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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
 Enviado - 29 septiembre 2006 : 23:11:29
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Greece and Bulgaria fail to comply on national minority rights says Catalan MEP
Florina/Lerin & Blagoevgrad/Gorna Dzumaja, Wednesday, 20 September 2006 by Georgios N. Papadakis http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2711&Itemid=0
Greece and Bulgaria are continuously failing to comply with international accords concerning human rights and protection of ethnic and linguistic minorities, while historic-based propaganda is used to justify the hostile attitude of both states towards their Macedonian minorities. These were the main conclusions of the European Free Alliance's, a European Parliament political party (EFA), fact-finding mission in the region held last week. It was led by the Catalan MEP and EFA Vice President , Bernat Joan i Mari, and the Partys co-director Guenther Dauwen.
In a press conference held in the city of Florina/Lerin after the European Free Alliance delegations meetings with Greek local authorities, Bernat Joan i Mari stressed that it is unacceptable and counter-productive to continue to deny the existence of the Macedonian people and their language and urged Greece to organize an open census allowing Macedonians to declare their ethnic, linguistic and cultural origin.
The Catalan MEP, who sits on the Culture Committee of the European Parliament and a sociolinguist by profession, rejected the Greek allegations that Macedonian is a not a distinct and different language. He concluded that now is the time to overcome the burdens intentionally raised by Greeces obsession with disputable historical facts and look towards the future based on the present situation.
The EFA representatives had the chance to witness how Greece deals with the issue of Macedonians living in the country in a meeting with high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and university professors in Thessaloniki/Solun.
Although the delegation was invited to visit Greece by local EFA affiliate party EFA-Rainbow, which campaigns for recognition of the Macedonian minority, the representatives of this party were expelled from the above-mentioned meeting because they did not have a personal invitation. It is considered by EFA Rainbow that it is part of the policy of the Greek state to avoid any kind of direct dialogue with Macedonians.
The fact finding mission of EFA continued in the Pirin region of Bulgaria, home to the majority of ethnic Macedonians. According to Guenther Dauwen the situation there resembles that in Greece, Bulgaria recognises no separate Macedonian nation or language and puts all sorts of obstacles in order to avoid electoral participation of Macedonian political parties. For example, Bulgaria changed the law for the formation of a legal political party. Now 5,000 signatures are required for the official application instead of 500 in the past.
OMO Ilinden Pirin, the organization for Macedonians in Bulgaria, and EFA observer member, is so far the only victim of the 5,000 quota policy, they also face hostile Bulgarian authorities and press. Stojan Georgiev, vice president of OMO Ilinden Pirin, told the delegation that after a request to host an event in the city of Blagoevgrad/Gorna Dzumaja, the mayor replied that they should go to Macedonia to do it.
According to OMO Ilinden Pirin the mainstream media often use defamatory statements when referring to the Macedonians in Bulgaria. EFA were told during the visit that there were reports that OMO Ilinden Pirin tried to bribeRoma and Turks in the city of Goce Delcev with 50 leva (24 euro) in order to collect the necessary amount of signatures for the registration of the party. Georgiev categorically rejected these allegations, pointing to the miserable financial situation of the party and its members and urged EFA to intervene so that the EU makes the recognition of the Macedonian minority conditional to Bulgarias EU accession.
Last Sunday in Istanbul, speaking to a conference organized by Turkish associations from western Thrace in Greece, Turkish PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused Greece of ignoring international treaties and not applying the commitments it undertook regarding the protection of minorities. He also urged the EU to take a closer look at member states that do not fulfil certain human rights criteria while at the same time being extremely critical to candidate countries over the same issues.
(Eurolang 2006)
Related links:
www.e-f-a.org
www.focus-fen.net (Bulgarian News Agency) www.maknews.com (Macedonian News Portal)
European Parliament Members Report on Macedonian Minority in Greece and Bulgaria http://florina.org/html/2006/greece_bulgaria_minority_rights.html
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in the European Parliament
PRESS RELEASE
Bernat Joan i Mari
14 September 2006
Catalan MEP in Greece/Macedonia visit
Catalan MEP Bernat Joan of the European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament and party co-director Gënther Dauwen have highlighted the heavy burden of history on the peaceful co-existence of Greek and Macedonian speakers during a visit to the region. They met with national, regional and local representatives of the Greek state and with representatives of the Rainbow party, who represent the Macedonian minority in Greece.
The focus of the visit to Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria is the linguistic rights of Macedonian speakers who live outside of the Republic of Macedonia..
According to Greek state officials with whom the delegation met, there is no such thing as a Macedonian language in Greece, there are no Macedonians, the Macedonian alphabet is not used and that theres only one minority in Greece namely the Muslim minority. The representatives of the Rainbow-Vinozitho party who represent the Macedonians in Greece were not allowed to participate in this meeting.
The local representatives of the communalities around Florina-Lerin, the Prefect of Florina-Lerin and an MP of the Florina-Lerin region did accept to speak with the EFA delegation and its Greek Rainbow partner. Nevertheless all toed the line laid down by Athens and limited their comments to denying the existence of Macedonians in Greece.
Bernat Joan i Mar+ MEP, as a sociolinguist, commented:
It is unacceptable and counter productive to deny the existence of the Macedonian people and the language which they speak. We challenge the Greek authorities in Athens to organise a census in which all citizens can declare openly the language and culture to which they relate. Following this census the Government should do more to respect the linguistic rights of these Greek state citizens who speak the Macedonian language.
Co-director of the European Political party Gënther Dauwen stated:
EFA supports the Rainbow organisation's plans to reprint the primary school book in the Macedonian language and alphabet that the Greek state officially issued in 1925. This official book can be an instrument in founding a bilingual education system in the regions of northern Greece where the Macedonian language is spoken.
EFA encourages the Greek government to recognise genuine diversity and respect the rights of minorities according to European values.
For more information:
Headquarters of EFA: info@e-f-a.org / Tel: +32 (0)25133476 / 4851.
---------------------------
Home:
Balkan Human Rights Web Pages: http://www.greekhelsinki.gr The Balkan Human Rights List:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr/messages/
The Greek Human Rights List:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greekhr/messages/
Center of Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe: http://www.cedime.net
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Editado por - alazaro a las 03 abril 2007 13:12:01 |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 22 noviembre 2006 : 23:42:40
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 24 diciembre 2006 : 23:59:55
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PARLIAMENT TO ADOPT DECLARATION ON MACEDONIAN COMMUNITY'S RIGHTS IN BULGARIA?
The European Council has postponed the decision on the political party of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria "OMO Ilinden Pirin". Acting on request tabled by Bulgaria, the Committee of Ministers has postponed the debate on the decision of the authorities in Bulgaria not to register "OMO Ilinden Pirin" as a legitimate political party for a week, Channel 5 TV said.
"The police in Bulgaria have been pressuring members of "OMO Ilinden Pirin" to quit the party in order to reduce the party membership below 5.000, thus reducing the necessary limit of 5.000 members for registering the party, which now has over 5.800 members. The police have been taking in "OMO Ilinden Pirin" members for questioning, with intentions to inform them of the dangers of being a member of the party, "OMO Ilinden Pirin" representatives told Channel 5 TV.
Authorities in Macedonia said they would insist that Bulgaria registers "OMO Ilinden Pirin" as a legitimate political party. DOM's President Liljana Popovska has started lobbying Parliament to adopt a declaration for registering the party and for recognition of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. VMRO-DPMNE MPs pledged to send letters with the same demands to all European institutions, which was backed by the opposition SDSM and DUI, Channel 5 TV said.
The Macedonian community in Bulgaria was left without a political party in 1999, when the authorities in Bulgaria declared "OMO Ilinden Pirin" as a separatist party. The Court in Strasburg recently ruled in favor of "OMO Ilinden Pirin". The authorities in Bulgaria said they complied with the court ruling and paid the fine for refusing to register "OMO Ilinden Pirin".
(Source: MACEDONIAN INFORMATION AND LIAISON SERVICE - MILS. / MILS News, Skopje, December 07, 2006.) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 13 enero 2007 : 18:34:07
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The Communist Party of Greece and the Macedonian National Problem (1918 - 1940)
by Ireneusz Adam Slupkov
El senyor Slupkov ha tingut l'amabilitat de fer-nos arribar un exemplar del seu llibre, que anunciàvem dins d'aquest mateix tema el passat 22 de novembre. Li agraïm l'atenció i us comuniquem que l'exemplar és a disposició de qui vulgui llegir-lo.
El señor Slupkov ha tenido la amabilidad de hacernos llegar un ejemplar de su libro, que anunciábamos dentro de este mismo tema el pasado 22 de noviembre. Le agradecemos su atención y os anunciamos que el ejemplar está a disposición de quien desee leerlo.
Thank you very much, Mr. Slupkov! |
Editado por - alazaro a las 14 enero 2007 13:47:50 |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 03 abril 2007 : 00:11:26
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The Macedonians, the Greeks, and the Communists
By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
The Balkan peninsula has long been considered as Europe’s tinderbox; and with good reason! With so many languages, ethnic groups (or peoples), and religious systems, the Balkans lived their most peaceful period of their millennia long history during the Ottoman rule that last lasted between 400 and 600 years (per different regions). As natural continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Sublime Gate ensured peace and tolerance to a great number of peoples at a time of merciless and inhuman wars in the multi-divided and constantly disputed territories of the defunct Western Empire. The Ottoman Empire’s scholarly, scientific and artistic superiority over the various state forms of Western Europe was undisputed until the beginning of the 17th century. However, the rise to preponderance of a bogus-Islamic, theological – ideological sect, namely the Hanbalite followers of Ibn Taimiya and his obscurantist and barbaric system, led the Ottoman Empire to collapse and the Islamic Civilization to definite and irreversible extinction. From 1600 to 1800 the Ottoman Empire became the Sick Man of Europe, and a century later it died out. The parallel rise of the Western European nationalist and colonialist states exposed the Balkan peoples to hatred, discord, local conflicts and regional wars that have not ended so far.
Macedonia
If the Balkans have been identified as home a great number of well diversified peoples and cultures, their best miniature is by definition Macedonia; at this point we use the name as geographical term encompassing preset territories of the Republic of Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria. Macedonia was for millennia long inhabited by the Macedonians, an ancient people – markedly different than the surrounding Ancient Thracians, Illyrians, Pelasgians, Phrygians, Hittites, and Greeks.
The best revelator of the dramatic differences that separated the Macedonians from the Greeks in as late periods as the reigns of Philip and Alexander II of Macedonia are Demosthenes and a pleiad of orators, philosophers and illustrious statesmen, who did not accept Alexander II as possible leader – let alone King or Emperor – of the Greeks.
There are many reasons for this, and one must bear in mind that the Ancient Greeks were never a people, let alone country! The Achaeans, the Ionians, and the Aeolians had always difficulties either to understand one another (so different their respective languages were) or to merge into one country. The Dorians have been considered as alien element, and the struggle of the three former peoples against the earlier substrate of the Pelasgians has been illustrated from epics to drama. To some of these peoples the Semitic Phoenicians were apparently closer, and we know very well that without the Phoenician colonies in the Aegean Sea and the Phoenician infiltration in Athens, there would never be a sort of democratic society in Attica; it was all imported. Others were certainly closer to the Hittites, particularly the earliest element, the Achaeans. Thanks to otherwise prohibited Hittite texts, we know that the Ahhijawa (Achaean) crown prince at (probably) Mycenae spent time with his relatives and friends at Hattushas, the capital of the Hittite Empire, in the east of Ankara, Turkey. The Aeolians seem to have been closer to the Lydians at the westernmost confines of today’s Turkey. All this serves as example of the falsification of the Ancient History of the Balkans at the hands of colonial, mainly French and English, academic compilers whose works were to be imitated by German, Italian and Russian scholarly competitors, who however never questioned the nature of the colonial fabrication.
Greece
So diverse and inimical to one another the ancient Greek states have been that we can hardly use one appellation to regroup them. The only purpose of forging such a term – that existed for the Ancient Romans as geographical term only – was the modern European colonial powers’ need for academic, scientific, cultural, educational, political and economic control of vast areas they had planned to subdue.
The false model did not represent local knowledge of past, and did not reflect local ideas of History, local values and local cultures. It was exported before the arrival of the military; under pretext of interest for the past, a preconceived, false, vicious and malignantly inhuman version of History was venomously diffused for decades before the arrival of the political agents and the naval forces. Ultimately, this false model engulfed these colonial powers to numerous wars of which they have been victims as well.
How could a version of History that idealizes a ‘Civil War’ (it was a civil war but was presented as such; in Ancient Greek texts it was simply called through geographical terms, Peloponnesiakos polemos, War of / around Peloponnesus) can possibly motivate positively and bring forth anything good for those upon whom it is imposed?
The various Ancient Greek peoples had managed to accept a Supreme Religious and Spiritual Authority: the Oracle at Delphes. When the Macedonians accepted the Achaemenidian Iranian supremacy, the Oracle given to representatives of various Greek states at Delphes was to ultimately accept the rule of Persepolis, a vast universalist and tolerant empire that regrouped all lands between India and Italy. There was no difference East – West according to the supreme knowledge of the Oracle Wise Priests and Elders! Unfortunately, the alien element, the Dorian Spartans, convinced the rest to apostasy. For the blasphemous and perverse needs of this political attitude, a former ‘journalist’ was hired to write anti-imperial pamphlets that became sort of unsolicited, bogus-History, Herodotus. For the imperial needs of modern European colonialists, the Carian (born at Halicarnassus, Caria) – not Greek – impostor became ‘Father of History’!
Yet, colonial Assyriologists and Egyptologists deciphered and published in modern translations thousands of historical texts, Great Chronicles and Annals of extremely sophisticated background that antedate the Carian impostor Herodotus by more than 2000 years, either written in Egyptian Hieroglyphics or engraved in Sumerian, Assyrian-Babylonian Cuneiform. We should not forget that the Ancient Elamites, the Hurrians, the Hatti, the Hittites and the Cannanites of Ugarit had also their own great historical texts, antedating Herodotus by centuries and/or millennia; all this is well known to the present, disreputable, academic class of postcolonial European academia who keep shamelessly diffusing the same paranoid and racist bogus-historical forgery.
Why they selected the Carian impostor Herodotus as ‘Father of their History’? Simply, because they wished to create an arbitrary, false, absolutely Manichaean, division of the World into East and West, whereby the Lights would belong to the latter (i.e. themselves) and the Darkness would emanate from the East.
How resolutely the ancient Macedonians rejected the pernicious followers of the Herodotus blasphemy, we attest when we read all the inscriptions engraved at Alexander’s request: “Alexander and the Greeks, except the Lacedaemonians”, the latter being an ordinary appellation of the Dorian Spartans.
The racist academia of Europe seem to insolently forget that, if Athens were possibly a model, Alexander would not opt for Babylon as his Capital.
Persisting on the racist fabrication, bogus-historians of the European universities camouflage the historical reality that Pharaoh Ptolemy II of Macedonian descent had as supreme political model and considered as ideal statesman Amenhotep son of Hapou, a high administrator of the times of Amenhotep III, who lived more than 1100 years before the times of Ptolemy II.
Cleisthenes and Alkiviades either could not be held as ideal statesmen or, as Greek, they meant nothing to a Macedonian like Ptolemy II.
(AMERICAN CHRONICLE, March 28, 2007. - http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=22926) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 03 abril 2007 : 13:19:30
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The Macedonian Digest
Sun Apr 1, 2007 5:45 am (PST)
"From the readers for the readers"
Editor's Notes
Grkomani, Bulgaromani and Serbomani are a result of the ethnic solution for Macedonia by the 3 invading forces. We cannot blame these individuals personally as they themselves are victims. It is time for us to stop using this classification for ourselves as that only helps the cause of foreign interests over Macedonia.
Bosko
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 03 abril 2007 : 13:26:41
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"Invest in Macedonia" published in "To Vima"
Makfax
Athens, 18:42
The constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia appeared for the first time in an influential Greek newspaper, albeit in a single daily edition.
The respectable daily paper "To Vima" published an add paid by the Macedonian Government in the framework of the campaign "Invest in Macedonia". The add was published in English language, and the country's name read Republic of Macedonia.
The high-circulation "Elefterotypia" commented that the add caused numerous complaints and negative reactions among the readers.
"To Vima" was quick to remove the add and ran an apology in today's edition, assuring the readers that mistakes like this one won't happen again.
The Greek Government commented nothing, except that publication of the advertisement concerned nobody but the newspaper that ran it.
(MAKFAX, Independent News Agency, Skopje. - http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/agencija/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=55144&NrIssue=272&NrSection=20) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 03 abril 2007 : 13:31:57
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Macedonians claim election victory in Mala Prespa
MakfaxOnline
Pustec, 19.02.2007 - 11:32
Macedonian Alliance for European Future (PMAEI), a party founded by Macedonians in Albania, said it won the mayoral vote in Mala Prespa, Albania, Makfax correspondent said.
PMAEI's Political Secretary Kimet Fetahu told Makfax news agency the party's candidate Edmond Temelko has garnered majority votes in the municipality of Mala Prespa, in the course of Sunday's local elections in Albania.
Fetahu said PMAEI's candidate for mayor won majority votes and the party won five seats in the Council of the Municipality of Mala Prespa, i.e. 35 percent of the total number of Council members.
Fetahu added there was no immediate word on the outcome of mayoral vote in other municipalities, as the count began late on Sunday.
As regards the voting process, Fetahu said the elections were conducted in calm atmosphere.
(http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/printer.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=55414&NrIssue=275&NrSection=20) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 03 abril 2007 : 14:21:09
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 08 abril 2007 : 22:28:01
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Answer to "The Macedonians, the Greeks, and the Communists" post above.
Macedonians had always Greek names, toponyms, ways, heroes, gods, dialect and spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World. If any modern white people do the same things we Greeks will accept them as Macedonian, that is Greeks.
Blood and dna are not related to ethnicity at least within a race(color). We Greeks do know this since the times of Herodotus and Issocrates. If you think that we are wrong then you might let us educate your chilfren: We promise that we will not change their blood.
We don't care about what Greeks were before being Greek, but for historic reasons.
Herodotus was not Greek because he was from Caria? Give us a brake, will you ??!!
Yes, Peloponnesian war was a civil war, that is between Greeks. Thudcydides knew pretty well: "#7952;#958;#945;#957;#941;#963;#964;#951; #7940;#960;#945;#957; #964;#8056; #7961;#955;#955;#951;#957;#953;#954;#972;#957;" (e3anestê apan to ellênikon) wrote he.
Alexander's model wasn't Athens but older Greeks: Hercules, Achilles. You know, Macedonians were living in the era of Homer when southern Greeks read Aeschylus, Euripides, Thucydides... Anyway, Macedonians called Euripides to teach them the new Greek Civilization in their own language: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella_katadesmos
Regas called all peoples around to hellenize themselves: to become Graikoi. He knew where the Light comes from.
Ottoman occupation was a yoke for all Balkans and Turks themselves. We Greeks were about 10,000,000 people before Ottomans but about 5,000,000 after Ottoman collapse. Byzantine Empire was the Centrer of the World and Ottoman Empire was the centre of the Dark.
Demosthenes said what he said, during Macedonian+Thessalian versus Athenian+Theban conflict about Greece's domination. It was just another civil war. Read more here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/415923/message/1122318428
Greek Communist Party recognized for a while a Macedonian ethnic identity under presure of Comintern and dictator Stalin. Now, in the times of freedom it knows and claims: Macedonians have always been Greeks.
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 09 abril 2007 : 13:45:14
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The Anti-Macedonian Hysteria of the Neo-Nazi Greeks
By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
8.4.2007
The recently published article on the historical differences between Macedonia and Greece generated great debates; their utility in revealing the Neo-Nazi Greeks and their approach to history falsification that can generate wars and wars is exemplary. This calls for a study through the lines of a text, and for its refutation!
The hysteria by which marginal elements of the Greek Neo-Nazi extreme Rights attempt to create an imaginative, racist and absolutely false 'history' is truly unmatched.
Truths publicly exposed in the article (The Macedonians, the Greeks, and the Communists) drew attention allover the world, and the text was republished in various fora (http://www.politicsforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=74493 and http://www.casadelest.org/foro/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=470). I was flooded with congratulations and at the same time I was exposed to attacks and even threats.
