Thessaloniki's Turks have no place to worship or bury their dead

Greece's refusal to allow new mosques has hit the small Turkish community in Thessaloniki hardest. Some 7,000 ethnic Turks are forced to worship in small apartments they converted into mosques and travel for hundreds of kilometers to bury their dead due to lack of a Muslim cemetery in the city.

Mosques in the city, all dating back to Ottoman rule in the region, have either been closed or converted into museums. For Friday and Eid prayers, two prayers all Muslims are required to perform in a congregation, the community huddles inside a small apartment that is the offices of a Muslim association. Others are forced to perform those prayers outdoors, in a public park.

Osman İsmailoğlu, head of Education and Culture Association of Muslims of Macedonia and Thrace told Doğan News Agency that their applications to open mosques have not yielded any results. İsmailoğlu, whose association offers a small space of worship for the Turkish Muslims, says Greek authorities make up with excuses to not open any mosques. "There are four mosques in the city and we want authorities at least open one for us. They don't even allow us to worship there on Friday and Eid prayers," he said.

Another issue is the lack of a Muslim cemetery. The community says they also applied for allocation of a plot to be used as cemetery but to no avail. Cemeteries built at the time of Ottoman rule are now home to high-rise buildings. Muslim Turks are forced to take bodies of their deceased next of kin to Xanthi (İskeçe) or Komotini (Gümülcine), two cities with a large Turkish population. They have to travel up to 250 kilometers for a proper burial at a cemetery in those two cities.

Necad Ahmet, who heads Turkish Youth Union in Gümülcine says their own cemeteries have already been filled due to transfer of bodies from Thessaloniki. "These people have great trouble in visiting the graves as it is very far from their hometown. Some people only get the chance to visit once a year," Ahmet says.

Greece is home to a small Turkish community concentrated in Western Thrace region where Xanthi and Komotini are located. Ankara and the community have long complained for mistreatment of Turks by authorities, especially in terms of religious freedoms. Election of muftis, or Muslim clerics, for the community has been a particularly thorny issue for the community due to Athens' refusal to recognize elected muftis.

The mosque issue is not limited to Thessaloniki as Muslims in Athens also want a proper mosque. The Greek city is the only European Union capital without a mosque. The Greek government pledged for the construction of a mosque two years ago, though the project has not been completed yet.

Last year, Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they would uncover more Ottoman heritage including mosques and baths in the city and plan to build an Islamic art museum. "You cannot build the future without knowing your past. What we did was to make this history visible again. This history was hidden. It was hidden because the Greeks were misinformed about the Turks," Boutaris said. The mayor has asked the Greek Ministry of Culture take over five historical buildings dating from the Ottoman period in the city to bring in tourism. "I always say we are brothers with the Turks. We have the same history and the same culture. We fought each other a lot of times, but the past must be left behind," he added.

Greece, especially its northern part, is rich with Turkish heritage. However, some local authorities have neglected to protect and rehabilitate many of these treasures. In recent years, Islamic heritage in Greece, including mosques, were vandalized by far-right groups or caught fire for unknown reasons.