A fourth tender for the construction of the 46,000-euro project in the Votanikos area will be made next month, according to the Infrastructure Ministry, Kathimerini reports, as all previous attempts have failed to attract any takers.

Kathimerini spoke to representatives of several smaller companies that had expressed an interest in the project previously and admitted they are concerned about the popular opposition to the construction of a mosque in Athens.

Only a few days after the government issued a tender for the construction of the mosque the Council of State heard an appeal against the project by Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus while residents in Votanikos have also expressed outrage for the building of the mosque.

Extremist-right party Golden Dawn has also threatened to fight against plans to build a long awaited mosque in the Greek capital.

“If a mosque is constructed for Islamist criminals in Greece, a front of 100,000 Greeks headed by Golden Dawn will be created,” Ilias Kasidiaris, spokesman for the far-right party, told supporters at a rally in May, AFP reported.

Athens is one of the few European Union capitals without a mosque.

The mosque  will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos.

It will have an area of just over 1,000 square meters and the capacity to accommodate 400 people, according to news reports.

Muslims in Greece are left to pray in basement apartments, garages or underground basements, as the Greek government has stalled for over a decade in building an official mosque.

“If a mosque is constructed for Islamist criminals in Greece, a front of 100,000 Greeks headed by Golden Dawn will be created,” Ilias Kasidiaris, spokesman for the far-right party, told supporters at a rally late on Sunday, AFP reported.

The threat came as a letter sent via post to the Muslim Association of Greece last which threatened Muslims in Greece with bloodshed giving them a month time to evacuate the country.

Police said they were examining the note, written in Greek, Arabic and English and on its backdrop carried the logo of the far-right party.

The Muslim Association condemned the letter saying that: “Every Muslim is any time ready and fearless to defend his faith, not caring for his life. Human dignity is challenged along with the sense of mutual respect and coexistence.”

Naim El Ghandour, president of the Muslim Association told Alyunaniya.com concerning the note that “even if we hypothesize that the note is 99 percent a provocation who can guarantee the remaining 1 percent?”

Golden Dawn, whose logo is reminiscent of a swastika, gathered enough votes to win almost 20 seats in the Greek parliament. Members of Golden Dawn have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against immigrants.

Meanwhile, the Greek government has stalled for over a decade the building of an official mosque leaving its 700,000 Muslims to pray in more than 120 basements and garages in Athens.

Earlier this month, the Greek Ministry of Education announced that it will allocate the sum of EUR 946,000 to the Ministry of Growth to fund the construction of the controversial mosque in Athens.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos.

Athens Mayor George Kaminis, a supporter of the controversial mosque that some critics such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party are trying to block has said that the pending opening of the first official mosque in Greece, being built in Athens by the government, will pave the way for more, as many as two or more in each district of the city.

According to the hard copy of the letter obtained by Alyunaniya.com, Golden Dawn gives Muslims of Greece until June 30 to evacuate the country or else they will start ‘butchering Muslims like chickens’. The threat appears authentic as the logo of the party was printed on the letter.

The Muslim Association of Greece in a statement condemned the letter stating that Muslims are ready to defend their faith.

“Every Muslim is any time ready and fearless to defend his faith, not caring for his life. Human dignity is challenged along with the sense of mutual respect and coexistence,” the Muslim Association said.

The Association called on the state to take action and ensure that all citizens of the country share equal rights under law.

Golden Dawn, whose logo is reminiscent of a swastika, gathered enough votes to win almost 20 seats in the Greek parliament. Members of Golden Dawn have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against immigrants.

In a related development, the Greek Ministry of Education announced last week that it will allocate the sum of EUR 946,000 to the Ministry of Growth to fund the construction of the controversial mosque in Athens.

The Greek government has stalled for over a decade the building of an official mosque leaving its 700,000 Muslims to pray in more than 120 basements and garages in Athens.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos.

