Hellenophobia

Hellenophobia (also known as Anti-Greek Sentiment, anti-Hellenism and Mishellenism) refers to racism, negative feelings, dislike, hatred, derision and/or prejudice towards Greeks or people of Greek descent.

Modern Hellenophobia

Albania

Main Article: Racism in Albania

In the Interwar period (1918–39), the Albanian government closed down Greek schools as part of its policies of assimilation. 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. Anti-Greek sentiment dominated the thinking of Enver Hoxha, the communist leader of Albania, during the Greek Civil War.

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." 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".

Australia

Main Article: Racism in 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 and suspicion. Anti-Greek riots occurred in Perth in 1915 and in Kalgoorlie in 1916.

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. It is also sometimes used against South Asians. 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 and the 2000 film The Wog Boy.

Bulgaria

Main Article: Racism in 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. Following the pogroms, around 20,000 Greeks fled Bulgaria.

Canada

Main Article: Racism in 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.

Italy

Main Article: Racism in Italy

When the Italian Fascists gained power in 1922, they persecuted the Greek-speakers in Italy.

Romania

Main Article: Racism in Romania

As Romanian nationalism grew overtime, a rift grew between Greece and Romania. In 1892, Romania refused to hand over the property of the recently deceased Greek expatriate Konstantinos Zappas to the Greek state citing an article of the Romanian constitution forbidding foreign nationals from owning agricultural land. The Trikoupis government then recalled its ambassador in Bucharest, Romania followed suit thus severing diplomatic relations between the countries. Diplomatic relations were restored in July 1896, in response to a rise of Bulgarian komitadji activity in Macedonia. In 1905, the two countries exchanged accusations regarding the Vlach Question. Romania claimed that Greek armed bands targeted ethnic Romanians in Macedonia, whereas Greece accused Romania of trying to create a false equation between Aromanians and Romanians.

Hellenophobic articles began appearing in the Romanian press. On 2 August 1905, the Society of Macedono–Romanian Culture organized an anti–Greek protest in Bucharest, attended by army officers, student and Vlachs. After decrying Greek war crimes in Macedonia, the organizers called for a boycott of Greek products and services. Rioting was prevented by a large force of Romanian police. On the same day a Greek owned cafe in Bucharest was vandalized and its owner beaten. Several days later three editors of the Greek language newspaper Patris were expelled from the country for sedition. On 13 August, protesters burnt a Greek flag in Giurgiu. An official remonstrance by the Greek ambassador Tombazis was rebutted leading to a mutual withdrawal of embassies on 15 September. In November, the Romanian government allocated funding for the creation of armed Aromanian bands in Macedonia, a parallel motion closed numerous Greek schools in the country. In February 1906, six leading members of the Greek community were expelled from the country, citing their alleged funding of Greek bands in Macedonia. In July 1906, the Greek government officially severed diplomatic relations with Romania. In 1911, Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos used the occasion of the Italo-Turkish War to improve relations with Bulgaria and Romania, restoring diplomatic relations with the latter.

Soviet Union

Main Article: Racism in the USSR

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. 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

Main Article: Racism in Turkey

A 2011 survey in Turkey revealed that 67% of respondents had unfavorable views toward Greeks, although only 6% of Turks said Greece was their country's main enemy in a poll carried out in the same year. 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." Although others have argued anti-Greek sentiment is decreasing as appreciation for Greek culture grows.

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. The conflict 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. Around 30,000 "Turkish nationals of Greek descent had left permanently, in addition to the Greeks who had been expelled." Within months a total of 40,000 Greeks were expelled from Istanbul.

In 1999 Turkey was again swept by a wave of anti-Greek sentiment, encouraged by the Turkish government following the capture of the Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Öcalan. 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.

The Grey Wolves, a far-right organization associated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), routinely demonstrate outside the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Fener (Phanar), Istanbul and burn the Patriarch in effigy. In October 2005 they staged a rally and proceeding to the gate they laid a black wreath, chanting "Patriarch Leave" and "Patriarchate to Greece", inaugurating the campaign for the collection of signatures to oust the Ecumenical Patriarchate from Istanbul. As of 2006 the Grey Wolves claimed to have collected more than 5 million signatures for the withdrawal of the Patriarch and called on the Turkish government to have the patriarch deported to Greece.

United States

Main Article: Racism in the USA

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. 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. 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. 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.

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" and "offensive". The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) called for it to be canceled. Suck my Ass Bitch.

References

Wikipedia - Anti-Greek sentiment