanical – green light after three decades
May 4, 2010
Source: Kathimerini
© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece
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)
May 3, 2010
Source: Protagon.gr
© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece
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
In Votaniko, the mosque! (in-depth report)
May 2, 2010
Source: Expresso
© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece
And the name…Votanikos! This is the name of the location that the first Islamic mosque of Athens will be constructed, after the decision of the government to proceed applying the law of 2006 and to satisfy a permanent claim for the Muslim community [in Greece].
After negotiations between the City of Athens and the related ministries of Education and National Defence, the government judged the most suitable place for the construction of the mosque to be a part of the field that occupies the Navy Entrenchment of Votanikos. The land has 17 acres and is located where the current Central Station of Navy Cars is.
The first mosque of Athens will be located at Iera Odos, a few hundred metres from Markoni Street and the Eleonas metro station. There exists several home trade businesses, car sales, and construction material in this area and it is diminished by the passing of heavy vehicles. However it is almost certain that in a few years the picture will be totally different, as the new stadium of Panathinaikos will be constructed nearby along with plans to widen the streets of this area.
According to the existing plan, the entrance of the mosque will be from Iera Odos. The construction will have a capacity of about five hundred persons and will “be included in a wider open green area,” as announced the government spokesman George Petalotis, but it will not have a minaret. As far as the Station of Navy Cars is concerned, it will be relocated to another place of the Navy Entrenchment of Votanikos.
The president of the Muslim Association of Greece, Naim Elghandour, is satisfied with the developments and emphasizes that the mosque is essential for the thousands of foreigners but also for the Greeks, as he says – Muslims that live in Athens. At the same time, he promised that when the mosque starts operating, most of the unofficial praying places that exist today at the capital will close.
“The Muslims are praying in warehouses and underground garages. This is not right and it does not suit to our civilization,” says Mr. Elghandour and states that the Association “will go forward to close,” those praying places that are located today at areas that will be accommodated by the Votanikos Mosque.
Mr. Elghandour has an Egyptian origin but has Hellenic nationality and has served in the Greek Army. In a way, he considers those developments his achievement and the Association’s, since, as he states, by their letter to the Minister of Education Marietta Giannakou in 2006, they began the procedures for the voting of the relative law, and with a recent letter to the present Minister of National Defence, Evangelos Venizelos, ‘unsticking’ the case that was frozen for a long time.
“We proposed to be a Hellenic mosque, in the terms that no foreign country is to put money so that they will not have the upper hand,” refers the president of the Muslim Association of Greece and adds that they do not want the mosque “to be something huge and attract attention negatively.”
As far as the imam is concerned, Mr. Elghandour asks the Ministry of Education to choose one of those that the Association will propose. “We want him to be active, strong and educated in order to gather the people around him and teach them the correct Islam,” says characteristically. “There is no extreme Islam – these are politics. Islam is a religion of peace, love and beneficial to the society, just as we Muslims in Greece live. We love, respect and defend it,” he underlines.
However Mr. Elghandour does not hide his disappointment for the fact that the mosque will not have a minaret, while he sees the capacity of 500 people very little. “They should think about it. We had proposed to the Ministry of Education [for the mosque] to be 2500m², and to have two floors in order to accommodate 2500 persons,” he ends up.
“With State Funds”
The construction will be based to the law 3512/2006 where describes the establishment of a legal body of private law under the name “Administrating Committee of Islamic Mosque of Athens” and its work will be the management of the mosque. The administration of the mosque will have the Greek State since the 7-member board of the committee will be consisted by the general director of religions of the Ministry of Education, a general director of Finance ministry, two reps of the City of Athens, a consultant that will be assigned by the Athens Academy and two representatives of Muslims that live in Attica. At the mosque, there will be an imam that will be assigned by the Minister of Education and will have a two year contract and his duties will be “limited in the responsibility for the internal operation of the mosque.”
For the time being there is no evaluation for the whole cost of the construction. As Mr. Petalotis announced, “the project will be executed with Greek funds by the Program of Public Expenditure Fund, and offers from foreign factors, governmental or not, will not be accepted.” According to the law 3512/2006, the operation costs of the mosque will be covered by the funding of the Ministry of Education but also from endowments, donations and every kind of offers of natural or legal faces.
