‘There is hope’: Syriza poised to improve situation of Greece’s immigrants

ATHENS — Aref Rachman readily admits that he was rooting for the far-left Syriza party when Greece went to the polls on Jan. 25. For three days and three nights, he says, he was glued to his television set, “praying very hard” that the leftists would win.

“For all the time they were in opposition, they were on our side, promising to make our lives better if they ever came in,” he said in perfect Greek. “Every foreigner, I can honestly say, wanted them to win.”

At 49, the Bangladeshi has spent more than half of his life in Greece, arriving at Athens International Airport 26 years ago on a tourist visa acquired in the Indian city that is now called Mumbai. “Back then, even the immigration officials didn’t know where my country was,” he recalled.

Rachman says he chose Greece because it was widely perceived as an easy entry point into Europe. He never expected to stay. But over a quarter-century later, he is still in the country, and by most standards, has done exceptionally well. He has a son, is happily married, runs a jewelery shop in the heart of ancient Athens and, as a successful businessman, has for several years been chairman of the local Bangladesh-Greece chamber of commerce.

Although Rachman loves his adopted homeland, he is the first to say he has never been fully accepted. “This is not America,” he sighs. “You may feel Greek and speak perfect Greek, pay your taxes and pay into an insurance fund, but that is not enough to integrate as a member of this society. After 26 years, I still don’t have the right to vote, and on paper I am still not Greek. Despite all my efforts, they won’t grant me citizenship.”

Now with the political sea change that has taken place in Athens, he is very much hoping that will change. And if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has his way, it will soon. For the first time since 1974, when democracy was restored after the collapse of military rule, a migration minister was appointed within days of a new government’s assuming power.

The elevation to the migration post of Tasia Christodoulopoulou, a veteran human rights attorney, long versed in the minutiae of immigration law, has rammed home the point that the new government is aiming for root-and-branch change in an area that has frequently landed Greece in trouble. She does not mince her words. She is adamant that Athens has to move quickly to improve the poor reputation it has acquired handling those fleeing poverty and war. Xenophobia and racist violence — byproducts of the country’s worst economic crisis in modern times — have soared in recent years.

“We will respect international treaties and Greek laws, which previous governments never did,” she told Al Jazeera in an interview. “We will close detention camps where, right now, around 4,500 people are held in inhumane conditions and for which Greece has been condemned. We will stop rounding up people indiscriminately and deporting them to countries with which we have no diplomatic relations. We will work hard to set up reception centers, which currently do not exist.”