Words by

Ingibjörg Rósa Björnsdóttir

The people of Vestmannaeyjar are not sensitive to being reminded of the so-called Turkish Invasion and are not worried about plans to build a mosque in Reykjavík.

So says Elliði Vignisson, mayor in Vestmannaeyjar, in response to Ólafur F Magnússon’s claims that a mosque would be an insult to Iceland’s history and especially the people of Vestmannaeyjar.

Elliði had not read Ólafur’s article when DV contacted him but said that of course he didn’t know whether some islanders might have reservations about a mosqaue being built in Reykjavík.

“But [the Turkish invasion] is part of our history and we’ve never connected it to some specific religion,” Elliði told DV.