Giannoulias, Draft Dodger

8/8/2019 Giannoulias, Draft Dodger

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25, Rigillis St, 10674 Athens, Greece, Tel.: +302107258353-4, [email protected]

_______________

Athens, September 30, 2010

Dear

RE: Legal Opinion regarding military service obligation in Greece

for males with dual U.S. Greek citizenship.

I have been instructed to give an opinion on the question whether a male

with dual U.S. Greek citizenship has a military service obligation while

living in Greece.

The questions where specified as follows:

1) If you are a dual U.S.-Greek citizen, do you have any military

service requirement to Greece while living in Greece?

2) Can you be a citizen of Greece born in the U.S. without applying to

be a citizen?

3) Was this military service requirement in effect from 1998-1999?

4) What are the allowable exceptions to this requirement?

5) Would this individual on these facts have been eligible for these

exceptions?

6) If this individual did not meet the exceptions and lived in Greece

for more than a year, are there other ways to get around the service

requirement?


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I assumed the following facts:

1) Individual is a male with dual U.S.-Greek citizenship. (His father

was born in Greece.)2) Individual was born in 1976

3) From 1998 to 1999 (after his 18th

birthday), he lived in Greece and

played professional basketball in Panionios B.C.

4) Individual has never served in the Greek military

Applicable Legislation

Article 46 of the Greek Constitution provides that Every Greek male

person capable of bearing arms is obliged to contribute to the defence of

the Fatherland as provided by law.

Art. 1. L.1763/88, as amended by L. 1911/90, which was in force in the

year 1998, provided that all men between the age of 20 and 50 (approx.)

must serve mandatory military service.

Article 43 of the Greek Constitution provides that All persons

possessing the qualifications for citizenship as specified by law are Greek

citizens.

Article 1 of the Greek Citizenship Code, as it was in force in the year

1998, provided that The child born by a male or female Greek person

acquires Greek citizenship from birth. Thus citizenship is determined by

having a Greek ancestor (Jus Sanguinis), regardless of the place of birth

or residence.

Article 713 L.1763/88, as it was in force in the year 1998, provided that

Induction into military service is postponed for the persons who have

the status of permanent residents abroad on the date on which the


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obligation for recruitment starts. Within the scope of the present law,

permanent residents abroad are those who fulfil the following conditions:

a) were born or settled and started to reside permanently abroad,before the 1

st

of January of the year on which they turned 11 years oldand their parents were residing abroad on the day of birth or settlement.

b) They reside permanently abroad until the day of defermentArticle 714cc L.1763/88, as it was in force in the year 1998, provided

that loss of permanent residence abroad status occurs in the following

situations:...

if the stay in Greece for more than six months in the same calendar

yearafter the 1st of January of the year on which they turned 11 yearsold.

On this legal basis, I am providing the following opinion in the form of

answers to each one of your specific questions.

Answer to question 1

All Greek men are required to serve. There is no exemption for Greek

men who hold dual citizenship (except for those born between the years

1945-1959). In principle, it is also irrelevant whether you live in Greece

or not. If you are a permanent resident abroad though, a deferment is

granted (see answer 4).


People born by a Greek father or mother are Greek citizens. If they want

to exercise their rights as citizens (e.g. stay in Greece), they might have to

go through a certain administrative procedure, which acknowledges

citizenship. It is worth noticing that basketball teams in EU are allowed to

have a very limited number of non-EU players. As a result, it is very

likely that the individual is actually registered in Greece.


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There was a military service obligation in the year 1998 for all Greeks

including those living abroad.


People under the permanent resident abroad status, can postpone service

indefinitely, unless they lose that status.


The individual referred to in the facts, is a Greek citizen since he has a

Greek father, so in principle he has to serve in the Greek armed forces.

Assuming that he settled in the States before the age of eleven and

resided there permanently, he is qualified as permanent resident abroad

in the sense of law.

Assuming that the Greek basketball championship starts in September

and finishes in May, he did not stay in Greece for more than six months

in the same calendar year. Thus he did not lose the permanent resident

abroad status and deferment is legal.

If he actually left Greece mid August, he probably had to enlist.


Assuming that the individual stayed in Greece for more than six months

in a single calendar year, it is difficult to imagine of legal reasons to get

around the service obligation. Generally, such reasons are illness, being a

student up to a certain age limit etc. In the mean time law has become less

strict, and this individual has regained permanent resident abroad status

after working abroad for seven consecutive years. Today, he has the right

to defer military obligation, unless he stayed in Greece for longer than six

months in one of the last seven calendar years.

Sincerely Yours

Panayotis Yatagantzidis

Giannoulias, Draft Dodger

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