Anti-Greek sentiment

Anti-Greek sentiment (also known as Hellenophobia[1][2] (Greek: ελληνοφοβία, ellēnophobía),[3] anti-Hellenism,[4][5] mishellenism[6][7] (Greek: μισελληνισμός, misellēnismós), or Greek-bashing)[8] refers to negative feelings, dislike, hatred, derision and/or prejudice towards Greeks, the Hellenic Republic, and Greek culture. It is the opposite of philhellenism.

Albania

In the Interwar period (1918–39), the Albanian government closed down Greek schools as part of its policies of assimilation.[9] During the Communist rule in Albania (1944–92), the government restricted the use of Greek language and Greek names by the country's Greek minority in an attempt of forced assimilation.[10] In post-Communist Albania, "there are no significant explicitly racist or chauvinist political parties", although, according to James Pettifer, "there are many individual politicians who adhere to very strong anti-Greek views, which in turn affects the orientation of virtually all ethnic Albanian political parties."[11] In a 2013 poll in Albania, Greece topped the list of countries perceived to be a threat to Albania (18.5%), although the plurality of respondents (46.4%) agreed with the statement "No country is a threat to Albania".[12]

Ancient Rome

In the mid-Republican period Rome phil-Hellenic and anti-Hellenic Roman intellectuals were involved in a conflict over Greek influence. One author explains, "the relationship of Romans to Greek culture was frequently ambiguous: they admired it as superior and adopted its criteria, while they remained skeptical of some aspects; hence they adapted it selectively according to their own purposes."[13]

An anti-Hellenic movement emerged in reaction to the primacy of Greek led by the conservative and reactionary statesman Cato the Elder (234-149 BCE), who was the first to write a Roman history in Latin, and was prominent for his anti-Hellenic views.[14][15] He saw Hellenism a threat to Roman culture, but did not find wide support, especially in the upper class.[16] The prominent philosopher and politician Cicero (106–43 BCE) was "highly ambivalent" about Greeks,[17] and practiced "anti-Greek slur".[18] The first-second century poet Juvenal was another major anti-Hellenic figure.[19][20]

Australia

Greeks in Australia have been subject to discrimination. During World War I, due to King Constantine I's pro-German sympathies, Greek immigrants were viewed with hostility. Anti-Greek riots occurred in Perth in 1915 and in Kalgoorlie in 1916.[21][22]

The word "wog" is an ethnic slur used in Australia to refer to Southern European and Middle Eastern people of the Mediterranean region, including Greeks.[23][24] The term has also been adopted and used by Greek Australians to refer to themselves, including through the sitcom Acropolis Now (1989–92), the television spin-off of the 1987 play Wogs Out of Work[25] and the 2000 film The Wog Boy.

Bulgaria

In 1906, during the Macedonian Struggle, anti-Greek rallies and violent attacks took place in a number of Bulgarian cities. In Plovdiv, Greek Orthodox churches and schools, Greek-owned properties were looted and plundered. In Pomorie (Anchialos) the Greek population was expelled after the city was set up on fire and up to 110 Greeks were killed. Pogroms also took place in Varna, Burgas and other locations.[26] Following the pogroms, around 20,000 Greeks fled Bulgaria.[27]

Canada

On August 2–5, 1918, a three-day anti-Greek riot occurred in Toronto. "Mobs of up to 5,000 people, led by war veterans returned from Europe, marched through the city's main streets waging pitched battles with law enforcement officers and destroying every Greek business they came across." The consequence was damages of $100,000 to Greek businesses and private property.[28]

Republic of Macedonia

The Macedonia naming dispute since the breakup of Yugoslavia has given rise to anti-Greek sentiment in the Republic of Macedonia.[29] According to one author, there was "considerable popular anti-Greek feeling in Macedonia" as of 2004.[30] On the contrary, German diplomat Geert-Hinrich Ahrens (ger) wrote in 2007 that he "had never detected any anti-Greek manifestations" in the republic.[31]

