Abstract
Massive migration from Georgia started in the 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The majority of the migrants went abroad seeking jobs, and like other ethnic groups residing in Georgia, Greeks were actively involved in this process. Even though the driving factor of migration appears to be Georgia’s difficult economic situation, some official institutions looked upon this process as a form of repatriation. This article aims to establish the factors leading to the migration of Georgia’s Greeks, analyzes 42 interviews carried out during the research, and compares socio-economic conditions in Georgia with those in the countries of destination.
References
Brubaker, Rogers. 1998. Migration of ethnic unmixing in the ‘New Europe’. International Migration Review 32. 1047–1065.10.1177/019791839803200409Search in Google Scholar
CRRC. 2007. Migration and return in Georgia: Trends, assessments, and potential. Report submitted for the Danish Refugee Council by Caucasus Research Resource Centres (CRRC) – Georgia. 7–120.Search in Google Scholar
Danzer, Alexander M. & Barbara Dietz. 2009. Temporary labour migration and welfare at the new European fringe: A comparison of five Eastern European countries. IZA Discussion Paper Series 4142. 4–38.10.2139/ssrn.1395249Search in Google Scholar
Diamanti-Karanou, Panagoula. 2003. Migration of ethnic Greeks from the former Soviet Union to Greece, 1990–2000: Policy decisions and implications. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 3(1). 25–45.10.1080/713999342Search in Google Scholar
GeoStat (National Statistics Office of Georgia). http://www.geostat.ge/index.php?action=page&p_id=179&lang=eng. August 2014Search in Google Scholar
Hess, Christin. 2010. Post-Soviet repatriation and nationhood in Germany and Greece. Political Perspectives 4(2). 25–48.Search in Google Scholar
Hionidou, Violetta. 2012. “Abroad I was Greek and in Greece I am a foreigner”: Pontic Greeks from former Soviet Union in Greece. Journal of Modern Greek Studies 30. 103–127.10.1353/mgs.2012.0010Search in Google Scholar
International Labour Organization. 2013. Statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization. Report for discussion at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians. 1–70.Search in Google Scholar
Ivakhnyuk, Irina. 2006. Migration in the CIS Region: Common problems and mutual benefits. International Symposium on International Migration and Development. 1–14.Search in Google Scholar
Kaurinkoski, Kira. 2010. Privileged co-ethnic Greek migrants from the former Soviet Union in the Greater Athens Area: Reflections on individual and collective integration strategies into Greek society. In Jasna Čapo Žmegač, Christian Voß & Klaus Roth (eds.), Co-ethnic migrations compared. Central and Eastern European contexts, 119–137. München/Berlin: Otto Sagner,Search in Google Scholar
Kitromilidis, Paschalis, M. 1990. Greek irredentism in Asia Minor. Middle Eastern Studies 26(1). 3–17.10.1080/00263209008700801Search in Google Scholar
Melikishvili, Lia. 2011. სოციალური უსაფრთხოების ასპექტები პოლიეთნიკურ საზოგადოებაში [Aspects of social security in a multi-ethnic society], in Georgian. In Nana Khazaradze (ed.), Tbilisi: Mtsignobari.Search in Google Scholar
Migration Policy Institute. 2004. Statistical data on immigrants in Greece: An analytic study of available data and recommendations for conformity with European Union standards. Mediterranean Migration Observatory UEHR. Panteion University.Search in Google Scholar
National Bank of Georgia. 2013. Monthly Review – April; May; June. In Georgian, 15–18. https://www.nbg.gov.ge/index.php?m=350&lng=geoSearch in Google Scholar
National Bank of Georgia. 2014. Monthly Review – April; May. In Georgian, 15–18. https://www.nbg.gov.ge/index.php?m=350&year=2014&p=1&lng=geoSearch in Google Scholar
Newbold, K. Bruce. 2010. Population geography: Tools and issues. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Search in Google Scholar
Pashaeva, Lamara. 1992. Семъя и Семейный Быт Греков Цалкского Раиона. [Family and family life of Greeks in the Ts’alk’a region], in Russian. A. Robakidze (ed.), Tbilisi: Мецниереба.Search in Google Scholar
Peters, Gary L. & Robert P. Larkin. 2005. Population geography: Problems, concepts, and prospects, 9th ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.Search in Google Scholar
Salukvadze, Joseph & Giorgi Meladze. 2014. Georgia: Migration, a main risk towards sustainable demographic future. EASTmig project: Discovering migration between Visegrad countries and Eastern Partners. 150–169.Search in Google Scholar
Samers, Michael. 2010. Migration. New York/London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203864296Search in Google Scholar
Sideri, Eleni. 2006. The Greeks of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Memories and practices of diaspora. PhD thesis, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London.Search in Google Scholar
Sideri, Eleni. 2007. Crossing B-orders: From Georgia to Greece. Female migration and female transformations. In G. Papageorgiou (ed.), Gendering transformations/Έμφυλοι Μετασχηματισμοί, 98–108. Crete: University of Crete.Search in Google Scholar
Todaro, P. Michael 1969. A model of labor migration and urban unemployment in less-developed countries. American Economic Review 59(1). 138–148.Search in Google Scholar
Zurabishvili, Tamar. 2007. შრომითი ემიგრაცია დაბა თიანეთიდან: ემიგრაციული ქსელების განვითარება. [Labor emigration from the Tianeti settlement: Development of emigration networks]. PhD thesis. Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences. Ilia Chavchavadze State University.Search in Google Scholar
©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Urum and Pontic Greeks: Communities and language situations
- Greeks of Georgia: Main factors and motivations of emigration
- The issue of ethnic identity and aspects of cross-cultural orientation of the Greeks in Georgia (the example of Ts’alk’a Greeks)
- Group belonging beyond language boundaries: Language, religion and identity in the multilingual Greek community of Georgia
- Us and them: Inter- and intra-communal ethno-linguistic borders within the Pontic Greek community in Cyprus
- Morphological integration of Russian and Turkish nouns in Pontic Greek
- From double to dependent marking? An investigation of possessive constructions in Caucasian Urum
- From syntagmatic to paradigmatic spatial zeroes: The loss of the preposition se in inner Asia Minor Greek
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Urum and Pontic Greeks: Communities and language situations
- Greeks of Georgia: Main factors and motivations of emigration
- The issue of ethnic identity and aspects of cross-cultural orientation of the Greeks in Georgia (the example of Ts’alk’a Greeks)
- Group belonging beyond language boundaries: Language, religion and identity in the multilingual Greek community of Georgia
- Us and them: Inter- and intra-communal ethno-linguistic borders within the Pontic Greek community in Cyprus
- Morphological integration of Russian and Turkish nouns in Pontic Greek
- From double to dependent marking? An investigation of possessive constructions in Caucasian Urum
- From syntagmatic to paradigmatic spatial zeroes: The loss of the preposition se in inner Asia Minor Greek