Selasa, 31 Maret 2009

There is No Moslem Cemetary in Attikis (Tidak ada Kuburan untuk Muslim di Athena dsktnya)


Akhirnya ada juga anggota parlemen Yunani yang berani bertanya tentang kebebasan beragama di negara bekas jajahan Turki ini. Secara mau sholat berjamaah di daerah sekitar Attikis (Yunani bagian tengah) sangat sulit menemukan mesjid. Tidak ada mesjid yang legal dan berizin dibangun di Athena dan kota sekitarnya. Penganut agama Islam harus sholat di tempat tertentu secara illegal.

Hingga baru-baru ini pemerintah memberikan sangsi denda sebanyak 60.000 euro dan 30.000 euro (total 90.000) karena pemilik bangunan di Athena menggunakan rumahnya untuk tempat sholat tanpa izin dari pemerintah. Tahun 2000 telah keluar izin mendirikan Islamic center dan mesjid di daerah Peania, tetapi proyek ini dibatalkan oleh pemerintah setempat. Justru di tempat yang sama dibangun gereja.

Demikian juga jika seorang muslim meninggal dunia di wilayah Attikis (Athena dsktnya) maka tidak akan ada kuburan bagi mereka. Biasanya jenazah diterbangkan ke wilayah utara Yunani yaitu daerah Komotini, Xanthi yang tersedia kuburan buat orang Islam. Di wilayah Komotini dan Xanthi ini saja yang terdapat banyak mesjid, sebab penduduknya sebagian keturunan Turki. Wilayahnya juga berbatasan langsung dengan Turki. Biaya untuk menerbangkan jenazah ke wilayah paling utara Yunani ini berkisar antara 3000-5000 euro. Besar biaya sama saja dengan biaya membawa pulang jenazah ke negeri asal, jika dia seorang pendatang.

Saya sudah pesan pada suami, jika saya menjadi jenazah nanti mohon diterbangkan saja ke negeri tercinta. Namun besar harapan saya agar parlemen di Yunani peduli mengenai kebebasan beragama dan suatu waktu nanti ada kuburan buat orang Muslim, Buddha, Hindu ataupun Shinto. Jika dibandingkan dengan negara anggoat Uni Eropa lainnya, memang Yunani sangat ketinggalan dalam hal kebebasan beragama. di Perancis ada 2000 tempat sholat dan 12 mesjid. Di Norway, Rusia, Jerman, Malta dll sudah ada beberapa mesjid dibangun. Lengkap pertanyaan anggota Parlemen Periklis Korovesis sebagai tertuang dibawah ini.


