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Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris said that the construction of a crematorium in the city is continuing normally, in accordance with the recently adopted legislative amendment, thus answering a journalist's question regarding the decision of the Holy Synod on the subject.

"The recently adopted law clearly stipulates that crematoria can be built both within, and outside, the boundaries of municipal cemeteries", said the Mayor, adding, "Let us recall that the duty of the municipality is to bury the deceased and not to cremate them. This is a citizens’ choice that has been restored, the state is well disposed to the issue and voted in favour of the amendment to the law. Let us not forget that this is a matter of hygiene. The cemetery in the Malakopi area of Thessaloniki is already overfilled and it should be closed. The one in Thermi has a limited capacity and that in Efkarpia will also be filled at some point. We have received letters from 5 funeral parlours that are ready to proceed to the construction of a crematorium. We will start the construction of a crematorium on a municipal plot outside the cemetery, in the industrial zone, and invite all those who are interested in it and want to invest to do so because this is a kind of investment and the municipality is not a business entity."

Asked when the crematorium would be ready, the Mayor answered as follows: "I ​​believe that at the beginning of 2015 we will have a complete picture of when the crematorium will be operational. The issue of the crematorium is not dogmatic, all religions have said this many times. The point is that the church does not want to perform a burial service of those who will be cremated. The funeral service corresponds to what people say, namely, ‘I do not want my relative to leave this world without a blessing.’ When my wife died, couldn’t I ask for a burial service first and then say that she would be buried in her village, and take her to the crematorium? Yes, I could, of course. We tell a lot of lies in our entire life. On this matter, I however refuse to help to tell lies."