We give an elementary proof of the fact that a pure-dimensional closed subvariety of a complex abelian variety has a signed intersection homology Euler characteristic. We also show that such subvarieties which, moreover, are local complete intersections, have a signed Euler-Poincare characteristic. Our arguments rely on the construction of circle-valued Morse functions on such spaces, and use in an essential way the stratified Morse theory of Goresky-MacPherson. Our approach also applies (with only minor modifications) for proving similar statements in the analytic context, i.e., for subvarieties of compact complex tori. Alternative proofs of our results can be given by using the general theory of perverse sheaves.

v2: results hold now also in the analytic context (see Remark 4.9); comments are welcome and greatly appreciated