Education Minister Filis to grant licenses for makeshift mosques in Athens

Athens mosque will be built, he said

Greek Minister for Education and Religious Affairs, Nikos Filis promised Muslim leaders he would issue licenses for makeshift mosques to operate in Athens, provided the buildings met legal safety requirements. During his meeting with religious representatives of the Muslim communities in Athens, Friday, Filis also reiterated PM Alexis Tsipras’s pledge for the creation of an Islamic cemetery. The Ministry released a brief stressing the meeting took place in a cordial and cooperative atmosphere, and Filis made it clear that the political leadership would seriously consider the requests of the muslim communities in Athens. ‘On occasion of the Islamic month of Ramadan we will grant public spaces in Athens for Muslims to pray’, he said. On the matter of the erection of a mosque in Athens, Filis underlined that to would be built, as would a cemetery for muslims.