Immigration Issues In Greece

Anna Lapardhaja Kristen Mei Francisco

How it started?
As you may know the largest group of immigrants in Greece come from ex communist countries. In the 1990s with the fall of communism many immigrants came to Greece searching for a better life for their families because in comparison to the other Balkan countries it had higher living standards. Also, Greece was an easy target because of its geographical position, with its numerous islands and a coastal line of 15,000 km it is difficult to guard all the possible entries.

The average number of immigrants in Greece without Greek citizenship is 762.191.

Albanian Immigrants
Most of Greeces immigrants are from Albania. This happened because Albania was under communism for many years and people wanted to go somewhere with better opportunities. In 1987 Albania was freed from communism and in 1990 the borders between Greece and Albania opened and it was easier for people to come in Greece. The biggest problem was in 1997 when the economic and political crisis broke out in Albania and many prisoners

Barriers between the locals and the immigrants

Ethnocentrism
Greeks believe that they are superior due to their long line of history. They are so in focused with their own culture that they are not willing to try to understand the other persons culture. On the contrary, they expect the immigrants to adjust to theirs.

Stereotypes
As you know stereotypes can either be positive or negative. In Greeces case it is usually negative for immigrants. Because of stereotyping and the continuous use of it, the belief gets reinforced and this generalization for immigrants is passed down again and again to younger generations.

Click icon to add picture Ster eot ypin g

Eve ryo ne

Stereotypes
Greeks develop stereotypes when they are unwilling to obtain all of the information they need to make fair judgments about immigrants. Negative stereotyping almost always leads to discrimination. Also, stereotyping can make people racists.

Click icon to add picture

RACISM
Europe is a continent with many different cultures in a relatively small area of land that has seen many conflicts throughout history and that why Europe is often one the first places people think of when racism is discussed. Greece has one of the worst records in the European Union for racism against ethnic minorities. There are a lot of antiimmigrant groups that are formed to

Click icon to add picture

RACISM
Because of Greeces strong feelings against immigrants, they often blame them for some of the countrys social illness. For example, unemployment, crime etc. Also, it has been noticed that the hostility against immigrants is much higher for the non-Christians. For this reason it is better to be Russian, Ukraine or Georgian, than to be Albanian, Pakistani or Indian.

Click icon to add picture

STRUGGL E FOR LIFE

Click icon to add picture

Relationship between immigrants and Greeks

Greeks are known for their xenophobia and evidences of racism. One of the main reason that there are so many stereotypes for immigrants is the influence of the Media.

Relationship between immigrants and Greeks

In older surveys we have seen that the 85% of Greeks questioned thought that immigrants were a public danger and they are responsible for the rise in criminality percentages in Greece. In a recent survey of the Ministry of Interior, Greeks seem to be more moderate, since only 44% considers the presence of illegal immigrants in Greece as a negative fact.

Conclusion
Living in a country can be stressful, especially when the cultural differences are great. As a result it can be expected that an immigrant would try to maintain some semblance of their own culture in their new country. Or, due to fears of racism or due to culture shock it would be expected that immigrant communities would form as a way to deal with this and as means to help each other through. Nonetheless, it is certain that immigration is not a temporary

Click icon to add picture

Click icon to add picture

UNITED PEOPLE