The Romani people of Greece, or Romá (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Ρομάνι/Ρομά), are called Tsinganoi (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Τσιγγάνοι), Athinganoi (Αθίγγανοι), or the more derogatory term Gyftoi (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Γύφτοι) (
Gypsies
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
).
On 8 April 2019, the Greek government stated that the number of Greek
Roma citizens in Greece is around 110,000. Other estimates have placed the number of Romani people resident in Greece as high as 350,000.
History
Origin
The Romani people originate from
Northern India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
presumably from the northwestern Indian states
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
and
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
.
Linguistic evidence has shown that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a big part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines.
Arrival into the Balkans
The history of Roma in Greece goes back to the 15th century. The name Gypsy (Gyftos = Γύφτος) sometimes used for the Romani people was first given to them by the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
, who supposed them to be Egyptian in origin. Due to their
nomadic
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
nature, they are not concentrated in a specific geographical area, but are dispersed all over the country. The majority of the Greek Roma yet are
Hellenized
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...
and
Orthodox Christians who speak the
Romani language
Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to '' Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their ...
in addition to
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
or the
Romano-Greek language, like the Finikas Romika. There are several other Dialects spoken by the Roma In Greece, as the
Agios Athanasios-
Balkan Romani, the Parakalamos-Romacilikanes, or the
Volos
Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...
Sevlengere Roma.
Mostly
Muslim Roma
Xoraxane Roma in Balkan Romani language, are non- Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of Hanafi madhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Some of them are Derviş of Sufism belief, and the biggest Tariqa of Jerrahi is located at the ...
who live in
Western Thrace
Western Thrace or West Thrace ( el, υτικήΘράκη, '' ytikíThráki'' ; tr, Batı Trakya; bg, Западна/Беломорска Тракия, ''Zapadna/Belomorska Trakiya''), also known as Greek Thrace, is a geographic and histori ...
adopted a Turkish Identity and speak Turkish and the Xoraxane dialect
Sedentary Roma Groups from
Serres
Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki.
Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northe ...
region, believe their Ancestors was once taken from Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517 to work of the Land of Turkish Feudallords in Rumelia. Also in
Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname of 1668, he mentioned that the Roma from
Komotini
Komotini ( el, Κομοτηνή, tr, Gümülcine, bg, Комотини) is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-p ...
(Gümülcine) swear their Ancestors came from Egypt.
Banyan merchants
Banyan merchants is an expression used widely in the Indian Ocean trade to refer to Indian merchants who are clearly distinguished from others, by their clothing, by their religious and cultural dietary choices, and by the manner in which they co ...
came once via
Indo-Roman trade relations
Indo-Roman trade relations (see also the spice trade and incense road) was trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Empire in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Trade through the overland caravan routes via Asia Minor and the Midd ...
and settled there for a while in
Roman Egypt, so their Ancestors must be
Doms in Egypt Dom people or "Ghagar" migrated during the Roman Empire, Roman era to the territory of the present day Egypt from South Asia, particularly from Indian Subcontinent, and heavily intermixed with Egyptians. Scholars suggest that their Egyptian admixtur ...
.
Migration to Turkey
During the
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...
in 1923, different Muslim
Turkish Roma
Trough Turkification and Assimilation in the Turkish culture over centuries, this Muslim Roma have adopted the Turkish language and loss Romani, in order to establish a Turkish Identity to become more recognized by the Host population and deny the ...
groups from Greece, like the Tütünčides (Tobacco traders/workers) or the Sepetčides (Basketmakers) moved to Turkey, and called ''Mübadil Romanlar''
Settlements
The Roma in Greece live scattered on the whole territory of the country, mainly in the suburbs. Notable centres of Romani life in Athens are
Agia Varvara which has a very successful Romani community and
Ano Liosia where conditions are poorer. Roma largely maintain their own customs and traditions. Although a large number of Roma has adopted a sedentary and urban way of living, there are still settlements in some areas. The nomads at the settlements often differentiate themselves from the rest of the population. They number 200,000 according to the Greek government. According to the National Commission for Human Rights that number is closer to 250,000 and according to the Greek Helsinki Watch group to 300,000.
