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The ‘Egg of the snake’ of racism in Greece is hatched by the Simitis government too

Greek Helsinki Monitor, Press Release, 4 July 1997

Our organizations Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group - Greece agree with yesterday's statement by Prime Minister C. Simitis that in Greece "there is an 'egg of the snake,' with racism, xenophobia, intolerance and lack of understanding towards the other, that is undermining one of the most valuable common European traditions."

However, this "egg of the snake" is hatched by the Simitis government itself too, when for example it:

• introduces racist and illegal discrimination among the immigrants under legalization
• creates the first in recent history ghetto, the "Simitis ghetto", for the Roma of Ano Liosia and facilitates the expulsions of Roma in other areas of Greece
• lets Greece be convicted with a frequency of one conviction per month by the European Court of Human Rights for violations of minority rights in Greece.

The Prime Minister is aware of all these things and obviously accepts them. He should therefore stop making hypocritical statements against racism in Greece and, even now, should implement these "European common traditions" in which he wants to give the impression that he believes . As in the last semester Greece "celebrated" the European Year Against Racism with an effusion of state racism.

GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (Greek National Committee of the International Helsinki Federation)
& MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP - GREECE (Greek Affiliate of Minority Rights Group International)
P.O. Box 51393, GR-14510 Kifisia, Greece
Tel. 30-1-620.01.20;
Fax: 30-1-807.57.67;
E-mail: helsinki@compulink.gr