Minorities in Greece
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Minorities in Greece are small in size compared to
The main officially recognized "minority" (μειονότητα, meionótita) is the
Religious minorities
The Greek constitution defines the
Muslim
There is a
Turks
A Turkish community currently lives in
The Greek government continues to deliver Turkish-language public education, and there are two Islamic theological seminaries, one in Komotini and one in Echinos. The Turkish community of Greece enjoys full equality under the law, adopting Turkish names, publishing numerous Turkish-language newspapers, operating Turkish-language radio stations, converse freely in Turkish and use Turkish in Greek courts.[13] They are allowed to maintain their own Turkish-language schools, which catered to about 8,000 students in the 1999-2000 school year.[13] Since 1920, members of the Turkish minority participate in elections, electing representatives to Parliament.[13] The great majority of Turkic Muslims in Thrace espouse moderate political views and are ready to work and prosper as citizens of the Greek state, with the exception of a relatively small group of ethnocentric activists.[13]
In 1922, Turks owned 84% of the land in Western Thrace, but now the minority estimates this figure to be 20–40%. This stems from various practices of the Greek administration whereby ethnic Greeks are encouraged to purchase Turkish land with soft loans granted by the state.[17][18] The Greek government refers to the Turkish community as Greek Muslims or Hellenic Muslims, and does not recognise a Turkish minority in Western Thrace.[14] Greek courts have also outlawed the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe the Turkish community.[19][20] In 1988, the Greek High Court affirmed a 1986 decision of the Court of Appeals of Thrace in which the Union of Turkish Associations of Western Thrace was ordered closed. The court held that the use of the word 'Turkish' referred to citizens of Turkey, and could not be used to describe citizens of Greece; the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe 'Greek Muslims' was held to endanger public order.[20] Greece continued this stance in the beginning 21st century when Greek courts ruled to dissolve or prohibit formation of Turkish associations.[19][21][22][unreliable source?]
Apart from Thrace, a small minority of Turks exists in the
Pomaks
The Muslim Bulgarian-speaking minority are known as Pomaks (Greek: Πομάκοι, Pomakoi, Bulgarian: Помаци, Pomatsi). They reside mainly in villages in the Rhodope Mountains in Thrace, in Evros, Xanthi and Rhodope regional units of Greece. According to the 2001 Greek census it is estimated that in total there are 36,000 Pomaks, of whom 23,000 live in Xanthi regional unit, 11,000 live in Rhodope regional unit and 2,000 live in Evros regional unit.[25]
The language they speak is generally classified as a dialect of Bulgarian, and more specifically is the "Central Rhodope dialect" or Smolyan dialect.[26] Despite their mother language, many Pomaks also self-identify as Turks[27] This Turkification has a number of reasons, including the fact that Turks and Pomaks were part of the same millet during the years when their homeland was part of the Ottoman Empire.
Under Greek law, the Muslim minority (including the Pomaks) has a right to education in its own language. In practice however, only Turkish is used.[27] This is due to the Turkish self-identification of the Pomaks, and the fact that this trend was promoted until recently by the Greek authorities (who from 1968 until the 1980s even officially recognized the Pomaks as Turks)[28] in order to distance them from the Bulgarians.[27] There have been Greek-Pomak dictionaries published and a language primer in the Bulgarian language (in Greek script) has been published for use in Pomak schools.[29] Recently, news have begun to be broadcast in the native language of the Pomaks.[30]
Most Pomaks are fluent in their Pomak dialects (spoken amongst themselves), Turkish (their language of education, and the main language of the Muslim minority), Greek (the official language of the Greek state), and may know some
Other minorities
Armenians
There are approximately 35,000 Armenians in Greece[4] out of which approximately 20,000 can speak the Armenian language.[31] The community's main political representative is the Armenian National Committee of Greece; its headquarters are in Athens with branches all over Greece. The community also manages its own educational institutions. Approximately 95% of Armenians in Greece are Armenian Orthodox, with the rest being Armenian Catholics or Evangelicals.[4] Some of these Armenians belong to the Church of Greece, they are called Hayhurum.
Jews
Population of Thessaloniki[32]
Year | Total Pop. | Jewish Pop. | Jewish % |
---|---|---|---|
1842 | 70,000 | 36,000 | 51% |
1870 | 90,000 | 50,000 | 56% |
1882/84 | 85,000 | 48,000 | 56% |
1902 | 126,000 | 62,000 | 49% |
1913 | 157,889 | 61,439 | 39% |
1943 | 53,000 | ||
2001 | 363,987[33] | 1,000 | 0.3% |
The interaction between Greece and the
During the
Since independence in 1821, Greece continued to have a significant and active Jewish community with a long and rich cultural heritage.
