Eid prayers held at mosque in Thessaloniki for first time in 100 years

On Wednesday, April 10, over 100 Muslims came together at the Yeni Mosque in the northern port city of Thessaloniki to observe prayers in celebration of Eid al-Fitr.

This took place to mark the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. This gathering, which hadn’t occurred in 102 years, took place with increased police security.

Ekathimerini revealed that the decision to open the mosque for prayers was recently made by the General Secretariat of Religious Affairs. 

Egyptian Taha Abdelgaglil, a Greek national and a member of the religious committee of the Mosque of Athens, was appointed by Greek authorities to lead the prayers.

Designed by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli in 1902, the Yeni Mosque was originally intended for the city’s Dönmeh community, who were crypto-Jewish converts to Islam. 

After the Dönmeh left during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the structure was then transformed into the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki in 1925. 

Today, it functions as an exhibition centre. In addition to this, the Suleymaniye Mosque on Rhodes also opened its doors for Eid prayers.

Source: Ekathimerini.