By: Stathis Deligiorgis
Photos: William Faithful
Translated by Anna Stamou
April 24/25: Egypt in Athens Festival
April 14, 2010
PRESS RELEASE
We are very pleased to invite you to the ‘Egypt in Athens’ festival organised by the Intercultural Centre of Immigration Service of the municipality of Athens in cooperation with the Muslim Association of Greece with the support of the Cultural Centre of the Egyptian Embassy in Athens.
The festival will be held in the amphitheatre of the radio station Athens 9.84, Peiraios 100 in Gazi on Saturday 24 April 2010.
The festival is under the auspices of the Cultural Centre of Egypt, the Embassy of Egypt and the Egyptian Community in Athens.
During the events, the visitors will have the opportunity to taste the Egyptian culture and in particular discover the common elements between Greece and Egypt. The festival includes three parts: information, art and children.
In the morning during the informative session of the festival, the visitors will have the opportunity to attend a conference with the subject of Egyptian folklore, literature and the coexistence of the Hellenic and Egyptian community with guest speakers. Also a documentary of ERT with the title Egypt of Greeks in the Area of History will be shown.
The afternoon’s artistic events will begin with the projection of the film The Yacoubian Building of Marouan Hamendi. The chef Aymal El Habachy will demonstrate live Egyptian delicatessens. There will be a concert featuring the traditional Arab music with of the Al Mahabba band.
Reception will follow.
On the 24th and 25th of April there will be a children’s area
In the Shadow Theatre Museum Haridimos (Melina Cultural Centre of the municipality of Athens), Iraklidon 66 and Thessalonikis, Thiseio hours 14.00-17.00. During the two days, spectators of all ages will have the opportunity to learn the secrets of shadow theatre figures, to watch two performances, Karagiozis in the Amusement Park and Karagiozis Baker, by the group of S. Haradimou, learn about the traditional Egyptian puppet and Aragoz and to watch two original puppet performances by Egyptian artists Nabil Mohamed Bahgat, Moustafa Osman Moustafa Osman and Aly Abu Zeid Souleiman, a courtesy of the Ministry of Culture of Egypt in cooperation with the Cultural Centre of the Egyptian Embassy in Athens.
The entry for the public is free
As supporters are involved, the Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Athens, ΄Technopolis΄ of the municipality of Athens. Communication sponsors include the radio station Athens 9,84 and the foreign language radio station of the municipality of Athens Air 104.4 FM which broadcasts in 16 languages.
For more information please contact the Intercultural Centre of Immigration Service of the Municipality of Athens at 210-5225284.
Surprise inside: we are now live!
March 16, 2010
Έναρξη νέας ιστοσελίδας!
Σας καλωσορίζουμε στο Όρα Ισλάμ, την πρώτη επίσημη πηγή αξιόπιστης πληροφόρησης για τo Ισλάμ, στα ελληνικά!
Το Όρα Ισλάμ είναι το εκπαιδευτικό παράρτημα της Μουσουλμανικής Ένωσης Ελλάδος.
Θα θέλαμε να ευχαριστήσουμε όλους όσους εργάστηκαν σκληρά, για την υλοποίηση αυτού του project και όλους όσους θα συνεχίσουν να εργάζονται με γνώμονα την αλήθεια, για την υποστήριξη και ανάπτυξη αυτής της ιστοσελίδας.
New website launch!
Welcome to Ora Islam, the first official and reliable source of information about Islam, in the Greek language.
Ora Islam is the official department of education of the Muslim Association of Greece.
We would like to thank everyone who worked tirelessly for the accomplishment of this project and all those who will continue to work, with truth in mind, for the support and development of this website.
إطلاق الموقع الجديد!
اهلا في اورا الإسلام ، المصدر الاول الموثوق للمعلومات عن الإسلام ، باللغة اليونانية.
اورا الإسلام هو الذراع التعليمي للاسلام من رابطة المسلمين في اليونان.
نود أن نشكر جميع الذين عملوا بلا كلل من أجل إنجاز هذا المشروع و الى جميع الذين سوف يتابعوا العمل معنا ، من أجل دعم وتطوير هذا الموقع.
My fashion and my hijab: Greek Muslimahs interviewed
March 5, 2010
Source: Veto newspaper
© Translation Muslim Association of Greece
It is not only one piece of cloth. The veil that envelopes the faces and the bodies of Muslims, is a symbol of Islam, so charged as the military conflicts that have broken out in the name of the hijab in many European countries. Lately, especially after the ban on headscarves in public places in France, there are more women who started wearing it. The global game industry is aware of this and few months ago, Barbie wore a scarf as well. Religious, political, revolutionary, feminist symbol? Muslim women living in Athens reveal what lies behind their hijab, as they call it.
