Paper short abstract:

The ”refugee crisis” in 2015 and the adoption of the EU-Turkey declaration in 2016 have profoundly changed the human geography in the Aegean Islands. This paper discusses local perceptions of different categories of migrants on the basis of presumed cultural criteria.

Paper long abstract:

The ”refugee crisis” in 2015 and the adoption of the EU-Turkey declaration in 2016 have profoundly changed the human geography in the Aegean Islands. The main source countries of migrants are Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan but there are also migrants of other nationalities.

The local perceptions of migrants vary according to their country of origin, gender, and number. In many cases, interlocutors refer to presumed cultural criteria such as education, purity, religion, life quality, as well as economic factors when distinguishing between different categories of migrants. For example, Syrians are often qualified as educated, cultured, and economically well to do. The fact that many come as families is also to their advantage. On the contrary, some other groups are easily qualified as “poor” and “dirty”. Single male migration is also badly viewed.

This paper discusses local perceptions of different categories of migrants on the basis of presumed cultural criteria. Has the presence of historical and earlier migrant Muslim communities facilitated the acceptation of new groups of Muslim migrants? (1) How has the arrival of new groups of migrants affected the perception of earlier and established Muslim communities? The paper is based on field research conducted by the author in Kos and Rhodes in 2011, 2012 and 2018.

1.Kos and Rhodes are home to a historic Muslim minority of Turkish origin since the Ottoman era. Since the 1990s these islands also host Albanian and Pakistani migrant communities.