GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR

GHM REPORT TO ERRC No 73: 23/12/1999

REPORT ON THE COVERAGE OF THE ROMA IN THE GREEK PRESS

NOVEMBER 1999

(Comments in italics are made by the GHM)

      The extreme right on Roma

4/11/1999: Avgi, p. 24

Ten years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the municipal council of a 120,000-resident town in the Czech Republic close to the border with Germany, decided to divide the town. Unlike the Berlin case, this was not done on the basis of ideology, but on the basis of ethnicity and race. The wall (2 meters high and 65 meters long) was built overnight under police surveillance. Municipal authorities claim that the wall is part of a town reconstruction plan. For the rest of the world this is the wall of shame. In reality, the Roma residents live in an apartheid system. Many bars and restaurants have signs “forbidding entrance to Tziganes.” 80% of the Roma population suffer from unemployment and their children are sent automatically to schools for children with special needs. The police do not offer any protection to the Roma when they are subjected to criminal acts. The Roma say, “We are human beings like anybody else, this wall is a shame for all Czechs, not just for us.” The voice of the Roma and the public feeling worldwide do not really touch the municipal authorities who put the blame on some intellectuals accusing them of exposing their country internationally. The obstacles in the way to accession of the country into the EU, which this precedent puts, do not seem to cause any anxiety in the local council. In two words, the answer is that a mayor apologizes only to the residents and voters of his town and that foreign affairs are responsibility of the central government.

A very positive report, highlighting the racist dimension of the case.

6&7/11/1999: Ependytis [G. Vlavianos], p. 65

25/11/1999: Kathimerini, p. 13

The Wall dividing a city in the Czech Republic into two -separating the residencies of the non-Roma from those of the Roma- is going to be demolished soon, according to the latest decision of the municipal council. This decision would not have been taken had it not been for the intervention of the central government. The latter demanded the destruction of the 65-meter-long wall in exchange for the purchasing of three buildings bordering the Roma quarter and the compensation of their non-Roma residents. The rest of the USD 103,000 of the governmental grant will be for renovating the houses of the Roma and for rehabilitation programs. According to the President of the Czech Republic, Mr. Havel, “the higher the wall grows every day, the more difficult it would be for the country to see Europe through it.” The issue seems to be heading towards a final settlement. Despite that, however, the racist attitude of the non-Roma citizens of the Czech Republic towards their 300,000 Roma compatriots is profound and difficult to eliminate.

A neutral to positive report showing interest in a country and a matter, which seem to be far away -and therefore within a safe distance- from Greece and the examples of racism of the Greeks towards the Roma. Most of these newspapers have never covered the plight of Roma in Greece at all or in similar ways.

 

Greek Roma against Albanian Roma in Zefyri:Roma ethnic and social division lines in Zefyri; the issue of criminality

1/11/1999: Eleftherotypia [N. Yaniris], p. 55

In a meeting at which representatives of the local authorities were present, Roma, who are permanent residents of Zefyri, criticized the situation in the municipality. They said that drug trafficking has reached dramatic and worrying dimensions. The Roma asked from the authorities, especially from the Ministry of Public Order, to take action in the name of public safety. They claim that gunshots could be heard every night all around the place. Reportedly, “Albanian Gypsies” who came from Albania and sell drugs, have settled in the municipality of Zefyri, close to the Roma tent-dwellers and have introduced the latter to the ‘big business.’ Easy money gives a great incentive to both groups to stay in the area at any price. The police seem to be unable to handle the situation. Police officers listen to the gunshots, just check around and leave without any intervention. Young children around the age of 16 come and go in search of their dose. “We do not want our children to grow up with drugs” state Roma parents one after the other. “We have a sports association and in this way we keep many children away from drugs. We want our own football ground as promised.” The Roma also make the following distinction, “police and control do not imply pogroms and violence. Repressive measures do not solve social problems.” They claim that the police know who sells drugs in Zefyri. “It is not our job to tell them that, they know it anyway. We are asking the Minister of Public Order to take action.” The mayor of Zefyri, Mr. Apostles Zervas, and a representative of the Prefectural authorities promised to look deeply into the matter and asked from the Roma to submit a list of demands.

A relatively neutral report, whose failure is in the fact that the “other side” -the Roma tent-dwellers and the Albanian Roma- is nowhere to be found. Still, it is important that, despite this, the Roma in Zefyri are given the chance to speak out and express their problems. Usually, it is the mayor of Zefyri and the non-Roma residents of the municipality who are “given the floor” and the opportunity to do so. Despite the numerous reports on Zefyri related to the same topic of criminality and drugs, the Roma are rarely included.