The ruling party of the Republic of Macedonia, Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), founded in 1990, includes the name of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, a revolutionary movement active in the early 20th century, which is regarded by Greeks "a notorious anti-Greek terrorist organization."[32] According to Dimitar Bechev, a British-based international relations researcher, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (the leader of VMRO-DPMNE) exploited "anti-Greek nationalism" during the 2008 parliamentary election.[33] In 2012 Gruevski accused Greece of having waged "political genocide" against his country. Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras responded that Gruevski's statements "stoke the systematic negative government propaganda that is aimed at turning public opinion in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia against Greece."[34]

Soviet Union

Between 1919 and 1924 around 47,000 Greeks emigrated from Russia to Greece as a result of the official and unofficial anti-Greek sentiment in Russia, which in its turn was a result of the Greek intervention in the Black Sea region in the Russian Civil War against the Bolsheviks.[35]

Tens of thousands of Greeks were deported to the remote parts of the Soviet Union during World War II in the Greek Operation of NKVD.

Turkey

The Lincoln Daily Star, October 19, 1917

Anti-Greek sentiment is "deeply rooted" in the Turkish public.[36] A 2011 survey in Turkey revealed that 67% of respondents had unfavorable views toward Greeks,[37] although only 6% of Turks said Greece was their country's main enemy in a poll carried out in the same year.[38] Despite this, according to political scientist Dr. Emre Erdogan, Greece remains one of the "eternal enemies of Turkey", along with Armenia.[39] Journalist Dr. Cenk Saraçoğlu of Ankara University argues that anti-Greek attitudes in Turkey "are no longer constructed and shaped by social interactions between the 'ordinary people' [...] Rather, the Turkish media and state promote and disseminate an overtly anti-Greek discourse."[40]

As a retaliation of the Greek War of Independence, a massacre of Greeks living in Constantinople took place in 1821.

During and following World War I, almost all of the Greek population of Anatolia was either exterminated by the Ottoman government or later transferred to Greece as part of a population exchange.

In September 1955 the Turkish government sponsored anti-Greek riots and pogrom in Istanbul.[41][42] The dispute over Cyprus kept anti-Greek feelings in Turkey high. At the height of the intercommunal violence in Cyprus, thousands of Greeks were expelled from Turkey, mostly Istanbul. In March of that year all persons (over 6,000) with Greek citizenship were expelled "on the grounds that they were dangerous to the 'internal and external' security of the state." Additionally, in September 1964, 10,000 Greeks were expelled. Cumhuriyet reported that 30,000 "Turkish nationals of Greek descent had left permanently, in addition to the Greeks who had been expelled."[43] Within months a total of 40,000 Greeks were expelled from Istanbul.[44]

In 1999 Turkey "was again swept by a wave of anti-Greek sentiment, encouraged by the Turkish government"[45] following the capture of the Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Öcalan.[46] However, as a result of the "earthquake diplomacy" and the subsequent rapprochement efforts between Greece and Turkey, the public perception of Greece as their main enemy decreased in Turkey from 29% in 2001 to 16.9% in 2004.[47]

United States

In the early 20th century Greeks in the United States were discriminated against in many ways. In 1904 Greek immigrants, unaware of labor conditions and largely inexperienced, served as strikebreakers during a strike in Chicago diesel shops. This fueled anti-Greek sentiment among union members. Three Greek immigrants were killed during a riot in 1908 in McGill, Nevada.[48] On February 21, 1909 a major anti-Greek riot took place in South Omaha, Nebraska. The Greek population was forced to leave the city, while properties owned by Greek migrants were destroyed.[49] Greeks were viewed with particular contempt in the Mormon stronghold of Utah. The local press characterized them as "a vicious element unfit for citizenship and as ignorant, depraved, and brutal foreigners." Anti-Greek riots occurred in Salt Lake City in 1917 which "almost resulted" in lynching of a Greek immigrant.[48] In 1922, as a response to the anti-Greek nativist xenophobia by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) was founded, which sought to Americanize the Greek immigrant in America.[50]

In December 2014 MTV aired the first episode of its new reality show "Growing Up Greek". It was immediately denounced by Greek Americans and characterized as "stereotype-laden"[51] and "offensive".[52] The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) called for it to be canceled.[53]

Western Europe

As a result of the Greek government-debt crisis, starting in 2010, anti-Greek sentiments grew in some European countries, especially in Germany.[54][55][56] "An anti-Greek sentiment evolved and spread among German citizens and solidarity for crisis-hit Greece was mostly rejected."[57] In 2012 Pew Research Center found that "Among the major European countries, Greece is clearly the least popular. And its reputation is slipping. In no country, other than Greece itself, is there a majority with a favorable view of Greece."