Earlier, Athens Mayor George Kaminis, a supporter of the controversial mosque that some critics such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party  are trying to block has said that the pending opening of the first official mosque in Greece, being built in Athens by the government, will pave the way for more, as many as two or more in each district of the city.

According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Samaras and Erdogan had already discussed about the stalled plans for the construction of a mosque in Athens in a 40-minute summit in Doha, Qatar, a few weeks earlier. Erdogan had then announced that he had offered Turkish help for the building of the house of worship, while adding that Samaras was “warm” to the idea, Hurriyet reported.

However, in Athens, Deputy Foreign Minister Costas Tsiaras has noted in Parliament that the building of the mosque would be done entirely by using the country’s own financial resources.

The issue has been a source of tension and a debate as the Greek government has faced strong criticism for its long indifference to the demands of the country’s Muslims to build a mosque in Athens.

Commenting on the subject Naim el Ghandour, President of the Muslim Association of Greece told Alyunaniya.com: “The Turkish Prime minister is a Muslim worshipper who wants to have a mosque in a country he visits just like any other worshipper. It is something logical. Greeks also built Greek Orthodox churches wherever they go. I know that better than anyone because I am from Egypt. Every major city in Egypt has a orthodox church and cemetery.”

He added: “The Greek government has given the ‘go ahead’ for the construction of a mosque for Muslims in Greece but this is never realized, because it simply fears losing votes from the far-right.”

Last September Parliament voted in favor of the construction of an Athens mosque without minarets. The plan calls for renovating an existing state building –on a disused navy base– in the industrial district of Votanikos near the center of Athens, according to Kathimerini. The plan commits the Greek government (Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs) to pay for the construction of a temporary mosque until the works are concluded.

“If the Greek government doesn’t built a mosque for Greek Muslims then we will have to take the matter in our hands and look for foreign sponsors from countries like Qatar or Saudi Arabia to buy land and get a license to build an official place for worship. The constitution does not prohibit something like that as it guarantees freedom of worship,” Naim el Ghandour said. “But we don’t want it that way, this will be a Greek mosque for Greek Muslims,” he added.

The Greek capital is the only European capital that does not have an official place of worship for its 700,000 Muslim population.

As worldwide protests over the anti-Islamic film are still taking place around the Middle East, a group of approximately 400 Muslim protesters staged by Pakistani groups , marched in Omonia square in Athens.

“Today there was a demonstration staged by Pakistani groups, and we the Muslim Association of Greece along with the entire Arab Community of Athens did not participate. The only way of reaction that we consider as appropriate for our country is a civilized discussion, and for that reason we called for a press conference on Friday where eminent figures participated in order to discuss in depth the true reasons of the release of such a film,” according to a statement by MAG.

The crowd of outraged Pakistanis chanted “We demand punishment for those mocking our Prophet Mohammed”.  After riot police used teargas to back them off, not allowing them to make reach the US Embassy in Athens the crowd dispersed and the protests ended. A few shops and vehicles were damaged.

“With great sorrow we saw the violent incidents and damages that do not honor anyone and we condemn them with great intensity. Violence does not lead anywhere,” MAG added in a statement.

“We also want to stress the fact that Greek Media did not refer to who staged this demonstration, they just referred vaguely that  to Muslims in Athens and this vague grouping creates wrong impressions for us.”

“You can’t in the name of freedom of speech slander a faith of 1.8 billion people. We all have free speech and I respect that. It is something that we had been missing for decades in Muslim countries before the Arab Spring . Actually this movie was a test by the West for Muslims after the Arab spring.

Speaking to Alyunaniya, he said the  reason the Muslim Association of Greece hasn’t planned any demonstrations, is that “even though in a democracy we have every right to protest, we wanted to state our position in a civilized way, we don’t want to create tensions in a country that is also ours suffering from an economic crisis. We respect the hard times Greece is going through.”

It is worth noting that during the press conference eminent figures like known theologians and sociologists stated their positions while a message of the Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Education Giorgos Kalatzis was read.

