Greece on Wednesday reopened an historic mosque within the northern metropolis of Thessaloniki for the primary time in over a century to permit prayers marking Eid al-Fitr, the celebration ending Ramadan.
Around 100 individuals attended prayers on the Yeni Mosque, final used on this capability within the early Nineteen Twenties, earlier than a battle between Greece and Turkey led to a inhabitants trade that whittled away town’s Muslim inhabitants.
“We are lucky that it opened for us,” mentioned Ismael Bedredin, a 66-year-old retired furnishings maker.
Egyptian Imam Taha Abd El-Galil stands in entrance of Yeni Mosque which opened for the primary time after greater than a century for Muslim prayers in the course of the Eid celebration in Thessaloniki, Greece on April 10. Photo: Reuters
“I’ve lived in Thessaloniki for 4 years and that is the primary time I’m given the chance to wish with my Muslim household,” added Ali, a 23-year-old Turkish economics pupil who declined to present his surname.
Greek police guarded the constructing in the course of the ceremony.
The Yeni Mosque, inbuilt 1902 by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli, was on the time utilized by the Donme, Jews who had outwardly transformed to Islam.
The two-floor constructing was briefly utilized in 1922 to deal with refugees of the Greco-Turkish War. It later turned an archaeological museum and municipal gallery.
People pray on the historic Yeni Cami, or New Mosque, within the port metropolis of Thessaloniki, northern Greece on April 10. Photo: AP
Greece is a predominantly Orthodox Christian nation, and Muslim locations of worship are primarily in Thrace, a area within the northeast of the nation close to the Greek-Turkish border that’s residence to a centuries-old Muslim minority.
In Athens, the variety of Muslims had been negligible for the reason that Greco-Turkish War, however their numbers rose in the course of the 2015 refugee disaster.
The first official new mosque in Athens opened in November 2020, taking greater than a decade to finish after operating into sturdy opposition from the Orthodox Church, in addition to from nationalist teams. – AFP