The Jewish population of Greece increased markedly after the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) when Thessaloniki became part of the Greek kingdom, though the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey diluted the Jewish population of Thessaloniki.
During the Holocaust, 86% of Greek Jews, especially those in the areas occupied by Nazi Germany and
Ethnic Macedonians
The Greek government does not officially recognize an
In 2008 a United Nations independent expert on minority issues, Gay McDougall, personally visited Greece to check the current situation regarding the minorities. As the report published on the UN Human Rights Council web site[37] says: "The Independent Expert met numerous individuals identifying as ethnic Macedonian." Moreover, she urges: "the Government of Greece to withdraw from the dispute over whether there is a Macedonian or a Turkish minority in Greece and focus on protecting the rights to self-identification, freedom of expression and freedom of association of those communities."
Linguistic and cultural communities
In addition to the above minorities, there are various ethnolinguistic communities in Greece with a distinct identity and language, but whose members largely identify ethnically as Greeks and do not consider themselves a "minority".
Albanian-speaking
Albanian economic migrants are not to be confused with the
The Chams were an ethnic Albanian community that formerly inhabited the area of Thesprotia, part of the Greek region of Epirus. Most of them were expelled into Albania through government-supported ethnic cleansing[40] at the end of World War II.[41][42][43][44]
There are other Albanian speaking communities found across other regions of Greece. In the Florina region Albanian speakers can be found in the villages of Flampouro, Drosopigi, Idroussa and Tripotamos.[45] Furthermore, an estimated 39 mainly or partly Albanian-speaking villages can be found in Western Thrace and Central Macedonia.[46]
After 1991, with the collapse of communism in Albania, a huge number of Albanian immigrants live and work in Greece. In the 2001 census, 274,390 ethnic Albanians are reported residing in Greece,[47][48] mostly economic migrants. Albanians constitute 63.7% of the total documented migrant population in Greece, followed by Bulgarians, Georgians, Romanians, Russians, and Ukrainians.[49]
Romance-speakers
Aromanians
In Greece, the Aromanians are called Vlachs (Greek: Βλάχοι, /'Vlaçi/). There are numerous festivals celebrating Aromanian culture all over Greece. Their language, Aromanian (known in Greek as τα βλάχικα /'vlaçika/), is in danger of extinction and mostly spoken by the elderly. There are, however, small numbers of Aromanians in Greece who call for greater recognition of the Aromanian language, such as Sotiris Bletsas. It is hypothesized that these Vlachs originated from the Roman colonisation of the Balkans and are the descendants of Latinised native peoples and Roman legionaries who had settled in the Balkans.[50][51][52] German researcher Thede Kahl claims to have also documented some cases of assimilation of the Aromanian population in regions which are now largely Greek-speaking.[53] The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs has publicly stated that they do not want Aromanian recognized as a minority language nor do they want it inserted into the education system,[54][verification needed] and the same organization also protested[55] when Thede Kahl discussed in a paper whether they could be designated a "minority".[50]
Megleno-Romanians
Megleno-Romanians are concentrated in the
Romani
The history of
The Romani in
As a result of neglect by the state, among other factors, the Romani communities in Greece face several problems including high instances of child labour and abuse, low school attendance, police discrimination and drug trafficking. The most serious issue is the housing problem since many Romani in Greece still live in tents, on properties they do not own, making them subject to eviction. In the past decade these issues have received wider attention and some state funding.[57]
Slavic-speaking
Slavic languages have been spoken in the region of Macedonia alongside Greek and others since the invasions of the Slavs in the 6th and 7th centuries AD.[58] In parts of northern Greece, in the regions of Macedonia (Μακεδονία) and Thrace (Θράκη), Slavonic languages continue to be spoken by people with a wide range of self-identifications. The actual linguistic classification of these dialects is unclear, although most linguists will classify them as either Bulgarian or Macedonian taking into account numerous factors, including the resemblance and mutual intelligibility of each dialect to the standard languages (abstand) and the speakers' self-identification. (As however the vast majority do not have a Bulgarian or Macedonian national identity, linguists base their decisions on abstand alone.) Now, these people mainly identify as ethnic Greeks.[59][60]