These truths certainly disturbed the Neo-Nazi Greeks, who published a sort of 'answer': http://www.network54.com/Forum/448385/message/1175960313/.
The nickname of the author consists in a comical appellation 'Istor' (Ancient Greek for 'narrator of History' or 'person knowledgeable in History') that reveals how ('anistoretoi') irrelevant of History they are!
Regarding the chaotic differences, the chasm that separated the Macedonians from the Greeks in the Antiquity, the world's academia, intellectuals and all people of good sense will always refer to Demosthenes, an original source, and not to the Neo-Nazi Greeks, who judged upon their total ignorance, proved to be worse than the 1930s' Nazist and Fascist falsifiers of History.
For an insightful understanding of the Neo-Nazi Greeks’ approach to History and of what this ‘approach’ can signify, I re-publish here this ‘answer’ integrally:
Answer - Refutation of the article
Macedonians had always Greek names, toponyms, ways, heroes, gods, dialect and spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World.
If any modern white people do the same things we Greeks will accept them as Macedonian, that is Greeks.
Blood and dna are not related to ethnicity at least within a race(color). We Greeks do know this since the times of Herodotus and Issocrates. If you think that we are wrong then you might let us educate your children: We promise that we will not change their blood.
We don't care about what Greeks were before being Greek, but for historic reasons.
Herodotus was not Greek because he was from Caria? Give you a brake, sir!
Yes, Peloponnesian war was a civil war, that is between Greeks. Thudcydides knew pretty well: ……. (apan to ellênikon) wrote he.
Alexander's model wasn;t Athens but older Greeks: Hercules, Achilles. You know, Macedonians were living in the era of Home when southern Greeks were reading Aeschylus, Euripides, Thucydides... Anyway, they called Euripides to teach them the new Greek Civilization in their own language: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella_katadesmos
Regas called all peoples around to hellenize themselves: to become Graikoi. He knew where the Light comes from.
Ottoman occupation was a yoke for all Balkans and Turks themselves. We Greeks were about 10,000,000 people before Ottoamns and about 5,000,000 after them. We were the leading civilization of the World and now we area marginal one.
Demosthenes said what he said, during Macedonian+Thessalian versus Athenian-Theban conflice about Greece's domination. It was just another civil war. Read more here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/415923/message/1122318428
Greek Communist Party recognized for a while a Macedonian ethnic identity under presure of Comintern and dicator Stalin. Now, in the times of freedom they knew: Macedonians have always been Greeks.
Signed by: Istor Macedonian, therefore Greek
Other reactions and personal attacks
To better demonstrate the ignorance, the extremism, and the necrolatrous chauvinism of the Neo-Nazi Greeks, who consist in the worst obstacle to Modern Greece's transformation to a normal, democratic and European society, we re-publish here another ‘answer’ and personal attack, empty of historical contents but complete in highlighting Neo-Nazi totalitarian mentality.
The answer is published integrally, and the numbers in-between the text’s words refer to my comments at the end.
"Dr Muhammad
I know you don’t need emails like these and perhaps do not appreciate them either.1
Nevertheless, I do feel like letting you know that I was shocked and disgusted to read your autobiography! 2 Always bearing in mind and respecting your years of research and studying the world and history, I am appalled to see how you have developed a genuine hatred towards your country of origin. 3 I am not intending to get into an argument with you over your views of the world; 4 I only believe that you should completely change your surname. 5
You are setting a bad example 6 for a country that is so tiny but has nevertheless achieved so much over the centuries. 7 You are insulting my pride of being Greek 8 and I have various other doubts over the quality of your research and findings. 9
Signed by: Ioannis Kallinikos" 10
Comments
1. On the contrary, I need emails 'like these' because I want to know the quality (or lack thereof) of my uninvited interlocutors. The character of those supporting an opposite idea pertains to the character of the opposite idea itself. I am not bothered by insults of those who disagree with me! They highlight how correct I am. The malignant character of a supporter of an idea I reject clearly reveals how wrong that idea is. Thank you for your mail!
2. 'Disgusted to read an auto-biography': another proof of the personal approach. You contradict yourself, speaking about my years of research in the lines; you cannot be disgusted by what you find as a positive element! You are disgusted by my ideas, eventually, but you are afraid to confess it! Too bad!
3. You say I "have developed a genuine hatred towards your country of origin", meaning Greece; Greece is my country of birth; I am Greek citizen. Country of your origin is the country your parents and grandparents were born in; they were all born in Turkey. I have no hatred towards either countries.
If my historical analysis leads to conclusions that displease the political establishment of this or that country, this is their problem, not mine. Countries are not an ideal, the Truth is an ideal. If for the sake of Truth I say 'my country did something wrong', this is not an act of Hatred, but Love.
And for humans, there is no Love superior to the Love of the Truth!
A country, any country, has no value in front of the Truth.
A country is a trash; any country is a trash, valueless, precarious, and nefarious.
The Germans had the courage to admit their wrongdoings; I suggest it is high time that the Greeks do so now!
4. Of course, you don't discuss my ideas, because even in the Academy of Athens, and in the Greek universities they are not able to discuss them, as they service a pre-conceived bogus-historical dogma that traumatically deforms the World History for the pathetic needs of the Greek necro-latrous nationalism.
5. We changed our family name already; long ago! When my paternal grandfather reached Greece, in the early 30s, he was asked to translate the family name Gozubuyukoglu to Megalommatis, which as the original Turkish means - to help English readership - 'the person with big eyes'. I asked the Greek Ministry to change again my family name (and turn it to Gozubuyukoglu) in 1993, but they denied. Do you have anything to suggest in this regard?
6. Quite contrarily, I believe I set a very good example for citizens allover the world to prefer Truth to the filthy deeds of their countries - whatever the country might be.
7. I have nothing again the present state of Greece; believe me! You say that Greece "has nevertheless achieved so much"; you may be right, but I would say that Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea have achieved much more. You should take them as example for further improvement.
8. This is precisely the point; there cannot be such a thing as "pride of being Greek" or French, British, Turkish, Russian, etc. It is a perverted false concept on which every more perverse idea, such as nationalism, chauvinism, etc. can be based. This is the very wrong beginning; there can be only a "pride of being True". This is the only good sense of patriotism, and the Truth is the only country that can exist on Earth.
9. Just having doubts, and you suggest someone to ...change his name! That is why I am sure that if you were 100% sure of your falsehood, you would expel one (1) million people from your country, as this population would not fit your paranoid, nationalistic paroxysm.
10. Let me ask you, in the end, why you do not change your probably Slavic origin name and turn it again to Kallinikov? It would sound more true.
I am sure you know that, as early as 1600 or 1700, there was not a single Greek family in the Ionian Sea, in the Balkans, in the Aegean Sea, in Anatolia, in Pontus or in Istanbul to have such a name: 'Kallinikos' is not a genuine, historical Greek name (like Komnenos, etc). It is a modern construction.
Your great, great, grandfather may even have been a Filipino!
(Buzzle.com - http://www.buzzle.com/articles/anti-macedonian-hysteria-neo-nazi-greeks.html) |
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 09 abril 2007 : 15:34:35
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quote:| Regarding the chaotic differences, the chasm that separated the Macedonians from the Greeks in the Antiquity, the world's academia, intellectuals and all people of good sense will always refer to Demosthenes, an original source, and not to the Neo-Nazi Greeks, who judged upon their total ignorance, proved to be worse than the 1930s' Nazist and Fascist falsifiers of History. |
Try me ! I assure you that I am "totaly igmoramus" !!
Anywhere I am free to talk to you!
But I think you don't deserve publication your articles have, by our comments.
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 13 abril 2007 : 22:55:28
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(Enviat per Irineusz Slupkov / Enviado por Irineusz Slupkov)
Apr 10, 2007
@Doomhammer
I call Macedonians the Greeks from Macedonia. They all know pretty well that Macedonians had always Greek names, toponyms, ways, heroes, gods, dialect and spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World.
Now, you obviously refer to the SlavoSkopians. The last decade, we Greeks make strong efforts to let them know the truth. Many of them, especially those involved in the name issue conflict and those who have Internet acces, that is all their leaders, do know that pretty well either. But, they deny to inform simple SlavoSkopian people ( who btw feel wondered by Greek reaction) and many of them deny to accept that truth. The deny even the fact that ALL SlavoSkopian heroes clearly stated thatthey were Bulgarian: http://www.network54.com/Forum/415923/message/1126215175 You see, it's really hard for them to accept that they were mentally raped by history so brutally.
But we have the remedy, if they want to talk to us.
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek
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Ireneusz
PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:38 pm
Hello to everybody in this forum. My name is Ireneusz. I am the author and publisher of a book "The Communist Party of Greece and the Macedonian national problem 1918-1940".
This reply regards the question of Doomhammer and the reply of Istor.
To say that all the Macedonianans living in Greece feel themselves as Greeks is too arbitrarly. First we should divide the Macedonians on ethnic Macedonians who lived on Greek Macedonia territory for ages and geographic Macedonians who started to live in Greek Macedonia since 1920 after the population exchange. These people were Greek, Armenian and Turkish speaking Christians and not necessarily felt Greek. The process of Grecization started after their settlement. The ethnic Macedonians who were Muslims were settled in Turkey (40.000 people) and Christian Macedonians were forced to leave Greece and settle in Bulgaria (80.000 people). The Macedonians who remained in Greece were brutally forced to change their national feelings. The worst times were under the Metaxas regime and the Black Colonels. That resulted that the Macedonians started to join the Communist Party of Greece which in the first stage (1918-1924) accepted the existance of other minorities but not Macedonia then in the years 1924-31/35 started to accept the creation of the independent Macedonian state and the third stage 1935-1940 where the CPG accepted the Macedonian nation but not the independent state. The reason the CPG as the whole of Communist parties started to prepare for the WW II.
A little history was neccesary. The Macedonians felt their distinct nationhood in the Antiquity and in the XX century and now. Everyone interested should visit the official web site of the Vinozhito Party which represents the Macedonians of Greece www.florina.org You will find there lots of documents showing you all their activities. On the first site you will find downloadable version of the primer "Abecedar" which was printed for the Macedonian children by the Greek government in 1925 in Athens. The articles in it are in Greek, Macedonian and English so everyone of you will learn about the history of the Macedonian people in the Greek democracy since 1925 till the present times. Especially the article by Mr. Triaridhis should find your interest. Everyone of you can visit and download the second part of my book where you will find an outline of the history of the Macedonian people in Greece from the beginning of the XX century till May 15, 2006. Read especially the Appendix VI where you will lear how the Greek state treated their Greek citizens and what kind of laws were issued against them showing and confirming that they are "pure Greeks". In the Appendix V you will lear how open and truly democratic Greek ambasadors participating in the OSCE Conferences in Warsaw are and what Pavle Filipov-Voskopoulos says about the situation in Greece regarding all minorities and in the Appendices I and II you will learn why the Macedonians formerly Greek citizens participans in the Civil War (1946-1949) cannot return home - because they are not "Greeks by origin (Ellines to ghenos). The web site is http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/slupkov/slupkov.html
If you would be interested in buying my book which for the first time presents the original Greek documents of the CPG regarding the Macedonian national problem 1918-1940 you will find my mail on that site.
I hope I shed a bit light on the Macedonian problem in Greece. By the way Professor Megalommatis was right about the name Kallinikos it is Macedonian Kalinchev or Kalinikov then transformed into Greek like all toponyms, personal names, churches after 1920. If you want to know more on www.florina.org in books you will find a book translated into Modern Greek Istoria Tis Herzonisou Tou Moria Kata To Mesaiona by Jacob Philip Fallmerayer where he presents evidence that the whole Greek territory possessed Slavic or Macedonia names or toponyms.
Good luck!
Ireneusz
(From: PoliticsForum.org - http://www.politicsforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1172389#1172389) |
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 13 abril 2007 : 23:21:47
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Macedonian is a Greek from Macedonia. This means that all non Greek peoples living in Macedonia are Macedonian ONLY geographically. I say this becase Macedonian is whoever is proud of that campaign that Macedonians did to spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World. Without that campaign, this Greco-SlavoSkopian conflict wouldn't exist today.
Whoever calls Pella-Katadesmos' language as Macedonian and then calls SlavoSkopian language as Macedonian either, is at least IGNORAMUS. The Macedonian name of the city is Thessaloniki, not Solun!
Those Slavic people who felt no Greeks in Macedonia, are not Macedonians. They are ashamed of ANYTHING Macedonian! They even deny learning the truth about Macedonia, because anything Macedonian is Greek.
There is no name "Macedonian" in that abecedar. How does this "Macedonian" abecedar call Thessaloniki? Solun, maybe?
We Greeks have no problem with 30,000 Slavic speaking lost souls in Macedonia BUT for the name they attempt to name themselves. How could we call them Macedonian while ALL World, including us, the last 3000 years referred to a truly Greek tribe by that term?
Kallinikos a Slavic name? Haha! Give me a break will, you? Have you seen the sites above? Would prof. Megalommatis answer you about this, please?
Read how Voskopoulos and company do manipulate SlavoSkopians here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/407998/message/1176220058
Blood and DNA are not related to ethnicity. If you think I am wrong, let us Greeks controlling SlavoSkopian education system. We will not change their blood. Ethnicity is pride and consciousness proven by some actions: Macedonians had always Greek names, toponyms, ways, heroes, gods, dialect and spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World. If any other white people do the same things we Greeks will accept them as Macedonians. Alexander had no dna tests to test macedonianess of his soldiers. And of course he didn't measure their noses or face-ratios to accept them as Macedonian.
Yes, SlavoSkopians are not racially related to Greeks (and thus to Macedonians).
"Temnitsa" If the presence of some Slavic toponym in Greece proves the presence of Slavs here (ALL AFTER 6TH c!) then WHAT DOES THE PRESENCE OF ALL THOSE GREEK TOPONYMS IN MACEDONIA PROVE?
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 16 abril 2007 : 23:07:12
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British nod to FYROM irks Athens
LONDON GREEK RADIO (LGR)
Kathimerini - Saturday 14th of April 2007
A decision by the British embassy in Skopje to refer to the “Republic of Macedonia” in official invitations for an embassy function taking place today in the resort of Ohrid has displeased Athens, sources told Kathimerini yesterday.
According to the sources, Britain’s Foreign Office has decided to refer to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as the “Republic of Macedonia” despite Greek objections.
Britain is just one of several European Union states to have adopted this tactic recently. A few days ago, Luxembourg signed a contract for the protection of its investments with the “Republic of Macedonia.” Poland’s parliament has officially recognized the Balkan state by the latter name. As too have Bulgarian and Romanian authorities. A total of 114 countries, including the USA, China and Russia, have recognized FYROM as ”Macedonia” to date.
Greece has strenuously opposed FYROM’s insistence on being known as “Macedonia” as there is a northern Greek province of that name and Athens fears the move could set a precedent for territorial claims.
(http://www.lgr.co.uk/news/british/6575/british-nod-to-fyrom-irks-athens/)
Informació facilitada per Risto Stefov / Información facilitrada por Risto Stefov. |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 18 abril 2007 : 22:59:10
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EUROPEAN FREE ALLIANCE – RAINBOW
POLITICAL PARTY OF THE MACEDONIAN MINORITY IN GREECE
Member of the European Free Alliance – European Political Party (EFA- EPP)
Member of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN)
ST. DRAGOUMI 11 TK. 53100 P.O 51 TEL/FAX 0030 23850 46548
http://www.florina.org E-mail: rainbow@florina.org
Press Release
Florina/Lerin 18/04/2007
Motion for a resolution in the Council of Europe regarding the status of the Macedonian ethnic minority in Greece.
On 17 April in the frame of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe took place a proposal for a resolution* regarding the status of the Macedonian ethic minority in Greece//
The motion was signed by fifteen deputies of the Council of Europe after an initiative of Rainbow party, a delegation of which attends the works of the General Assembly which takes place these days in Strasburg.
Rainbow party “passed” the below motion for a resolution in collaboration with European Free Alliance – European Political Party (EFA – EPP) and Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) in which Rainbow party is full member.
The Press Office
*Please read below the motion for the resolution.
http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc07/EDOC11249.htm
Parliamentary Assembly
Doc. 11249
17 April 2007
Plight of the ethnic Macedonian national minority of northern Greece
Motion for a resolution presented by Mr. Jurgens and others
This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it
1. - The undersigned are deeply concerned about the high number of sustained human rights violations against the Macedonian ethnic and linguistic minority of northern Greece.
2. - The Greek state refuses to recognise the existence of a Macedonian ethnic or linguistic minority within its borders. Government authorities have and continue to systematically exclude ethnic Macedonians from the political process, refusing even to acknowledge correspondence from the political representatives of the minority.
3. - Despite the existence of a Macedonian speaking population in northern Greece the Macedonian language is not recognised by the Greek state and thus members the Macedonian speaking minority do not enjoy the right to learn the Macedonian language within the framework of the Greek education system.
4. - In 1990, a group of citizens decided to form a non-profit-making association called the “Home of Macedonian Culture” in the town of Florina/Lerin. However Greek courts rejected the application. After exhausting all domestic remedies, the case was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. In 1998, the court ruled on the matter and unanimously found that there was a violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (see Sidiropoulos and Others vs. Greece, ECtHR, 57/1997/841/8107). Deplorably however, almost ten years following this decision the “Home of Macedonian Culture” remains unregistered. Subsequent applications to register the association have been also been rejected by Greek courts.
5. - During the Civil War in Greece (1946-1949) thousands of Greek citizens fled the country. Following the end of the war, all those who left Greece during this period were stripped of their Greek citizenship and property. In 1982 and 1985, the Greek government passed laws which restores citizenship and property rights to such individuals provided that they are “Greeks by genus”. Thus ethnic Macedonians and others were deliberately excluded. These laws are still in force today.
6. - We suggest that the Legal Committee is required to make a Report of the cases of human rights violations against the Macedonian ethnic and linguistic minority of northern Greece during which the opportunity is provided for a number of representatives of this minority to bear witness in a hearing.
7. - Greece has refused to ratify the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Minority Languages. However the undersigned note the obligations of Greece are not only those in the various conventions of the Council of Europe to which it is a party, but also include various Conventions and Covenants of the United Nations and a number of legally binding texts of the OSCE.
Signed (1):
JURGENS Erik, Netherlands, SOC
ALMÁSSY Kornél, Hungary, EPP/CD
BOUSAKLA Mimount, Belgium, SOC
CILEVICS Boriss, Latvia, SOC
ÉKES József, Hungary, EPP/CD
GROSS Andreas, Switzerland, SOC
HAJIYEV Sabir, Azerbaijan, SOC
KELEMEN András, Hungary, EPP/CD
KOZMA József, Hungary, SOC
LAMBERT, Geert, Belgium, SOC
LINDBLAD, Göran, Sweden, EPP/CD
Lord RUSSELL-JOHNSTON, United Kingdom, ALDE
POPESCU, Ivan, Ukraine, SOC
SZABÓ, Zoltán, Hungary, SOC
Van den BRANDE Luc, Belgium, EPP/CD
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(1)
SOC: Socialist Group
EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
ALDE: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
EDG: European Democratic Group
UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
NR: not registered in a group
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 20 abril 2007 : 23:58:01
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Answer to Doc. 11249 published at 17 April 2007 entitled “Plight of the ethnic Macedonian national minority of northern Greece” published here: http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc07/EDOC11249.htm
Dear distinguished members of COE Parliament Assembly.
1. Macedonians are not a linguistic or ethnic minority in Greece. Since the times of Karanos, Philippos, Alexandros and other Macedonian famous Kings we Macedonians are Greek and very proud of our Greekness. We had always Greek names, toponyms, ways, heroes, gods, dialect and we did spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World, OUR Language and Civilization. We have no problem within Greek state. Macedonia, Greece is full of Macedonian houses, schools, groups, folklores, unions, …. We have a “Macedonian Studies Association” in Thessaloniki, whose Library is the most reach on Macedonian matters on earth.
