Melilla
Melilla (/mɛˈliːjə/; Tarifit: Mřič) is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 12.3 km2 (4.7 sq mi). It was part of the Province of Málaga until 14 March 1995, when the Statute of Autonomy of Melilla was passed.
For other uses, see Melilla (disambiguation).
Melilla
Mřič
Melilla is one of the special territories of the member states of the European Union. Movements to and from the rest of the EU and Melilla are subject to specific rules, provided for inter alia in the Accession Agreement of Spain to the Schengen Convention.[3]
As of 2019, Melilla had a population of 86,487.[4] The population is chiefly divided between people of Iberian and Riffian extraction.[5] There is also a small number of Sephardic Jews and Sindhi Hindus. Melilla features a diglossia between the official Spanish and Tarifit.[6]
Like the autonomous city of Ceuta and Spain's other territories in Africa, Melilla is subject to an irredentist claim by Morocco.[7]
![Dome of the Chapel of Santiago [es]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Capilla_de_Santiago3.jpg/120px-Capilla_de_Santiago3.jpg)
Modernista building, former headquarters of El Telegrama del Rif newspaper.
Local synagogue
Melilla's central mosque
The dome of the Chapel of Santiago, built in the mid-16th century by Miguel de Perea with help from Sancho de Escalante, is a rare instance of Gothic architecture in the African continent.[94]
Parallel to the urban development of Melilla in the early 20th century, the new architectural style of modernismo (irradiated from Barcelona and associated to the bourgeois class) was imported to the city, granting it a modernista architectural character, primarily through the works of the prolific Catalan architect Enrique Nieto.[95]
Accordingly, Melilla has the second most important concentration of Modernista works in Spain after Barcelona.[95] Nieto was in charge of designing the main Synagogue, the Central Mosque and various Catholic Churches.[96]
Border security[edit]
Defence and Civil Guard[edit]
The defence of the enclave is the responsibility of the Spanish Armed Forces' General Command of Melilla.[107] The Spanish Army's combat components of the command include:
Sport[edit]
Melilla is a surfing destination.[137] The city's football club, UD Melilla, plays in the third tier of Spanish football, the Segunda División B. The club was founded in 1943 and since 1945 have played at the 12,000-seater Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro. Until the other club was dissolved in 2012, UD Melilla played the Ceuta-Melilla derby against AD Ceuta. The clubs travelled to each other via the Spanish mainland to avoid entering Morocco.[138] The second-highest ranked club in the city are Casino del Real CF of the fourth-tier Tercera División. The football's governing institution is the Melilla Football Federation.
Dispute with Morocco[edit]
The Moroccan government has repeatedly called for Spain to transfer the sovereignty of Melilla and Ceuta, along with uninhabited islets such as the islands of Alhucemas, Vélez and Perejil to Morocco, with the Spanish refusal to do so serving as a major source of tension in Morocco–Spain relations. In Morocco, Melilla is frequently referred to as the "occupied Melilah", and the Moroccan government has argued that Melilla, along with other Spanish territories in the region, are colonies.[139][140] One of the major arguments used by Morocco in their attempts to acquire sovereignty over Melilla refers to the geographical position of the city, as Melilla is an exclave which is surrounded by Moroccan territory and the Mediterranean Sea and has no territorial continuity with the rest of Spain.[141] This argument was originally developed by one of the founders of the Moroccan Istiqlal Party, Alal-El Faasi, who openly advocated for Morocco to invade and occupy Melilla and other North African territories under Spanish rule.[142] Spain, in line with the majority of governments in the rest of the world, has never recognized Morocco's claim over Melilla. The official position of the Spanish government is that Melilla is an integral part of Spain, and have been since the 16th century, centuries prior to Morocco's independence from Spain and France in 1956.[143] The majority of Melilla's population support continued Spanish sovereignty and are opposed to Moroccan control over the territory.[144]
In 1986, Spain joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, Melilla is not under NATO protection since Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty limits such coverage to Europe and North America and islands north of the Tropic of Cancer. However, French Algeria was explicitly included in the treaty upon France's entry. Legal experts have claimed that other articles of the treaty could cover Spanish territories in North Africa but this interpretation has not been tested in practice.[145] During the 2022 Madrid summit, the issue of the protection of Melilla was raised by Spain, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stating: "On which territories NATO protects and Ceuta and Melilla, NATO is there to protect all Allies against any threats. At the end of the day, it will always be a political decision to invoke Article 5, but rest assured NATO is there to protect and defend all Allies".[146] On 21 December 2020, following statements made by Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani that Melilla is "Moroccan as the Sahara", the Spanish government summoned the Moroccan ambassador, Karima Benyaich, to convey that Spain expects all its partners to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its territory in Africa and asked for an explanation for Othmani's words.[147]