The Christian portion of Greece's Slavic-speaking minority are commonly referred to as Slavophones (from the Greek Σλαβόφωνοι Slavophōnoi — literally "Slavic-speakers") or Dopii (which means "locals" in Greek). The vast majority of them espouse a Greek national identity and are bilingual in Greek. They live mostly in the
The national identity of this community has frequently been loaded with political implications. The Politis-Kalfov Protocol signed on September 29, 1925 purported to recognize the Slav-speakers of Greek Macedonia as
In the 1951 census, 41,017 people claimed to speak the
See also
- Centre for the Macedonian Language in Greece
- Demographics of Greece
- Hellenization
- Cultural assimilation
- Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
- Grecomans
- Human rights in Greece
- Iraqis in Greece
Notes
- ISBN 960-7778-61-8.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 978-90-8964-052-9. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ^ Dimitris Karantinos, Anna Manoudi Country Report 2 2012 Discrimination On The Ground Of Religion Or Belief [1][permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c www.armenians.gr Archived 2006-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Κεντρικό Ισραηλίτικο Συμβούλιο Ελλάδος: Οι Εβραίοι της Ελλάδος Archived 2008-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ BBC News Ancient Greek gods' new believers
- ^ "Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes". www.ysee.gr. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ The Guardian Greek gods prepare for comeback
- ^ Greek Helsinki Monitor: Religious freedom in Greece
- ^ a b Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Muslim minority in Thrace
- ^ "Demographics of Greece". European Union National Languages. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
- ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. "Greece". 2001-2009.state.gov.
- ^ a b c d e Alexandris, Alexis. The Identity Issue of The Minorities In Greece An Turkey. in Hirschon, Renée, ed. (2003). Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey. Berghahn Books. p. 124.
- ^ a b Whitman 1990, i .
- ^ Levinson 1998, 41 .
- ^ Zürcher, Erik-Jan (January 2003). "Greek and Turkish refugees and deportees 1912-1924". University of Leiden. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006.
- ^ Whitman 1990, 2
- ^ Hirschon 2003, 106
- ^ a b Once again Xanthi Turkish Union not restored by Greek courts despite ECtHR judgement [2]
- ^ a b Whitman 1990, 16 .
- ^ "Greece / European Court of Human Rights - 26698/05 and 34144/05 - Tourkiki Enosi Xanthis et al. v Greece and E. et al. v Greece". European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
- ^ Parallel Report by Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe on the 2010 Human Rights Report: Greece 8 April 2011 [3]
- ^ Clogg 2002, 84.
- ^ Mercator Education Archived 2005-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, The Turkish language in Education in Greece, 2003
- ^ "ΤΟΡΟΝΤΟ". www.patrides.com. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ "S Stojkov, Rodopian dialect". Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ a b c d Report on the Pomaks Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, by the Greek Helsinki Monitor
- ^ Religious Freedom in Greece, by the Greek Helsinki Monitor, September 2002
- ^ "Migration, tradition and transition among the Pomaks in Xanthi (Western Thrace)" (PDF). Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ "Гръцка тв пусна "Хабери на помацки"". Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ "Ethnologue report for Greece". Archived from the original on 6 October 2001.
- ^ Molho, Rena.The Jerusalem of the Balkans: Salonica 1856-1919 Archived 2008-12-26 at the Wayback Machine The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. URL accessed July 10, 2006.
- ^ "(875 KB) 2001 Census" (PDF). National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΣΥΕ) (in Greek). www.statistics.gr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2007.
- ^ GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM) & MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP – GREECE (MRG-G) Archived 2003-05-23 at the Wayback Machine - In the report it is stated that: "...those with a Macedonian national identity can be estimated to between 10,000-30,000. Indeed, the political party "Rainbow" which was created in 1994 and has campaigned for the recognition of a national Macedonian minority, received 7,300 votes in 1994 and 5,000 in 1999, two elections it contested alone: these figures correspond to some 7,000-10,000 citizens of all (not just voting) ages. One can estimate that besides this "hard core" there may be other citizens voting for mainstream parties that also espouse this identity, hence the above estimate."
- ^ "Ministry of the Interior official election returns". Archived from the original on 28 May 2014.