2. But, apparently you don’t refer to us when you say “Macedonian”. You refer to the SlavoSkopian “minority” in Greece. Greece and Greeks have no problem with their presence in Greece. They are free to speak, write, learn and teach their language and sing their songs. The problem begins when they ask Greek state to make any official reference to that language. They ask to call it Macedonian. But the last 3000 years, Macedonian is a Greek dialect. The last 3000 years we call Macedonian the language of ancient and modern Macedonians which has always been a Greek dialect. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella_katadesmos http://www.chs.harvard.edu/_/File/_/posidippus8.pdf ). By doing so, you violate brutally our Macedonian identity. As long as SlavoSkopian minority in Greece asks to learn Macedonian this is exactly what Greece will grant them. Greece offers them lessons of the known North-Western Greek dialect called Macedonian. If they want something else they shall ask it by name. How about Novomacedonian or Velikmacdeonian? How do you call the Language of ancient Macedonians in your own countries? Do you teach your pupils that it was a Greek dialect? What is the Macedonian word for Thessaloniki?
3. How could we allow them call it Macedonian? How could we allow them call their unions as “Macedonian”? Haw could we allow them call their state as Macedonian? Would any German allow any Slavic state be called Bavaria?
Those SlavoSkopian people don’t speak Macedonian. We Macedonians called our capital as Thessaloniki which means victory over Thessalians; they call it Solun. They are not proud of that campaign that Macedonians did to spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World. Without that campaign Macedonian name wouldn’t be that famous or glorious and this Greco-SlavoSkopian conflict wouldn’t exist.
4. Greece cannot allow them establish a “Macedonian house” because this term refers to the Greeks inhabitants of Macedonia. If they call it just Macedonian then they cannot ban Greeks from getting membership. After all, Macedonia, Greece is full of Macedonian houses; they could join anyone of them if they feel Macedonian. If they open that house in Florina then we will open another Macedonian house and raise a banner in three languages “Macedonians have always been Greeks”
5. Those “Macedonians” did fight against Greece’s sovereignty during Greek civil war. They fight with Tito and Comintern in order to dispatch Macedonia from Greece, They fought against Macedonians’ and Macedonia’s Greekness. Anyway, if the name problem is solved then the solution is easy. Most of the properties of those people are in hands of their relatives in Greece.
6. We are with your side for any violations of HR in Greece. But we cannot allow you violating our name. We are the Macedonians, they are Macedonian NOTHING. They, you and all World MUST respect our Greek tribal name we have made famous and glorious long time ago. You cannot violate brutally our Macedonian identity name for the grace of SlavoSkopian name rights. We have been Macedonians the last 3000 years, we cannot forget that.
7. SlavoSkopians attempt to make a new ethnic identity (which is respectable) but they want to call it after an old Greek famous and glorious tribal name (which is blamable). They do violate our self determination right pathetically. COE Parliament assembly shall not be contributor in their attempt. COE PA shall respect our tribal Macedonian Greek name and identity.
Published in http://www.network54.com/Forum/407998/message/1177106087/
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 21 abril 2007 : 18:05:15
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Emigres Take Battle Over Macedonia’s Name to America
When it comes to taking up a hard-line position, no one equals the Greek Americans or their Macedonian counterparts
By Amanda Rivkin in New York
Balkan Insight
18 April 2007
Details matter in diplomacy, as His Excellency Igor Dzundev, Macedonian Ambassador to the United Nations, should know. His office at 866 UN Plaza, a non-descript building in Manhattan is the one place at the UN where the sign on the door reads Republic of Macedonia, as opposed to the UN-approved acronym, FYROM, short for Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
His office is a rare “safe haven” from this cumbersome-sounding term, because the UN inserts the two words Former Yugoslav before the name Republic of Macedonia for all official purposes. This two-word distinction is at the heart of a 14-year long dispute between Ambassador Dzundev’s country and its more powerful neighbor, Greece.
“Each delegation has its name plate on the desk and ours is the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYROM,” said Dzundev of his plaque at the General Assembly. “We feel discriminated against because we are not allowed to be a member state there using our constitutional name,” he said, referring to the fact that the country calls itself the Republic of Macedonia in its constitution.
In the Balkans, battles are etched deep in the soil. Athens is not about to abandon its insistence that the word Macedonia is 100 per cent Greek. Through sheer determination the Greek government has pestered one international institution after another into submission, including the UN and the European Union. Within NATO, only Turkey, Greece’s historic rival, recognises the Republic of Macedonia as such.
Athens disputes the existence of a neighboring state called Macedonia, believing that the legacy of classical Macedonians like Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon is on the line. Its northernmost region is also called Macedonia. Therefore two Macedonias not only share a border but a name, a situation many Greeks find intolerable.
Panos Spiliakos, a 6ft-4ins tall Greek-American, is foremost among those who are determined to defend Greece’s standpoint in the US to the limit.
As the most vocal Greek-American in the name dispute, Spiliakos describes himself as “an apostle of the truth.” His Pan-Macedonian Association resents the use of the name Macedonia by anyone not of Greek origin.
“No one ever challenged the Greekness of Macedonia before 1944,” Spiliakos said referring to the date when the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito endorsed the creation of a Macedonian republic within the new Yugoslav federation.
Ambassador Dzundev, on the other hand, says documents show the Greek government briefly used the name the Socialist Republic of Macedonia in 1992 without complaint. “Our position on this is that we are not a party to the problem because we do not have a problem with our name,” said Dzundev.
There is also the fact that many of the two million inhabitants of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are not pleased to be the only remaining heirs to the name Yugoslavia, and dislike the way Greeks lump them in with all the other southern Slavs.
Both Greek nationalists - and the Albanian minority in the republic - insist that Macedonians are Slavs who speak a dialect of Bulgarian. They are not members of a separate Macedonian nation, the argument goes, but mountain Bulgarians who lost their way.
The issue has lingered on unresolved for 14 years. Neither side approves of the UN’s provisional name. Even Matthew Nimetz, the UN envoy who mediated the compromise, concedes that the name FYROM is “offensive to the people of that country”. Appointed UN Special Envoy for the FYROM/Republic of Macedonia Name Dispute Negotiations in 1999, he has been involved in the issue since the early 1990s.
Before stepping into this role, Nimetz had a distinguished career in the US State Department, serving as an undersecretary of state and worked under Cyrus Vance during the peace negotiations between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus in the 1970s. In many ways, Nimetz subscribes to the sentiments of many Cold War-era diplomats: stalemates should be regarded as successes.
These days, Nimetz works for General Atlantic, a leading venture-capital firm, and he travels to the Balkans only a few times a year, most recently in January 2007, after the Macedonian government announced plans to rename Skopje’s international airport after Alexander the Great.
When both sides are at the negotiating table, Nimetz said he refers to the two countries using the capital cities Athens and Skopje. “It’s very difficult to have a conversation about it without being made to seem like you are trying to make a particular point,” he said.
This is a difficulty anyone devoted to the dispute encounters almost immediately. The name Macedonia is too vague but the other options simultaneously offend and inhibit any effort at dialogue.
“I will occasionally use Republic of Macedonia after using the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” the envoy said. “I don’t ever use Macedonia.”
Early on, he found a good way to talk around the problem. “When I am in the country I try to avoid using the word. I prefer ‘this great nation’,” he said.
The “great nation’s” most spectacular diplomatic breakthrough was an unexpected one. On November 4, 2004, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher abruptly announced Washington’s decision to recognize the name Republic of Macedonia during a press conference. The transcript of the event shows that barely four lines were devoted to the Macedonian question. Most actors in the dispute were caught totally off guard.
“They very kindly called me just a few hours before it was announced,” recalled Nimetz. He was not the only one caught by surprise.
Spiliakos, the supreme president of the Pan-Macedonian Association, was shocked. He viewed the decision as a grave error. “They never informed us; they did it at night,” he said during an interview last January in his parked car, near Manhattan`s Central Park. “It’s insane.”
The setback has not deterred the Greeks in the US from continuing their campaign. Greek diplomats have even converted such benign locations as the UN gift shop into the battleground. Hanaa Shoukry, the buyer at the shop, said complaints forced her to change the signs labeling gifts from Macedonia.
Macedonian-Americans are lobbying hard in the US, too. Meto Koloski, founder and head of the United Macedonian Diaspora, was energised by the US move to recognise the name Macedonia in November 2004. That morning, he recalls being awakened in his dorm at Manhattanville College in White Plains, New York by a friend calling from Macedonia with the unexpected news of the State Department announcement.
Koloski said he jumped out of bed and ran to his college library to email every Macedonian he knew from New Jersey to Belica, the western Macedonian village where his father was born. “It was one of the best days of my life,” said Koloski. He skipped classes and took his college friends out to a bar that night to celebrate.
Koloski, 23 grew up in Garfield, New Jersey, the son of parents who immigrated separately to the US in the late 1970s and early1980s. Today, Garfield is home to more than 3,000 Macedonians.
When Koloski was little, his parents sent him to live with his grandparents in the Macedonian countryside for two years. It was there that he learned the language that is still the lingua franca of his mother’s New Jersey home. In Garfield, he said, “you will find a Macedonian on every corner”.
Koloski said he began exploring his national identity while still in high school. He first co-founded the Macedonian Orthodox Youth Association of North America, also known by the cumbersome acronym MOYANA. A week before his father`s death in July 2000, his father was reading the international Macedonian magazine, Makedonsko Sonce (the Macedonian Sun) when he came across an article about Meto’s election as secretary of the North American chapter of the World Macedonian Youth Congress. It made him very proud.
In recent years, Koloski has turned his attention to creating a new organisation, the United Macedonian Diaspora, which has a growing reputation as the most active Macedonian émigré organisation. Koloski himself is an encyclopedia of facts about his homeland. He also likes to boast that he makes “a good tafche grafche”, a traditional Macedonian stew of baked white beans and tomatoes.
Koloski encounters his Pan-Macedonians enemies at many public events. He has made efforts to contact them over the years, but so far the Pan-Macedonians have been unwilling to meet. Spiliakos and his Pan-Macedonian colleagues dismiss Koloski and his United Macedonia Diaspora as extremists.
Koloski said his first encounter with the Pan-Macedonians was at his local public library in Garfield. He found that a copy of a 576-page volume, Macedonia: 4,000 Years of Greek History, was the only book about Macedonia available in the library. He believes the Pan-Macedonian Association paid for the book to be distributed free of charge to “every library in America”. When he talks about the book, his cool and diplomatic demeanour fades.
“I have to admit, I took it,” Meto said with a grin. “No actually, I think I returned it.”
But years later, Spiliakos and his fellow Pan-Macedonians continue to deny Koloski and his countrymen the use of the name Macedonia, suggesting that “Slavalbania” or “Albania-slavia” might be more suitable. He also champions the name Republika Vardarska, or Vardar Republic, after the river that traverses the disputed Macedonia. Spiliakos cannot understand why the people of FYROM insist on appropriating a foreign identity.
The Pan-Macedonians have convinced 18 state legislatures in the US to pass nonbinding senate resolutions, reaffirming that Macedonia is Greek.
Spiliakos acknowledges the resolutions will have no bearing on the dispute but says they show the Greek lobby is not to be trifled with. “It is not enough to be right, you have to be powerful enough to establish that you are right,” he said.
South Carolina state senator Phil Leventis, who sponsored the resolution in his state, is typical of the many legislators who sponsored such resolutions. His knowledge of the background to the dispute appears hazy, to say the least, and he was not able to say where Macedonia was on the map, asserting that the issue was “all about the former Czechoslovakian area”.
But Spiliakos says the senators do not need to understand the history of the region: the Greeks can supply the requisite facts. Nina Peropoulos, a Houston-based Midwest coordinator for the Pan-Macedonians who helped push a resolution through the Wisconsin state assembly, says the Greeks have all the “authentic historical data” on their side in the dispute. Like Spiliakos, Peropoulos also champions the name Republika Vardarska as a potential title for Macedonia.
Last summer, the Pan-Macedonian Association held a three-day convention in Las Vegas that included a keynote speech from George Papavizas, author of a book titled Blood and Tears and Claiming Macedonia: Communism’s Pivotal Role in the ‘Macedonian’ Ethnogenesis.
Papavizas charged that “history has now reached the absurd and untenable point in which a small mountainous enclave calling itself ‘Republic of Macedonia’ may not only demand – by the power of its apprehended name – to be a Macedonia, but the only Macedonia; and its Slavic people may not only demand – by the power granted to them by a dictator – to be some Macedonians, but the only Macedonians”.
Spiliakos has visited the nation he will only call the FYROM. But in the US he will only meet with Macedonian officials in what amounts to staged confrontations at various diplomatic and university events. In the US, Matthew Nimetz is perhaps the only official to have met with all sides involved in the dispute, including Koloski’s United Macedonians and Spiliakos’ Pan-Macedonians.
“I sometimes say to myself that this is a thankless type of job, on an issue where neither side is willing to make a concession to get an agreement on the issue,” said Nimetz.
He has proposed at least a half a dozen alternative names to both sides over the years but none has stuck. His personal favorite among the discarded suggestions was New Macedonia, which he called “one nice name”.
“I am a man of many interests,” declared Nimetz. “To some of the one-issue people I meet with, I feel like saying, ‘Get a life.’”
Amanda Rivkin is a student at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s online publication.
(Copyright BIRN 2007. - http://www.birn.eu.com/en/79/10/2545/?tpl=30&ST1=Text&ST_T1=Article&ST_AS1=1&ST_max=1) |
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 21 abril 2007 : 21:04:37
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Koloski avoids to talk to us over simple matters.
I remember his angry reaction to my question about Thessaloniki's name: How should a Macedonian say Thessaloniki?
He had a comment: The name Thessaloniki is Greek and invented after 1912! But the stones of Macedonia say that the name is Macedonian and as old as Alexander's times: http://www.cc.ece.ntua.gr/~conster/English/PageData/Archaeology/Images/thessaloniki_philippou.jpg
The point is that SlavoSkopians cannot say Thessaloniki. No Slavic language has sound th!!
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek |
Editado por - Istor a las 21 abril 2007 21:06:00 |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 02 mayo 2007 : 19:11:01
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BULGARIA, MACEDONIA SEEK TO EASE LOCAL TENSIONS
In a move seemingly designed to cool relations between ethnic Macedonians and local officials in southern Bulgaria, the deputy foreign ministers of Bulgaria and Macedonia on April 24 paid their respects at the tomb of Yane Sandanski, a controversial figure in the two countries' independence struggle, Bulgarian and Macedonian media reported the same day. The governor of the district of Blagoevgrad barred an earlier ceremony by locals at Sandanski's grave on the grounds that the organizer, the ethnic Macedonian party OMO Ilinden-Pirin, is not officially recognized as a party. The decision, which overturned an earlier ruling by the nearby town of Sandanski, was ignored by several dozen of the party's supporters, who gathered on April 22 at the graveyard in the Rozhen Monastery on the anniversary of Sandinski's death. It was also condemned by the Macedonian Foreign Ministry on April 19 as an "unnecessary provocation," Makfax reported the same day, while, according to the Bulgarian news agency Focus, Macedonian Deputy Foreign Minister Zoran Petrov said on April 24 that "history should not divide the two countries, which need to tread the path ahead together." Macedonia considers Sandanski, who was born in modern-day Bulgaria, to be an ethnic Macedonian and mentions him in its national anthem. Sandanski was a leading figure in Macedonian revolutionary circles, lived and fought chiefly in modern-day Bulgaria's southern Pirin region, and advocated a Balkan federation.
The leader of OMO Ilinden-Pirin, Ivan Singartiski, on April 20 told the Macedonian daily "Dnevnik" that Bulgaria's Macedonian minority is living in fear, and he complained of police harassment of party members. The European Court of Human Rights in November 2005 ruled that the Bulgarian Constitutional Court's ban on the party violated provisions guaranteeing freedom of association. It acknowledged that some of the party's members have said the Pirin region should be part of Macedonia, not Bulgaria, but ruled that none of its leaders or members advocated violent or undemocratic methods to promote their case. Singartiski said the party intends to take its case for registration to European institutions once again.
AG
(RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 76, Part II, 25 April 2007.)
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 04 mayo 2007 : 14:42:31
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akritas
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 05 mayo 2007 : 10:55:25
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Some remarks in Mr Megalommatis article (The Macedonians, the Greeks, and the Communists ) regarding the poltical situation in Macedonia, some critical points that avoid to mention in his article. With the Germans still in Yugoslavia, the first Anti-Fascist Assembly of National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) at the monastery of Prohor Pcinjsky gave the final thrust to Tito#8217;s grandiose plans for a unified Macedonia under Yugoslavia#8217;s hegemony by proclaiming #8220;Macedonia as a federated state in the Democratic Federation of Yugoslavia#8221; and declaring:
#8220;You [the #8220;Macedonians#8221;] will succeed to unite all parts of Macedonia that the Balkan imperialists [Bulgarians, Greek, Serbs] occupied in 1913 and 1918.#8221;
With these words, the Macedonian Question was revived stronger than ever, with the struggle for Macedonia assuming dangerous dimensions for the stability of the Balkans.
Let us now talk briefly about the crude communist manipulations to achieve the conversion. Ethnologically, the new republic was always a fluid country inhabited by several ideologically contentious groups with ties to Albania, Bulgaria, or Serbia. The 1940 official Yugoslav census recognized only two ethnic groups in the Vardar Province, Slavs at 66 percent and Muslims at 31 percent. In 1946, three years after the formation of the People#8217;s Republic of Macedonia, the Slavs magically disappeared from the census that showed 66 percent #8220;Macedonians.#8221;
Was this remarkable transformation process a massive genetic mutation of the Slavic population or a census falsification?
Giorgi Dimitrov, the Bulgarian communist leader, upset with Tito#8217;s manipulations and imperialism, wrote in his diary: #8220;Are we talking about a Macedonian nation or a Macedonian population made up of Bulgarians, Greeks, and Serbs? Does a Macedonian nation exist, and if so, where and how? Can Macedonia exist as a separate state or find freedom and statehood within the South Slav federation, regardless of the ethnic conglomerate of which it is composed#8221; (Kouzinopoulos 1999, Dimitrov#8217;s secret Diary, p. 21)
Dimitrov wrote on the same page:
Tito#8217;s interest and the interest of the [Skopjan] chauvinists focuses not only on Pirin Macedonia . . . . but also on the Aegean Macedonia, i.e., Greek Macedonia, and the Aegean Sea.
Now, let us return to Stalin. What was his advice (or I should say directive?) on how to create a #8220;Macedonian Nation?#8221; Stalin met with Soviet, Yugoslav and Bulgarian leaders. When Dimitrov expressed additional doubts on the Macedonianism of the Vardar Province#8217;s inhabitants, Stalin rushed to explain to him how state building#8212;even if it is a fabrication#8212;leads to acceptable nation building. His remarks to Dimitrov on nation building were revealing indeed:
Pirin Macedonia must become autonomous within a South Slav Federation.¼ Whether there is a Macedonian nation or not, and whether its population has not yet developed a Macedonian consciousness, makes no difference. Such consciousness did not exist in Byelorussia either when, after the October revolution, we proclaimed it as a Soviet republic.
In spite of Stalin#8217;s admiration for Tito (before the split), the Soviet leader became enraged with the Yugoslav leadership#8217;s irredentist plans. On January 10, 1945, Stalin characterized as ill-advised Tito#8217;s efforts to incorporate into Yugoslavia not only the Greek Macedonia, but also Albania, and slices from Austria and Hungary. #8220;I do not like their [Yugoslav] behavior . . . . they do not understand in Belgrade.#8221; (Dimitrov#8217;s Diary, p. 22).
