Why multiculturalism remains a fictional concept in Greece

This article, focusing on Greece, a country of interest to me given I was born to Greek parents before becoming a ward of state from the age of four, explains why its approach to cultural diversity has always been heavily influenced by geopolitical concerns within a view that certain cultural minorities may threaten national unity.

 In other words, while Greek organisations in Australia support multiculturalism which celebrates diverse cultural backgrounds supported by significant government policy and financial support, Greece still encourages minorities to adhere to the dominant Greek culture and opposes group-based cultural practices when they are deemed to be at odds with national unity, albeit its aggressive approach has rightfully softened in recent decades.  

From 1834, at a time when over 90 per cent of adults were illiterate in the new Kingdom of Greece, the Primary and Communal Education Law was enacted to promote the Greek language and Orthodox Church with the intention of erasing regional differences, reversing centuries of Ottoman cultural influence, and constructing a historical link to ancient Hellenic and Byzantine roots.

With the new Greek nation only having a small geographical area compared to today, albeit aspiring then to the “Megali Idea” (Great Idea) to unite all Greek-populated and historically Byzantine territories, tensions with minorities during the 19th century were minimal as most Muslims had gone and the Arvanites (originally from Albania) and Vlachs were already passionate supporters of Greek nationalism both before and after the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829).   

However, after the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) when Greece gained much land from the Ottomans and its population increased from around 2.7 million to 4.8 million to now include substantial Turk and Slavic-speaking populations in northern Greece (Western Thrace and Macedonia), Greece began to “Hellenise” such areas.    

As a result of population exchanges, most notably after Greece’s defeat in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) resulted in around 1.2 million destitute Greek Orthodox refugees arriving from Turkey, the Greek government encouraged many to settle in Macedonia and Western Thrace which resulted in Greek Christian Orthodox becoming the majority there (88 per cent and 67 per cent respectively by 1928).

While the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne ruled that Greece must recognise the autonomy of the remaining Muslim minority living in Western Thrace, Greek governments responded by referring to all the Muslims (Turks, Pomaks and Roma) as “Greek Muslims” while ensuring that Greek authorities controlled the bilingual Greek/Turkish schools through curriculum choices, textbook distribution, and teacher appointments to this day.

As a result of Greek policy, most Muslims today in Western Thrace speak Greek (and Turkish) while the number of bilingual schools there has declined from a peak of around 300 to 76 during 2026 as more children shift into Greek-only public institutions, despite the Muslim population being similar (98,000 to 140,000 today compared to 126,017 in 1928).

Following the partition of Macedonia in 1913, Greek governments heavily targeted Slavic languages in northern Greece by closing hundreds of Slavic-language schools and churches that had been established by the Bulgarian Exarchate since the late 19th century because of geopolitical concerns.

Under the Metaxas dictatorship (1936–1941), Macedonian and Bulgarian dialects were brutally targeted:

Over 5,000 such Slavic speakers were interned or imprisoned; compulsory evening/night schools were established to force non-Greek-speaking elders to read, write, and speak Greek; and many non-Greek names of places and surnames were changed to Greek in an attempt to erase non-Greek cultural footprints from official records.

And, while the Metaxas regime ended the aggressive “Hellenisation” laws of the 1920s and 1930s by officially banning antisemitic organisations, hate speech, and antisemitic publications, it also insisted that Jewish schools incorporate the Greek language, history, and culture lessons into their daily curriculum with Jews only considered full citizens if they converted to Greek Orthodoxy

During the Cold War (1947-1989), with the defeated Greek communist forces receiving support from Bulgaria, Albania and Yugoslavia during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949), Greek governments continued to target Slavic-speaking minorities by disrupting festivals and further encouraging the “Hellenisation” of names for persons and geographical locations.  

While state-sponsored violence and outright bans on speaking Slavic/Macedonian dialects today have ended, with the 2018 Prespa Agreement between Greece and the newly renamed Republic of North Macedonia also easing bilateral state tensions,  institutional and political non-recognition of such minorities remains.

Today, Greek governments still refuse to ratify the European Charter for Regional for Minority Languages, and exclude any direct public financial or operational support for non-Greek (foreign-language) commercial radio and television stations apart from specific local stations in Western Thrace broadcasting in Turkish.

And, while residents in Greece may look for minority languages via privately-funded sources, such as the legally registered Centre for the Macedonian Language which offers free Macedonian language lessons over the internet, they too may experience ongoing court challenges from Greek authorities.

Yet, despite Greece’s obsession with “Hellenisation”, to this day Greek society has indeed become more culturally diverse in a number of ways:   

First, there has been some attempt to document the Arvanite contribution to Greece with the Arvanitic League of Greece founded during the 1980s to promote its culture, language, and history, although it remains to be seen whether any formal institutional or legal backing will emerge to support such cultural diversity.

With Greece having lost most of its Jewish population through the Holocaust after the German invasion, Greece has integrated Holocaust history into its public school curriculum, criminalised Holocaust denial in 2014, and enacted legislation in 2017 to allow Holocaust survivors and their descendants to reclaim lost citizenship.

Second, whereas Greece’s foreign population was minimal prior to the 1990s, the collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe brought many economic migrants to Greece to fill critical labour shortages in agriculture, construction, and domestic services, mostly from Albania.