4/11/1999: Eleftherotypia, p. 18

More than 400 Roma children are expected to be vaccinated against Hepatitis A by the authorities in Larisa within the next few days. Last month 15 Roma children -from one to eight years of age- showed symptoms of the disease. Doctors relate Hepatitis A to personal and family hygienic practices. The authorities, just to be on the safe side, first checked the water supply and the sewage system. As experts found nothing wrong in them, doctors went on taking blood samples in order to get a better picture of the health situation of the Roma and move on to massive vaccinations to prevent further spreading of the disease.

A neutral report, covering the story without any comments.

5/11/1999: Eleftherotypia, p. 16

A new incident of police violence against Roma brought to the limelight three non-governmental organizations, the Drom Network for Roma Social Rights, the Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group-Greece. A 23-year-old Roma man, N. Katsaris, pressed charges against police officers in Nafplio (Peloponese) accusing them of verbal and physical violence and breach of the law on racism. On October 27, police stopped Nikos Katsaris, his father and two minor relatives for inspection. In the course of this inspection the police officers ill-treated the Roma. On this occasion, the three organizations also made reference to older cases of police brutality against Roma. These cases are under investigation and proceed at a very slow pace.

Also on the same subject:

5/11/1999: Avgi, p. 7

The Greek Church and the education of Roma and other minority groups

6/11/1999: To Vima, p. A2

“On the Education of Minorities”

The Church of Greece, through Archbishop Christodoulos’ letters to the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, expressed its concern about the kind of education that Pomaks and Roma in Thrace receive. Instead of the Greek State making efforts to preserve Romanes and the Pomak language among these people, it teaches them Turkish. In this way their language and culture are at stake. These two phrases encapsulate the position of the Greek Church in this respect.

The Greek Church seems to show sensitivity to the matter. However, the circumstances under which it expressed its concern, are rather suspicious. Why has the Church never shown similar sensitivity towards other minority groups such as the Arvanites, the Slavophones, the Vlachs and even the Orthodox Roma who suffer from high illiteracy? All this reminds populist politics and talking.

Panayote Poutos

Athens

This is an excerpt from a letter to the newspaper touching upon a very delicate issue, namely the belated and nationalistically motivated concern for Pomaks and Roma in Thrace, expressed by the Greek State and the Church and their nationalistically motivated indifference towards other minority groups. A positive remark indicating the double standards of the Greek Church towards Roma in Thrace and Roma in other parts of the country.

Elected or appointed employees in the Public Administration were asked to participate in a study conducted by the University of Thessaly (Continental Greece) and the National School of Public Administration. Based on the findings of that research Roma, together with people with many children, criminals, alcoholics, extreme rightists and immigrants, are among the main groups that the majority of public administration employees would not wish to have as neighbors. Roma hold the seventh place (17%), coming after people with a criminal record (71%), people with many children and alcoholics (46%), psychopaths and immigrants (45%) and extreme rightists (37%). Immediately after Roma are HIV carriers (10%), drug addicts (6%), Muslims (4%) and left extremists (1%).

Reportedly there were approximately a hundred waterlogged and waterbound Roma in the wider area of Katerini, which was flooded overnight.

A brief and neutral report.

9/11/1999: Avgi, Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group-Greece

In order to commemorate Kristallnacht and the International Day against Fascism and Anti-Semitism on November 9, 1999, the GHM and MRG-G published an article in the Avgi daily. In it they draw parallels between the Jews some 60 years ago and the Roma nowadays. Roma are today’s victims, targets of racism and xenophobia all around the European continent. The letter “G” (for Gypsy) in their passports reveals their identity, and makes it easier for the authorities to prohibit their entrance with no chance to apply for asylum. The usual result is that the authorities simply send the Roma back to where they came from. In the Czech Republic, the Roma in a town near the Czech-German border are segregated from the rest of the residents. A wall was built overnight dividing the city into first and second class Czech citizens. Roma children are automatically sent to schools for children with special needs and their parents are almost as a rule unemployed (80% of them). Things are not better in the rest of Europe. Roma live in remote camps without infrastructure, always under the fear of eviction. They suffer from high unemployment, illiteracy and, diseases due to the living conditions under which they are forced to live.