Professor Mr Papavizas in the book ""The Struggle for the Heritage, Territory and Name of the Historic Hellenic Land"" is a debate about the Macedonian history and legacy, and its plundering by the early dynamism and the theoretical base of international communism, with the Soviet Union looming awesome behind the scenes. It is the #8220;antidote to historical illiteracy#8221; (from TIME, July 2006) on Macedonia, especially during the period from the early 1920s to the late 1940s. Specifically, it shows the misconceptions pertaining to the fabricated legacy of Macedonia#8217;s past, as promulgated by international communism; analyzes communism#8217;s pivotal role in fueling the Greek Civil War and the Macedonian controversy; and emphasizes the infrastructure of the Macedonian controversy and the part of Macedonian history that now lies in dead communism#8217;s shadow and in Tito#8217;s defunct socialist imperialism. The critical role played by Yugoslav communism in the struggle for Macedonia, especially during the Greek Civil War, did not escape the attention of Ivo Banak, professor of history at Yale, who wrote in 1992: #8220;only communism could provide the theoretical base and the necessary force to push for a separate #8220;Macedonian nation.#8221;
Of course I dont forget that Mr Megalommatis has adopted the afroecentric moovement and specially Marti Bernal fondemalistic ideas. Martin Bernal dedicated volume one of Black Athena (Mr Megalommatis favour) to his father, John Desmond Bernal, and in the "Preface and Acknowledgements" to volume TWO, he informed his readers that his father was ""historian of science, who was a well-known Communist".Walter Slack (White Athena) point out that Martin Bernal admission regarding his father's political attachment, where we added only that the son's penchant to see all white scholarship as a racist conspiracy may have been influenced by his father's table-talk, because at the catechistical level Marxism is permeated by the notion of a grand capitalist conspiracy.
There are all kinds of degrees of Marxists, although there are somewhat fewer varieties of communists, because when one sect has gained power in a particular country, its members have demonstrated a marked tendency to murder, exile, or imprison members of all of the other sects of communism plus, of course, millions of other innocent people.For many of those younger Readers under the age of forty, Communist totalitarianism and the Soviet dictatorship are about as blurred as Hannibal's crossing of the Alps to invade Roman Italy. So we will impart to them a few short lessons in political history. Stalin died in 1953, so John Desmond Bernal was one of the last recipients of the grossly-misnamed "Stalin Peace Prize," and the latter was not awarded to ordinary Communists and Fellow travelers.
Absolute loyalty to Stalin every whim never purchased the faithful and submissive any kind of personal security from his wrath. And that was the man, the leader and the political totalitarian who was idolized by John Desmond Bernal for forty years. And it would be our hunch that Martin Bernal could never bring himself to admit that his father had been absolutely wrong in his unquestioning support for and rationalization of Stalin and the entire Soviet system!
Now evreyone realize the connection of the Communist in Bernal ideas and therefore Mr Megalommatis article. Actually as Mr Megalommatis quoted in his CV that he is supporter of Martin Bernal(Afrocentrism ideas). |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 06 mayo 2007 : 01:08:20
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Dnevnik
La Grèce a toujours peur de sa minorité macédonienne
Traduit par Kristina Velevska
Publié dans la presse : 15 avril 2007
Mise en ligne : vendredi 27 avril 2007
La Grèce ne reconnaît l’existence que d’une seule minorité sur son territoire, celle des musulmans. En revanche, les Macédoniens de Grèce ne sont toujours pas considérés par les autorités comme une communauté spécifique. Rencontre avec Panajot Dimitras, le président du Greek Helsinki Monitor, qui lutte pour les droits de la personne.
Par Zana P. Bozinovska
Sur la scène internationale, la Grèce est connue comme un des pays de l’Union européenne à avoir le plus de problèmes avec les droits de la personne. Les experts des Nations Unies et du Conseil de l’Europe ont de longues listes d’observations et de remarques. Et les autorités grecques continuent de « nier ». Ils sont les seuls à ne pas reconnaître que leur pays doit, comme tous les autres, faire face à des problèmes dans le domaine des droits de la personne », souligne pour Dnevnik, Panajot Dimitras, le président du Greek Helsinki Monitor [1]. C’est un des rares individus qui a fermement défendu les droits de la personne, au moment où l’hystérie anti-macédonienne était la plus forte en Grèce.
Les autorités grecques essaient le plus possible de cacher ces problèmes, et de nier l’existence des Albanais et des Rroms.
« Depuis 2004, elles attaquent les institutions des droits de la personne des Nations Unies et du Conseil de l’Europe qui utilisent les sources d’informations non gouvernementale, et surtout le Greek Helsinki Monitor. Les Rroms et les Albanais sont un très bon exemple. Il n’y a pas un pays dans la région où les Rroms ne font pas face à du racisme, et où l’intégration des migrants se déroule facilement. La Grèce veut faire croire qu’elle constitue une exception, bien qu’elle fût le premier pays condamné par le Conseil de l’Europe pour n’avoir pas respecté les droits des Rroms. L’« eurobaromètre » montre aussi que chaque année en Grèce, le nombre de xénophobes augmente.
Dnevnik : Le gouvernement insiste sur le fait qu’en Grèce, une seule minorité existe, les musulmans. Pourquoi les autorités grecques ont-elles peur de reconnaître les Macédoniens ? Quel est votre avis sur cette politique officielle ?
Panajot Dimitras : Le monde entier, les Nations Unies, le Conseil de l’Europe ainsi que tous les autres organisations non gouvernementales, insistent pour que la Grèce reconnaisse officiellement tous les groupes qui demandent un statut de minorité nationale, y compris les Macédoniens et les Turcs. Il faut également qu’elle reconnaisse leurs associations culturelles... Les hommes politiques grecs affirment qu’il n’y a pas de minorité car très peu de gens parlent « l’idiome slave ». Ils oublient pourtant que la minorité grecque de Turquie compte moins de 2000 membres. Vinozito, le parti des Macédoniens de Grèce, obtient aux élections entre 3500 et 7000 voix. La Grèce a évidemment peur de reconnaître les minorités nationales, parce qu’elle considère (ce qui est complètement incorrect) que cela pourrait affaiblir, voire menacer l’identité grecque.
D. : Y a-t-il a un lien entre la polémique autour du nom officiel de la Macédoine et la non reconnaissance de la minorité macédonienne en Grèce ?
P.D : L’ancien Premier ministre Konstantin Micotakis a dit dans les années 90 que la raison principale pour ne pas reconnaître la République de Macédoine avec son nom constitutionnel était que cette démarche pouvait rapidement forcer la Grèce à reconnaître la minorité macédonienne. Beaucoup de Grecs disent que le nom « Macédoine » appartient exclusivement à la Grèce. Cela a crée une situation extrêmement difficile à résoudre, parce que chaque nom qui contient le mot Macédoine permet une reconnaissance du pays sous le nom de République de Macédoine. Cela peut entraîner une réaction très négative du public grec, car tous les partis politiques ont promis il y a dix ans qu’il n’y aurait jamais de reconnaissance de la Macédoine sous ce nom.
D. : Que pensez-vous des citoyens grecs qui se déclarent macédoniens et de leur parti politique ?
P.D : Ils en ont le droit. Vinozito et la Maison de la culture macédonienne ont le droit de défendre leur culture. Ils ont déjà payé pour ces droits. D’un autre côté, la communauté macédonienne n’a pas assez renforcé son organisation pour pouvoir assurer efficacement une protection plus consistante.
D. : Est-ce que les autorités grecques respectent les droits de ses citoyens ? On sait qu’elles sont soumises à des critiques des institutions internationales et du Département d’État des États-Unis. Que pensez-vous de ces critiques ?
P.D : Les rapports du Département d’État sont utiles. Mais ce sont ceux des experts des Nations Unies et du Conseil de l’Europe pour les droits de la personne qui doivent être respectés. C’est une obligation constitutionnelle de la Grèce et de tous les pays qui ont ratifiés ces accords. Ces rapports sont très réels, mais les autorités grecques font des efforts pour les cacher au public grec, ou pour les présenter d’une manière plus modérée. Cela signifie qu’ils ne les mettent pas en œuvre, et c’est pourquoi dans les derniers rapports, la Grèce a reçu des « cartons jaunes ».
D. : Quelle est l’influence du Greek Helsinki Monitor sur la politique officielle grecque ?
P.D : Malheureusement, le Greek Helsinki Monitor influence principalement les organisations internationales qui considèrent que la Grèce a des obligations vis-à-vis des Nations Unies et du Conseil de l’Europe. D’un autre côté, nous réagissons à la politique intérieure de désinformation menée par le gouvernement. Dans une vieille démocratie comme la Grèce, les choses doivent être différentes que dans des pays qui demandent régulièrement des conseils aux organisations non gouvernementales. Cependant, beaucoup d’ONG n’existent que grâce à l’aide financière de l’État, et ont peur de le critiquer. C’est la raison pour laquelle il y a deux mois, le gouvernement grec a attaqué le Greek Helsinki Monitor en le qualifiant d’ONG « critique ». C’est malheureusement vrai.
D. : Est-ce que vous avez une coopération avec le Comité Helsinki de Macédoine, et dans quels domaines ?
P.D : Notre coopération avec le Comité Helsinki de Macédoine dépend des projets régionaux des deux organisations. Dans le passé, nous avions une coopération très proche. Aujourd’hui, nous sommes, chacun dans un pays différent, concentrés sur la question des droits de l’homme et nous n’avons pas de temps pour des initiatives internationales. Nous avons eu aussi une bonne coopération avec d’autres ONG de Macédoine, dans le cadre du Groupe international pour les droits des minorités.
D. : Quel est votre avis sur la politique officielle des autorités macédoniennes par rapport à cette question ? Devraient-ils faire plus pour les Macédoniens de Grèce ?
P.D : Les autorités macédoniennes doivent respecter la stratégie de la minorité macédonienne de Grèce. Celle-ci défend les droits de l’homme dans les cadres de l’État grec, tant qu’au niveau de l’Union européenne que du Conseil de l’Europe, sans influence de l’État macédonien. La Grèce défend les droits des minorités grecques en Albanie et en Turquie alors que la Turquie défend les droits de la minorité turque en Grèce. Les organisations des Macédoniens d’Égée hors de Grèce ne doivent pas non plus faire des déclarations qui ne défendent pas les droits de la minorité macédonienne.
[1] Le site du Greek Helsinki Monitor http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/index.html
(Source: Le Bulletin du Courrier des Balkans N°437, 30.04.2007. - http://balkans.courriers.info/article8184.html) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 06 mayo 2007 : 02:27:53
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UMD Sends Letter to U.S. Speaker of the House
Friday, 23 March 2007
The United Macedonian Diaspora sent a letter on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, in light of her meeting with the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Dora Bakoyannis, whose government blatantly denies the existence of a Macedonian national minority within Greece's borders.
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March 21, 2007
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
235 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congresswoman Pelosi:
First, allow me to congratulate you on becoming the first woman in U.S. history as Speaker of the House. I value your leadership.
I understand that you will have the opportunity to meet with the Greek Foreign Minister, Ms. Dora Bakoyannis tomorrow. According to the news in Athens, her meetings with U.S. policy makers will focus, among other things, on the ongoing and absurd name dispute over my ancestral homeland, the Republic of Macedonia. I would like to bring to your attention some concerns regarding Greece’s treatment of minorities and its relations with its neighboring country of Macedonia.
In 1992, the Greek government, in a fit of xenophobia and fear demanded that newly independent Macedonia find an alternative name and national symbols, as Macedonia can “only” belong to Greece. Macedonia originally refused, resulting in a devastating economic embargo that only ended in 1995 when Macedonian authorities, under clear duress, were forced into signing an unfair and imbalanced Interim Accord with Athens. This agreement is unique, as it is the first instance in history where one state is actively denying another state’s sovereign right to name itself, in direct defiance of the UN Charter and its guarantees of national self-determination. Ironically, Athens demands that negotiations on Macedonia’s name continue under the same UN auspices, which it violated in 1995.
Despite the agreement, over 120 countries worldwide, including the United States, Russia, China, India, the United Kingdom, Poland, Turkey, as well as Macedonia’s immediate neighbors, Bulgaria and Serbia, all recognize Macedonia as the Republic of Macedonia. To date, the only state with any objection to Macedonia’s use of its constitutional and historic name is Greece.
Upon US recognition, the Greek government began a serious and threatening diplomatic offensive against Macedonia. It is no secret that the Greek government intends to block Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, especially NATO membership, if it does not remove “Macedonia” from its name.
What the Greek government fails to recognize is its attitude towards its sizable Macedonian minority. A verifiable and well-documented genocide of Macedonians in Greece occurred after the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), following the Greek-Turkish war (1921-1923) and during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949).
In a recent interview, the Greek Foreign Minister stated the following:
“I am proud of the capacity of Greek democracy. All citizens of Greece have equal rights. I am sure that you already know that in Greece there is only one minority in Western Thrace and those are the Muslims. There is no such thing as ‘a Macedonian minority.’ Whenever some political formation has sprung out under the title of “minority” it has never managed to gain popular support.” However, the Minister failed to mention that recently the European Court in Strasbourg found Greece in violation of the rights of the Macedonian minority in Greece.
Today, Macedonians in Greece are banned from speaking their language in public, cannot sing to their traditional folk songs, have had their names transliterated into Greek, and have even had cemetery headstones in the Macedonian Cyrillic script replaced with Greek ones (the names were transliterated). In addition, Macedonian visitors to Greece are forced to accept bumper stickers on their cars declaring, “Macedonia is Greek.” Refugees from the genocide of the 20th century who list in their passports the Macedonian (and not Greek) name of their birthplace are declared persona non grata. For many, this is not an issue of nationalism, but simple failure to know the Greek names instituted for their hometowns after the Greek occupation. All of this discrimination is happening in the cradle of Democracy.
The dilemma of how to end state sponsored discrimination against minorities in Greece is again being revisited by the international community through criticism from the State Department, Amnesty International, and other human rights groups, but the primary focus still fails to connect the Macedonia name issue to the problem of Greek state sponsored discrimination. Bipartisan support underscoring the need to end oppression against minorities by the Greek government is strongly urged. Any talks relating to the Macedonia name issue must incorporate, and focus on, the discrimination of the Macedonian minority in Greece, as well. At the end of the day, a country's official name generally poses very little harm to ordinary people, but the harm posed by turning a blind eye to bigotry, prejudice, and fanaticism allows discrimination to thrive.
It is not my intent to drag ethnic Balkan politics into the United States Congress. However, I cannot idly sit by while my ancestral homeland and my people are slandered by a state which refuses to acknowledge the existence of any ethnic minorities on its territory, and which uses its history, ties to the West, and powerful Diaspora as a smokescreen for non-violent genocide.
I trust you will take my considerations to heart in light of your meeting with Ms. Bakoyannis. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Metodija A. Koloski, President
(From: The Macedonian Digest. Edition 17 – May 2007.)
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 08 mayo 2007 : 16:27:45
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UMD Letter to U.S. Congress
May 7, 2007
The Honorable Carolyn Maloney
2331 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congresswoman Maloney:
I write to you as a concerned citizen and voter regarding your introduction of HR 356 on May 1, 2007. You have established yourself as a leader in Congress and your skills have strengthened the country as a whole. Your name carries an image of a powerful person who puts emphasis on equal opportunity and in particular women’s rights. It is because of my respect for you as a congresswoman and person that I cannot understand why you would introduce an inappropriate and inaccurate resolution that undermines the Republic of Macedonia.
It is unfortunate that politics has resulted in an alteration of history. History books are many times rewritten to tell a current story, where history books should be reporting history as it was. In the 1900s, maps of Macedonia showed the northern region of Greece and the current Republic of Macedonia on the map as one. As an image, that is neither propaganda nor a hostile activity, because it is simply the region as it existed at that time.
The use of the phrase “hostile activity” is not only inappropriate but antagonistic towards the Republic of Macedonia. As the only former Yugoslav country to peacefully establish independence in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia has constantly met terms while working with the United States, NATO and the European Union and their actions have been contrary toward “hostile activity.” While the world is moving ahead (120 countries, including the United States have recognized the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name) and facing serious challenges, the Greek government has chosen to focus its attention and efforts on its own identity crisis and on imposing the burden of the same on its northern neighbor.
Your leadership on economic issues since 1993 also tells me that you are aware of Greece’s economic embargo towards the Republic of Macedonia, a state whose natural trading partners were already suffering under certain UN sanctions. I am sure you heard the world wide criticism of the illegal Greek Embargo, an act that was un-neighborly at best and reprehensible at worst. As I am sure you know the Greek Embargo was a major contributing factor to the painfully drawn-out transition that Macedonia continues to experience, and was not constructive towards the peaceful resolution between the two countries.
The Interim Agreement forced upon the Republic of Macedonia in 1995 as an end to the Greek Embargo achieved several Greek aims including: (1) a tentative reference term for the Republic of Macedonia at the UN and within certain international bodies, and (2) new national symbols for the Republic of Macedonia unrelated to the historic Macedonian reality. However, throughout this humiliation, Macedonia has revealed itself as more than willing to compromise by proposing a resolution to the “name dispute.” Notwithstanding the Republic of Macedonia’s efforts and the concessions it has already made, Athens continues to incredulously refer to Macedonian “intransigence” on the purported “name issue.”
Contrary to your resolution, it is the Greeks who continue to spread vicious ethnic propaganda, equal to the hatred spread and spawned by and during the Balkan Wars. This vitriolic Greek propaganda continues unabated as the Republic of Macedonia continues establishing itself as a multi-ethnic democracy, even with bilingual rights, that is following the example of the United States of America in securing and protecting the civil and human rights of its racial and ethnic minorities. I do not need to point out to you, but it is noteworthy that Greece denies identities and protection to its racial and ethnic minorities. While once a leader in western thought, Greece has substantially denied itself and its citizens the progress that they are both due.
Lastly, the use of ‘FYROM’ in a House resolution is not only appalling, but also inaccurate. The United States has recognized the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name, and I strongly believe that as the congresswoman and leader that you are, you should set an example that uses correct facts and proper terms.
Thank you for your service to the state of New York and to the American people. I hope that you will continue to serve and stand for equal opportunity – equal opportunity not just for the powerful, but also for the powerless.
Sincerely,
Metodija A. Koloski
United Macedonian Diaspora President
CC: The Honorable Gus Bilirakis
The Honorable Robert Wexler
The Honorable Elton Gallegly
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
The Honorable John Boehner
The Honorable William Pascrell, Jr.
The Honorable Mark Souder
The Honorable Tom Lantos
The Honorable John S. Tanner
The Honorable Ruben Hinojosa
The Honorable Brad Miller
The Honorable Linda T. Sanchez
The Honorable Jim Costa
The Honorable Eliot L. Engel
The Honorable Albio Sires
The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
The Honorable Thaddeus McCotter
The Honorable Joe Wilson
The Honorable Ted Poe
The Honorable Robert D. Inglis
The Honorable Luis Fortuno
United Macedonian Diaspora, P.O. Box 19028, Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone: (202) 294-3400
E-mail: info@umdiaspora.org
Website: http://www.umdiaspora.org
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 09 mayo 2007 : 16:14:39
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110TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. RES. ll
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)
should stop the utilization of materials that violate provisions of the United Nations-brokered Interim
Agreement between the FYROM and Greece regarding hostile activities or propaganda and should work with the United Nations and Greece to achieve longstanding United States and United Nations policy goals of finding a mutually-acceptable official name for the FYROM.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mrs. MALONEY of New York submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on lllllllllllllll
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) should stop the utilization of materials that violate provisions of the United Nations-brokered Interim Agreement between the FYROM and Greece regarding hostile activities or propaganda and should work with the United Nations and Greece to achieve longstanding United States and United Nations policy goals of finding a mutually-acceptable official name for the FYROM.
2
Whereas on April 8, 1993, the United Nations General Assembly admitted as a member the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM),
under the name the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 817 (1993) states that the dispute over the name must be resolved to maintain peaceful relations between Greece and the FYROM;
Whereas on September 13, 1995, Greece and the FYROM signed a United Nations-brokered Interim Accord that, among other things, commits them to not support claims to any part of the territory of the other party or claims for a change of their existing frontiers;
Whereas a pre-eminent goal of the United Nations Interim Accord was to stop the FYROM from utilizing, since its admittance to the United Nations in 1993, what the Accord calls, propaganda, including in school textbooks;
Whereas a television report in recent years showed students in a state-run school in the FYROM still being taught
that parts of Greece, including Greek Macedonia, are rightfully part of the FYROM;
Whereas some textbooks, including the Military Academy textbook published in 2004 by the Military Academy General Mihailo Apostolski in the FYROM capital city, contain maps showing that a Greater Macedonia extends many miles south into Greece to Mount Olympus and miles east to Mount Pirin in Bulgaria;
Whereas in direct contradiction of the spirit of the United Nations Interim Accord's section A, entitled Friendly
Relations and Confidence Building Measures, which attempts to eliminate challenges regarding historic and cultural patrimony, the Government of FYROM recently renamed the capital city's international airport Alexander the Great;
Whereas the aforementioned acts constitute a breach of the FYROM's international obligations deriving from the
spirit of the United Nations Interim Accord, which provides that FYROM should abstain from any form of propaganda against Greece's historical or cultural heritage;
Whereas such acts are not compatible with the Article 10 of the United Nations Interim Accord regarding improving understanding and good neighborly relations, as well as with European standards and values endorsed by European Union member-states; and
Whereas this information, like that exposed in the media report and elsewhere, being used contrary to the United Nations Interim Accord instills hostility and a rationale for irredentism in portions of the population of the FYROM toward Greece and the history of Greece: Now, therefore, be it
1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives
2--- (1) urges the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to observe its obligations under Article 7 of the 1995 United Nations-brokered Interim Accord which directs the parties to prompt ly take effective measures to prohibit hostile activities or propaganda by state-controlled agencies and to discourage acts by private entities likely to incite violence, hatred or hostility and review the contents of textbooks, maps, and teaching aids to ensure that such tools are stating accurate information; and
(2)--- urges the FYROM to work within the framework of the United Nations process with Greece to achieve longstanding United States and United Nations policy goals by reaching a mutually-acceptable official name for the FYROM.