More recent immigration has been from South Asia, East Asia, and parts of Africa.

Today, it is estimated that first and second-generation immigrants account for around 7 to 10 per cent of the Greek population, while Greece’s Muslim Population has increased to 5 to 7 per cent in recent years due to diverse sources of migration from Albania, Africa, and Asia.

Interestingly, while Albanians today represent around 60 per cent of foreign-born people living in Greece, it is estimated that only 8.4 per cent identify as Muslim with a large proportion converting to Greek Orthodoxy, in order to blend in or avoid social bias, or define themselves as secular with no religious belief.

Third, while around 90 per cent of the Greek population still identify as Greek Orthodox despite weekly church attendance declining to 11.4 per cent after being 63 per cent in 1960 and 29 per cent in 1980, the Church’s declining influence is visible in many ways:

·       same-sex civil marriage was legalised in February 2024, following on from cohabitation agreements for same-sex couples being recognised in 2015;

·       married same-sex couples have full joint and second-parent adoption rights;

·       Greece opened Athens’ first state-funded mosque in 2020 to serve the city’s large Muslim migrant population, albeit Athens still has no Muslim cemetery which means that Muslim families must transport deceased relatives to Western Thrace or elsewhere for burial;

·       and the construction of crematoriums has been legalised to accommodate other religious and secular practises.

Fifth, Greece’s diverse culture is reflective of Eastern, Balkan and Byzantine traditions which may explain why the country received 38 million tourists in 2025, directly accounting for 13 per cent of Greece’s GDP (about €32.4 billion) and around 20 per cent of employment.

While 10 million visitors come from Germany and the United Kingdom alone, 11 million now arrive from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, and Serbia).

Greece’s diverse culture is seen in a number of ways:

·       architecture (Ancient, Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman and Greek);

·       music often blending various string/wind instruments that include Eastern Mediterranean, Balkan musical scales and modal traditions (dromoi) with Western instruments;

·       dance (including folk dances like zeibekiko and tsifteteli exhibit rhythmic patterns and movements reminiscent of Eastern Anatolian and Middle Eastern traditions);

·       literature and philosophy (with Eastern philosophies incorporated into ancient Greek works);

·       food (with moussaka and baklava having Ottoman or Middle Eastern roots); and

·       language which also reflects centuries of cultural exchange through words relating to daily life, food, clothing, household items, commerce, and the bureaucracy.

Sixth, since 1991 Greek governments have promoted English as a compulsory foreign language in Greek public schools starting from the primary school level (typically around 3rd or 4th grade in primary school and continuing through secondary school) because Greece recognises that English is the primary international language for diplomacy, business, science, higher education, tourism and career opportunities,

English is also the dominant language (ahead of French and Spanish) in what is known as Greece’s shadow education where the vast majority of students (primary and secondary) go to private, small schools and tutors after school hours to enhance their learning of various subjects.

But what of Greece’s future approach to cultural diversity, at a time of immense economic difficulties despite its ongoing recognition as a developed, high-income country with a high Human Development Index (ranking 34th globally).

At one level, Greeks express opposition to high levels of immigration at a time when 80-82 per cent of Greeks cannot save money, 36 per cent run out of cash before the end of the month, 46 per cent earn just enough to cover basic expenses, and 70 per cent of active bank accounts hold less than €1,000.

At the same time, Greece needs workers to meet its economic needs because of a rapidly ageing and declining population, yet many doctors, engineers, and tech workers are amongst the 773,000 Greek citizens who left between 2010 and 2024 to find more favourable economic opportunities with only 473,000 returning during that period.

In reality, Greece remains near the bottom in international indexes for attracting global talent despite recent measures, is yet to develop a native high-tech manufacturing base, and lags well behind the wider European Union average in terms of private research and development spending (0.9 per cent of GDP compared to EU average of 1.5 percent).

And while Greece's current migrant intake is dominated by lower- and medium-skilled work in tourism, agriculture, and construction, public opinion consistently views the large influx of Muslim migrants as a threat to Greece’s traditions, security, and values.

Most recently, Greek policy seeks more workers from Christian or religiously neutral nations - such as the Philippines, Georgia, Armenia, and India - while also restricting naturalisation pathways which includes deals with Egypt and Bangladesh to secure economic labour without offering long-term settlement or citizenship path options.

Greece has also targeted unauthorised migration and religious infrastructure which includes closing dozens of unregistered, unofficial mosques and prayer spaces in Athens.

While Greek governments still appoint Islamic leaders (muftis) to act as religious judges in Western Thrace to resolve local family, custody, and inheritance disputes under Sharia law, Greek law since 2018 ensures that Muslim citizens can bypass Sharia courts entirely and take family disputes directly to standard Greek civil courts.

The Greek courts, in line with majority public opinion, also insists that all animals be stunned or anesthetised before slaughter, which conflicts with traditional shechita (kosher) and halal requirements that the animal must be conscious and uninjured at the moment of death.

In the end, the Greek national experience is a reminder that many nations do not adhere to multiculturalism and will only accept a minority’s behaviour when it is perceived not to challenge the majority's values or threaten national unity, whether you agree with the policies or not.