Rabab
The hand of the photographer is on top of the table, with the coffees, tightened by Nashua hand, “I’m wearing gloves. It’s the only way I can touch another man.” Her daughter Rabab is smiling, holding her cup of coffee, smiling and with apologetic. “Sorry I’m not allowed,” as she declines the handshake. On her right shoulder is her baby sleeping. On her left shoulder her hijab falls until her waist. In fact they are to scarves, one pink and one black, both, elaborately braided together-the result is reminiscent braided hair. She was born in Greece, lives in Keratsini and every day, she wears her hijab in different style- which she has copied from a satellite hair channel. She has visited her home country, Egypt, only few times. She has heard though that there are many ‘hijab hair salons.’
Rabab has been wearing the hijab for the past 10 years. She wanted to take it off on her wedding day but her husband didn’t agree. Despite the meaning of her name ‘white cloud’, in her life there are many black clouds. At the age of 26, she must choose between her hijab or her career. “I was working in a telecommunications company. One day, my manager called me into his office and offered me the supervisor’s position. Under one condition: to take off my hijab. I couldn’t take the job wearing hijab. ‘At least wear a wig,’ he told me. So I had to resign.”
In her workplace today – she is an immigration consultant for Athens council- she wears her hijab without having any problems. “I can feel people’s eyes on me when I go to places or use public transportation. Most of them are staring. A few days ago, I was getting off the bus, when an elderly man hit me with his walking stick, so I would hurry. With his walking stick! Is that possible? I was born here. And I am not taking my hijab off. It is a respect to me and my religion.”
Nashua
Nashua never put pressure on her daughter to wear hijab. “She did it on her own, when she became a little lady.” It came to my mind the little girls with hijabs who were playing under their brothers’ eye, just outside the Libyan school on Kifisias boulevard.
“They are ignorant of Islam when they wear hijabs to kids in primary school,” Says Mrs. Anna Stamou, Marketing and Public Relations of the Muslim community. “A Muslim woman is wearing the hijab so she doesn’t attract attention, the paradox here is that this way she does. If we go out with a mini skirt nobody would look at us. Nakedness doesn’t evoke.” says her mother Nasoua, she has been living in Greece for the past 35 years. She assures me that under her impressive red hijab, which is fastened with a golden broch, has her hair groomed.
As she continues, “I go very often to the hairdresser. At home we don’t wear hijab. You never give up on yourself. I put facial creams and dye my hair, so my husband likes me, but above all so I please myself.”
Habiba
Habiba means ‘loved one.’ Habiba was the favourite student of her teachers in Paris. She arrived there from Morocco, to study fashion design. “Paris then was more hijab friendly,” she says, analyses the family tree of Sarkozi, concluding that he has roots in Marolo Jews from his grandparents. Because of her profession- she is a fashion designer in Athens and Paris-“I do not see any particular problem. I have contact with people who have an open mind and get on easily with scarf. Sometimes women say to me, ‘Come now, you are so progressive, you have to be free.’ But I am free. The scarf is my choice. It was never imposed on me. Not even from my husband.” And there is no doubt about that. Anas Habibas husband completes ”I have overcome some crashes. He grew up in Greece, he is from Argentina, but adopted by Greek parents before becoming a Muslim on his own initiative, he was baptised Christian and was called Anastasis. ”When I was little, I was the alter [boy] in church,” he says, laughing.
On his hand is tattooed an alfa capital. “Yes I am an anarchist,” he answers just when he realized that I was looking at it, he listens to rock music, smokes and is a big fan of Jimi Hendrix. ”Jimbo, come here,” he shouts from the living room in the middle of the house and to our surprise, emerging as a tornado, holding a large cat, is his three-year old daughter, wearing a black ribbon on her hair. ”Look my little Rocker,” boasts Anas. “Last year she asked to wear the hijab on her own. She sees her mother and she wanted too,” he says and tells us the story of young Holy, which was adopted from Morocco. Holy, grows up in a home with strong Arab elements, bright colours and smells of Moroccan tea and has her little prayer rug in the mosque built by her dad, in the basement of their house. Answering a question on when their daughter will wear hijab, they started laughing. ”She is such a character that she might never put it on!” says Habiba. ”Everybody does what they like. Many try to hide behind a scarf, to show that they are good people. Like Christians who go to church and start prostrating, looking around to see who is watching them. “I don’t blame hijab. It is just a fabric,” Habiba continues,”a fabric that frightens and unfortunately has baptized terrorism and Al Qaeda. We are Hijab Frappe. It means that the scarf goes everywhere.”