May 1, 2007 (9:48 a.m.)
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Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek |
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akritas
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 11 mayo 2007 : 19:13:42
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Letter to US Congress about Milososki's comments:
May 9, 2007
The Honorable Carolyn Maloney
2331 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congresswoman Maloney,
On behalf of the Pan-Macedonian Association and as American citizens, descending from Macedonia, Greece, we would like to express our gratitude to you for sponsoring HR 356. Resolution 356 precisely depicts the problematic circumstances emitted by Greece’s northern neighboring State, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or simply the FYROM. We have been made aware that a letter by the so-called“United Macedonian Diaspora” has been sent to you and as American citizens who have every right to refer to ourselves as Greek-Americans of Macedonian descent, we would kindly like to bring to our Representatives’ attention the following facts:
Mr. Koloski in his letter states: “In the 1900s, maps of Macedonia showed the northern region of Greece and the current Republic of Macedonia on the map as one. As an image, that is neither propaganda nor a hostile activity, because it is simply the region as it existed at that time.” Mr. Koloski fails to recognize the fact that during the Ottoman era which lasted for about 500 years (Greek Macedonia was liberated in 1912), there was no use of the term Macedonia (meaning the boundaries of the geographic or ancient Macedonia). The area of Macedonia was divided in two vilayets the vilayet of Thessaloniki and the vilayet of Monastiri (Bitola).
Skopje was the capital of the Kossovo vilayet and was never part of the so-called geographic Macedonia. The President of the so-called United Macedonian Diaspora in his letter declares that “120 countries, including the United States have recognized the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name.” According to Interim Accord (Sept. 13, 1995) and under the aegis of UN (UN Resolutions #817 of April 7 and #845 of June 18) of the year 1993, the temporary name until both countries, Greece and the aforementioned State, reach a permanent solution about this issue, is “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, or simply The FYROM. Although we highly question the validity of the actual number of countries of his declaration, President Koloski’s assertion that 120 countries have recognized the FYROM as “Republic of Macedonia,” projects the intransigence of his State’s political leadership to not adhere to the international rules drawn by the UN.
It is unfortunate that President Bush on November 4, 2004, immediately following the elections, and after he secured the Greek vote and political contributions, erroneously recognized the FYROM as “Republic of Macedonia,” reversing a 60 plus year US policy, and disregarding the fact that in both World Wars, the Korean Conflict, and the Cold War, Greece was always an ally to our great country. The passing of Resolution 356 by the House of Representatives may disappoint the 38,051 individuals throughout the United States who unjustifiably claim an alleged “Macedonian” ethnicity: (see 2000 USA Census Bureau http://www.euroamericans.net/macedonian.htm), but will reaffirm justice to the 1,153,307 or so Greek Americans (see 2000 Census: Greek Americans ) who are witnessing the most horrible revision, undermining, and outright theft of their identity, history, and heritage, as well as a potentially destabilizing threat in the broader region of their ancestra homeland in South East Europe.
In reference to the so-called “Macedonian minority” within the borders of Greek Macedonia, how can Greece recognize such a minority when its 2,000,000 inhabitants of its Macedonian Province and also those of its Macedonian Greek Diaspora are all MACEDONIANS? It would be a dire error for any Greek administration to recognize only a few individuals in Greece as Macedonians and disfranchise the plethora of its Macedonian Greek citizens. Doing so would destabilize and put at risk any administration that took such an action.
Greece has proved her friendship toward her northern neighbor, because she fully supports the existence of a country north of Greece with the interim name of the FYROM. Mr Koloski cannot deny Greece's positive stance toward the FYROM providing any assistance possible, including employment to the FYROM's citizens although the FYROM is returning the good neighborhood gesture with contempt and irredentism. It is the FYROM which refuses to honor their signature on the Interim Agreement. (Greece is FYROM's number one investor and Greek companies in FYROM crop up 80% of the FYROM economy - plato-ny)
Furthermore Greece supports the efforts of this State to join the EU and NATO, provided the official name of the country differentiates its citizens from the Macedonian Greeks, completely stops its propaganda emanating from the FYROM school books and the efforts of her Diaspora to usurp the Greek history, culture and identity through academic institutions, publications and the Internet as it is happening globally. These sentiments are expressed in all recent year resolutions at the annual conventions of the Pan-Macedonian Association: “We fully support the existence of a country north of Greece with the interim name of the FYROM. We support her efforts to join the EU and NATO…Further, we harbor no animosity of any ill feelings towards her citizens or her Diaspora.”
Mr. Milososki's utterance questioning the democratic values of Greece is totally unfounded. Neither Greece nor its Diaspora need lessons in democracy. The Economist has published that Greece rating in the 22nd position, is ahead of France and the UK in democratic values, branded as “full democracy.” The FYROM was 68th, given the title of a "flawed democracy." http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setime.../24/feature-01
Congresswoman Maloney, thank you and your colleagues for spearheading HR 356.
Sincerely,
Panos D. Spiliakos
Supreme President
Nina Gatzoulis
Supreme Vice-President
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 18 mayo 2007 : 19:59:13
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Premier of South Australia says Macedonia belongs to Greece
MakFaxOnline
Athens, 7.05.2007 17:13
Macedonia belongs to Greece, like the Acropolis does, Mike Rann, the Premier of South Australia, said today in Athens.
In the course of his visit to Greece, he met with the Minister of Macedonia & Thrace, Georgios Kalantzis, and the regional prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis.
According to Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia, Rann said that no nation should steel the history and insignia belonging to another nation.
(Copyright © MAKFAX 2001-2007. - http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/printer.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=66431&NrIssue=339&NrSection=20)
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Wednesday, 16 May 2007
In response to the comments made by South Australian Premier Mike Rann that 'Macedonia belongs to Greece,' the United Macedonian Diaspora branch in Canberra, Australia sent a letter calling on him to retract his statement and apologise to the Australian Macedonian community.
The Hon Mike Rann MP
Premier of South Australia
GPO Box 2343
ADELAIDE SA 5000
Dear Premier:
The United Macedonian Diaspora ("UMD") notes with concern the inflammatory and anti-Macedonian comments made during your recent visit to Greece, stating that ‘Macedonia belongs to Greece.'
In actual fact, the Republic of Macedonia is a sovereign and democratic state; it is a candidate country for the European Union and the NATO alliance and a staunch ally of Australia and the United States in the war on terror. In short, Macedonia belongs to its citizens, not to any of its neighbours.
UMD hopes to shed some light on the issues related to the legal and constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia. Under pressure from nationalists and extremists, the Greek Government continues to deny the most fundamental human rights to its ethnic Macedonian national minority, which is the reason behind its irrational objection to the Republic of Macedonia’s legitimate and historical name. To support its bizarre stance towards its neighbour’s name, the Greek Government has portrayed a biased and inflammatory misrepresentation of Macedonian history, claiming that Macedonia is Greek.
These human rights abuses have been thoroughly documented by many international agencies, including the European Court of Human Rights, the OSCE, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United States’ State Department and the European Union. The Greek Government seeks to abrogate its responsibilities and crimes by denying the existence of its victims – ethnic Macedonians, and by extension, the Republic of Macedonia.
Australian Macedonians feel that the comments made are discriminatory and are shocked that an Australian leader would imply that one sovereign state “belongs” to another. Ideas such as these have resulted in too many wars in Southeast Europe, particularly during the 1990’s when radicals such as Slobodan Milosevic claimed that Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina “belonged” to Serbia.
UMD requests that you retract these regretful remarks, clarify your intent (as we believe it was unintentional), and apologise to the Australian Macedonian community and the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. In addition, we hope that you will urge the Australian Government to recognize the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name as have the majority of countries around the world.
Sincerely,
Tom Vangelovski
Director, Australia Office
UMD (Australia), GPO Box 900, Canberra City, ACT 2601 |
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Istor
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 20 mayo 2007 : 18:46:18
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Macedonians had always Greek names, toponyms, ways, heroes, gods, dialect and spread Greek Language and Civilization to the World.
The SlavoSkopian attempt to steal the fame and the glory of ancient Macedoians it's a shame for both Macedonians and SlavoSkopians. Let alone the fact that Macedonians are around (in Greece) proud of that campaign! This makes SlavoSkopian attempt to monopolize the name of Macedonia a brutal violation of Macedonians' self determination right.
Istor
Macedonian, therefore Greek |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 20 mayo 2007 : 21:16:22
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GREECE RESUME TALKS ON MACEDONIA'S NAME
Greek and Macedonian representatives met in New York on May 16 to agree to start a new round of UN-mediated talks to resolve Greece's dispute over Macedonia's official name, the Macedonian news agency Makfax reported the same day. Greece insists Macedonia should be known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia since there is a Greek province of the same name. The two countries in 1995 agreed to take part in UN efforts to resolve the issue, but there has been little sign in the past 12 years or recent months of any breakthrough. The continuing difficulties were highlighted when Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis in April accused Macedonia of inflexibility and when Macedonia reacted angrily in March to a video showing Greek soldiers chanting xenophobic songs. With Macedonia pushing to join NATO and the EU, the need to resolve the issue is becoming increasingly pressing. Greece has been careful to leave open the possibility of vetoing Macedonia's applications, and has resisted U.S. pressure. "In the final analysis, it is not the United States that shares a common border with Skopje but Greece," Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni said on April 19, the Greek newspaper "Ta Nea" reported the next day. Greece also has thorny relations with Albania. Albanian newspapers in early May talked of a "crisis" after Bakoyianni failed to arrive for a planned visit to Tirana; Athens subsequently denied a visit was planned.
Albanian commentators in late April also took umbrage at what they perceived to be the Greek ambassador's failure to reject the claim by an ethnic Greek mayor in Albania that Kosova should be a precedent for Greeks in Kosova.
Subsequently, in late April, a group of ethnic Albanians who lay claim to Greek territory released a video showing its members wearing balaclavas and carrying arms.
AG
(RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 91, Part II, 18 May 2007.)
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 23 mayo 2007 : 18:38:44
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Ta Nea: Macedonia in NATO under constitutional name
MakFax.com
Athens /21/05/ 18:50
US President George Bush will announce on 10 June in Tirana that Macedonia would receive an invitation for membership in NATO under its constitutional name.
Greek newspaper Ta Nea published this information today, adding that the Greek politicians are helplessly watching the developments leading to defeat in the battle on the name.
The paper says that this event would take place a month after the letter sent by the US State secretary Condoleezza Rice to the Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Miloshoski, confirming US's strong support to Macedonia's efforts to become a member of NATO.
Ta Nea slammed Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis on her tepid response to Rice's letter, suggesting that Minister should have send a note of protest, instead of commenting that Greece and not USA is bordering with Macedonia.
(http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=68563&NrIssue=351&NrSection=20) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 23 mayo 2007 : 18:45:43
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Early elections are back on PM’s political agenda
Gov’t fears FYROM move may force hand
Kathimerini Eglish Edition
May 21, 2007
There is a growing possibility that general elections will be called in September because the government fears that the United Nations may end the mediation process between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), sources told Sunday's Kathimerini.
It is thought that the UN's special negotiator, Matthew Nimetz, may bring an end to the mediation process in September as he has made little progress in efforts to bring Athens and Skopje closer together over the last two years.
Greece fears that if Nimetz does surrender his mandate, FYROM will make a direct appeal to the Security Council to be recognized internationally as the «Republic of Macedonia.»
Athens believes the USA will support Skopje in its bid as Washington wants the name issue out of the way so FYROM can join NATO. If the move is successful it is likely to damage the Greek government's popularity and hamper its chances of being re-elected.
As a result of this potential development, according to sources, the ruling conservatives are seriously considering calling elections before there are any changes in the FYROM name issue.
The strongest indication that this may be the case came from Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who told journalists accompanying him on a flight to Singapore that «we still have time» until the country goes to the polls.
Until now, Karamanlis has been adamant that he will see out a full four-year term, which runs out in March.
His decision not to stick to this line as he headed out on a nine-day trip, during which he will visit New Zealand and Australia, suggests that he is keeping his election options open.
However, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, who is accompanying the premier on his trip, denied yesterday that Karamanlis was thinking along these lines.
«The prime minister is not seeking to use a national issue as a reason to call elections,» she told reporters in New Zealand.
Bakoyannis said that she did not have any information suggesting that Nimetz had given up efforts to find a solution to Greece's dispute with FYROM.
Responding to the developments, PASOK leader George Papandreou warned Karamanlis yesterday not to «dare» to use a matter of national importance as an «excuse» to call elections.
Papandreou was speaking at the end of his party's conference in Athens and also called on Karamanlis not to go to the polls before the scandals with which the government has been linked - including the purchase of structured bonds by pension funds - have been cleared up.
The possibility of the government being further implicated in this, or other scandals, is another reason that may lead Karamanlis to opt for early elections. Some of his ministers fear New Democracy may be tarnished if there is a prolonged pre-election period.
(http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_21/05/2007_83633) |
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akritas
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 24 mayo 2007 : 07:57:32
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The Panmacedonian Federation of Australia deplores the thoroughly racist, historically inaccurate Advertisement appearing in “The Australian” newspaper on 23 May 2007 by various “Macedonian” community organisations. THAT ADVERTISEMENT SEEMS CALCULATED TO INCITE RACIAL HATRED AND RAISES THE SPECTRE OF IRREDENTISM, ATTITUDES THAT ARE COMPLETELY UN-AUSTRALIAN. Certainly the claims made in the advertisement are not shared by the majority of Australians whose origins stem from the geographic region of Macedonia, and it is ironic that this advertisement was published in the context of a visit to Australia by the Macedonian Prime Minister of Greece, Mr Kostas Karamanlis.
In the advertisement, it is claimed that Greece “seized Southern Macedonia.” The implication is of course that this territory rightfully belongs to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In subtly calling for a ‘revision’ of borders, the advertisement’s sponsors conveniently neglect to mention that the geographical region of Macedonia was awarded to Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 by the international community, on ethno-linguistic lines. At no stage was there any consideration of a “Macedonian” ethnic identity by any of these nations or the international communities, simply because that ‘identity’ did not exist at that time. In an age of consensus and peace, why are the so-called “peaceful Macedonians” advocating a revision of borders set in 1913?
Much ink is further spilled in attempting to convince the reader that the human rights of “Macedonians” are not protected in Greece. Nothing could be further from the truth. Greek local government officials have fostered a spirit of cross-border co-operation with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and cultural exchanges are common. Much aid is sent by Greece to FYROM. A POLITICAL PARTY KNOWN AS RAINBOW-VINOZHITO, WHICH OPENLY CLAIMS THAT THERE ARE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ETHNIC “MACEDONIANS” LIVING IN GREEK TERRITORY IS PERMITTED FREELY TO TAKE PART IN THE GREEK ELECTORAL PROCESS, DESPITE NOT BEING ABLE TO ADVANCE ANY EVIDENCE TO BACK ITS CLAIMS.
The sponsors of the advertisement can advance no evidence for their claim that “Macedonians” are being denied the right to study their own language and promulgate their culture in Greece. Indeed, their claim that Greek citizens have their land confiscated for doing so is fallacious and defamatory, considering that there is no such mechanism allowed for in Greek law.
PERHAPS THE SPONSORS OF THE ADVERTISEMENT COULD EXPLAIN WHY, IN ‘DEMOCRATIC’ FYROM, THE LOCAL PRIMATE OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, ARCHBISHOP JOVAN, HAS BEEN INCARCERATED, FOR REFUSING TO ADOPT A ‘MACEDONIAN’ IDENTITY? COULD THEY ALSO EXPLAIN WHY THE GREEK, ALBANIAN, VLACH AND ROMA MINORITIES IN THAT COUNTRY HAVE NO RIGHT TO EDUCATION, RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THEIR MOTHER TONGUE? COULD THEY EXPLAIN WHY IT IS THAT SO MANY MEMBERS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THAT COUNTRY HAVE HAD THEIR NAMES FORCIBLY CHANGED SO AS TO APPEAR MORE ‘MACEDONIAN?’ The FYROM government’s record on Human Rights is a sordid one, even to the extent where its persecution of its local Helsinki Committee for Human Rights President Mrs Mirjana Najcevska caused the intervention of several international organizations.
Finally, we ask why it is that the sponsors of the advertisement insist upon a culturally exclusivist and racist definition of the word Macedonian. According to them, a Macedonian is a person who speaks the official language of FYROM and identifies himself as ascribing to an identity set out by its government. According to them, the many Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Roma, Serbs and Turks who reside in the wider geographical region and have done so for the same amount of time, do not have the right to identify with their homelands, or to call themselves Macedonian. ADOPTING THIS LOGIC WOULD BE AKIN TO A NON-NATIVE MINORITY IN THIS STATE DENYING OTHERS THE RIGHT TO CALL THEMSELVES VICTORIAN.
The Panmacedonian Federation of Australia, being a federation of various Macedonian organizations, condemns the malicious and false allegations in the advertisement and commits itself to supporting the cohesive, peaceful and tolerant fabric of Australian society. Sadly this is not achieved by name-calling, calling for the revision of borders and denying other peoples’ right to self-identification. IT APPLAUDS THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’S CURRENT POSITION ON THE NAMING OF FYROM AS THE ONLY SENSIBLE AND VIABLE SOLUTION, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE GOVERNMENT OF FYROM AND THE PEOPLE WHO IDENTIFY CULTURALLY WITH THAT REPUBLIC, UNDERSTAND THAT THEY CANNOT USE RCIAL CRITERIA TO DENY OTHERS THE RIGHT TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS MACEDONIANS.
Yours faithfully,
Dimitris Minas
PANMACEDONIAN FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 25 mayo 2007 : 23:36:57
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Macedonia Dispute Goes to the House
A Liberal MP puts forth a motion to recognize the Republic of Macedonia which stirs ire within the Liberal caucus and the Greek community
By Lee Berthiaume
EMBASSY, Canada's Foreign Policy Newsweekly
May 23rd, 2007
A private member's bill calling on the Canadian government to officially recognize the Republic of Macedonia was tabled in the House of Commons last week.
Lui Temelkovski, a Toronto-area parliamentarian who was born in what is now known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), introduced the bill in the House of Commons last Wednesday.
The naming dispute carries significant historical baggage that dates back centuries, but re-emerged as a current issue following the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s when several independent states emerged. One of those wanted to call itself the Republic of Macedonia. But Greece has vehemently opposed the idea, saying it implies ownership of a Greek province of the same name.
In introducing his bill, Mr. Temelkovski noted that numerous countries, including the United States, China and Russia, have recognized the state as the Republic of Macedonia.
Speaking to Embassy last Thursday, Mr. Temelkovski said his bill was prompted by lobbying on the part of the Macedonian community, which includes about 1,000 members in his riding.
He did not know what the chances of his bill being adopted were, but acknowledged objections within the Liberal caucus by some members of Greek descent.
"We haven't had any discussions about it and I don't think we need any discussions," Mr. Temelkovski said when asked whether the Liberal party had discussed the bill. "It's just an administrative point."
However, he blamed the Greek lobby for Canada's continued decision not to call the country by its constitutional name.
"I think it's clear that the fact Canada has not recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name is all due to the Greek lobby," he said. "It's not up to Greece to tell Macedonia what it can call itself. It's a matter of self-identity.
