'CONSERVATIVE' GREEK DAILY BLAMES ISLAM FOR THE SRI LANKA ATTACKS

Following the Sri Lanka attacks on 21st of April, the Greek daily Dimokratia published a column stating its official position on these attacks the next day. The column targets Islam, claiming it is a "violent faith" which is "incompatible with democratic values and gender equality". In so doing, Dimokratia strives to provide a moral grounding for racism and discrimination, which could incite violence and damage social cohesion. Following this, Dimokratia continued its divisive reporting on the Sri Lanka attacks. On 26th April, it published an opinion piece by Dr. Eleni Papadopoulou using the same divisive rhetoric to claim that Greek Christians are being persecuted.

In May 2019, Symbiosis - School of Political Studies of the Council of Europe and GTTO partner in Greece - wrote a complaint letter to Dimokratia. Addressed to Dimokratia's editor-in-chief, this letter was also shared with the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (ESIEA) and the Journalists’ Union of Daily Newspapers of Macedonia-Thrace. This letter emphasised the continuous nature of hateful rhetoric in Demokratia over the last months. Specifcially, Symbiosis mentioned the incidents of antireligious hate speech above as well as the newspaper’s front-page from the 4th of March. This front-page claims that Christians on the island of Mytilene are "under persecution", after a big cross that divided the community was built close to the Apeli beach. So far, no reply has been received.