 | ||
Greeks in Hungary (Greek: Έλληνες, Ellines, Hungarian: Görögök) constitute one of the thirteen officially recognized ethnic minorities in Hungary since The Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities Act was enacted by the Hungarian parliament on July 7, 1993.
Hungarian law recognizes individuals' minority rights, establishes the concept of the collective rights of ethnic minorities, and states the inalienable collective right of minorities to preserve their ethnic identity. The law also permits associations, movements, and political parties of an ethnic or national character and mandates the unrestricted use of ethnic languages. To be recognized, an ethnic group must have at least 100 years' presence in the country, and its members must be citizens.
The earliest migrations of Greeks to the territory of present-day Hungary (as part of the Austrian Empire) were noted in the 15th and 16th centuries and consisted primarily of isolated highly educated individuals. Mass migrations did not occur until the 17th century, the largest waves being in 1718 and 1760-1770; they were primarily connected to the economic conditions of the period It is estimated that 10,000 Greeks emigrated to Hungary in the second half of the 18th century.
The present-day Greek community consists primarily of political refugees from the Greek Civil War and numbers 2,509 people according to the 2001 census. In the village Beloiannisz (Greek: Μπελογιάννης Beloyannis), founded in 1950 by Greek refugees, the mayor is traditionally Greek although the number of Greeks has dwindled to about 300 out of a total population of 1,200.