"They've got to forget it. I can't go naming you Peter. My name is Lui and you can call me whatever you like, but my name is Lui."
Mr. Temelkovski, who moved to Canada with his family in 1968, said Greece believes recognizing the country as the Republic of Macedonia is an attempt by the Slavic country to rob it of territory, but he said that isn't the case.
The Macedonian Embassy in Ottawa referred questions to Mr. Temelkovski's office.
Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, said the bill has just been introduced and it is too early to determine what position the government will take.
'Precedent Has Been Set'
Liberal MP John Cannis, who was born in Greece, questioned his colleague's decision to table the bill at a time when FYROM and Greece are negotiating over a possible compromise and enjoying good economic and political relations.
"What are we doing fanning the flames of a fire that isn't there?" he said. "I don't believe these two countries are involved in this. What are we doing it discussing it here?"
Mr. Cannis said it was Mr. Temelkovski's right as a parliamentarian to table the motion, and that he appreciated the community he was representing.
He said he had not discussed the bill with Mr. Temelkovski, but he intended to find out what "compelling reasons" prompted him to table it at this point in time.
However, Mr. Cannis said the international community and Canada have already set a precedent by referring to the country as FYROM, and for Canada to backtrack now would send the wrong signal.
"I think we base our views on precedent, and precedent has already been set," he said. "Are we then going to say to the UN that we don't care what decisions you've made, we're going to set new precedents.
"To me, let them sort it out"
Fellow Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, who was also born in Greece, also said he understood why Mr. Temelkovski had to bring the motion forward and that it was his right to do so as a parliamentarian.
But he also felt it was not Canada's place to intervene.
"It's an issue that has been worked upon for the last 16 years," Mr. Karygiannis said. "The European Union still has to make a ruling, the United Nations still has to make a ruling. I think it's between the two neighbouring countries that have to sort out the issue before we are able to do it here and voice it here."
Ioannis Petsilas, press counsellor at the Greek Embassy, said his government is opposed to the bill.
"We are against it because we do not believe a country that forms part of a region should assume the name that represents the whole of the region," he said last week.
"The greatest part of the geographic area of Macedonia is in Greece and has been since time immemorial. We also have cultural objections."
However, he insisted the proposed bill is not an issue at the moment, especially given the fact that the UN still refers to the country as FYROM.
"Canada follows international law and respects what the UN does," he said.
lee@embassymag.ca
(http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/may/23/macedonia/) |
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akritas
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 27 mayo 2007 : 16:37:12
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Ethnic Albanians Threaten to Quit FYROMacedonian Govt
The ethnic Albanian party in FYROMacedonian coalition has threatened to quit the government and end its slim majority, in a power struggle with the country's other main Albanian party.
A senior member of the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) said late on Saturday it would leave the coalition after reports emerged that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had reached a deal to end a parliamentary boycott by the DPA's chief Albanian rivals, the opposition Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
The deal has yet to be confirmed, and the DPA ministers in his cabinet have not formally resigned. Gruevski would have to look elsewhere to keep his parliament majority if they did.
Gruevski has been under intense pressure from the European Union to reach out to the DUI, FYROMacedonia's largest Albanian party, made up of ex-guerrillas who fought an insurgency in 2001 for greater rights for the 25 percent Albanian minority.
The DUI found itself in opposition last year for the first time since the conflict. It has been boycotting parliament over Gruevski's decision to form a coalition with the smaller DPA, branded by the DUI as a betrayal of the Albanian vote.
FYROMacedonian media reports suggest a deal between the DUI and Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE is imminent, offering a welfare package to veterans of the 2001 insurgency, and agreement that certain laws can be adopted only with the backing of a majority of Albanian deputies in the 120-seat parliament.
DPA deputy leader Menduh Thaci told media shortly before midnight that Gruevski was negotiating with the wrong party. "The DPA was waiting for the right moment ... when this subject would be addressed within the governing coalition," he said.
"We have decided to leave the government coalition. The dialogue between the DUI and VMRO is a manipulation. The VMRO is not ready to talk about the serious problems facing Albanians."
It was uncertain whether the DPA would carry out its threat.
The West is anxious for FYROMacedonia to remain stable as the United Nations nears a decision in the coming months on whether to give Albanians in neighbouring Kosovo the independence they demand from Serbia after eight years of U.N. administration.
At least a quarter of FYROMacedonia's 2 million people are ethnic Albanians. Their 2001 insurgency, led by DUI leader Ali Ahmeti, ended in a Western-brokered deal offering Albanians greater rights and representation.
But the deal has been years in coming to fruition and tensions remain. The EU, which made FYROMacedonia an official membership candidate in late 2005, has warned that the political stalemate is slowing much-needed reform
http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=47478
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 09 junio 2007 : 17:16:07
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Not another BIG Greek Lie?
NOT ANOTHER "HELLENIZED" NON-GREEK IMPOSTOR, FORMER DODGY POLITICIAN AND WANNABE GODFATHER!
By ZAC I -THE FIRST (Australia)
Teodoros Pangalos is a "Hellenized" non-Greek impostor and a former controversial foreign minister of artificial Greece. Amongst many controversial and farcical events which highlighted his tenure as foreign minister, it was he who infamously said that there were no Macedonians in Northern Greece (that is, in the Greek occupied part of Macedonia), only wild animals and people who look like monkeys! (Yes you heard right!) (Need we say anymore?!) (Where is this guys credibility?!)
Modern "Hellenized" non-Greeks also accuse the Macedonians of having 'block heads'! (I can't see it and what more can we say?!) (Note: As I previously mentioned in the Macedonian Digest, my own head definitely does not fit that description. Nor do I look like a monkey). Modern, indigenous Macedonians are the descendants of the Ancient Macedonians. (That means the Ancient Macedonians would've had block heads also). The Ancient Macedonians were the descendants of 'certain' indigenous proto-Slavic European Balkan tribes of earlier times. (That means the indigenous pre-historic proto-Slav European tribes of the 'Balkan peninsula region' would've had block heads also.
On the other hand, modern "Hellenized" non-Greeks have long honkers (noses), chins, moustaches and look like witches and warlocks. This is because they are a hybrid mixture of Vlachs, Gypsies, Albanians, Turks, Anatolian Christian Prosfigs, Jews, Armenians, Egyptians and others. These people had earlier absorbed the Franks, Venetians, Goths, Huns, 'Black Slaves from Africa', Romans and others, who absorbed the hybrid descendants of the heterogeneous people of the Ancient City States.
'Ethiopia' (the country) is an ancient City State term meaning (would you believe) "burned faces"!!! The irony is that the people of the Ancient City States readily admitted that they were descendants of colonizers bronze age Ethiopians and 'certain' indigenous proto-Slavic European Balkan tribes of earlier times! (This means they themselves would've had 'burned faces' and 'block heads'!!!)
In recent times the indigenous Macedonians have been deliberately reduced (in the Greek occupied part of Macedonia). Those remaining (still a sizeable lot) should be clearly distinguishable from the rest of the ethnically diverse "Hellenized" non-Greek settlers. Mr. Pangalos knows fully well that the people in the Greek occupied part of Macedonia who look like monkeys are in fact the impostor so-called "Greek Macedonians"! As mentioned, they are the imported "Hellenized" non-Greek people that the modern, artificial Greek state has been stacking in the Greek occupied part of Macedonia since 1913! (not to mention in the rest of artificial Greece itself!)
Mr. Pangalos in a recent interview with the Republic of Macedonia's 'Dnevnik' said that the proposed name "Macedonian Republic (Skopje)" (written in Cyrillic) was his idea for the Republic of Macedonia's final name!!! "Of what I have heard that (name) is the best solution". "You could have used the term 'Macedonia' as a 'national' descriptor, of which you think you are, and/or the term could also have been used as a geographical descriptor"!!!
Reply: KEEP PROPOSING NAMES RETARD!!! Have you ever thought to yourself what gives you the right to propose "any" name/s on another 'people' and/or country? Even if you proposed the name "The Republic of Macedonia"!? Since you like to impose descriptions on The Republic of Macedonia at your own whim and fancy how about you first "literally" explain the meaning of your own name and then "literally" explain the meaning of (your own artificially created country) "Greece" and who came up with the name!!! As usual you probably wouldn't have a clue!
What are you going to call the illegally annexed 'northern Greek province of Macedonia'? (or have you got a sinister agenda/plan for that too?!) What about artificial Greece's non-recognition of the ethnic Macedonian minority there which has not even been granted its legitimate basic human rights?! How, Why haven’t you, and When are you going to rectify that?! What are you going to do about Macedonia's illustrious Ancient history?! How are you going to present that?! The list goes on and on!
Have you ever asked yourself how the modern, artificial Greek state managed to get 51% of Macedonia? You are the ones who should be changing the name of this province. DON"T INTERFERE IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA!!!
The ludicrous name proposal "Macedonian Republic (Skopje)" for The Republic of Macedonia initiated by Mr. Pangalos -the "Hellenized" non-Greek impostor/former dodgy foreign minister/wannabe godfather of The Republic of Macedonia is totally unacceptable! This proposal will "also" give the "Hellenized" non-Greeks the green light to call the Macedonians "Skopjans" (grasshoppers?). A highly derogatory and offensive term. The only acceptable solution is "The Republic of Macedonia" which defines the Macedonian ethnicity (as recognized by the US, Russia, China and just about everyone else!). Anything but this name will allow artificial Greece to maintain its "fake" Macedonian history, which would be detrimental to the Macedonians in The Republic of Macedonia (not to mention the Macedonians in artificial Greece, artificial Bulgaria, artificial Albania and those throughout the entire world).
Artificial Greece should turn back the clock to 1988 and change the name of their illegally annexed northern province back to "Northern Greece". (Technically artificial Greece could call "this" province "New Macedonia" which would imply a geographical concept. This would be similar to the arrangement between the nation of Mexico and the US state of "New Mexico").
Artificial Greece has to recognize its large ethnic Macedonian minority and grant them their basic human rights. This is in accordance with international Human Rights conventions of which artificial Greece is a signatory party.
Artificial Greece should do away with its fake Macedonian history and give up its Macedonia dream. Artificial Greece should change and/or rewrite its own false history.
Theodoros Pangalos: The "Hellenized" non-Greek/Impostor/Former Dodgy Politician/Foreign Minister/Wannabe Godfather.
Theodoros> Theodore> (Th>ph>p>b>v) >Theo > Veo >(zi)v-eo > Zeus's, dore >dar >gift > "Zeus's Gift" (you gotta be kidding!)
Pangalo(s)> (g>z) > Pa >Va > (ze)Va > Zeus, n> n(a) > of, galo > ze-le >z(iv)e-le > the proto-Slavic peoples 'life giving' Sun god Iliy. "(ze)Va-n(a)ze-le". "Zeus (life), ('part' product of/son), the 'life giving' Sun god Iliy".
So, Mr. Theodoros Pangalos has a 'Slavic' name! He also acknowledges that at home his family spoke an Albanian dialect, nevertheless they are 100% pure Hellenes!
Go figure!
(From The Macedonian Digest, Edition 18 – June 2007.) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 10 junio 2007 : 23:41:41
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Polis versus ethnos : nouveaux regards sur la Macédoine antique
Par Nicolas Trifon
LE COURRIER DES BALKANS
31 mai 2007
La Macédoine antique, ses habitants et leur langue ont longtemps fait l’objet de théories souvent fantaisistes et contradictoires, des théories instrumentalisées par les nationalismes balkaniques à partir du milieu du XIXe siècle. Des découvertes significatives ont été faites ces dernières décennies. Permettent-elles de trancher sur les questions « litigieuses » ? Miltiade Hatzopoulos, auteur d’une monographie sur la question, pense que oui.
Dans un langage un peu moins inaccessible que les autres travaux sérieux sur le sujet, M. Hatzopoulos, directeur du Centre de recherche de l’Antiquité grecque et latine (KERA) d’Athènes, vient de rédiger à partir de quatre conférences prononcées au Collège de France en février 2005 un livre de synthèse intitulé La Macédoine : géographie historique - langue - cultes et croyances - institutions (De Boccard, 2006).
Qui n’a pas été frappé par le décalage entre le peu d’informations fiables sur la Macédoine antique et l’énorme influence qu’elle a exercé sur l’histoire universelle pendant les trois siècles qui ont suivi les conquêtes d’Alexandre (la période hellénistique) ? Aussi, les explications fournies par M. Hatzopoulos à ce propos sont bienvenues : ceux qui ont écrit sur la Macédoine n’étaient pas des Macédoniens mais provenaient des États rivaux, ce n’est que depuis le XIXe siècle que l’on utilise des sources d’information autres que littéraires (épigraphiques, numismatiques, archéologiques), et encore, dans des conditions précaires puisque la région est « jusqu’en 1913 sous le joug ottoman rétrograde et en même temps déchirée par des conflits ethniques et depuis le champ de bataille de deux guerres mondiales et d’une guerre civile qui ne s’est terminée qu’en 1949 ». Pour ce qui est des sources littéraires, on pourrait rappeler avec Pierre Vidal-Naquet, l’auteur de la postface de L’histoire d’Alexandre d’Arrien (Minuit, réimpr. 2005), que les exploits du successeur de Philippe II ne sont connus que « par des récits dont le plus proche, celui de Diodore, est postérieur de trois siècles, et dont le meilleur, le plus critique, celui d’Arrien, a été rédigé plus de quatre siècles et demi après la mort d’Alexandre » (p. 343).
L’exploration archéologique systématique de la région ne pouvait donc prendre son essor que depuis les années 1950, souligne M. Hatzopoulos (p. 15-16). Les résultats ont été spectaculaires, à en juger par les propos de l’auteur figurant dans la conclusion : « Un demi-siècle après (...) l’activité titanesque des archéologues (...) et la patiente application de tous les savants (...) ont révélé un pays demeuré auparavant terra incognita et donné un visage au peuple jusqu’alors énigmatique qu’Alexandre avait conduit jusqu’aux confins du monde connu (...) et fait renaître un rameau de l’hellénisme. » (P. 93.)
On ne saurait cependant s’en tenir au ton de cette conclusion. Le livre consiste avant tout dans un bilan des connaissances acquises grâce aux travaux sur les nouveaux documents épigraphiques, travaux auxquels l’auteur a pris une part importante. Sans doute, ses interprétations appellent parfois des réserves et, à regarder de plus près, le bilan dressé ne justifie pas toujours l’enthousiasme exprimé dans la conclusion. En tout cas, M. Hatzopoulos, contrairement à certains de ses confrères et compatriotes, ne semble pas chercher à argumenter coûte que coûte la thématique nationaliste grecque. Il fait par exemple remarquer que les limites septentrionales de la Macédoine avant la conquête romaine, que l’on peut établir grâce aux inscriptions datées par le calendrier macédonien découvertes récemment, correspondent grosso modo à la frontière qui sépare la Grèce de l’ancienne république yougoslave de Macédoine. Ceci n’est pas sans présenter un certain « intérêt diplomatique dans le contexte balkanique actuel », commente-t-il (p. 94).
Les découvertes épigraphiques ont permis de trancher non seulement dans le domaine des contours géographiques de la Macédoine mais aussi de celui de la langue parlée par ses habitants, comme le souligne l’auteur, en se référant notamment au corpus onomastique et aux textes dialectaux recueillis. Sa conclusion est sans appel : le parler des Macédoniens faisait partie des dialectes grecs septentrionaux. Il aurait peut-être mieux valu préciser qu’il s’agit d’une hypothèse même si des arguments nouveaux peuvent plaider de manière plus convaincante en sa faveur.
La Macédoine a été trop souvent présentée comme une terre des ethné alors que les résultats des fouilles récentes et des inscriptions trouvées montrent que le poids de la polis est plus important qu’on ne l’a pensé, soutient M. Hatzopoulos, qui met l’accent sur le contraste avec la région du Pinde, en Épire, où les Molosses avaient érigé leur État. Dans cet « univers entièrement non aristotélicien , la cité est apparue tard et n’a connu qu’une extension limitée. S’il ne cherche pas à clore le débat en la matière, il démontre de manière assez convaincante que la particularité du royaume macédonien repose sur une combinaison originale de l’ethnos, conservé jusqu’à un certain point, et de la polis de plus en plus présente. « Les rois téméides réussirent un tour de force (...) : concilier l’ethnos et la polis dans un ensemble cohérent et équilibré. » (p. 74.). Les bergers transhumants et l’incompatibilité de l’élevage transhumant avec l’esprit autarcique, « égocentrique » de la polis (p.62) reviennent à plusieurs reprises dans sa démonstration. Le noyau primitif du royaume macédonien, la principauté de Lébaia, se trouvait dans la vallée du cours moyen de l’Haliacmon (près de la ville actuelle de Velvendos), une région dont l’économie était centrée sur l’élevage transhumant. Il est vraisemblable, poursuit M. Hatzopoulos, qu’à l’époque archaïque les habitants de cette région vivaient en faisant paître leurs troupeaux entre le massif de l’Olympe et les plaines de Thessalie (p. 50-51). On peut estimer par conséquent que la région était sillonnée à l’époque préhistorique par des groupes de pasteurs transhumants parlant des dialectes grecs apparentés. « Est-il déraisonnable de penser que, comme à l’époque moderne les Valaques de Vlacholivado, qui hantaient précisément ces régions, parlaient sous l’influence de l’adstrat grec, un dialecte néo-latin présentant des traits originaux, leurs prédécesseurs historiques avaient fait de même, sans doute sous l’influence d’un autre adstrat ? » (p. 51).
Sur ce point, M. Hatzopoulos rejoint une hypothèse qui a déjà été suggérée, notamment par Pierre Cabannes, et dont je me suis fait moi-même l’écho à plusieurs reprises, qui établit un lien entre le mode de vie pastoral des Aroumains jusqu’à une période récente et le passé ethnique de la région. En effet, les Valaques de Vlacholivado sont des Aroumains attestés dans ces contrées depuis la fin du XVIIe siècle. Ils provenaient de la région du Pinde, qui constitue en quelque sorte leur noyau historique, à partir duquel ils ont essaimé dans une vaste aire. Ce n’est peut-être pas un hasard si cette population romanisée à l’époque de l’administration romaine de la Macédoine, et dont le poids numérique à l’échelle des Balkans (les pays roumains non compris) a beaucoup décliné avec le temps, se soit maintenue précisément dans une région montagneuse « ethnique » par excellence, le Pinde, au carrefour de la Macédoine, de l’Épire et de la Thessalie.
A propos du royaume de Macédoine au temps de Philippe, M. Hatzopoulos écrit : « L’État demeurait officiellement ethnique et continuait à être composé du roi et des Macédoniens. Mais ces derniers n’étaient plus les bergers qui se réunissaient deux fois par an sur la route des estivages et des hivernages, mais des citoyens de cités où ils exerçaient l’essentiel de leurs activités politiques » (p. 73). Peut-être bien, mais la référence au passé ethnique devait continuer à jouer un rôle non négligeable si on en juge par le fameux discours attribué par Arrien à Alexandre s’adressant aux Macédoniens : « Philippe [mon père] donc, vous ayant trouvés errants, indigents, la plupart vêtus de peaux de bêtes, et faisant paître sur les pentes des montagnes de maigres troupeaux pour lesquels vous livriez aux Illyriens, aux Triballes et aux Thraces frontaliers des combats malheureux, vous a fait descendre des montagnes dans les plaines, et vous a rendus capables de combattre avec succès contre les Barbares du voisinage, au point qu’aujourd’hui, pour votre sécurité vous vous fiez moins à la position forte de vos bourgs qu’à votre propre courage ; il a fait de vous des habitants des cités, vous permettant de vivre dans l’ordre grâce à de bonnes lois et à de bonnes coutumes. » (L’histoire d’Alexandre, op. cit., p. 228).