In his message, Kalatzis stated that even though he was aware of the movie released he is not amongst the people who even bothered to watch it as it was simply an act of provocation aimed at dehumanizing a belief.”

He added, “Muslims and Christians in Greece have been living harmoniously together  in Greece and nobody had the right to insult their religion. We strongly condemn that.”

While the press conference was organized for the purpose of the anti-Islamic film in response to questions concerning problems Muslims in Greece face, Greek-Egyptian El-Ghandour said that Muslims in Greece feel as “second class citizens” then they have no places for worship and no place to bury their dead. “Greek Muslims have no other option but to use basement apartments, garages and warehouses for worshipping,” he said.

As for the phenomenon of the increasing racist attacks, he said that it’s not only the Muslims being attacked but also the Christians from Egypt.”

In a comment already stated a few months ago on Alyunaniya, El-Ghandour called the Greek PM a racist who said should be especially sensitive to the issue since he comes from a family of Greek migrants who once lived in Egypt.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has adopted a tough line against illegal immigration during his pre-electoral campaign referring to migrants as “the conquerors of Greek society”.

The Greek Parliament has approved a controversial plan to build a taxpayer-funded mosque in Athens, the only capital in the European Union without a state-funded mosque. The plan which has been stalled calls for renovating an existing state building  on a disused navy base in the industrial district of Votanikos near the center of Athens.

Since July 20, Muslims have been observing Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, by abstaining from food, drink each day from sunrise to sunset. Eid al-Fitr, which means feast of the breaking fast, marks the end of Ramadan and is usually observed when Islamic scholars see the new crescent moon in the night skies.

“The Muslim Association of Greece (MAG) with the cooperation of the Athens Observatory as every year, marked the end of Ramadan with the traditional Islamic way,” President of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim El Ghandour said.

All delegations from Muslim communities gathered to look in the telescope with their own eyes the birth of the new moon, with the assistance of Dr. Dapergolas based on the astronomical data of Greece and not from abroad. We wish all Muslims a Happy Eid and may God accept their good deeds and prayers,” he added.

In a statement to Alyunaniya, President of the Muslim Association of Greece thanked the Secretary-General of Religious Affairs, Mr. Kalatzis and all the relevant ministries for granting muslims in Greece the Olympic Stadium of Athens OAKA and making this eid prayer possible one more year.

Ahmed El Sharkawi, born in Athens to Egyptian parents said: “On the first day of Eid, we wake up we eat a small meal, a symbolic act that reminds them that Ramadan is over. Then we gather to perform the Eid prayer. Unfortunately, until we get an official mosque in Greece we are forced to pray in stadiums or different makeshift mosques.”

“We later disperse to visit our families and friends, give gifts to one another and convey good wishes for the holiday,” he added.

Muslims in Greece are left to pray in basement apartments, garages or underground basements, as the Greek government has stalled for over a decade in building an official mosque.

All Muslim Communities of Greece are beginning Ramadan on Friday July 20, as identifying the start of Ramadan is like a waiting game where Islamic scholars must see the new crescent moon in the night skies before the holy month officially begins.

“The Muslim Association of Greece (MAG) with the cooperation of the Athens Observatory as every year, calculated the beginning of Ramadan with the traditional Islamic way,” President of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim El Ghandour said.

“All delegations from Muslim communities gathered to look in the telescope with their own eyes the birth of the new moon, and have the chance to know more about this natural phenomenon with the assistance of Dr. Dapergolas who honors us every year and gives us the chance to calculate Ramadan based on the astronomical data of Greece and not from abroad. We wish all Muslims a blessed Ramadan and may God accept their good deeds and prayers,” he added.

This year, Ramadan in Greece occurs during one of the hottest stretches of the year, and a time of a great amount of sunlight. As a result, the fasting period each day is sa couple hours longer than it would be in the winter.

