A Muslim imam in the northeastern prefecture of Xanthi was arrested this week on weapons charges, after three firearms and a small cache of ammunition were found in a mosque where the suspect preaches.
The incident assumed an international twist after local Turkish-language media claimed the arrest was the result of a “conspiracy” engineered by local “Gulenist supporters”, referring to the increasingly demonized and persecuted religious and social movement in neighboring Turkey.
Xanthi, in the frontier region of Thrace, borders with European Turkey and southern Bulgaria and is home to Greece’s only indigenous Muslim minority. The latter community was allocated special rights under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
According to authorities, two pistols, an air gun, a silencer and 30 rounds of ammunition were found in the small mosque in the village of Iliopetra after a after a tip-off. The village is part of the wider Topiros municipality, and located outside the city of Xanthi.
The imam, who reportedly owes allegiance to a “pseudo-mufti” in the area instead of the state-appointed quasi-judicial religious leader, was arrested. The weapons were sent to a ballistics lab.
“Pseudo-muftis” claim they are elected from amongst the faithful, while the Greek state adheres to the text of the international treaty, while also pointing out that muftis in neighboring Turkey, for instance, are also appointed.
Other reports from the area maintain that the Turkish consul at a consulate in the nearby town of Komotini was involved in the “press leaks” claiming FETO (Gulenist) involvement, a first for Greece.
Athens is loath to allow any spillover of the acrimonious political developments in Turkey.