Only 27% of respondents in Germany viewed Greece favorably.[58]

Hostile and unfavorable views towards Greece and Greeks were especially pronounced in the tabloid press. A 2013 study found that "British and German news sources indicate bias against Greece in financial crisis coverage, although likely with important differences; both, however, include stereotypes, the recommendation of austerity as a punishment, morality tales, an absence of solidarity, and fear mongering."[59] The popular German tabloid Bild "published numerous reports that implicitly and explicitly constituted the myth of the corrupt and lazy Greeks in comparison to the hard-working Germans."[57] Dutch TV producer Ingeborg Beugel (nl) opined that "the [anti-Greek] propaganda of the mainstream media provides Europe and the Netherlands with a convenient scapegoat to exploit."[60]

Politicians such as Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle[61] and former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder[62][63] publicly criticized the anti-Greek sentiment in their country and called for solidarity with Greece.

References

  1. ↑ Colman, Andrew M. (2009). A Dictionary of Psychology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 842. ISBN 9780199534067.
  2. ↑ Bourdon, Georges (1920). Hellas and Unredeemed Hellenism: The Policy of Victory in the East and Its Results. New York: American-Hellenic Society. p. 22. Since in Asia Minor, as well as at Constantinople, Turkophilism carries with it as corollaries Hellenophobia and Armenophobia...
  3. ↑ Mitropoulou, Eirini (12 December 2014). "Βαρτάν Βοσκανιάν: Αρμενοφοβία και ελληνοφοβία ζουν ακόμη στην Τουρκία". To Vima (in Greek).
  4. ↑ Herzfeld, Michael (2002). "The European Self". In Pagden, Anthony. The Idea of Europe: From Antiquity to the European Union. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0521795524. the much-maligned Turkish strain in Greek culture becomes a means of asserting difference, but always at the price of ridicule (not to speak of charges of anti-Hellenism!).
  5. ↑ Ferentinou, Ariana (3 July 2011). "Shifting perceptions of Greece in EU". Hürriyet Daily News.
  6. ↑ Tzanelli, Rodanthi (2008). Nation-building and identity in Europe: the dialogics of reciprocity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 60. ISBN 9780230551992. ...mishellenism or hatred toward the Greeks...
  7. ↑ Valaoritis, Nanos. "Greece in a Time of Crisis". bookbar.gr. Retrieved 13 October 2014. Mishellenism and anti-Semitism are connected phenomena...
  8. ↑ Gyarfasova, Olga; Liebhart, Karin, eds. (2014). Constructing and Communicating EUrope. Lit Verlag. p. 20. ISBN 978-3643905154. In reaction to the Greek-basing and doubts about Greek future in the Eurozone...
  9. ↑ "Albania > Greeks". Minority Rights Group International. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Levinson, David (1998). Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 8. ISBN 9781573560191.
  11. ↑ Pettifer, James (2000). "The Greek Minority in Albania: Ethnic Politics in Pre-National State". In Stein, Jonathan P. The Politics of National Minority Participation in Post-Communist Europe (PDF). M. E. Sharpe. p. 184. ISBN 0-7656-0528-7.
  12. ↑ Cela, Alba; Lleshaj, Sashenka (March 2014). "Albanian-Greek elations from the eyes of the Albanian public perceptions 2013" (PDF). Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Tirana: Albanian Institute for International Studies. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 15, 2014.
  13. ↑ Manuwald, Gesine (2011). Roman Republican Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780521110167.
  14. ↑ Rochette, Buno (2010). "Greek and Latin Bilingualism". In Bakker, Egbert J. A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. p. 284. ISBN 9781444317404.
