Constructing Difference: The Mosque Debates in Greece

Abstract

After two decades of immigration, contemporary Greek society is characterised by cultural and religious diversity. We argue here, however, that the challenges posed by migration-related diversity are not yet sufficiently addressed in institutional or normative terms. Rather, dominant national self-understandings remain mono-cultural and mono-religious, while accommodation of this diversity is not yet approached in inclusive and integrating ways. Media and parliamentary debates regarding the construction of a mosque in the capital, Athens, are explored in this context. Dominant understandings of Greek national identity are discussed in this article, together with the ways in which difference is framed in current public discourses, and the actors and values that structured the debate on the accommodation of the religious needs of Greece's Muslim immigrant population.

Keywords:

• Migration
• National Identity
• Religion
• Greece
• Mosques

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the European Commission's DG Research (Sixth Framework Programme, Priority 7 Citizenship and Governance, contract no. CIT5-CT-2005-028205). We also thank the three anonymous JEMS referees for their helpful and constructive comments.

Notes

1. Illustrative of this is the ‘Macedonian question’, which has occupied Greek foreign policy since the early 1990s: the recognition of the official name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (see also Roudometof 1996).

2. The support for Turkey joining the EU if it fulfils all the criteria is on average, in the EU25, 48 per cent against, with the highest opposition found in Austria (81 per cent), Germany and Luxembourg (69 per cent), Cyprus (68 per cent) and Greece (67 per cent). Data from Eurobarometer, No. 255: 65.2, July 2006, accessed 18 October 2006 at: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_255_en.pdf.

3. Greek Constitution, First Part: General Provisions: Relations between Church and State, Article 3. Online at: http://www.parliament.gr/politeuma/syntagmaDetails.asp?ArthroID=3.

4. This Treaty guarantees the preservation of sharia (Islamic law) as a separate jurisdiction presided over by muftis (religious leaders) who provide spiritual leadership, supervise the management of the property of the Muslim community and the operation of religious schools. The use of sharia is voluntary and geographically restricted to the regions where this minority population lives. More importantly, however, it replaces the Greek Civil code. The mufti decisions acquire legal force after the judiciary confirms their compliance with civil and constitutional principles. Given the extraordinary nature of this freedom, the Greek government has persistently attempted to manage the selection process of muftis; over the past 15 years, there has been significant opposition between the Muslim community and the Greek state, given the latter's insistence on having exclusive competence over their selection. The Greek government's position is that the functions of the religious leaders include legal and administrative decisions and, therefore, responsibility for these functions must be held by individuals with state recognition.

5. Council of Europe (2002, 2006), online at https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=984125&BackColorInternet=99B5AD&BackColorIntranet=FABF45&BackColorLogged=FFC679, accessed 10 March 2007.

6. Our study took place under the auspices of a larger research project entitled A European Approach to Multicultural Citizenship: Legal, Political and Educational Challenges (EMILIE), 2006–2009; for more information, see: http://emilie.eliamep.gr/emilie-reports-on-multiculturalism-debates/#more-41.

7. Kathimerini is a quality broadsheet of centre-right orientation (with an English language insert every Friday), Eleftherotypia, Ta Nea and To Vima are centre-left-wing. They are quality newspapers, although the language they use is more sensational than that used by Kathimerini. Rizospastis is the official newspaper of the Greek Communist Party.

8. Respectively, ‘A hideout for Allah in Athens’; ‘…and police controls outside the mosques’; ‘14 places of worship for Muslims in Athens’; ‘We are praying in garages and storage places’. All original quotes in Greek were translated into English by the authors.

9. Parliamentary proceedings, Session 3, Meeting 12, pp. 880–905, available at http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/praktika/pdf/es07112006.pdf, accessed 17 September 2007. All page numbers in parentheses in this section of the paper refer to these proceedings.

10. Article entitled ‘Mosques and imams’.

11. ‘The mosque is going to…Monastiraki’, Ta Nea, 28 March 2006.

12. ‘A mosque of isolation or coexistence?’, Eleftherotypia, 8 April 2006.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Triandafyllidou

Anna Triandafyllidou is Senior Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and Associate Professor at the Democritus University of Thrace

Ruby Gropas

Ruby Gropas is Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and Lecturer at the Democritus University of Thrace