In Greece, it took only two days for the earthquake victims to get new land. Years have passed, but the similar needs of the Roma have not been met yet. They are faced with eviction orders and procedures without being offered any alternative solutions by the authorities. Frequently, they see their children rejected at schools. The Ministry of the Interior claims that the 1996 governmental program for the Roma is being implemented successfully and without problems. During the latest OSCE meeting, however, the Minister of Foreign Affairs admitted that reality is not even close to that, allocating responsibility to the local authorities, the police and, to a certain extent, to the Roma themselves for not standing up for their rights in a joint action.

Roma in Kosovo; multiethnic Kosovo - a utopia

12/11/1999: Avgi (a Greek translation of Milan Jokic’s article for AIM, Kosovo 24/10/1999)

In a suburb at the outskirts of the capital of Kosovo, eight Serbian families live almost in captivity in a block of flats protected by KFOR. Had it not been for the presence of KFOR soldiers in the building, those families would have most probably been threatened, walloped and, finally, evicted by the Albanians. Or even worse, they would have had the fate of approximately 350 non-Albanian residents of Kosovo, killed since KFOR established its presence in the province. Houses, which used to belong to Serbs, Roma and Bosnians are now occupied by Albanians, many of them criminals, coming from Albania, in order to take advantage of the situation and acquire foreign property. Serbs, Roma and Bosnians were forced to abandon their fortunes and lives in Kosovo and move to Milosevic’s Serbia. They live in centers, which depend on the good will of others, since Europe refuses to accept them as refugees, arguing that the circumstances that forced them to leave their homes have “ceased to exist.” Multiethnic Kosovo has become a utopia. Most of the areas are ethnically cleansed, isolated and remote places where non-Albanians survive with the help of international presence and protection. For how long… The few multiethnic neighborhoods left are threatened with extinction as very often Serbs, Roma and Bosnians are attacked, sometimes killed by Albanians. People are not the only victims in Kosovo. 70 Orthodox churches have been destroyed since KFOR came into Kosovo.

The Directorate of the Town Planning Service of the Prefect of Lesvos (an Aegean island, close to Turkey) fined the municipality of Mytilini for illegally constructing a Roma settlement two kilometers outside the main town of the island. Indeed, two years ago the municipality took the initiative to resolve the housing problem of the Roma and to provide them with decent living conditions. The Association of Merchants in Mytilini, however, filed a complaint with the Directorate of the Town Planning Service accusing the municipality of Mytilini of illegal construction. The reason behind this complaint was the fear of the non-Roma merchants of their Roma business competitors. Mr. Ioanides, who is in charge of the project at the Town Planning Service, said that his office did not take any action against that, because of the great social implications of the matter. However, when the complaint was forwarded to the District Attorney, the Service was left without any other alternative. The buildings were pronounced illegal and the municipality got a GDR 2 million fine. The deputy mayor, Mr. Paterelis Pantelis, stated, “the settlement was built on the initiative of the municipal authority and the subsequent municipal council’s approval. Unfortunately, the Town Planning Service gave us a huge fine. Is this truly the only instance of illegal construction in our town, I wonder? And why the Service showed austerity only in this particular case?” The illegal Roma settlement is a drop in the sea. In the last few years, old buildings in Mytilini proclaimed as “national treasures” have been reconstructed without the necessary permits and without any intervention on behalf of the Mytilini Association of Merchants or the Town Planning Service.

A very positive report, strongly criticizing the hypocrisy and double standards of the institutions involved.

Roma in Gazi and Metaxourgio; a new program for children and women underway

10/11/1999: Eleftherotypia [Mary Pinis], p. 57

Children of an inferior God, speaking in their majority Turkish and Romanes and identifying themselves as Muslims, live in the districts of Kolonos, Metaxourgio, Votanikos and Gazi. They work at the traffic lights, begging for money, selling handkerchiefs or flowers in the tavernas and restaurants. These 300 children, together with their mothers, form the target group of a training program against illiteracy and poverty launched by the General Secretariat for Equality, the Research Center for Equality, the Center for Educational and Artistic Training “Shedia” (“Raft” in English) and the Center for Social and Educational Action. This is a pilot program. It is planned to last for three years. The General Secretariat for Equality and the Bernard Van Leer Foundation in the Hague cosponsor it. Some of its goals are:

a) support of Muslim women and their families through visits of social workers and nurses at home in order to inform them on issues related to health, contraception, social behavior, employment and participation in the labor market;

b) fighting adult women illiteracy;

c) participation of the children in programs for creative occupation aiming, in the first place, at reducing the instances of child labor and, secondly, at the children’s smooth and progressive inclusion into school life.

d) encouragement of their participation in community and social life, in order to help them acquire the necessary civil conscience.