Habiba doesn’t drink frappe, “because it bothers me but I go to the movies, theatre, and I enjoy art as a hobby. I like little taverns.” She is also an amateur actress. After Easter, she will star for a second year on the show “Hijab Frappe”, based on true stories of women. She opens the script book and starts reading: “The hijab is a symbol, no it’s not a symbol, it is responsibility. It is my faith, what I am, what I am not. It is mandatory, it’s optional, it is the law but not here. I wear the hijab for me, for God, for my husband. It is freedom, protection, mystery.”
Marina
Her parents reaction when they heard she will become Muslim “brought trouble at first, but [they] realized that the path was purely my choice and was not influenced and accustomed. What they cannot get used to is the hijab. They are all hesitant with the scarf. The fundamentals of Islam lie beneath. There are Muslim women who do not wear hijab. The substance is not the picture,” says Marina, a Greek who embraced Islam three years ago. Her husband, who she met later, is Palestinian and they have a little boy. ”I became a Muslim from pure curiosity. Reading, I began to realize that Islam covered gaps that could not be covered by my previous religion. Half a year later, I wore the scarf, as required by the Quran. Nobody pushed me; nobody forced me,” says 26 year old girl who studied economics in Aristotle University. ”Since I wore the scarf my friends remain the same because they know me. On the street, they think I am a foreigner. Nobody imagines that I am Greek and only if they hear my accent they suspect it and start asking questions.”
Despina Papadopoulou, Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Policy Panteion University
“The headscarf issue is complicated and complex, so we must be careful. As the government attempts to limit religious freedom, the more resistance will be present. If we can express an opinion towards the prohibition of the headscarf or not, a safe criterion is the separation of public and private life. It must not affect the public order of society. And the state should not interfere with private life. Any form of religion must exist, in case of course, it doesn’t affected the person. On the other hand there is a military conflict: Who governs the existence of the hijab? The State or the family? This conflict leads nowhere. Especially if the government draws its legitimacy from religion. If actions are taken for the ban of the headscarf, it will hardly be implemented. The restriction is a simple solution to an issue as so critical.”
The trend is derived from feminist movements, in which any symbol of discrimination and equality in society is racist in nature. In Europe and America, it appears as Islamophobia.
—
Translated by Elena Nikolova-Pouliasi
Elena, the Muslim, the mosque and cemetery
February 19, 2010
Source: Protagon.gr
© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece
I have never met Elena in person. We have been talking on the phone for the past two months. She has a bright smile, nice voice and is very polite. She is 23 years old studying Business in England. The only thing I knew about her is that she was wearing hijab. She started learning about Islam from stubbornness. She wanted to prove to her colleagues at university that they were wrong. She studied the Quran quickly to gain more arguments against it, but that made her change her own beliefs and religion.
The last emails we exchanged were regarding the French ban of religion symbols. Elena wanted to point out two things regarding that, the cemeteries and the worship places. I am copying what she wrote to me.
“Greece is the only European country that does not have a cemetery and a mosque. I am a Greek citizen and I pay tax as every other citizen in the country, I obey its laws, I defend its rights when they are correct. What hurts me is the behaviour of the reliable people regarding that matter. What we are asking for is to praise God in its place, to marry and die next to our families as every other human being on that planet.”
”The Muslims in Greece are a minority but not only in Thrace, the northern part of Greece, but also in Athens where they are almost 700.000 Muslims working and living. But except the everyday problems they have to deal with, they also have to consider what will happen with their bodies when they will die. And this is because in the European Athens today there is no cemetery, a basic need for a human being and especially a Muslim. And this is because in the Islamic tradition the body must be buried no more than 24 hours after death and under some conditions. Something that Muslims in Athens today cannot even think or dream of. Nowadays the bodies are sent to Thrace or to the country of origin, if that is possible. What happens though with the many Greek Muslims or with the second generation children that do not know any other country except Greece? Don’t they have that ‘luxury’ or they are excluded from the life circle.”