  15. ↑ Adams, Geoff W. (2007). The Roman Emperor Gaius "Caligula" and His Hellenistic Aspirations. Boca Raton: BrownWalker Press. p. 30. ISBN 9781599424231.
  16. ↑ Bunson, Matthew (2009). "Hellenism". Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 253. ISBN 9781438110271.
  17. ↑ Isaac, Benjamin (2013). The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity. Princeton University Press. p. 389. ISBN 9780691125985.
  18. ↑ Schott, Jeremy M. (2008). Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8122-0346-2.
  19. ↑ Braund, Susanna; Osgood, Josiah, eds. (2012). A Companion to Persius and Juvenal. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. p. 274. ISBN 978-1405199650.
  20. ↑ Green, Peter (1993). Alexander to Actium: The Hellenistic Age. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 318. ISBN 9780500277287.
  21. ↑ Vassilopoulos, James (24 March 1999). "Greek Australians: beyond the stereotypes". Green Left Weekly.
  22. ↑ Yiannakis, John N. (1996). "Kalgoorlie alchemy: xenophobia, patriotism and the 1916 anti-Greek riots". Early Days (Royal Western Australian Historical Society) 11 (2): 199–211.
  23. ↑ "Aren’t you sick of being called a WOG?". Greek Reporter. 4 February 2013.
  24. ↑ "Wog". rsdb.org. Racial Slur Database. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  25. ↑ Wagg, Stephen, ed. (2004). Because I Tell a Joke or Two: Comedy, Politics and Social Difference. Routledge. p. 216. ISBN 9781134794324.
  26. ↑ Kotzabassi Maria, "Persecution of Greek populations at the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea, 1906", Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Black Sea
  27. ↑ Dragostinova, Theodora (2008). "Speaking National: Nationalizing the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900-1939". Slavic Review 67 (1): 160.
  28. ↑ Gallant, Thomas W.; Treheles, George; Vitopoulos, Michael. "The 1918 Anti-Greek Riot in Toronto" (PDF). York University.
  29. ↑ Karakatsanis, Leonidas (2014). Turkish-Greek Relations: Rapprochement, Civil Society and the Politics of Friendship. Routledge. p. 79. ISBN 9781317906230. After persisting unresolved for ten years the 'name issue' has also been reflected in the growth of a mirroring nationalist anti-Greek movement in the Republic of Macedonia.
  30. ↑ Phillips, John (2004). Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 182. ISBN 9780300102680.
  31. ↑ Ahrens, Geert-Hinrich (2007). Diplomacy on the Edge: Containment of Ethnic Conflict and the Minorities Working Group of the Conferences on Yugoslavia. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. p. 385. ISBN 978-0-8018-8557-0.
  32. ↑ Danforth, Loring M. (1997). The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780691043562.
  33. ↑ Bechev, Dimitar (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. Ixxiii. ISBN 9780810862951. ...Gruevski, riding the waves of anti-Greek nationalism.
  34. ↑ Jakov Marusic, Sinisa (28 June 2012). "Greece: Macedonia Waging 'Anti-Greek' Propaganda War". Skopje: BIRN. Balkan Insight.
  35. ↑ Olson, James S., ed. (1994). An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 273. ISBN 9780313274978.
  36. ↑ Athanasopulos, Haralambos (2001). Greece, Turkey and the Aegean Sea: A Case Study in International Law. McFarland. p. 49. ISBN 9780786450039.
  37. ↑ "Turkish citizens mistrust foreigners, opinion poll says". Hürriyet Daily News. 2 May 2011.
  38. ↑ "Poll: US, Israel Turkey's main enemies". Press TV. 8 March 2011.
  39. ↑ "Why Turks Feel Threatened by the US". Washington, DC: World Public Opinion. 5 September 2007.
  40. ↑ Saraçoğlu, Cenk (2011). Kurds of Modern Turkey: Migration, Neoliberalism and Exclusion in Turkish Society. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 175. ISBN 9780857719102.