[
As a result of neglect by the state, among other factors, the Romani communities in Greece face several problems including high rates of child labour and abuse, low school attendance, police discrimination and drug trafficking. The most serious issue is the housing problem since many Roma in ]Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
still live in tents, on properties they do not own, making them subject to eviction. In the past decade these issues have received wider attention and some state funding.[
On two occasions, the European Committee of Social Rights found Greece in violation of the ]European Social Charter
The European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty which was opened for signature on October 18, 1961 and initially became effective on February 26, 1965, after West Germany had become the fifth of the 13 signing nations to ratify it. B ...
by its policy towards Roma in the field of housing. Furthermore, between 1998-2002, 502 Albanian Roma children disappeared from the Greek Foundation for children Agia Varvara. These cases were not investigated by the Greek authorities until the European Union forced an investigation, which only led to the recovery of 4 children. The children who were sold were presumably sold to human traffickers for sexual slavery or organ harvesting, according to a report submitted by the Greek government to the European Commission.
Religion
The majority of the Greek Roma are Orthodox Christian like the groups Medvedara (Bear-leader), Katsiveli, Fitsiria, Mandopolini etc., and have taken a Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
identity (language, names) while a small part of them, the Erli/Erlides (Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Ερλίδες), and Tourkogyftos are Muslim Roma
Xoraxane Roma in Balkan Romani language, are non- Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of Hanafi madhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Some of them are Derviş of Sufism belief, and the biggest Tariqa of Jerrahi is located at the ...
concentrated in Western Thrace
Western Thrace or West Thrace ( el, υτικήΘράκη, '' ytikíThráki'' ; tr, Batı Trakya; bg, Западна/Беломорска Тракия, ''Zapadna/Belomorska Trakiya''), also known as Greek Thrace, is a geographic and histori ...
have adopted Turkish identities.
Notable Roma from Greece
*Manolis Angelopoulos
Manolis Angelopoulos ( el, Μανώλης Αγγελόπουλος; 8 April 1939 – 2 April 1989) was a Greek singer of Gypsy origin.
Biography
During his childhood Angelopoulos traveled all over Greece with his Hellenized-Gypsy family cara ...
, singer
* Kostas Hatzis, singer and musician
*Irini Merkouri
Irini Merkouri ( gr, Ειρήνη Μερκούρη, ; born in Ilion, Athens, on May 26, 1981) is a Greek pop and laïka singer of Romani origin.
Career
Early life
Merkouri was born and raised in Ilion, Athens to Hellenized-Romani parents. She ...
, singer
*Christos Patsatzoglou
Christos Patsatzoglou ( el, Χρήστος Πατσατζόγλου; born 19 March 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer of Romani origin who last played for APO Aetos Korydallou.
Patsatzoglou started his career in Skoda Xanthi befor ...
, Greek international football player
* Vassilis Saleas, clarinetist
* Eleni Vitali, singer and composer
*Sotis Volanis
Sotis Volanis (Greek: Σώτης Βολάνης, born Sotiris Stavridis in 20 February 1971) is a Greek singer. He was born in Akrolimni, Pella, Greece.
He is best known for his 2002 success ''Poso Mou Leipei'' ''(i zesti ankalia sou)'' (Greek: ...
, singer
*Lazaros Christodoulopoulos
Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Greek: Λάζαρος Χριστοδουλόπουλος, born 19 December 1986) is a Greek professional footballer who plays for Super League club Aris. He plays as a winger, a second striker or a attacking midfie ...
, Greek international football player
*Zafeiris Melas
Zafeiris Melas or Zafiris Melas (Greek: Ζαφείρης Μελάς) is a Greek contemporary pop-folk laïko singer.
He was born in Xanthi to Muslim Romani parents and grew up in a poor neighbourhood. In his youth, he started performing in local g ...
, singer
*Giorgos Giakoumakis
Giorgos Giakoumakis ( gr, Γιώργος Γιακουμάκης; born 9 December 1994) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC and the Greece national team.
Club career Early ca ...
, Greek international football player
See also
*Minorities in Greece
Minorities in Greece are small in size compared to Balkan regional standards, and the country is largely ethnically homogeneous. This is mainly due to the population exchanges between Greece and neighboring Turkey ( Convention of Lausanne) and ...
* Muslim minority in Greece
*Romani diaspora
The Roma people have several distinct populations, the largest being the Roma and the Iberian Calé or Caló, who reached Anatolia and the Balkans in the early 12th century, from a migration out of the Indian subcontinent beginning about 1s ...
References
External links
Roma in Greece, 1999
{{Europe topic , Romani people in
European Committee of Social Rights case law
Greek Romani people
Greek people of Romani descent