Greece: Religious minorities – second class worshippers…
January 2, 2010
Source: Enet
“If the religious leaders stand to the level of the circumstances, then not only will they prevent the use of religion for other purposes unknown to their mission, but they will promote specific proposals of a flourishing inter-religion cooperation. Such a perspective that can develop through the inter-religion dialogue, is most certain that will be supported not only by the international organizations but from the political and spiritual leaders of all peoples,” was writing at “E” the Prime Minister George Papandreou when he was minister of foreign affairs on January 29, 2002.
Today in Greece the problems of the religious minorities remain unsolved. At the meetings that have the representatives of religions and dogma, most of the time they are focused on the problems that they face with their relations with the Greek state than between them.
Thousands of immigrants
Despite of the fact that the population of “others” has increased dramatically in the last two decades of thousands of immigrants mainly from the Muslim countries, nothing has been done to solve the problems of the religious minorities.
Despite the promises and commitments of the governments of Pasok and Nea Dimokratia, none of the claims has been solved. “E” is recording the problems that Muslims, Catholics and Jews face, who most of them are Greeks and are treated as second class worshipers.
CATHOLICS
They manage without any financial support
Dramatic changes to the Church of Greece brought the massive entering of immigrants in our country
Until recently the Catholics were a small religious minority that counted about 50.000 Greeks and a small number of western Europeans that were in our country due to family or professional reasons. Today only in Athens is estimated that the Catholics are 150 to 200 thousand, while more small Catholic communities of immigrants have appeared at several places in Greece. According to the rules of the Catholic church, those fresh-arrived worshipers, no matter what nationality or origin they have, they do not form their own bishopric, but they belong to the local Catholic bishoprics and parishes. Thus a new status is created for the local Catholic church, a multi-national and multi-cultural congregation at the bishoprics and parishes, where the Greek Catholics are a minority any more (in Athens the proportion is one Greek to nine foreign Catholics).
A number of problems concern the national Catholic church related mostly to the newly-arrived worshippers. And as Greek language is not their primary language, more priests are called from Poland, Iraq, Philippines, Albania, Africa who they find it very difficult to settle and work legally in Greece.
Father Theodoros Kondides, the Abbot of Jesuit monastery in Athens talks to “E” concerning a big challenge, and he clarifies that “the Greek Catholic church attempts to create a Christian community with heterogeneous worshippers regarding their origin, but they are united by the same faith and they belong to the same ecclesiastical body”.
Father Kondides refers also to the financial problems that his church faces in Greece. The church’s income he states, “comes from membership fees and from the exploitation of the real property. They cannot depend on aid from the Hellenic state nor from abroad as Greece is considered a “rich” country – member of the EU and for any support the priority goes to the needs of the poor countries”.
Permanent malfunctions
Permanent malfunctions faces the Catholic Church and due to a not complete and vague legal acknowledgement and a public management, which often is negatively determined towards the “foreign doctrines” and offers very limited financial means. The result is between others that a significant number of ecclesiastic monuments or buildings which is a part of the cultural heritage of Greece as well (in Tinos, Athens, Corfu etc.) not to be able to have maintenance, and they gradually are destroyed. Regarding to this issue two questions to the minister of culture and tourism Pavlos Geroulanos applied recently the parliamentarians N.Alevras (PASOK) and F.Kouvelis (SYRIZA). At both questions it is mentioned the fact that the Catholic church is making constant claims to the related ministers for a long time, asking to intervene to restore the Cathedral Church of St. Dionysius at Panepistimiou Street, that had serious damages at the earthquake of 1999. By not receiving any answer the Catholic Archbishopric expresses their fears that the funding is not approved because they concern a Catholic church and not an Orthodox one.
JEWS
Target of attacks and vandalisms are Jewish places
A veil of silence covers the history of the Jewish community of Greece and only recently the state intervened in order to honor the memory of the oldest organized religious community in our country.
On 2004, with the intervention of the foreign minister of that time George Papandreou the 27th of January was set as a day of memory for the victims of the Holocaust by law 32/18/2004. The first historical report for the settlement of the Jews in Greece lies around 350-250 B.C. Since then the Jewish population increased dramatically in Greece. During the Judaic wars (66-70 AC) 6000 Jews were participating according to testimonies to the construction of Corinth Isthmus.
