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Greek Public Schools
Reject A Teacher

Athens (JTA) — A few years
ago, Jacquelyn Yermiya
wanted to become a nursery
teacher in the Greek public
school system, but she was
rejected because she is Jew-
ish and not Greek Orthodox.
The law at the time said
that only Greek Orthodox
citizens could become nurs-
ery and elementary school
teachers in the public school
system.
But after a long fight that
won support from Greek
Catholics, who had also been
excluded from teaching, the
law was amended.
Most Greeks had thought
this discrimination was a
matter of the past — until
the daily newspaper Elef-
therotypia recently found
and published a report
prepared by the Greek Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency.
According to the report,
which originally was cir-
culated last January to only
a small number, only those
who belong to the Greek Or-

"Anyone of a
different faith is
`not an honest
Greek' since his
sense of
patriotism is
reduced."

thodox church can be con-
sidered "honest Greeks."
The report says that any-
one of a different faith is
"not an honest Greek since
his sense of patriotism is
reduced."
The report goes on to sug-
gest measures that should be
taken against "non-honest
Greeks."
Among these measures
was the suggestion that only
Greek Orthodox citizens
should be allowed to enter
theological faculties at uni-
versities. Another said that
construction licenses should
not be issued for building
non-Greek Orthodox houses
of worship.
In addition, a May 22
directive that referred to the
original agency report goes
so far as to suggest that
those who are not Greek Or-
thodox should be kept under
surveillance.
According to the news-
paper's account, the docu-
ments show that for five

months — without any reac-
tion from government offi-
cials — the Greek CIA set up
a mechanism to spy on peo-
ple who were not Greek Or-
thodox.
On May 27, after the
report and the directive were
leaked —some say to foreign
governments — the Greek
government sent a letter to
the Greek CIA saying that
the report and the directive
should be annulled "since its
findings are not realistic."
But the newspaper
discovered that the annul-
ment order was a forgery. Its
only purpose was to satisfy
critics; the original agency
report was to remain valid
and official policy.
Once the story broke, an
embarrassed Greek govern-
ment made one mistake
after another.
First it said that the report
was only the private idea of
a lowly clerk in the religious
department of the security
agency.
But this was soon perceiv-
ed as a lie because the report
was signed by the head of
the agency, Panagiotis Bale,
a 57-year-old retired air
force officer.
Mr. Bale, it turns out, also
signed the directive meant
to cancel the initial report.
Then the government said
that the person responsible
was suspended. But further
investigation showed that
not only was this person not
suspended but he was
rewarded with a citation.
Finally, on Aug. 5, a
spokesperson for the Greek
government said that the
original agency report was
"unrealistic and unaccep-
table" and "therefore it has
been canceled."
Ever since the beginning
of the century, Greek
citizens have been divided
on numerous issues,
sometimes with painful
results.
Although 97 percent of the
Greek population is Greek
Orthodox, there are also
numerous Greek Catholics,
Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Presbyterians, Muslims and
other religious groups.
"The report is an em-
barrassment to all Greeks,"
said Nissim Mais, president
of the Greek Central Jewish
Board. "I fail to understand
how 50 years after the Se-
cond World War, a document
like that can be produced in
a European country."

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