The Greek diaspora in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

previous work experience. In fact, not only did the government
not facilitate the political refugees’ return, but they
also hindered it in two ways. Firstly, they did not allow the
political refugees free repatriation, but permitted it only
on an individual basis: each political refugee had to apply
and wait, sometimes for very a long period, until his/her
repatriation was allowed. We should note at this point that
those persons whose nationality was forfeited could not
return to Greece. Secondly, when the refugees were repatriating,
they were given a Temporary Admission Permit
Without a Work Permit and had to present themselves at
police stations periodically, which was insulting.
On the whole, the political refugees had to face a lot of
problems...
Please refer to our forthcoming publication “Migration and Political
Intervention. Diasporas in Transition Countries” for the
complete text.
Repatriation after 1981
In 1981, PASOK (the Socialist Party of Andreas Papandreou)
won the elections on the promise of bringing about
radical change in the Greek political sphere. Whilst in
opposition, PASOK had adopted the political refugees’
claims and had promised a lot of support to them. As a
result, many political refugees voted for PASOK, despite
the fact that most of them were Communists. Indeed, during
the period 1981–1989 when PASOK was in power, a
substantial number of laws were instigated in order to
mitigate the political refugees’ problems. Nevertheless, the
political refugees were not content because, as they argue,
there were many delays and it took a long time for some
very vital issues to be regulated. Furthermore, they have
also argued that the measures were inefficient.
Before we proceed to the presentation of these measures,
some statistical information needs to be provided.
PEEPP reports that, in 1996–97, there were 18,650 political
refugees still living in eastern Europe (5,000 in Tashkent,
5,000 in Poland, 2,500 in Bulgaria, 2,100 in [the former]
Czechoslovakia, 2,000 in Hungary, 1,300 in Romania and
750 in [the former] East Germany; also, about 40,000 political
refugees have repatriated; 20,000 did so after 1981).
I shall present the measures taken by the Greek government
since 1981 according to subject, along with the
relevant claims made by the political refugees, divided
into two main categories: issues of moral restoration, and
issues of material restoration. Firstly, it is important to note
the claims of the political refugees as a whole, as expressed
in 1981:
• free and unconditional repatriation;
• attribution of Greek nationality to those deprived of it;
• bilateral agreements with East European countries concerning
the transfer of pensions and social security;
• recognition of previous experience before returning to
Greece;
• recognition of previous experience before leaving
Greece in 1949;
• abrogation of the consequences of the civil war;
• return of their former properties;
• recognition of their diplomas and of the previous vocational
experience of teachers of the Greek language and
the history of eastern Europe;
• welfare for their vocational rehabilitation;
• welfare for hospital and medical treatment;
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