In the 12th century, it is said that Jews settled in Corfu, Arta, Patrai, Nafpaktos, Corinth, Thebes, Khalkis, Thessaloniki, Drama and elsewhere. Jews also lived at islands Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes and Cyprus. Those Jews that were called “Romaniotes” integrated in the Hellenic culture, and it is characteristic that they were writing Greek texts using the Jewish alphabet.
A mass immigration stream happened in the 14th century when Jew refugees from Spain and Portugal settled in Greece. The settlement was mainly in Thessaloniki and at cities of Thessaly where the Sephardim Jews brought their language –Spanish-Jewish – and their own customs.
Between 16th and 18th century the Israelite community of Thessaloniki was one of the largest in the world. Significant were also the Israelite communities at Rhodes and Crete.
When the new Greek state was founded on 1830, the Jews enjoyed equal political rights with the rest of the Greeks, on 1882 the Jewish communities were acknowledged as legal bodies.
In the beginning of 20th century, about 10000 Jews lived in Greece. After the Balkan wars (1912-13) and the liberation of the North Greece, Epirus and Aegean islands, Crete (1908) and Chios, the number of Jews reached 100.000.
After the 2nd World War when the Italians (1940) and the Germans (1941) attacked against Greece, 12 898 Jews joined the Hellenic army forces.
During the German occupation (1943-1944), by applying the “Final Solution”, the Nazis launched a systematic persecution of the Jews through Greece by tracking, arresting and exiling them at the internment camps in Poland. Eighty six percent of the Jewish population (more than 67.000 people) was perished during the Holocaust. After the end of the war the Jews that survived and returned back to Greece were only 10.000. This population decreased even more due to the migration of many Jews to Israel and USA.
Today in Greece live about 5000 Jews, organized in nine communities.
Despite of the fact that the Jewish community is fully integrated in the Greek reality, anti-Semitic incidents occur often. Target of attacks and vandalisms are often Jewish places (synagogues – monuments – cemeteries). These concern very much the Jewish authorities that ask from times to times from the state to take measures – but with no response – as the enforcement of the anti-racist laws and the protection and guarding the Jewish places. The abolition of anti-Jew customs as the burning of Judas and anti-Jew references to the Eastern Anthems also concern the community. “The matter of anti-Semitism keeps concerning us. In Greece seems to exist the tendency if racist discriminations other circles there is a anti-Semitic spirit,” states the president of the Central Jewish Council of Greece Mr. Moses Konstantinis to “E” and adds, “There are example cases where cleric, political factors find an opportunity to manifest similar feelings. The trial of the abusive and calumnious of the Jews, and supporter of Nazism K.Plevris was an example. The trial that lasted about two years with all phases with different judges revealed to the public opinion district attorneys that the Jews were deliberately attacked and the final verdict (votes 4-1) to not-guilty of the accused made the district attorney of the supreme court to recantation in favor of the law considering that “the five member interpreted and applied incorrectly the relevant law (927/1979) in order not to validate legally anti-Semitism” Mr Konstantinis also refers to the permanent claim without response of the Thessaloniki community where they ask compensation for the destruction of the Jewish cemetery during the German occupation (today in this place is located at the university) and to the salaries of the rabbis that ask to come from the state budget as already happens with the salaries of priests of other religions.
MUSLIMS
The mosque and the cemetery, promises that are not fulfilled
The mosque and the Muslim cemetery remain two of the promises that gave the governments of PASOK and ND the last decade but they have not fulfilled them.
The construction of the mosque is anticipated through two laws.
The first was of the foreign ministry and on the occasion of the Olympic games of 2004 that took place in Athens and was referring to the construction of a worship place for the Muslims at Peania. But the law is not always a law, as often happens in Greece, and the plan was abandoned after the reactions of the residents of the area and the Church authority. It is characteristic that the bishop of the area on August 2004 had confused the matter of the mosque with the rubbish dump. He referred that time with a written statement “if the government wants to show to the international community that we are modernized as a folk and civilized, let them move away the rubbish dumps from Mesogeia, Koropi and Peania that infect our lungs everyday and humiliate our country internationally and then they can build the Islamic center that insults our spirit and history.”
The second law was voted in 2006. It was announced by the Minister of Education and Religions, Marietta Giannakou, and was referring to the construction of a mosque at Eleonas. For a number of reasons the mosque issue had no luck so far.