According to the program coordinators, these children are never alone, they are always under the protection of their parents even when outsiders have the impression that they are neglected or abandoned. They end up in the streets urged by poverty and the high unemployment rates that ravage their micro-communities. The average income of their parents is not enough to provide them with decent living. In their majority, these families live under the poverty line. Under such circumstances, children and youngsters are the most important providers because they can appeal to people’s pity. Another interesting observation made by the program coordinators is that despite their initial excitement, children almost immediately get disappointed and abandon school going back to the streets. This phenomenon is not that surprising as it may seem at first. The children’s mother tongue is not Greek. They speak mainly Turkish and/or Romanes and their knowledge of Greek is very poor if not non-existent. The situation is even worse when it comes to Albanian Roma. If the existing school system fails to cover the needs of approximately 30% of the Greek children, in the case of street children, the failure is total.

The situation of the women is not any better. They get married when they are 14 years old and by the age of 20 they already have four to five children and an equal number of abortions. They experience domestic violence on a daily basis, since they are exposed to the brutality of their husbands who beat them because they are drunk or simply because they want to always remind them “who is boss.” Frequently enough they are left on their own as their husbands abandon them for younger women. They resort to sedatives to escape their misery and face the fear of their children being exposed to various kinds of dangers. In any case the Muslim families, who have come to Athens from Thrace, in search of a better future, keep their traditions and respect their own principles and morals. No matter how bizarre this might look to an outsider, they do love their children, respect their grandparents and older members of the family, as well as the laws of the state, that is why men willingly serve the Greek army.

Also on the same subject:

11/11/1999: Avgi [Nikos Papadimitriou], p. 8

11/11/1999: Pontiki, p. 7

11/11/1999: Eleftherotypia, p. 59

Very positive reports in favor of the initiative.

28/11/1999: Epohi [Panos Lambru], p. 12

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the signing of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, Epohi visited the “Center for the Support of Children and the Family” and interviewed Ms. Myrto Lemou, in charge of the Center since its foundation in 1997. Social worker Ms. Lemou is the “soul” of this effort supported solely by private sponsors. The contribution of the Greek state is minimal, if not non-existent. The Center aims at helping the socially excluded children, as well as those facing family and psychological problems and racism. The Center’s contribution to the children’s inclusion into society is done with due consideration to the children’s personal and cultural specificities. The opening hours of the center are from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. Within these hours, approximately 300 children, spending most of their time in the streets, visit the Center. They play and study and spend their time creatively. They can attend pre-school and preparatory classes, as well as art workshops. In their majority, these children come from poor families with many members and are urged or even forced to go to the streets in search of money. They can secure a better income than their seasonally employed or unemployed parents. Children consider this contribution to the family budget as natural, seeing it as one of their duties. As for the parents, in most cases they have no professional training, lack any education and live in the social and economical margin. They do not send their children to school, because years and generations of poverty and illiteracy have made them see school as a luxury only for the others. Moreover the ethnocentric character of the Greek educational system is anything but an incentive to parents who are mostly of Turkish and Roma origin. Despite all this, parents do feel the obligation to send their sons to the army. Why not to school?

Some years ago, despite the fact that they live in the same neighborhood, Muslims and Christians in Gazi did not have any contact with each other. Their children attended the same school, the same classes but were never sitting next to each other. They were not playing together in the schoolyard. Life in Gazi was becoming increasingly difficult and poor. Those who had the chance and the money left. What remained were houses without electricity, sometimes even without water. Still, a primary school in the district and its teachers keep fighting both poverty and exclusion. After years of volunteer work during their leisure time they have managed to facilitate the coexistence of 145 children. Among them, 65 of Turkish origin and another 15 coming from Albania, mainly Roma. These children all play together. There are problems, of course. These are mainly language problems, because Turkish children have no classes in their mother tongue. History is taught in a rather one-sided manner and what is moderating the tone and the content of the schoolbooks is the effort made by the teachers to be as open-minded and objective as possible when it comes to the Greek-Turkish disputes. Lunch is served in the school, in order to attract as many students as possible from the streets. All this is not an easy task. Teachers, on their own initiative, have asked for help. In cooperation with the university they have launched creative occupation programs.

