Minorities in Greece
Minorities in Greece are small in size compared to Balkan regional standards, and the country is largely ethnically homogeneous.
There is no official information for the size of the ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities because asking the population questions pertaining to the topic have been abolished since 1951.
[5] The Greek constitution defines the Eastern Orthodox Church as the "prevailing religion" in Greece, and over 95% of the population claim membership in it.
This covers most religious minorities such as Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, Methodists, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
All known religions to be considered by the Greek state legal entities under private law must establish an association, foundation, or charitable fund-raising committee pursuant to the Civil Code.
In July 1999, following a parliamentary amendment, the legal entity status of all institutions of the Roman Catholic Church established before 1946 was reconfirmed.
[8] There is a Muslim minority who are Greek citizens living in Thrace, concentrated in the Rhodope and Xanthi regional units.
[12][failed verification] Under Greek administration, the Muslim minority of Greece has adopted a moderate, non-political form of Islam.
[13] The Lausanne Treaty and as a result the Greek government define the rights of the Muslim communities in Western Thrace, both Turkish and Pomak, on the basis of religion instead of ethnicity.
[16] The Greek government continues to deliver Turkish-language public education, and there are two Islamic theological seminaries, one in Komotini and one in Echinos.
[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.
[20] Greece continued this stance in the beginning 21st century when Greek courts ruled to dissolve or prohibit formation of Turkish associations.
During the Ottoman Empire, Jews like all other non-Muslims had a degree of autonomy under the Millet system which classified populations according to religion rather than ethnicity or language.
Thessaloniki in particular had a large Jewish population, mostly consisting of Sephardim who settled in Ottoman lands after the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
Since independence in 1821, Greece continued to have a significant and active Jewish community with a long and rich cultural heritage.
Nevertheless, the Greek Helsinki Monitor issued a report in September 1999, which claimed that about 10,000–30,000 ethnic Macedonians live in Greece,[36] but because of the absence of an official census it is impossible to determine the exact number.
[37] However, 2.5 million ethnic Greeks identify as Macedonian, unrelated to the Slavic people who are associated with the Republic of North Macedonia.
As the report published on the UN Human Rights Council web site[39] says: "The Independent Expert met numerous individuals identifying as ethnic Macedonian."
The Chams were an ethnic Albanian community that formerly inhabited the area of Thesprotia, part of the Greek region of Epirus.
Albanians constitute 63.7% of the total documented migrant population in Greece, followed by Bulgarians, Georgians, Romanians, Russians, and Ukrainians.
[53][54][55] 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.
[60] The Romani in Greece live scattered through the whole territory of the country, but with larger concentration in the bigger cities (mainly Athens and Thessalonica).
[60] 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.
[60] 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.
[61] 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.
Until and including the 1951 census, the question of mother tongue was asked throughout Greece, so this gives a rough idea as to the size of this group, and later estimates are usually based on this figure.
