Greek Roma Leaders Lash Out at International Romani Union

No to the Demand for Recognition as Nation Without a State

AIM Athens, August 6, 2000

"I'd rather stop calling myself a Gypsy than belong to a separate nationality," said Yannis Chalilopoulos, representative of the Union of Greek Gypsies. He was commenting in the daily "Eleftherotypia" the call by the International Romani Union World Congress held in late July 2000, in Prague, for the recognition of the Roma as a "nation without a state." "I think that the Americans are behind all these," added Christos Lambrou, president of the "Panhellenic Federation of Greek Roma Associations." "Since they want to maintain their hegemony over an afflicted European region, they are now trying to create an issue from nowhere that makes use of the Gypsies of Europe, whose political judgment and awareness is still embryonic because of the poor living conditions."

Lambrou made arguments similar to those found in the notoriously nationalist daily "Eleftheros Typos" two days later (4/8/00), in an article on "The [Athens 2004] Olympic Games, an obstacle to the US plans on the Balkans." The newspaper's Washington correspondent, while describing the alleged U.S. destabilization plans for the region, wrote: "The Gypsies of Eastern and Central Europe, with full American support, have risen in an obvious effort to create a state entity."

Those proud Greeks ready to shed their Romani identity and considering themselves so much more mature than the Roma leaders of the rest of the world so as not to fall to some American trap also believe that, in the words of P. Lambrou, "we haven't suffered the violence or racism that Gypsies in other European countries have experienced." So, what about all these alarming reports on the situation of half the Roma population in Greece that live in destitute settlements and face all forms of racism, harassment, and police brutality? These Roma representatives, expressing the views of the Roma who have been assimilated into Greek society, would reject such allegations about the tent-dwelling Roma, with whom they are in no speaking terms anyway.

As the NGO Doctors of the World said in a 15 January 2000 conference, "Why should we invite the Federation to talk about Roma tent-dwellers when it has never set foot in a Roma camp? We have not seen the Federation there when the authorities were burning shanties in Aspropyrgos, when Roma children were about to get drowned in the flooded bed of the Galikos River, when evictions were taking place all over Greece, in the camps of Evosmos, Ioanina and Nea Alikarnasos? Where was the Federation when tent-dwellers were suing the local and prefecture authorities in Thessaloniki and Crete?" (see "Assimilationist vs. Multiculturalist Approaches to Greece's Roma" by Christina Rougheri, AIM Athens, 29/2/2000)

No wonder then, the Federation president wrote on 11 March 2000 ("Eleftherotypia" Insert on the Roma) that his Federation has "reservations about the NGOs () since the activity to this day of some of them has not made clear their real intentions". He added there that he was also opposed to the idea of creating self-managed Roma communities in the place of the destitute settlements, a project supported by NGOs and the tent-dwelling Roma concerned. One reason was that "the use of the term self-managed communities could increase the illusion of autonomy Gypsies feel in such spaces and may thus lead them down the path of higher criminality." In the meantime, the Federation had happily joined the new governmental committee in charge of Greek (non-)policy towards the Roma. A committee setup by the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister's Office for the Quality of Life, from which destitute Roma and NGOs working on the latter's problems were excluded. The Federation was probably returning the compliment to the Minister and the Office who were present in -respectively, the launching of and throughout- the Federation's founding conference a year ago, otherwise held behind closed doors...

Follows the complete transcript of the very meaningful interviews of these Roma leaders.

Greek Gypsies don't want another national identity (Article by Georgia Dama, in the daily "Eleftherotypia" of 2 August 2000)

"We haven't suffered the violence or racism that Gypsies in other European countries have experienced. That's why we never wanted to create our own state. We're opposed to any premise that supports a separate nationality," maintain the Gypsies who live in this country, thus rejecting the declaration of the world congress of Gypsies [of the International Romani Union held in Prague].

"Our opinion is unequivocal. We Greek Gypsies don't agree with the premise of our Gypsy friends from the rest of Europe. We believe - and history has taught us - that the theory of a nation without a state is a utopian enterprise. Sooner or later, a social group that is recognized as a nation will seek self-management and self-rule, of which the creation of a state is a natural consequence," responds Christos Lambrou, president of the "Panhellenic Federation of Greek Roma Associations."

* -Do you see yourselves as Greeks or primarily as Gypsies without a country? "We Greek Gypsies have repeatedly stressed, both publicly and privately, that we are first and foremost Greeks who happen to be of Gypsy origin. Therefore, the Federation of Greek Gypsies rejects the declaration of the Gypsies of Europe, and will not under any circumstances participate in similar activities that target the promotion of the Gypsies as an ethnic group."

* -Are there any hidden interests behind the declaration? "I think that the Americans are behind all these. Since they want to maintain their hegemony over an afflicted European region, they are now trying to create an issue from nowhere that makes use of the Gypsies of Europe, whose political judgment and awareness is still embryonic because of the poor living conditions."

* -Does their reaction stem from oppression? "Of course. This entire matter is evidence of another dimension: The opinion of the Gypsies of Europe has been thrust towards these paths mainly because they have suffered persecution, oppression, social disenfranchisement and displacement. In essence, for me personally, this desperate cry is toward the European Union."

* -What would help developments? "This is a cry of despair, so that the developments and the unification of the European region, as well as the governments of the European states, take more serious consideration of the Gypsy problem. This way, the Gypsies will not become disoriented in the maze of developments. Instead, they will occupy a place in the new Europe compatible with their cultural heritage and the cultural work they have produced on this continent."

"I'd rather stop calling myself a Gypsy than belong to a separate nationality," says Yannis Chalilopoulos, representative of the Union of Greek Gypsies, who maintains that "Greek Gypsies don't have the same dream as Gypsies in other European countries. We Greek Gypsies believe that our interests are in the member-state where we live. What we as a socially sensitive group claim from Europe is its support in achieving integration. In order to integrate the Gypsies, special measures are demanded of all European countries, according to the problems they face."

He even points out that all Gypsies "love Greece because it's the first European soil they landed on and they consider it their homeland, and they use Greek words in their vocabulary."

Panayote Dimitras