- ^ FYROM Name Issue Archived 2018-01-13 at the Wayback Machine, Hellenic Republic - Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- ^ "Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Gay McDougall : addendum : mission to Greece (8-16 September 2008)" (PDF). Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ See Ethnologue ([4]); Euromosaic, Le (slavo)macédonien / bulgare en Grèce, L'arvanite / albanais en Grèce, Le valaque/aromoune-aroumane en Grèce, and Mercator-Education: European Network for Regional or Minority Languages and Education, The Turkish language in education in Greece. cf. also P. Trudgill, "Greece and European Turkey: From Religious to Linguistic Identity", in S Barbour, C Carmichael (eds.), Language and nationalism in Europe, Oxford University Press 2000.
- ^ Greek Helsinki Monitor, The Arvanites. Archived 2016-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
- S2CID 142733144.
- ^ M. Mazower (ed.), After The War Was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation and State in Greece, 1943-1960, p. 25
- ^ Miranda Vickers, The Cham Issue - Albanian National & Property Claims in Greece, paper prepared for the British MoD, Defence Academy, 2002
- ^ Russell King, Nicola Mai, Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, The New Albanian Migration, p.67, and 87
- ^ M. Mazower, Inside Hitler's Greece
- . Retrieved 24 March 2018 – via strates.revues.org.
- ^ Euromosaic (1996): "L'arvanite / albanais en Grèce". Report published by the Institut de Sociolingüística Catalana.
- ^ Migrants in Greece Online Observatory Archived 2009-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Migration and Migration Policy in Greece. Critical Review and Policy Recommendations. Anna Triandafyllidou. Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). Data taken from Greek ministry of Interiors. p. 5 "the total number of Albanian citizens residing in Greece, including 185,000 co-ethnics holding special identity cards"
- ^ Antonopoulos, Georgios A., and John Winterdyk. "The Smuggling of Migrants in Greece An Examination of its Social Organization." European Journal of Criminology 3.4 (2006): 439-461.
- ^ a b Thede Kahl - "Minorities in Greece. Historical Issues and New Perspectives". "Jahrbücher für Geschichte un Kultur Südeuropas" Vol. 5, 2004, p. 205-219"
- ^ Peyfuss, Max Demeter - "Die Aromunische Frage. Ihre Entwicklung von der Ursprüngen bis zum Frieden von Bukarest (1913) und die Haltung Österreich-Ungarns. Wiener Archiv für Geschichte des Slawentums und Osteuropas, Wien 1974
- ^ Gustav Weigand - "Die Aromunen. Ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen über das Volk der sogennanten Makedo-Romanen oder Zinzaren". Vol 1. "Land und Leute", 2. "Volksliteratur der Aromunen", Leipzig 1894 (vol.2), 1895 (vol.1)
- ^ Thede Kahl - "Gustav Weigand in Griechenland: Von den Shwierigkeiten einer Rezeption", in Südost/Forschungen 61, München 2003, p. 101-113."
- ^ "Ποπσβ -Διοικητικο Συμβουλιο". Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2006.
- ^ "Giurgia and the Greek vlachs - Popsb reply - by Mavrommati Vaso". www.tamos.gr. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006.
- ^ Steven Franks, "A linguist's linguist: studies in South Slavic linguistics in honor of E. Wayles Browne", University of Michigan Press, 2009
- ^ a b c Hellenic Republic: National Commission for Human Rights: The state of Roma in Greece Archived 2007-09-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Macedonia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 16, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service: [5]
- ISBN 978-1-85065-706-4.
- ISBN 0-691-04356-6.
- ^ ... See: Greek Helsinki Monitor, Report about Compliance with the Principles of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (along guidelines for state reports according to Article 25.1 of the Convention), 18 September 1999, Part I, [6]
- ISBN 0-7453-1589-5, pp. 102-102.
- ^ Iakovos D. Michailidis Minority Rights and Educational Problems in Greek Interwar Macedonia: The Case of the Primer "Abecedar"
References
- Abstracts "Focus: Minorities in Greece--historical issues and new perspectives", Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas
- Review by Adamantios Skordos (History and Culture of South Eastern Europe) 5, 2003. Articles from a conference held in Berlin.
- Richard Clogg, ed., Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society, London, 2003. ISBN 1-85065-706-8.
Further reading
- Anagnostou, Dia (March 2005). "Deepening Democracy or Defending the Nation? The Europeanisation of Minority Rights and Greek Citizenship". S2CID 153877386.
- Divani, Lena (1999). Greece and Minorities The international protection system of the League of Nations (in Greek). ISBN 978-960-03-2491-4.
- Karatsareas, Petros. "Greece's Macedonian Slavic heritage was wiped out by linguistic oppression – here's how". The Conversation. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
External links
- Languages of Greece according to the Rosetta Project
- Research Center for Minority Groups