Operating Masjids in the Imathia region still not allowed
Our compatriots in the city of Alexandria in Imathia continue to have bureaucratic obstacles to the mosque they want to open.
Hüseyin Hüseyinoğlu, President of the Imathia Muslims Education, Culture, Sports and Solidarity Association, said that since 2015, the mosque (Masjid) they tried to open in the city of Alexandria in Imathia faced various bureaucratic obstacles and they were waiting for official permission to open it.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency reporter, Hüseyinoğlu stated that sewing, embroidery, Turkish and English lessons were also given for a period within the scope of the activities of the association, and that the first application for the opening of the mosque was made in 2015.
Hüseyinoğlu stated that members of the Muslim Turkish minority from Western Thrace have been immigrating to the region to work since the 1950s, and most of them are working as agricultural workers.
Noting that there are about 300 families living in the region, Hüseyinoğlu said that Muslims in the region need a mosque to perform their eid prayers, tarawih prayers, mawlid ceremonies and religious weddings.
MUSLIM CEMETERY IS ALSO DEMANDED
Hüseyinoğlu emphasized that the Muslims living in the region needed a Muslim cemetery and that in case of death; they had to go to Western Thrace for burial, Hüseyinoğlu said, "The Mayor treats us very well, but he says that asphalt, water and electricity infrastructure is required for the construction of the cemetery, and permission must be obtained from the relevant Ministry for this, and that he is willing to build a Muslim cemetery if permission is granted.
Ministers have to give this permission. They and we also have a God. God is one. They shouldn't do that, they should give the permission."
DESPITE THE DECISION OF THE COUNCIL OF CONSULTATION, BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS CONTINUE
Religious officer Musa Çolak, who served in the masjid, which was open for worship for a while after its establishment in 2015, said that after a while, the authorities warned about the legal permission process that had to be carried out, and that after the warning, the prayer in the masjid was suspended.
Religious officer Musa Çolak, who served in the masjid, which was open for worship for a while after its establishment in 2015, said that after a while, the authorities warned about the legal permission process that had to be carried out, and that after the warning, the prayer in the masjid was suspended.
Çolak stated that after the warning, they started the process to obtain all the necessary permits and stated that they decided to seek their rights through the law about two years ago, after their permission requests were rejected three times.
Emphasizing that they were right by the Council of State, Çolak noted that with the decision conveyed to them by the Ministry of Religious Affairs before the Eid al-Adha, they learned that the requested permission was once again rejected for ‘bureaucratic reasons’.
"WE NEVER GO OUT OF THE LAW"
Emphasizing that they never go beyond the law, Çolak said, "We will pursue our rights. We are Greek citizens. Whatever the Greek law sees fit for us, whatever the law says is important to us. We never want anything to be informal. We neither rebelled nor bowed," he said.
Drawing attention to the need for a Muslim cemetery, Çolak said, "Even though the municipality has a somewhat positive approach to this, everyone throws the ball at each other, as is often the case, because we are not the one who will ultimately make this decision. We suffer from bureaucratic work, we are always in a state of suspense, we are always waiting." used the phrase.
