Halit Habip Oğlu: ‘We call on the Greek authorities to immediately end their attempts targeting religious and cultural values of the Turkish community in Western Thrace under the pretext of tackling the virus outbreak’.
An imam belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece was called to testify on grounds of having led a collective prayer in the mosque where he is preaching albeit this is banned as a result of the coronavirus outbreak on 25 April 2020. According to the Millet News, in his explanation to the police, religious servant Ali Mahmut Paşa who has been working for many years as Imam in Hebilköy (Hloi) village, which is bound to Kozlukebir (Arriana) Municipality, indicated that there was absolutely no collective prayer within the mosque and that the video which had been shared on social media and shown as an alleged proof dates back at least 5 or 6 years. In his statement to the police station director, Ali Mahmut Paşa said that within the framework of the measures taken in Greece against the coronavirus outbreak, neither prayers nor Friday prayers have been conducted collectively in the village mosque for the last six weeks.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), said, “In this trying and sensitive period in which the whole world is fighting against the coronavirus outbreak, efforts to intimidate the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece are unfortunately continuing. The latest example of this is an imam appointed by the village community, was called to testify in a police station and subject to psychological pressure as a result of a baseless allegation. In the past days, under the pretext of combating the coronavirus pandemic, there was a strange request to perform Adhan by lowering the sound of the loudspeakers of the mosque. Moreover, Rhodope Deputy Mufti who was appointed by the Greek state but is not recognised by the Turkish community in Western Thrace appointed new imams to take place at Gümülcine(Komotini) Harmanlık neighbourhood mosque and Hamidiye Mosque in Şapçı(Sapes) instead of the current mosques who are working there and who have been elected and supported by the community and board of trustees. We call upon the Greek authorities to immediately end to its attempts targeting religious and cultural values of the Turkish community in Western Thrace under the pretext of combating the coronavirus outbreak”.
*Image: www.milletgazetesi.gr
