Votanikos

Education and Religious Affairs Minister Costas Gavroglou inaugurated the capital's first official mosque on Friday though the facility is not expected to open for prayers before September as the appointment of an imam and other staff are pending and next month's snap election is certain to delay procedures.

Athens' first mosque will officially open its doors on Friday after numerous delays, though it is not expected to start operating immediately as its administrative committee has not been appointed yet.
Education and Religious Affairs Minister Costas Gavroglou is expected to attend the opening in the Votanikos district at noon.

Greek police launched a manhunt on Monday for two Albanian inmates, who were among four that escaped from a police detention unit on Petrou Ralli Street in Athens early Monday at around 4 a.m.
One of the escapees was arrested a few hours later in the area of Rendi, southern Athens. A second one was arrested on Monday afternoon in Votanikos.

The president of the Muslim Association of Greece on Saturday bemoaned the size of the building that is to house Athens's first mosque in the downtown district of Votanikos, saying it looks more like an oversized kiosk.

"Is this the mosque they've been telling us about for so many years?" Naim Elghandour told Thema 104.6 radio on Saturday.

The long-overdue project to provide a place of worship to the Greek capital's growing Muslim population has been pushed back again, to late October.

Ostensibly due to delays in the signing of the contract for complementary construction work at the site in the run-down district of Votanikos, this is the fifth extension to the project's delivery deadline.

Another step has been taken toward the opening of Athens's first mosque after the Education Ministry launched an online public debate on the rules governing its operation.

The debate will end on May 31. The move is seen as an expression of the leftist-led government's resolve to complete the delay-plagued project.

The Council of State on Wednesday heard appeals against the construction of a mosque in Votanikos, near central Athens. The appeals have been lodged by a group of 153 residents and a local association.

For the first time since it began in New York in 2011, the Between the Seas theater festival is at Athens's Baumstrasse venue, helping emerging and established artists from across the Mediterranean, as well as art enthusiasts who would like to see some amazing shows. Alongside performances from across the region, the event includes staged, workshops, masterclasses and panels.

The Greek parliamentary plenum is scheduled to vote on the erection of the Islamic mosque, as part of a larger bill on education, Thursday night. The discussion started with the parties’ rapporteurs presenting their positions on the bill.

A parliamentary committee Wednesday approved legislation paving the way for the construction of the capital's first state-backed mosque thanks to the votes of PASOK as leftist SYRIZA's junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) opposed the motion.