In Athens, where 700 000 Muslims of all nationalities live, there is neither a mosque nor a Muslim cemetery, making Greece the only country in Europe that has not taken care of this. This practice opposes Article 13 of the Constitution and Article 9 of the European Convention for the Human Rights that clearly state “the freedom of religious conscience is unhindered”.Understandably, the Muslims in Athens feel the sense of rejection as they have no ability to pray, get married, and have a funeral service with dignity. As a result, this brought the existence of over 50 unofficial praying places in the region, often located in undergrounds and garages.Just recently, the Prefecture of Athens fined the owner of an underground building at Nea Ionia 60 000 euro and 30 000 euro because he used it as an unofficial mosque without special permission of a “bethel”, allowing Muslims of the area to pray there.There were significant local protests from the immigrants who opposed the prefecture as well as Greek inhabitants and authorities, demonstrating on Saturday February 7th at a massive movement in this small area (more than 1000 people) asking for a proper place to conduct religious tasks, which is a right registered by the constitution. However, the decision of the prefecture and the reactions on behalf of the immigrants is not new. Thirty years have passed since the first claim in 1976 was lodged for building a mosque in Athens from the Arabic embassies, when all Greek governments projected several barriers in order not to proceed to its fulfillment.Meanwhile, in other countries like Sweden, there are five mosques, 150 praying places and 10 Muslim cemeteries; in France there are 2000 praying places and 12 mosques when the cemeteries (except for one Muslim cemetery established in 1930) where it is obliged to have place of burying Muslims; in Norway (Oslo) the mosque was established in 1980, in Poland (Gtansk) in 1989, in Russia (Moscow) in 1912, in Scotland (Glascow) in 1983, in Portugal (Lisbon) in 1988, in Malta in 1978, in Ireland (Dublin) in 1978, in the UK there is the biggest Muslim cemetery in Europe and many mosques.In 1983 the Greek state was committed to construct a mosque in Marousi, but this did not work due to the reactions of the local authorities. In 2000 the law 2833 was including the establishment if an Islamic Cultural Centre and Mosque in Peania with expenses that the Saudi Arabian Government would cover. This project was cancelled and in the very same place they realized that was already been built an orthodox church!In October 2006 the Ministry of Education presented a draft law for building a mosque at Eleonas, a feasible project in harmony with the protected green of the area. The decision remained inapplicable because at the area that was given for the mosque is located navy base and the transfer of that means that 5 000 000 euro should be found. Although the Muslim Community was willing to offer that amount, this offer was not accepted, for it is the obligation of the Ministry of Defense to provide the funds to the Navy.The Muslim Association of Greece sent a recent letter (27.01.09) to the Minister of Education and Religions asking to fulfil the governmental commitments and accusing the ministry’s palinodes twice for losing the necessary documents for the realization of this project.Similar luck seems to have the permanent claim of the Muslims for the establishment of the Muslim cemetery in Athens, for which we have lodged a question (number of lodgment 1334/15.7.2009).Despite of the bestowal of the field at the area of Schisto for the establishment, and the commitments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was authorized as a coordinator of the engaged authorities, no procedure has proceeded. Hence, since the Muslims of Attica have no official mosque, nor a cemetery, nor a religious scholar who will be under a law to practice their religious rituals, they are forced to move their dead to Thrace or abroad with a huge economic cost for the family, that rates even 5000 euro (for Pakistan).For the construction of the Muslim cemetery in Schisto, the Muslim Association of Greece has sent a letter again to the Minister of Internal Affairs on 27.01.2009, asking for intervention, as far as the bureaucratic procedures of the local authorities are concerned for the following reasons:
All these are unprecedented for an elemental democratic country and equals to “Islamophobia” and discrimination if the Islamic civilization;
The pertinacious non-immigration policy of the governments has created a suffocating place of living for Muslim immigrants and refuges that are in Greece, insulting fundamental and obvious human rights of every civilised country;
The immigration stream of the last decade has definitively changed the face and composition of the Greek society affecting even its deeper structures, transforming it to multicultural and religious differentiation, which in fact compels changes in point of vision, criteria and methods.
The ministers are asked:
What is the status of the procedures for the construction of the Eleonas mosque and what are the obstacles of moving the navy base, the cost of the moving etc.
Have the funds been found by the Ministry of National Defense for the move of the navy base from the area of Eleonas?
In which point are the procedures for the establishment of the Muslim cemetery in Shisto? Is the topographic survey of the area that was expected to be completed within a two months period starting from July 2008, according to the response that was given to us by the Deputy Minister of foreign affairs Theodoros Kassimis?
Has the transfer of the proprietary title of the area been made by the Church of Greece to the local authority in charge of the Muslim cemetery?
Are the procedures of the Ministry of Zoning and Public Works finished as concerning the zoning of the cemetery area?
How do they think to improve the conditions of religious freedom and equity, having in mind the condition that has prevailed in Greece and in Europe, in order to reduce the distance that separates our country from the rest of Europe?
Which constitutional preconditions they think to create will allow all religious communities to enjoy the internationally acknowledged equity of rights and parity for the religious rights?
Athens, March 26, 2009Member of ParliamentPeriklis Korovesis

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