Athens 1st mosque to be inaugurated in March: official

Greece gave a new date for the inauguration of the mosque in Athens.

Greece gave a new date for the inauguration of the mosque in Athens.

Kostas Gavroglu, Greek Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs, said the inauguration of the mosque, for which five different dates were previously given with no result, is happening this time in March.

The decision to build a mosque in Athens was first taken in 2006 with a 887,000 Euro allocated budget, however, the bureaucratic impediments, protests of far-right groups and legal challenges stalled the process.

Once open, it will be managed by a board of seven, including two state officials from education and finance ministries, two municipal officials, one high court judge and two representatives from Muslim groups.

Approximately 200,000 Muslims live in the Greek capital and they facilitate their religious services by their own means.