Regarding the Muslim Cemetery the development was similar
30.000m² at Shisto
The Church had given a field of 30.000m² at Shisto area in 2005. However after about four years the Muslim Association of Greece that was motivated this, was informed through the answer that was given on May 2009 the Deputy Minister Ath. Nakos that “ the area that was offered by the Church of Greece for the construction of the Muslim cemetery was judged by the authorized services as unsuitable for zoning a cemetery.”
After that, with a decision of the Holy Synod, another field was given again in Shisto area. But until now there is no development at all.
The Muslim Association of Greece addressed once more to three ministers of the new government of PASOK to remind them of the chronic problems.
The first letter dated October 26, 2009 that sent addressed to the education minister Anna Diamandopoulou and after they describe what has happened – and not happened – the last years they underline: “According to the latest formal briefing we had from Mr. Angelos Syrigos, special secretary when minister was Euripides Stylianides, the Ministry of Finance had laid out 15 million euro for the construction of the mosque from the state expenditure fund as is mentioned at “Giannakou law” of 2006 and the only barrier was the relocation of the supermarket of the Navy Base from the area and this was under the authority of the Ministry of Defense. We offered to gather this amount for the relocation that is 5 million euro in order to start the project but our proposal was not accepted. As we realized and as the ministers changed, nobody knew what really should be done and no one was in charge any more.”
The second letter dated October 29, 2009 addressed to the vice president of the government Theodore Pangalos and between others they illustrate a numbers of issues that are really serious: “Many times the ‘imams’ of the mosques project all the time the word ‘sin’ in order to cover their ignorance, cutting the bridges that would lead to the integration with the society. So they find in Greece a fertile soil to act without any control and this is something they could not do at their countries of origin. Also there are several that manage the unofficial mosques that they do not wish the construction of a formal mosque because they will lose their privileges, the influence groups and the fees of the worshipers from the alms money.”
The third letter dated November 11, 2009 addressed to the Minister of National Defense Vangelis Venizelos. In the letter the attitude of the former Minster Vangelis Meimarakis is being denounced, “He showed in fact a great unwillingness to solve this matter”, they refer and later they report, “To our personal live discussion he did not give us a clear aspect nor he directed us to someone in charge from his ministry in order to solve this matter.” The only one who has responded so far is the minister of Defense Vangelis Venizelos who by his associates, according to sources, asked to be filled in not only for the mosque issue but for everything that concern the Muslims that live in Greece.
Thomas Tsatsis – Elisabetta Casalotti
tsath@enet.gr – casalotti@enet.gr
European mentoring course for converts: photo gallery
December 17, 2009
The following is an article and photo gallery of the NEMA mentoring course in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, that took place on December 12-13, 2009. Two members from the Muslim Association of Greece and one member from Greeks Rethink attended the course.
The Mentoring Course that NEMA organized (Native European Muslim Assembly, affiliated to FIOE) was indeed a great success. People from many countries as Finland, UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Greece and Holland attended it. The location was the Islamic University of Rotterdam and the honored guest was professor Jamal Badawi, a beloved scholar for millions of Muslims worldwide. The mentoring course was held by Kathleen Roche Nagi who runs the Approachable Coaching Program (www.approachablecoaching.com).
The Dutch Muslims presented their activities to us, their goals and participated actively with lectures that aimed to realize the situation and the challenges of the New Muslims. They presented their association and their websites www.ontdekislam.nl & www.lpnm.nl
The Mentoring Course was a sequel of previous and future sessions and when they are completed the attendees will be certified mentors in order to use their skills to the demanding convert community. The promising aspect was that most of the future mentors were converts themselves and this is always preferable in order to achieve maximum effect.
Dr. Jamal Badawi was giving lectures and answering all questions of the attendees and as well he gave more lectures out of the course at Erasmus University and at an Arabic center, so we were happy to follow him and listen to his teachings that are really inspiring and enlightening for all Muslims.
Greece was represented by three members of our group Elena Pouliasi, Amir Arvanitis and Anna Stamou but we also met our sister Stefanie Danopoulos, a Greek-Dutch, who lives there and was very active indeed in this event as a member of the Dutch Muslim Community.
Although the program was very tight and we had to squeeze time and learn as much as possible, we had a great time and endless talks with each other as we shared experiences and impressions from our countries. We were all sad when Sunday afternoon came and we promised to meet at the next session for mentors and of course at the NEMA camp that will be announced soon.
Indeed all people of NEMA did a wonderful job, the program was very successful like the previous ones and we are looking forward for their new website that will be launched soon.
Click below to see the full photo gallery.
