The Balkan peoples in the history school textbooks of compulsory education in Greece

The text analyzes how the Balkan peoples are presented in the History textbooks of compulsory education in Greece. Despite the recommendations of international organizations (such as the Council of Europe and UNESCO) to overcome ethnocentrism and cultivate an intercultural approach, Greek school textbooks continue to maintain an ethnocentric character. History is used as an ideological tool that projects Greek national superiority and constructs stereotypes for the “other”, especially for the Turks and Bulgarians, who are often presented negatively. State intervention in the writing and approval of textbooks is intense and changes in the books are often determined by the political circumstances and the reactions of public opinion, as was seen in the example of the book by M. Repoussi. Despite the improvements after 1990, the content continues to ignore the cultural dimensions of the Balkan peoples and remains oriented towards the military-political narrative.