“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.

The Greek Ministry of Education will allocate the sum of  EUR 946,000 to the Ministry of Growth to fund construction of the controversial mosque in Athens, according to To Vima.

Until recently, the Ministry of Education did not have the funds to finance the project.

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.

However, legal obstacles hamper the construction too. According to To Vima, the Council of State must first rule over objections to the mosque including objections by the Metropolitan Bishop of Piraeus Seraphim and some local residents who say they don’t want muslims to have a sanctioned place of worship.

However, if the objections are overruled then funds are now in place to begin construction.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in Votaniko. The project was designed by the architectural bureau of Alexandros Tombazis that has created some of the most beautiful mosques in the world.

Erdogan recently announced that he had offered Turkish help for the building of the house of worship, while adding that Samaras was “warm” to the idea.

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

“The Muslim Association of Greece welcomes the next step of the government for the construction of a mosque in Athens, “ the association said in a statement.

“We believe that our country will be able to recognize the necessity of religion to all the citizens, as these are  messages we have been receiving all these years since 2006 during our collaboration with relevant bodies topped by the Ministry of Education. The mosque in Athens will be a place of Greek Muslims can pray or to visit anyone.”

The construction of the mosque puts an end to the critics against Greece for leaving its 300,000 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 Votaniko. The project was designed by the architectural bureau of Alexandros Tombazis that has created some of the most beautiful mosques in the world.

“We also want to emphasize that the idea of a pure state mosque in Athens was our solid and constant demand form the beginning, as we have aimed to live equally, independently and with respect to our country, although at times we have read that belong to other countries. These reports intend to disorient and take advantage of the crisis that has brought chaos. They are hate fireworks with ulterior motives. But it is always one-sided hatred and characterizes those who feed it.”

“The mosque issue is a matter of fairness and humanity, values that are non-negotiable for Greece, and should not be associated with the immigration policy, or with the relations between Greece and other countries.”

However, as the Greek government readies to build the country’s first official mosque, the Council of State is to hear today an appeal against the project by Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus who says he doesn’t want muslims to have a sanctioned place of worship. The bishop’s appeal has been backed by a philosophy professor at the University of Athens, two doctors at the Athens Naval Hospital and a cultural association based in Votanikos, where the mosque is to be built, and five local residents.

Athens is the only European capital without an official mosque.