Why multiculturalism remains a fictional concept in Greece

·       same-sex civil marriage was legalised in February 2024, following on from cohabitation agreements for same-sex couples being recognised in 2015;

·       married same-sex couples have full joint and second-parent adoption rights;

·       Greece opened Athens’ first state-funded mosque in 2020 to serve the city’s large Muslim migrant population, albeit Athens still has no Muslim cemetery which means that Muslim families must transport deceased relatives to Western Thrace or elsewhere for burial;

·       and the construction of crematoriums has been legalised to accommodate other religious and secular practises.

Fifth, Greece’s diverse culture is reflective of Eastern, Balkan and Byzantine traditions which may explain why the country received 38 million tourists in 2025, directly accounting for 13 per cent of Greece’s GDP (about €32.4 billion) and around 20 per cent of employment.

While 10 million visitors come from Germany and the United Kingdom alone, 11 million now arrive from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, and Serbia).

Greece’s diverse culture is seen in a number of ways:

·       architecture (Ancient, Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman and Greek);

·       music often blending various string/wind instruments that include Eastern Mediterranean, Balkan musical scales and modal traditions (dromoi) with Western instruments;

·       dance (including folk dances like zeibekiko and tsifteteli exhibit rhythmic patterns and movements reminiscent of Eastern Anatolian and Middle Eastern traditions);

·       literature and philosophy (with Eastern philosophies incorporated into ancient Greek works);

·       food (with moussaka and baklava having Ottoman or Middle Eastern roots); and