Many Greeks live in and around the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The region has been under attack by the Russians for days. Twelve Greeks have died so far, and Athens protests. Odessa, Mariupol, Sevastopol: the names of these Ukrainian cities sound familiar, almost native, to Greek ears. The area on the Black Sea coast plays an important role in Greek mythology. The Greek Revolution of 1821 was prepared by the “Filiki Eteria” (Society of Friends), a secret organization founded in Odessa. Greeks have lived in this area for thousands of years, and today they are an estimated minority of between 100,000 and 150,000 people.
Few of them live in Odessa, most are in Mariupol and 29 villages in the vicinity of the eastern Ukrainian port city.
In the first five days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, twelve members of the Greek minority were killed in the village of Sartanas. According to the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they were victims of bombings by Russian forces, which led the ministry to file a “strong protest” with the Russian ambassador in Athens.
However, the Russian embassy responded with an imperious Facebook post urging all Greek politicians, analysts and journalists to “take the message seriously”. According to the embassy, the Russian armed forces did not carry out any military operations in Sartanas – and Ukrainian soldiers would be to blame for the deaths of the Greeks.
The Greek Foreign Ministry responded promptly that the statements made by the Russian embassy were false.
Mariupol is close to the so-called line of contact between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk region. The city is strategically important.
On Tuesday (1/03), the mayor of Mariupol, Wadym Boychenko, said that more than 100 residents have already been injured in Russian air strikes in the city. “The number of injured civilians is growing every day,” Boychenko said, according to the Unian news agency. “Today there are 128 people in our hospitals. Our doctors don’t even go home anymore,” he added.
Athens expresses concern
At the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, the government of Athens expressed its concern about the Greek minority in Mariupol. On January 31, 2022, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was in the region and assured Greeks in eastern Ukraine that Greece wanted to protect them.
In fact, evacuation plans were made in Athens for Ukrainian Greeks forced to leave their homes due to fighting. Furthermore, during a visit to Moscow on February 18, Dendias urged his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to protect the Greek community in eastern Ukraine. However, Mariupol has been contested since February 22 – and no one in the city is safe.
The most “Greek” city in Ukraine
According to the latest census, 91,548 Greeks live in the sea port city of Azov, which has around 500,000 inhabitants. In addition to Ukrainian and Russian, they speak a unique Greek dialect, which they call the “Romanian language”. They have lived there for centuries alongside Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities – and, since 2014, with many Ukrainian refugees who fled to the city before the Russian invasion of Crimea.
Mariupol means “Mary’s city” in Greek. The site was founded by a decree of Catherine the Great in 1778, near a Cossack settlement.
It was intended to serve as a new home for the Greeks when they had to flee the Crimea to avoid the Turks occupying the peninsula. Greek colonization of the shores of the Black Sea had already begun in the 6th century.
But the roots of Greek culture in this region go back even further. Already in ancient times, the Greeks lived in colonies around the Black Sea. Since then, there has been an uninterrupted presence in what is now eastern Ukraine. And despite Russian bombs, most Greeks want to stay there.
Change of view on Russia
The fight for Mariupol is being watched very closely in Greece. The deaths in Sartanas could lead to a significant shift in public opinion about Russia. Traditionally, much of Greek society has a very positive attitude towards Russia, some even speak of an eternal friendship “with the older blond brother”.
The majority of the population of both countries belongs to the Orthodox Church. Greeks and Russians never fought each other. Ioannis Kapodistrias, who became the first governor of the free Greek state after independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828, had previously been Foreign Minister of Tsarist Russia. Also in recent times, Greece has tried to function more as a bridge between the West, of which it feels part, and Russia. Athens has always been very understanding of Moscow’s concerns.
It’s over now. Three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis decided to supply military equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces. That was a turning point. In addition, Greece also sent humanitarian aid to Kiev. The material was sent to Poland in two planes and from there it will be taken to Ukraine.
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