Il est parfaitement anachronique de s’interroger sur la nationalité des Macédoniens, comme se perdre en supputations en cherchant la langue qui aurait constitué l’adstrat du grec dialectal parlé par ces derniers avant les conquêtes de Philippe et d’Alexandre qui allaient asseoir leur réputation ; par contre, il va de soi que le rôle qu’ils ont été amenés à jouer dans l’histoire universelle est indissociable de la langue et de la culture grecques. Par ailleurs, autant il serait hasardeux de se prononcer sur l’impact du passé montagnard des Macédoniens dans leurs exploits historiques, autant on peut se risquer à un rapprochement entre ces bergers civilisés par Philippe et les Aroumains de l’époque moderne. Bien entendu, il ne saurait être ni d’ordre génétique, étant donné les mouvements de population dans la région, ni linguistique (la romanisation de la région intervient après la conquête de la Macédoine. Il permettrait en revanche d’expliquer le maintien contre vents et marées d’une langue et d’une culture vouée depuis longtemps à la disparition, mais aussi la constance d’un certain esprit ethnique qui aurait échappé aux royaumes, empires et autres États nations qui se sont succédé dans les Balkans.
Pour terminer, une remarque plutôt anecdotique. « Pour un Grec du Sud, la Macédoine est un pays exotique, écrit M. Hatzopoulos (p. 61), alors que je me suis souvent entendu dire par des amis grecs et/ou aroumains de Larissa, de Thessalonique ou d’Avdela que pour eux la Grèce du Sud était exotique. »
(http://balkans.courriers.info/opinions.php3) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 21 junio 2007 : 21:09:11
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JUSTICE UNDER THE TABLE
Rumen LEONIDOV
OBEKTIV, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee's magazine
English-language digest of Bulgarian issues covering the period January - March 2007
Issue 142 - April 2007
There is hardly a single person in our country who had been sentenced by the communist “people’s government” for political reasons to internment and jail, and was recognized as repressed, but who, in a blatant violation of current legislation is denied the one-time compensation to which he is eligible under the Amendments and Supplements to the Political and Civil Rehabilitation of Repressed Persons Act. However, such a person does exist. His name is Stoyan Gerasimov Vasilev, born on September 10, 1948, in the village of Klyuch, Blagoevgrad Region. Yes sure, you might say, yet another active fighter against socialism. As it goes, they will exceed in number the former active enemies of the royal-fascist
government.
Mr. Vasilev’s odyssey began in 1965, in his home village at the border. The frontier post commander, major Zlatev, acting upon order by the local authorities and with the assistance of his border guards, killed two youngsters. For what reason? The same “people’s government” that had forced the parents to declare in their passports that they were Macedonians in the past, now wanted their sons to declare themselves Bulgarians. The youngsters wouldn’t have that, though. They refused to
change their nationality, sang (forbidden) Macedonian songs, created not only a bad impression but also set a dangerous example for their fellow villagers.
The local leaders were enraged. Then, the old Stalinist maxim came to the rescue: “If there is a man, there is a problem; no man, no problem”. A rumor spread that the two young men, convinced in their Macedonian nationality, had illegally crossed the Bulgarian-Greek border. But when residents from the surrounding villages found their buried bodies, they were riddled with bullets from assault rifles.
17-year-old at the time, Stoyan Vasilev, driven by adolescent gusto, righteous anger and offended sense of justice, started writing and disseminating leaflets in the Petrich region. Suspected by the Militia, he was interrogated twice, but wasn’t caught until he became an accomplice in the theft of an OPTIMA typewriter from the medical offices in the village of Skut. He was sentenced to five months in jail at an initial general regime of serving the sentence. At that time, Stoyan was single, a literate worker, without prior convictions. The theft was proposed by Krim Tipov, 50-year-old party member, who was a party secretary in Skut after 1955 and prior to that, an active member of the Young Communist League, the Communist Youth and the Communist Party. Here is an excerpt from sentence ¹/1/25.IÕ.1970 of the Blagoevgrad Court: “In 1965, this man, a former shift manager at the agricultural cooperative, assumed a wrongful position on the Macedonian question and during the elections began publicly defaming the economic and state policy of the people’s government. For this behavior, for this defamation of the party policy, for his nationalist activities on the Macedonian question, in 1966, his Party membership was terminated.”
Thus, the leader of the group, Timov, was sentenced to one-year imprisonment, the other defendant, Slavcho Nikolov, was sentenced to eight months for his involvement in other petty thefts. Vasilev got away with five months, for his indirect involvement in breaking into the medical offices.
Five years later, on January 25, 1975, the same courtsentenced Stoyan Gerasimov Vasilev, divorced, with prior convictions, primary education, a professional fitter with no party membership, for his unwarranted absence, together with Iliya Tevilov, from the communities in which they were settled under the proper administrative procedures. They were sentenced
to a year and a half in prison and to involuntary resettlement for a period of one year. Tevilov was sent to the village of Yankovo, Shoumen region, while Vasilev, the other fugitive, was resettled in the village of Krastets, Gabrovo region.
Despite all the protocols, certificates, files, witness affidavits and other documents submitted by Stoyan Vasilev to different Bulgarian institutions, this story could have been regarded as purely criminal. His story could have been questioned because there are many similar sets of court cases and belated jabber of relatives. I would have questioned it, too, had I not seen a copy of the “Operative plan for conducting surveillance activities under THE NATIONALIST FSC [Field Surveillance Case] created for Stoyan Gerasimov Vasilev with regard to “MACEDONIAN NATIONALISM”. Dated 16/10/1976, Ref. ¹ 4963, classified “Top Secret!”, Copy 1, Directorate VI, Department IV, State Security (SS), 13/10/1976, proposed Justice Under the Table by SS inspector Major St. Bonev, approved by deputy chief, regional directorate of the Ministry of the Interior SS, Lt. Col. N. Shopov”. This document contains four pages of detailed measures, including implementation timelines, which we need not quote. Without this State Security document, however, the political grounds for the two sentences against Stoyan Vasilev could be questioned because of the light sentences. But the 13 items of the Plan, written in line with the specific style of operative secrecy rules, come to prove that this is not just the next petty thief pretending to be a politically repressed citizen.
You would be right to ask: Why are you telling us this personal drama? The drama is not personal but legal. At the age of 17, Vasilev determined himself as a Macedonian and, despite being persecuted for his national self-determination, despite being recognized (in writing) as being repressed for political reasons, after 17 years of democratic government, our state, represented by the Ministry of Justice, has refused to pay Mr. Vasilev the one-time compensation that he is eligible to under the respective Act. Why is that? Because the gentleman is a traitor. He identifies himself as a Macedonian, but wants compensation from the Bulgarian state. However, no one would admit to this. Because this is also a type of repression. No matter whether we like the term or not. Mr. Vasilev was recognized as an “active fighter against communism” back in the distant 1993. Since then, he has been unable to materialize his rights. And what follows from all this? The government is concerned that if it admits that the repressions against Mr. Vasilve were on political grounds, it may need to admit that the persecution of all other “Macedonians” in the Pirin area were also political.
As the case described here is hardly isolated or unique... I come from a Macedonian family myself in the Republic of Macedonia. My great-grandfather is a national hero, a prominent freedom fighter from the Gevgeli area praised in an amazing folk song dedicated to Leonid voyvoda’s last battle. A street in the Gevgeli neighborhood in Sofia is named after him, but in our country he is not very well known even at a neighborhood level. The reason I am telling you all this is not because I share Mr. Vasilev’s national self-determination; after all, everyone is free to feel as he likes. However, even though our 17-year-old democracy is just coming of age, I would like to see our country’s laws applied by the rules of democracy.
The law makes no distinction between locals and strangers, all Bulgarian citizens have equal rights and obligations. If Mr. Vasilev had been repressed by the totalitarian regime - a fact supported by ample evidence - he should get what he is entitled to by law. Otherwise, the present Bulgarian state is telling him: “If you are not Bulgarian, get out of town and all the way to Macedoniaand try to get your money there, since you have fought for Macedonism”.
Which is dumb, no matter how you look at it. First of all, because in our opinion, in a historical aspect, a Macedonian nation does not exist. So where are we sending this person then? By our legal inaction, we are abusing a compatriot and are forcing him to seek help outside the “bugars”. Secondly, Macedonian or not, Mr. Vasilev has been a political prisoner. And today he probably feels politically abused as he wanders between different institutions that discriminate him simply because he determines himself as a cousin and not as a brother of our people.
In the years of immature socialism, I had often heard people whose families originated from the Macedonian region, disgusted by the state, the government and the oligarchy of that time, say: “I am ashamed of being Bulgarian! I might become Macedonian. Then, at least, I won’t have anything to do with this Bulgarian savagery!” Our savagery was as Bulgarian as it was Soviet. Now that the Soviets are gone, only our own ignorance remains.
In the past, we regarded Yugoslavia as an example of socialist freedom, access to work abroad, open criticism (not against Tito, of course), good chewing gum and magazines featuring half-naked women. Today, we have all of this in excess. At the same time and in the same measure, however, it seems that we still have some remnants of our socialist mindset. To me, this is justice under the table - available to some, always denied to others!
(http://www.bghelsinki.org/obektiv/2007/142en/142-044.pdf) |
Editado por - alazaro a las 21 junio 2007 21:11:00 |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 28 junio 2007 : 18:16:09
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SHAMEFUL BEHAVIOR OF THE OFFICIALS OF THE EUROPEAN AGENCY FOR RECONSTRUCTION
By Mirjana Maleska
A sublime goal, to stimulate the protection of the minority rights in Macedonia, has ended up in the exactly opposite direction: with violation of the human rights by the officials of the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR).
In 2005, EAR for Macedonia announced a competition on the topic “Support of minority rights/activities”. Three non-governmental organizations – Action for Democratic Initiative from Gostivar (ADI), Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation (MCIC) and Center for Peace and Democracy: Ian Collins (CMD) responded to the competition with the project: Power-Sharing – a New Model of Decision-Making in the Multicultural Municipalities in Macedonia”. EAR selected this project among the many projects that applied, and on 15.08.2005 an agreement was signed between ADI, as a leading organization, and Luigi Sandrin, EAR Director, for financing the project under the abovementioned title.
Several months after the realization of the project had started, on 16 March, 2006, Mr. Luigi Sandrin changed the conditions of the agreement. Namely, he sent a “Note to all partners that have concluded an agreement with EAR”. The subject of the note: “Use of the name of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
In the note, Mr. Sandrin informs us that the only denomination that can be used is “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (with a small “f” and a small “o” and with capital letters only in the beginning of the sentence), in accordance with Resolution 817/1993 of the UN Security Council and Resolution 225/1993 of the UN General Assembly.
Later on in the letter, he says: “The name “Republic of Macedonia” or “Macedonia” is not be used, notwithstanding the fact that it is the official denomination used by the country itself and that all documents from Skopje (letters, reports etc.) will refer to it in this form”.
In the end, Mr. Sandrin adds, “Please, ensure that all printed documents and external communication, as well as the web-sites, books and other materials related to EU-funded projects follow this policy”.
As one of the authors of the Research Report on Power-Sharing Project , I responded to Mr. Sandrin that he misinterprets the EU policy. Namely, if their “European policy” is to censure the letters and the reports that include the name Macedonia, then they should emphasise this. They do not have the right to humiliate us, requesting that we ourselves renounce our name.
Contrary to any civilised communication, Mr. Sandrin did not respond to this letter at all, or, at least, I did not get any reply. In the meantime, the EAR bureaucrats are exhorting impudent pressure that they will proclaim the project unsuccessful unless we delete the word “Macedonia” from the Research Report. This implies that its implementers will be placed on the “black list” of European funds. What a shame!
“The word “Macedonia” must not appear – you should delete it”, Mrs. Jutta Bulling from EAR threatens. “I do not even have to tell you at all that the word Macedonia cannot be inside the book”.
The absurdity goes so far that, at one moment, the Macedonians became “former Macedonians”, the councillors in the municipalities – “former Yugoslav-Macedonian councillors”, and the Macedonian language – “of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia language”! The word “Macedonia” is deleted or replaced by “fYROM” or “Our Country” even from the quotations of other authors mentioned in the Report, as well as from the legal texts, and even from the Constitution of the state.
What is published on the web page of NGO, ADI (www.adi-macedonia.org/publications/) is a shameful evidence of a policy of EU and its agencies, which, at one moment, have become accomplices of the Greek nationalism. The denomination “Macedonia” and “Republic of Macedonia” has been deleted from the title of the text, contrary to the will of the authors of the Research Report – Mirjana Maleska, Ph.D, Lidija Hristova, PhD, and Jovan Ananiev, PhD. – and despite the reactions of the NGOs that participated in the carrying out of this project.
The EAR officials do not consider it necessary to apologise for the humiliation inflicted on us or for the violation of our basic right to dignity.
(http://www.newbalkanpolitics.org.mk/editorials/shameful_behavior.html) |
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alazaro
Envíos 10057 |
Enviado - 28 junio 2007 : 18:57:22
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GREEKS ADD SUPPORT TO SERBIAN ORTHODOX IN DISPUTE WITH MACEDONIA
In a move that has fueled a longstanding dispute with the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church on June 17 invested another bishop in Macedonia, the news agency Makfax reported the same day.
Unlike the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Serbia, the Serbian Orthodox Church is allowed to operate in Macedonia. However, the new bishop will serve in a diocese unrecognized by the Macedonian authorities under an archbishop, Jovan Vraniskovski, whom the Macedonian authorities once accused of embezzlement. The ceremony was also attended by a bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, which, like its Serbian counterpart, refuses to accept the Macedonian Orthodox Church as a member of the Orthodox community. Greece is also involved in a bitter and protracted dispute with Macedonia over Macedonia's official name. The service was not attended by a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, while it too does not recognize the Macedonian Orthodox Church, has offered to mediate in the dispute.
Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski on June 10 underlined the state's support for the Macedonian Orthodox Church by awarding its head, Archbishop Stefan, the country's highest decoration. According to a MIA news agency report from June 10, Crvenkovski called the Church "a pillar of national and spiritual survival, one of the main guardians of Macedonian national identity, a defender of the national spiritual and cultural heritage."
AG
(RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 112, Part II, 19 June 2007.)
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Enviado - 09 julio 2007 : 00:14:46
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Greek diplomat summoned home over Macedonia comments
ATHENS (Thomson Financial, 07.06.07, 7:54 AM ET) - Greece's top diplomat to Macedonia has been summoned home to explain her suggestion Athens should give up its 15-year fight against the name of the tiny country, the foreign ministry said.
'Greece has to face the new reality, as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has been recognised under its constitutional name (Macedonia) by more than half of the members of the UN,' Dora Grosomanidou, the head of the Greek mission in Macedonia, told the Financial Times yesterday.
Greece has opposed international recognition of its neighbour under the name Macedonia since 1992 because it considers the name part of Greek heritage. There is a northern Greek province with the same name.
Macedonia joined the UN in 1993 as FYROM, but the international body's attempts to reach a solution to the controversy have so far failed.
'Grosomanidou is here so that the necessary explanations can be given,' Greek foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos told reporters. 'At this point there is no talk of a recall.'
A poll in June showed most Greeks want their government to veto a future entry into NATO by Macedonia if the name dispute is not resolved.
More than 80 percent want it blocked if it seeks to enter NATO as 'Macedonia', and 61.5 percent say Athens should also veto its entry as 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia', said the survey published in the To Proto Thema weekly.
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com
(http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2007/07/06/afx3888877.html?partner=email) |
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Enviado - 11 julio 2007 : 16:27:01
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GREECE SACKS AMBASSADOR TO MACEDONIA
The Greek government on July 10 recalled its ambassador to Macedonia, Dora Grosomanidou, the Macedonian news agency Makfax reported the same day. Makfax quoted the online Greek publication "Ta Nea" as saying that Grosomanidou will be replaced by Greek Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Alexandra Papadopoulou. According to "Ta Nea," Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis was angered at a decision by Grosomanidou to give an interview to the "Financial Times" without asking the government for permission.
The report does not indicate the government's stance on Grosomanidou's actual comments, in which she said that "Greece has to face the new reality, as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been recognized under its constitutional name by more than half of the members of the United Nations." Grosomanidou was summoned on July 6 to Athens to explain her comments. At the time, a spokesman said that there was no immediate question that she might be recalled. Greece insists that Macedonia should adopt a different name in order to differentiate it from the Greek province of Macedonia.
AG
(RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 125, Part II, 11 July 2007.)
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Enviado - 12 julio 2007 : 15:07:30
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BOOK -- LLIBRE -- LIBRO -- LIVRE
Mito Aleksovski
What Europe Has Forgotten: The Struggle Of The Aegean Macedonians
A Report by the Association of Macedonians in Poland
Pollitecon Publications 1992, Reprinted 1995.
Paperback, 68 pages, 250 x 175 mm, Celloglazed cover, 28 photographs and 20 documents.
What Europe Has Forgotten: The Struggle Of The Aegean Macedonians is a book which investigates official discrimination in Aegean Macedonia (northern Greece) and the ongoing struggle of the 28,000 Macedonian child refugees who were evacuated in 1948 during the Greek Civil War.
The author of the report, Mito Aleksovski, is president of the Association of Macedonians in Poland and one of the child refugees himself. In the introduction, Mr Aleksovski says "The Association of Macedonians in Poland has prepared this report to acquaint international organizations dealing with human rights and national minorities, and also governments of states and international public opinion, with the tragic situation of the Macedonian nation."
The book outlines the obligations assumed by Greece in the 1920 international agreement "On the Protection of Non-Greek Nations" in which Greece pledged to fully protect its Macedonian national minority. This was to include full civic and political rights irrespective of nationality; freedom to use any language in personal, trade and religious contacts and in print and publications; the establishment of schools for Macedonians to learn their own language; and the treatment of Macedonians on a par with Greeks.
However, instead of fulfilling these promises, the Greek authorities instigated policies aimed at assimilation and displacement and the report identifies and summarizes a number of anti-Macedonian laws introduced by successive Greek governments since the takeover of Aegean Macedonia.
These laws particularly affected refugees from the Greek Civil War including the 28,000 Macedonian child refugees. Many thousands of these child refugees have not been allowed to return to Greece and have not been reunited with their families, an act of discrimination which defies international human rights agreements signed by Greece.
Although the report paints a tragic picture that will move all Macedonians, it also has many positive elements. It discusses the forms of self defence adopted by Macedonians and the rebirth of Macedonian national consciousness around the world.
Nor is the report critical of the Greek people. Mr Aleksovski believes that Greek society's consciousness about the Macedonian issue needs to be raised and he gives examples of where this is happening.
The report ends with an articulate appeal to world public opinion for the provision of full human rights, including political, linguistic, religious and cultural rights, to the Macedonian minority.
The 68 page report contains over 20 pages of letters, certificates and other historical documents and 28 photographs to support its claims.
What Europe has Forgotten: The Struggle of the Aegean Macedonians is a lively and challenging report. It was one of the very first texts on Aegean Macedonia to be available in English and written from the Macedonian point of view.
+ info: http://www.pollitecon.com/html/books/what_europe.html
(Informació facilitada per Ireneusz A. Slupkov.) |
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Enviado - 17 julio 2007 : 13:19:01
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Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia EU prospects unrelated to its dispute with Greece
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
External relations - 12-07-2007 - 01:07
Welcoming recent reforms in the country, the European Parliament urged the start of actual accession negotiations as soon as possible, while insisting that the momentum of reforms must be maintained. The own-initiative report by Erik Meijer (UEL/NGL, NL) on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) was adopted by a large majority (558-47-8), and made it clear that the contested issue of the country's name can not form part of the conditions for EU membership.
The report welcomed the progress made by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia since its application for EU membership, and pointed out that "the reform momentum must be maintained, and that the adopted legislation must now be properly and promptly implemented." MEPs were especially concerned about reforms in the fields of police, judiciary and public administration, as well as the fight against corruption. The House also commended the government for its cooperation in the field of CFSP and ESDP, and for its "constructive position on the future status of Kosovo." Nevertheless, it urged the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to reach an agreement with the province on unresolved frontier demarcation issues.
Members noted with satisfaction the Ohrid Framework Agreement, which established the application of the double majority principle (the so-called Badinter principle) protecting non-majority communities in parliamentary decision-making. They also regretted the practice of boycotting the Parliament, and pointed out that such practices "are incompatible with functioning parliamentary institutions." The EP therefore welcomed the successful consultations between government and opposition on the use of Albanian in public institutions, and the agreement on the list of laws to be subject to the Badinter principle.
