Around 200,000 Muslims live in the city of Athens. They worship
in makeshift mosques, housed in basements and warehouses.
According to the Muslim Association of Greece, there are more
than 100 unofficial mosques scattered throughout the Greek
capital, registered as libraries, cultural centres, shops or
apartments.
After a decade of negotiations, Greek authorities awarded a
contract to a consortium of construction companies to build a
state-funded mosque in Athens, the first since the end of Ottoman
rule. The planned mosque will in a former naval base in an
industrial, rundown part of the city, but the project faces heavy
opposition from conservative and right-wing groups.