“It is the Islamic month where muslims don’t only refrain from eating and drinking during daylight hours but also an opportunity for inward-looking, purification of the soul and  body, and promoting assistance to the poor,” Lina, Syrian living in Greece says.

Egyptian Rabab Hassan says, “I am looking forward for Ramadan in Greece. During this holy month we volunteer to bring meals each evening to break the daily fast at the mosque next to where I live in Keratsini. Ramadan in Greece is a time to bring all communities closer. Muslims Greeks, Egyptians, Syrians, everybody.”

Ramadan is the month in which the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.

Mahmoud Abou Hamed says,  ”We here as Muslims in Greece, we have a lot to be thankful for. We are prosperous and we can’t help but look at Muslims and non-Muslims who are suffering,” he said. “We pray for the peace and prosperity for everybody. This is what we pray for at this time.”

According to Mahmoud Abou hamed a resident of the area and responsible of the official page of the Egyptian community of Greece who took photos of the incident said 20 members of Golden Dawn including one woman attacked a house where five Egyptian fishermen lived, causing damage and injuring seriously one of them.

“They broke their cars and seconds later they entered the house and beat them using bats and other makeshift weapons catching them off guard. The four managed to escape but the one who was at that time at the roof sleeping did not have time to escape, and now he is hospitalized in serious condition. His situation is between life and death.”

The seriously injured Abu Zeid Mubarak Abu Zeid 24 years old has been transferred to Tzanio hospital but due to his serious health situation is soon expected to be transferred to Evangelismos.

According to police reports, 6 people have been arrested including a woman and are being questioned since early in the morning.

Egyptian Rabab Hassan told Alyunaniya, “This is the first time something like that happens. I’m sure the police won’t do anything to the six people they arrested. They just caught them for the eyes of the world. It seems like the situation has reached a point with no return. What else can we expect?”

Meanwhile the President of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim El Ghandour strongly condemned the racist acts and “holds all political parties accountable for giving living room to Golden Dawn to act in these racist ways and especially the Leader of New Democracy party Antonis Samaras, who should be especially sensitive to the issue since he comes from a family of Greek migrants who once lived in Egypt.”

“We condemn every kind of racist violence, the daily attacks against humans, against their color or race. We have watched the election campaigns of the main parties attracting votes, promising to vanish the immigrants of the country, pointing them as the main reason of the crisis,” MAG stated in a press release.

“This practice, along with the entry of extreme right party Golden Dawn in the parliament, that guarantees extermination of every foreigner, legal or illegal, asylum to everyone who attacks foreigners (claiming nation-defense), has triggered a pogrom of escalating daily attacks. Suddenly Greece acquired a Racist Profile,” the association added.

The statement came after eight supporters of Golden dawn (Chrysi Avgi) party have attacked 4 Egyptians in Athens in the urban area of Kallithea on Thursday. The supporters of the Neo-Nazi party, who wore black clothes, attacked the Egyptians with batons and chains while 3 of the 4 Egyptians were seriously injured.

The party’s rise has been accompanied by an alarming number of attacks on migrants. A pilot scheme set up by nongovernmental organizations, including the UNHCR, recorded 63 racist attacks in central Athens alone over a three-month period.

MAG calls on the Hellenic Public Order and Justice, the European and International Law, to protect the migrant population and International Human Rights Organizations to give their attention.

‘The solution for the illegal immigration is not the physical extermination but the application of a proper policy that will deal the matter effectively and humanly,” MAG noted.

According to the ELIAMEP think tank, in 2011 the country was home to an estimated 1.1 million migrants, who make up almost 10 percent of the country’s population. About 400,000 are thought to be undocumented, a high number for a country as small as Greece.

MAG is a nonprofit association headquartered in Athens, Greece, where thousands of Muslims live. Since its establishment in 2003, MAG has worked to bring together all Muslims in Greece and has exerted efforts to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in Greece. Through media relations, relations with Greek authorities, education and advocacy for Muslims’ rights, MAG ensures that the Muslim voice is represented.