Eid al-Fitr prayers held at Yeni Mosque under tight security
More than 100 Muslims gathered to observe prayers commemorating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the conclusion of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at the Yeni Mosque in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on Wednesday.
The prayers, unprecedented in 102 years, took place amidst heightened police security.
The decision to open the mosque for prayers was recently announced by the General Secretariat of Religious Affairs. The imam leading the prayers, Egyptian Taha Abdelgaglil, a Greek national and a member of the religious committee of the Mosque of Athens, was selected by the Greek authorities.
The Yeni Mosque, designed by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli in 1902, was initially constructed for the city’s Dönmeh community, who were crypto-Jewish converts to Islam. However, following the departure of the Dönmeh during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the building was repurposed as the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki in 1925. Today, it serves as an exhibition center.
Additionally, the Suleymaniye Mosque on Rhodes was also made available for Eid prayers.
