Paper short abstract:

This paper will focus on the case of Greece by examining two cases: the indigenous Muslim communities of Greek Thrace and later Muslim immigrants. It explores issues of identification, politics, social inclusion and exclusion, and the provision of services for the different groups involved.

Paper long abstract:

Historically the Muslim presence in Europe goes beyond the arrival of immigrants from former empires. There are various estimates of the number of Muslims in Europe. Some scholars see Islam as the fastest growing religion in Europe (Hunter 2002) with an estimate of thirteen or more million Muslims stretching from Portugal to Scandinavian countries and from Greece to Ireland (Marechal, 2002). Placed within the context of Muslim communities in Europe this paper will focus on the case of Greece by examining two cases: the indigenous Muslim communities of Greek Thrace and the newly arriving Muslim immigrants. Based on earlier ethnographic material for the first case and further explorations of the current literature for the second, this paper aims to show that popular discourses on the Muslim presence in Greece are interlinked not with an idea of the 'secular' but most importantly with images of the 'other' and the national 'self'. It will explore the issues of identification, the politics of defining Muslim communities, social inclusion and exclusion and the provision of services for the different groups involved.