  41. ↑ Stearns, Monteagle (1992). Entangled allies: US policy toward Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. New York, NY: Council on Foreign Relations Pr. p. 94. ISBN 9780876091104. Nevertheless, violent and highly visible Turkish eruptions of anti-Greek sentiment, like the 1955 Istanbul riots...
  42. ↑ Alexandris, Alexis (2003). "Religion or Ethnicity: The Identity Issue of the Minorities in Greece and Turkey". In Hirschon, Renee. Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange between Greece and Turkey. Berghahn Books. p. 119. ISBN 9780857457028. Anti-Greek sentiment came to a head during the government-sponsored riots of 5–6 September 1955
  43. ↑ "Denying Human Rights and Ethnic Identity: The Greeks of Turkey" (PDF). Human Rights Watch. 1992. pp. 10–11. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2014.
  44. ↑ "Exhibition marks 1964 expulsion of İstanbul Greeks". Today's Zaman. 16 March 2014.
  45. ↑ Blum, Gabriella (2007). Islands of Agreement: Managing Enduring Armed Rivalries. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 132. ISBN 9780674024465.
  46. ↑ Morris, Chris (16 December 2004). "Athens and Ankara strengthen ties". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014.
  47. ↑ Koukoudakis, George (Summer 2013). "Greek-Turkish Rapprochement and Turkey’s EU Membership Quest: Turning Rhetoric Into Reality" (PDF). Turkish Policy Quarterly 12 (2): 157–168. ISSN 1303-5754. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2014.
  48. 1 2 LeMay, Michael C. (2006). Guarding the Gates: Immigration and National Security. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International. p. 82. ISBN 978-0275992941.
  49. ↑ Laliotou, Ioanna (2004). Transatlantic Subjects: Acts of Migration and Cultures of Transnationalism Between Greece and America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 185. ISBN 9780226468570.
  50. ↑ Gerontakis, Steven (November 2012). "AHEPA vs. the KKK: Greek-Americans on the Path to Whiteness" (PDF). University of North Carolina at Asheville. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 November 2014.
  51. ↑ Aravosis, John (2 December 2014). "MTV reality show suggests Greek-Americans are in-bred, violent". americablog.com.
  52. ↑ Zampathas, Olympia (3 December 2014). "Greeks Call to Cancel how MTV sees "Growing Up Greek"". xpress.sfsu.edu (San Francisco State University).
  53. ↑ Papapostolou, Anastasios (4 December 2014). "AHEPA Calls MTV to Cancel "Growing Up Greek" Show; Asks Sponsors to Withdraw". Greek Reporter.
  54. ↑ Harman, Sarah (19 May 2010). "Greek tourism put to the test by debt crisis". Deutsche Welle. Many Germans weren't afraid to voice anti-Greek sentiments.
  55. ↑ Connolly, Kate (29 April 2010). "EU debt crisis: German papers whip up anti-Greece fury". The Guardian.
  56. ↑ Weisenthal, Joe (5 February 2014). "Anti-Greek Resentment Still Playing Well In Germany". Business Insider.
  57. 1 2 Bickes, Hans; Otten, Tina; Weymann, Laura Chelsea (July 2014). "The financial crisis in the German and English press: Metaphorical structures in the media coverage on Greece, Spain and Italy". Discourse & Society 25 (4): 424–445. doi:10.1177/0957926514536956.
  58. ↑ "European Unity on the Rock: Chapter 4. Views of EU Countries and Leaders". Pew Research Center. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014.
  59. ↑ Pavlakis, Eleni (1 April 2013). "European Disintegration: Anti-Greek Bias in the Eurozone Crisis". CUREJ: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. p. 24.
  60. ↑ Beugel, Ingeborg (21 June 2011). "The anti-Greece campaign of the international media". ROAR Magazine.
  61. ↑ "Enough 'Greek bashing' says German FM". Kathimerini. 31 August 2012.
  62. ↑ Allen, Patrick (6 September 2011). "Germany Shouldn't Tolerate 'Greece Bashing': Schroeder". CNBC.
  63. ↑ Dabilis, Andy (17 August 2012). "Schroeder, Chatzimarkakis Want Greek-Bashing To Stop". Greek Reporter.
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