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AUTOCHTHONOUS MUSLIMS IN GREECE The indigenous Muslim population in Greece is not homogenous; it consists of different ethnic, linguistic and social backgrounds which often overlap. Officially and under the terms of the Treaty Of Lausanne , the Greek government only recognises the existence of a Greek Muslim Minority . The Muslim faith is the creed of several autochthonous ethnic groups living in the present territory of Greece , namely the Pomaks , ethnic Turks , the Roma and to a lesser extent the Athinganoi and the Gagauzes . There were also Greeks who embraced the Muslim faith mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The country's Muslim popuplation decreased significanly as a result of the 1923 Population Exchange Agreement between Greece and the new Turkish Republic, which also resulted in approximately 1.5 million Greeks being uprooted from Asia Minor . , which became part of Greece in 1913. The minaret, unlike most in Greece, has not been demolished.]] Most autochthonous Greek Muslims consider themselves ethnic Turks. Relics of the Ottoman Empire , this community resides mainly in Western Thrace , where they were allowed to remain under the terms of the 1923 Treaty Of Lausanne . In the town of Komotini , it makes up almost 40 percent of the total population. There is also a vibrant Turkish community in the town of Xanthi where it makes up 23 percent of the population. There also also Muslim and Turkish Muslim communities residing in some of the Dodecanese islands which, as part of Italy between 1912 and 1947, were not subjected to the exchange of the population between Turkey and Greece in 1923. The community is strongest on the island of Kos , and in particular the village of Platanos . in Xanthi Prefecture , inhabited exclusively by Pomaks . The minarets of several active mosques are visible.]] The Pomaks are mainly located in compact villages in Western Thrace 's Rhodope Mountains . While the Greek Roma community is predominantly Greek Orthodox , the Roma in Thrace are mainly Muslim. The religion of the Athinganoi combines the Muslim faith with elements of Pagan ism. These too live in Thrace. The Athinganoi have been sometimes described as a branch of the Roma. IMMIGRANT MUSLIMS IN GREECE The first immigrants of Islamic faith arrived in the early 1970s from the Middle East , mostly from Palestine , and are concentrated in the country's two main urban centres, Athens and Thessaloniki . Since 1990, there has been an increase in the numbers of immigrant Muslims, fifty percent of whom come from Albania . The remainder are from various countries of the Middle East, as well as from Pakistan , India and Bangladesh . The immigrant Muslim community numbers around 150,000 people. At present Athens is the only capital in the European Union without an officially designated mosque although there are estimated to be tens of thousands of Muslims in the city. SEE ALSO |
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