12.) Roma in Ioanina

Around 120 Roma, including children and elderly people, are still in search of land in Ioanina where they want to settle for good. They do not count the days of wandering around the place they count the years. They have been moving from place to place for six years now, because bureaucracy and racism have seriously impeded the settling of their case. “We want our children at school, we want a place to live in, a place with water, electricity and sewage system and little by little, with our own money, we will build our homes there” states Spiros Charitos, a 26-year-old Roma father of four children. “We can also register ourselves as residents of this town in order to press for the finding of a solution,” he adds. In the last few years they were living in the wider area of Anatoli, without any infrastructure. Regardless of that and with the help and support of some teachers, they managed to send their children to school. The local residents and parents reacted against this initiative and demanded that the Roma children be expelled from school. At last, a compromise was found, namely to have the Roma children attend separate afternoon classes so as not to “disturb” the other kids and their parents. In order to fulfill the non-Roma parents’ demand, the Roma children had to pass through all necessary medical exams before attending classes. This summer, the proprietor of the site and the mayor of Anatoli evicted the Roma. Their children found themselves out of home and out of school. The Roma then settled on a plot of land between Anatoli and Katsikas and again lived without any infrastructure. Representatives of some local institutions sent a letter to Prime Minister Kostas Simitis asking him to take action. The Prime Minister requested from the Minister of Agriculture to find a place for the Roma. The matter is still unresolved due to bureaucratic obstacles.

27/11/1999: Eleftherotypia [Ioana Sotirhu].

Fourteen months have already passed since September 1998, when 250 Roma families, approximately 2,000 people, were evicted from Evosmos and settled in the drained bed of the Galikos River, waiting for their transfer to the former military barracks of Gonou where a model settlement was to be built for them. Promises were made for the transfer to be accomplished in October 1999. However, the Roma are still living in tents and shacks near the river. Their transfer to the former barracks, where 80% of the works are completed, is being delayed because the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Care, Mr. Kotsonis, has not yet signed the papers for the allocation of the remaining GDR 360 million, despite the initial agreement with the Prime Minister’s Office for Quality of Life. The issue has been pending for almost two months, while the Roma express fears that they are in for another winter in the drained bed, which is threatened by floods. In order for the procedure to be completed faster and for pressure to be put on the competent authority, the Roma of Evosmos and the Galikos River addressed the Ombudsman’s Office asking for investigation of the reasons behind this delay.

14/11/1999: Agelioforos tis Kyriakis [Vasilis Peklaris], p. 42

“This Year Again in the Drained Bed of River Galikos: Images of Shame”

22/11/1999: Makedonia [Stelina Margaritidu], p. 131

“The Roma Resettlement Is Delayed”

27/11/1999: Avgi, p. 8

The “white nations” are dying; the population explosion in Africa and Asia and the subsequent migration movements towards Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia leave no room for hope. The White Man will disappear soon from the earth and its history. Moreover, there is an ethnic bomb in the heart of most European countries – a bomb put by a minority whose members have been given the privilege to be citizens of those countries. These are the Gypsies. They are abnormal hybrids of the three races: the yellow, the black and the white. They originate from India and Pakistan, countries, which have always been meeting places for all races. Gypsies have combinations of the Negro, the Mongolian and the White characteristics. In any case, they are all tasteless, unable to organize themselves and produce spiritual work; they are liars and dishonest people. They are parasites, living at the expense of the others, which is visible in their “artistic” contributions. They have polluted the European culture and tradition, similarly to the Jews. They have never cultivated the land, they never had animals and they always dealt with parasitic trade just like the Jews still do, even though the Gypsies are less professional and more dangerous. In Greece, they were the main polluters of our traditional folk music, because they were frequently playing in musical groups, taking up a job, which was considered to be deprecatory at the time. Similar and even more catastrophic have been their services to other European countries. It was a real fortune that for years they were living in the margin of the society. For some of them, this is still the case. The word Gypsy in Greek has a derogatory meaning. Everyone who dealt with Gypsies knows that they are thieves, drug traffickers, and smugglers. The latest events in the Czech Republic show that Gypsies are hated by all White Men.

Following this report, the GHM contacted lawyer Yana Kourtovik and asked her to look into the possibility of Roma individuals or associations to file a complaint against the reporter and the newspaper.