"Abroad I was Greek and in Greece I am a Foreigner": Pontic Greeks from Former Soviet Union in Greece

Abstract

Pontic Greeks have been migrating from the former Soviet Union to Greece at least since the 1960s and into the 1990s. The more recent migrants (mid-1980s onwards) differ from those who migrated earlier (in the 1960s and 1970s) in their cause of migration and in their socio-economic background while in the Soviet Union. These differences had a significant effect on the expectations and aspirations of the two groups (older and newer migrants) once they were in Greece. An equally significant effect was that of the difference in definition of national identity for these migrants between their place of origin and the place of their destination. For, while their Greek identity in the Soviet Union was defined in their official documentation and necessitated little obvious manifestation of cultural, linguistic, or religious signs and practices, this same identity was insufficient to qualify them as members of their host society, even though the Greek State had officially bestowed such a qualification upon them. Such continuing divergence of definitions of identity impedes their integration in the host society.

Greeks of Georgia: Main factors and motivations of emigration

“…2 During the same period, the newly formed Greek state also influenced the rise of Greek nationalism amongst Greeks living in Eastern Turkey. Following the First World War, the rise of Kemalism and the unsuccessful Greek military expedition in Asia Minor in 1922 created a new wave of refugees; the majority of these went to Greece, though another significant contingent (from 200,000 to 500,000) relocated to the Russian Empire, namely to Ukraine, Southern Russia, and Transcaucasia (Sideri 2007;Kitromilidis 1990;Hionidou 2012). In Georgia, most Greeks were compactly resettled in the regions of Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti (Southern Georgia), Ach'ara (South-Western Georgia) and Abkhazia (North-Western Georgia).…”

Identities in Transition: Hybridism amongst Second Generation Greek Migrants

“…There is a large body of literature on the issue of hyphenated identities from the older-established Greek diasporas, spanning all continents (mostly from North America, Europe and Australia) and touching on both contemporary and historical diasporic experiences (e.g. Afentoulis and Cleland 2015, Angouri 2012, Callinicos 1990, Christou 2006a, 2006b, Chryssanthopoulou 2009, Costantakos 1980, Hionidou 2012, Kapardis and Tamis 1988, King et al 2011, Kontos 2009Koukoutsaki-Monnier 2012, Panagakos 2004, Petronoti 2009, Popov 2010, Tsolidis 2009, Unger 1986.…”

Flexicurity, Informality, and Immigration: The Insufficiency of the Southern EU Framework, as Illustrated through the Case of Preveza, Greece

“…They are further sub-divided into "Vorioipeirotes," who come from Albanian villages close to the Greek-Albanian border, and "Rosopontioi," who come from the former socialist Republic of Georgia (see Hionidou 2012).7 The second group-those who do not claim Greek origin-is by far the larger and mainly consists of Albanians who have settled in the area since 1990. In 2008, there were 3,826 immigrants in the prefecture, of whom 3,067 were immigrants of non-Greek origin and 759 were Omogeneis (see Table 1, columns 7-9).…”