(AFP) Outwardly, Komotini looks like other Greek cities, but there is a major difference: it has nine mosques whereas there are none in Athens.
The northeastern city has existed from the second century and was captured by Ottoman-era Turkey in the 14th. It was an important hub connecting the capital city of Constantinople, as Istanbul was then known, with the European part of the empire.
Now it is home to nearly 30,000 Muslims, many of whom complain of marginalisation.
Greece has for centuries had a testy relationship with Turkey, with a slew of disputes ranging from Aegean Sea issues to the long-running Cyprus problem.
“The minority Muslims and their Greek compatriots cohabit but each side lives in its own corner,” said Mustafa Mustafa, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s party, speaking in this frontier city of some 60,000 people.