A candidate by any other name
The most enduring controversy surrounding the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia still seems to be the country's official name. The EP welcomed the fact that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has changed its flag, and has made constitutional amendments to confirm that it has no territorial claims against neighbouring countries. MEPs urged the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greek governments to conclude talks on this issue as soon as possible, while reiterating that "the name issue is not an obstacle to the opening of negotiations for EU accession." While welcoming the initialling of visa facilitation and readmission agreements with the EU, the House also took note of the difficulties faced by the citizens of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia "due to the non-recognition by one Member State of the EU of its passports."
(http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/030-8966-190-07-28-903-20070709IPR08945-09-07-2007-2007-false/default_en.htm) |
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Enviado - 17 julio 2007 : 13:29:11
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Greece overlooks its own expansionism
MAKFAX ONLINE
Athens 11/07/2007 - 16:48
Not a single Greek official is willing to see the expansionism of its own country while pushing the thesis of "Skopje's expansionists propaganda".
The publication of the "Historic Map of Greece (1920)", which shows parts of Turkey and Albania as Greek territories and uses Greek toponyms for the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, makes this fact obvious, announced "Rainbow" - the political party of the Macedonian minority living in Greece .
The Greek state is printing "a historical map that advocates expansionism toward the neighboring countries" and then accuses Macedonia of expansionism, Rainbow's announcement says.
The party of the Macedonians living in Greece is wondering "How will the Greek diplomats convince any interlocutor that their country is committed to the region's stability by bringing forward the long-standing dubious argument that 'the expansionists policies of our neighbors (suggesting to Macedonia)' are not contributing to achieve this goal, when such a map is published upon initiative of the Greek parliament and under supervision of the Military Geographical Office?"
The map has been published and continuously distributed to the Greece's state insitutions since 2000.
(http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=75461&NrIssue=395&NrSection=20) |
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Enviado - 17 julio 2007 : 22:34:47
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COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Parlamentary Assembly
Doc. 11356
12 July 2007
Discrimination in Greek law which affects ethnic Macedonians
Written question No 530 to the Committee of Ministers
presented by Mr Lambert
The Civil War in Greece witnessed the plight of thousands of political refugees, both ethnic Macedonian and others, including Greeks. At least 28,000 child refugees, mostly ethnic Macedonians, were also evacuated from areas of heavy fighting and relocated in countries like Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. The Greek State then proceeded to confiscate the properties of these exiles as well as strip them of their Greek citizenship. Moreover the relatives of these citizens who had been suspected of opposing the Greek government during the Civil War also had their citizenship taken away, arbitrarily and without due process. A series of Decrees and other enactments followed regulating the government’s actions. A 1962 Decree (4234) reinforced past legal enactments pertaining to the confiscation of properties of political exiles and denying them a right of return.
It was not until 1982 that the Greek State enacted a law permitting repatriation and the return of Greek citizenship for these individuals. However, this law was not introduced without some inherent prejudices. Relevantly, leading up to the 1982 law for repatriation, the Greek authorities were attentive to the possibility of seeing thousands of ethnic Macedonians return. Hence, motivating their suggestion that 40,000 people (ethnic Macedonians) living in various Eastern European countries did not constitute an issue that concerned Greece and the principle of free repatriation could not be accepted or applied by Greece.
This was (and remains) an emblematic attitude of the Greek State and culminated with Ministerial Decree number 106841, which announced the relevant passages to the stipulations of Law no. 400/76, providing that;
“Free to return to Greece are all Greeks by genus, who during the Civil War of 1946-1949 and because of it have fled abroad as political refugees, in spite that the Greek citizenship has been taken away from them.”
Similarly, Law no. 1540 was subsequently introduced making provision for the return of confiscated properties to political emigrants, read political refugees. The wording used in the legislation was again unjustly circumspect. It defines political emigrants for whom the law shall have application limited to those who are “Greeks by genus”.
The term ‘Greeks by genus’ is a term used by Greek authorities for all those who identify themselves as being ethnic Greek. Hence, ethnic Macedonians who are also political refugees and have had their Greek citizenship rescinded and/or properties confiscated are excluded from enjoying the rights granted under these laws, therefore severely questioning the very standing of the laws based on grounds of equity and fairness. Moreover, the construction of the wording as relating to these laws is not benign, it has the clear intent to discriminate against all those who belong to the category of people classified as political refugees and who are not “Greeks by genus”. Given that ethnic Macedonians predominantly make-up this category of people, it is indisputable that they have been the ones targeted by this exclusivist definition and the ones to have suffered the most.
Minority Rights Group Greece report referred to earlier confirms that there are many cases of Macedonian political refugees “who could not come to Greece for a short visit even when an important family matter”, such as terminal illness, funeral, wedding and other, was involved. Not unless these ethnic Macedonian political refugees are prepared to abandon their Macedonian consciousness and identity do they stand a chance of exercising their right of return to their birthplace as proclaimed under the laws. However, how does one deny who they are? As the MRG Greece mission itself concluded, these political refugees “have a Macedonian national identity which they are not willing to renounce.” Consequently, this exposes the discriminatory substance of the laws in question by enabling the continual refusal of entry to Greece of ethnic Macedonian political emigrants and/or return of their properties, based on a rejection of a Macedonian identity by the Greek State.
This discrimination has also been noted by the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). In the Third Report on Greece (8 July 2004), ECRI “notes that in a number of spheres Greek law draws a distinction between non-citizens of Greek origin and non-citizens of another origin. This difference generally takes the form of a privileged status for persons of Greek origin.” ECRI backs up this assertion by citing the fact that “in 1982 a regulation permitted the return to Greece of people having fled the country during the 1946-1949 Civil War, together with their families. However, this regulation applied solely to persons ‘of Greek origin’, thus excluding persons of non-Greek and particularly of Macedonian origin who had nonetheless left Greece under the same conditions.”
Given that one of the founding principles of the Council of Europe is non-discrimination, does the Committee of Ministers think that Greek authorities should review these laws, with a view to ending the discrimination resulting from them?
Signed:
LAMBERT Geert, Belgium, SOC
Attached documents:
(See http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc07/EDOC11356.htm) |
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Enviado - 25 julio 2007 : 00:13:14
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CANADA AND THE BALKANS
What's in a name? Blood, if it's Macedonia
ANDRÉ GEROLYMATOS
Chair of Hellenic studies at Simon Fraser University
GLOBEANDMAIL.COM, Toronto
July 16, 2007
Last month, Liberal MP Lui Temelkovski introduced a private member's bill that called for Canada to recognize the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the Republic of Macedonia. This seemingly innocuous bill raised nary an eyebrow in Ottawa. Yet, the name change is a potential source of regional conflict. For 16 years, Canadian governments have stayed clear of Macedonian politics and avoided contributing to such a crisis.
Not long ago, the Balkans conjured images of mass killings, terror and armies of refugees after Yugoslavia's disintegration. The wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo gave us the term "ethnic cleansing," as organized killing symptomatic of the Second World War returned to Europe. Remarkably, the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia managed to quietly separate in 1991 and, for the most part, avoided the bloodshed that swept the other republics. In fact, the only crimes against humanity were committed against history by weapons of cultural destruction and historical parody, a circumstance not exclusive to the Balkans.
According to some voices from Skopje, all Slav citizens are descendents of Alexander the Great and of the ancient Macedonians - everyone, of course, with the exception of as much as 40 per cent of the population that is Albanian. Airports, schools, buildings and bridges are named after Alexander, Philip or other historical figures whose names provide an instant link with antiquity. The Greeks, however, do not like the hijacking of what they believe is their monopoly of classical Greece and its symbols. The Bulgarians are disenchanted with the notion of a Macedonian identity that is not Bulgarian, and the Albanian minority still feels excluded.
During Tito's heyday, the Macedonian republic constituted a small part of the federation, a reminder of the brief flirtation with a greater Yugoslavia that would have encompassed western Bulgaria and Greece's northern province of Macedonia. To this end, Tito armed and trained Greek Communist insurgents who waged a destructive civil war in Greece from 1946 to 1949. Concurrently, he stocked the fires of a distinct Macedonian nationalism that would serve as a fig leaf for the Yugoslav dictator's Balkan ambitions. The idea was that, under the label of pan-Macedonia, the Yugoslavs could absorb parts of Greece and Bulgaria.
Tito's dream never became a reality because Stalin would not countenance a rival Communist strongman in southeastern Europe. As a result, the Macedonian republic was left to languish in obscurity - the dream of a greater Macedonia was confined to history books, maps and storytelling. The Greeks occasionally protested, but the United States and NATO were far too content with Tito's anti-Soviet policies to take it seriously.
But, despite the outward appearance of a prosperous and multicultural Yugoslavia, the forces of extreme nationalism lay just under the surface. In fact, one reason why Yugoslavia began to unravel in the 1980s was because it could not reconcile Serbian predominance and the latent nationalism of the constituent republics. Regional identities supplanted federalism and common sense. Overnight, Slobodan Milosevic set in motion the process for a greater Serbia that, inevitably, led to civil war.
Despite their common ancestry, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and Bosnians had different memories of the past and saw themselves as distinct peoples. The Macedonian problem, to some degree, is not only a mirror image of Yugoslav religious and cultural divisions but also complicated by the Albanian factor. The Slav extremist's insistence on a single ethnic Macedonian identity within a unitary state will further alienate the Albanians and encourage them to seek separation.
This potential new Balkan crisis will also be fuelled by granting independence to Kosovo, a move that will act as a magnet for Albanians in the Macedonian republic. In the ensuing civil war, the Yugoslav horrors of the 1990s will once again plague the region.
This is not to say that a private member's bill in the House of Commons will be the catalyst for a new Balkan conflict. But if it succeeds, it will cast Canadian foreign policy alongside that of the U.S. and Britain, whose short-sighted advocacy of Kosovo independence could trigger another crisis. Ultimately, it would be a very high price to pay for the few votes the bill would generate.
The solution to the Macedonian issue is not facile arguments over who is related to Alexander the Great or what the republic's name is, but rather the admission of this small state into the European Union.
André Gerolymatos is the author of The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond.
(http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/LAC.20070716.COMACE16/TPStory/Comment) |
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Enviado - 28 julio 2007 : 14:39:58
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Greece Recognized the Macedonian Language 85 years ago
The Greek government in 1920 admitted in official documents that Macedonians live in Greece
By Goran Momirovski
A1.com.mk, July 22, 2007
Translated from Macedonian to English and edited by Risto Stefov
In a census organized by Athens, under pressure from the League of Nations, Greece published a chart of graphs in Greek and French showing the existence of Serbian, Bulgarian and Macedonian speakers living in Greece.
The official results from this census were never made public. A greater part of the census including accompanying documentation and copies was destroyed just like the Abecedar, the Macedonian language primer published in 1926 for Macedonian speaking children.
Fortunately parts of the census survived, saved by some Greek historians. The census documents which clearly show that the Macedonian language was part of Greek government politics was re-introduced in the second publication of the Abecedar promoted only a few days ago in Ofchareni, Lerin Region by Vinozhito.
“The majority of the people today don’t know that in 1920 there was such information, where during the taking of that census people were asked about their mother tongue. Those parts of the census that refer to Macedonia were never published” said Dimitrios Lithoxou from Vinozhito.
The part of the census document that survived clearly shows that two decades before Tito, Greece had recognized the Macedonian identity.
A year and a half ago, these documents were given to Matthew Nimitz, the Greek-Macedonian name dispute envoy. According to diplomatic sources in A1, these historical facts lead Nimitz to change his position in the name dispute making it more favourable for the Macedonia side, which was immediately rejected by Athens.
The new in Macedonian: http://a1.com.mk/vesti/default.asp?VestID=81873 |
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Enviado - 29 julio 2007 : 17:36:07
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To the Management of www.hi5.com
I am writing this appeal on behalf of the 3,009 Macedonian members of Hi5 who have nothing but been harassed by Greek members on your site.
No doubt Greeks have presented you with various reasons why Macedonians should be banned from this site and why this site must be closed but what the Greeks have failed to tell you is the truth why they want to suppress the Macedonian voices.
The Greeks no doubt have produce baseless and un-provable arguments as to which group Alexander the Great and the Ancient Macedonians from 2,300 years ago belong to, but they have failed to tell you how Macedonia became Greek in 1912/1913 for the first time in history and the acts Greeks committed against the Macedonian people while making Macedonia Greek.
It is well known that Macedonia (the entire geographical region) was invaded by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria under the pretense of liberation, occupied by force and illegally partitioned by the August 13, Treaty of Bucharest.
In 1990, the Serbian occupied part of Macedonia declared its independence and became a sovereign and independent nation. Fearing the same of happening to Greek occupied Macedonia, especially since the Macedonian people in that state are systemically persecuted and have absolutely no human rights, the Greeks have mounted a massive campaign trying to silence the Macedonian voice.
Macedonians have lived on Macedonian lands for time immemorial while the Greeks have only been there since 1912, yet Macedonians according to most Greeks, have no right to call themselves Macedonians.
Today’s modern Greeks, overwhelmingly made up of ethnic Albanians, ethnic, Vlachs, ethnic Turks, ethnic Macedonians and other non-Greeks ethnicities, claim to be a homogeneous nation made up of 98% pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient so called Greeks, yet Macedonians who refuse to subscribe to that myth are outcast from Greek society and persecuted for their non-beliefs.
If you think Greeks behave harshly against the Macedonians in democratic states like Canada, the USA and Australia imagine what they behave like inside Greece where Macedonian voices cannot be heard by the outside world.
Again, on behalf on the 3,009 Macedonian members on this site I appeal to you that if you do ban any members on this site, please do it for the right reasons and not to appease Greek chauvinism.
Thank you,
Boyan Lazarov
Here is the Greek request:
"Dear Sir or Madam, I am a HI5 member coming from Greece. Your site's services are of the highest standard, but lately me personally and other Greek members of your site, have noticed some absurd actions from some other HI5 members. The group with "MAKEDONIJA-United Macedonia" (http://www.hi5.com/friend/group/displayTopic.do;jsessionid=anHGv4DswF1b?topicId=6546334&groupId=113039) is propagandistic and the owners promote propaganda. There were debates over the naming of the country F.Y.R.O.M, and this matter is still unresolved, so the inhabitants of this country; users of your services have no right to use this name. The name Macedonia and its greatest king "Alexander the Great" are without doubt a part of Greek history and the people in those groups are trying to steal this part of history, in order to have a good reason for their country to be recognized. Many times
the politicians of F.Y.R.O.M have admitted that they have no connection to Alexander the Great and Macedonia whatsoever. President Bush, although recognized F.Y.R.O.M with the name Macedonia, has recently said that Greece has the final word on this matter and will do whatever Greece decides.
Apart from the name, this group also claims Greek soil (the whole of northern Greece) which is absurd. If you watch the avatar of this group, you will notice that it depicts Greek soil CONQUERED by their country!!! They call themselves Macedonians yet they have no connection to ancient Macedonians whatsoever, and they don't even speak the language of the ancient Macedonians, which was ancient Greek. I kindly request that this group be suspended as well as the owners an moderators of this group be warned about it and forced to change the names and photos of every such group they own or are moderators of, along with similar groups, to which they will probably be members.
P.S. THIS MESSAGE MIGHT BE USED BY OTHER USERS TOO, BECAUSE MANY OF THEM DON'T KNOW THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WELL AND CANNOT EXPRESS THEIR VIEW OVER THIS MATTER "
(Information received in CASA DE L'EST from Mr. Risto Stefov.) |
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Enviado - 01 agosto 2007 : 23:53:24
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MACEDONIAN ORGANISATION FROM THE END OF THE 19TH AND THE BEGINNING
OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Posted by Janko Tomov
The Macedonian Digest
Edition 20 – August 2007
For young Macedonians, thirsty for science, the doors in the schools that were financed by neighbouring states were always open to them. There were Macedonians who were going to Russia or to Austria-Hungary. Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian governments were simply in competition to see which of them would open more schools in Macedonia to have more students for their cause.
Why we mention these activities is because those educated Macedonians started to push themselves as intelligentsia over their own people, and started to prepare them for the future take over by the states that were financing their education.
The bravest and most credible Macedonians, even though they were educated in foreign Macedonian schools, liked to save their own Macedonian nature and nationality and culture from the influence of foreign propaganda.
In autumn 1893, in Salonica, a Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) was formed.
In April 1895, as president of the Central Committee of MRO, Hristo Tatarchev was elected. But the Bulgarian government was not satisfied with the formation of this organization, and for that reason in 1895 helped in the formation of a parallel organization, under the name of the ‘Macedonian Committee’. The president of this organization was Trajko Kitinchev. In 1895, this Organization made a protest and armed uprising in Melnik (Macedonian city close to the Bulgarian border), which was put down quickly because the Turkish government reacted strongly against the peaceful Macedonian civil population.
At the same time, the Bulgarian government wanted to put its own people in the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) to have their activities under control. Bulgaria was hoping for this because the members of MRO generally were educated in Bulgarian schools. Inside the MRO, could be seen strong defense against that intention of Bulgaria. Macedonian Revolutionaries knew that Bulgaria would enter only into the war against the Ottoman Empire because of Macedonia and future plans, and for that were very careful about their ‘offers’ of help. MRO, apart from all mistakes that were made, stayed to the end a Macedonian organization in the serving of the Macedonian people.
MRO tried slowly, little by little to arm Macedonians and was against hasty unprepared uprisings. When Bulgaria saw that, it made a final attempt to influence the MRO, and continued to support the ‘Supreme Committee’. In 1895, at the Second Congress of Macedonian Clubs in Sofia, the Macedonian Committee was renamed the ‘Supreme Macedonian Committee’ (SMC).
In April 1896, MRO held a congress in Salonica. Then the name was changed to ‘Secret Macedonian-Odrinska Revolutionary Organization’ (SMORO). At this conference the decision was made to form the ‘Over Border Representation’ in Sofia. The leaders who were elected were Goce Delchev and Georche Petrov.
Contact between SMORO and VMK increased quickly, towards collaboration. In VMK, besides pro-Bulgarian sentiment, could be seen strong pro-Macedonian sentiment. In the forefront was Boris Sarafov, who openly declared that Macedonians were not Bulgars, nor Serbs, but a separate people.
Pro-Macedonian sentiment in VMK founded very close collaborative links with SMORO, in planning actions together.
Some of the leaders of the SMORO started to adopt socialist ideas, but started to be met with a lot of external and internal problems. Some of them were denouncing traitors and dishonest individuals. For example, in January 1902, a man, Zlatarev robbed one of the Bulgarian banks. All the money was given to MRO but the money fell into the wrong hands and wasn’t used for honest purposes of the organization (more details about this in ‘Memoirs of Macedonian Revolutionaries’ by Dame Gruev and Jane Sandanski).
The Bulgarian government and church realized that with the activity of MRO, they could lose Macedonia for their own future land and because of that, they made their propaganda amongst the Macedonians stronger. Bulgaria was frightened of the role of the big powers which easily could use the work of the MRO for their own purpose. This was especially their thoughts regarding Austria-Hungary, which was sympathetic towards the movement of Macedonians for their liberty. This to some degree applied to Serbia as well, because it started to make official contact with MRO.
That was the time when, in Bulgaria, there started to develop socialist ideas. Those ideas were adopted in Macedonia, but mostly by individuals. Enthusiastic and high level activists of MRO, even though they were promoting social justice, were not active socialists. In his own memoirs, Dame Gruev writes: “In Macedonia, they irritated the social situation and I felt drawn to this, and I protected that teaching, but an active socialist I never was, and I did not think that socialistic teaching had a base in Macedonia.” (Damjan Gruev – Jane Sandanski – Spomeni, L. Miletich, Sofia, 1972.)
Only Goce Delchev was a sympathizer to socialistic ideas. Even that is not clear. In one situation he said: “You will be very naïve if you believe all of our words, but you watch our actions.”
Some time after the foundation of MRO (SMORO) two strands emerged. One we could say was the left orientation, but that was a small number. Later, with the victory of the Communists in Macedonia and in Bulgaria, members of that strand were glorious, maybe because of the needs of the latest communists. But the fact is that these revolutionaries in their own period of time did not have a great amount of support from the people.
In January 1903, SMORO made a decision for an uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Straight away, a meeting was held with the ‘Over-Border Representation’ with representatives of the Macedonian immigration in Sofia, which ratified the decision for the uprising.
Some revolutionaries (sympathizers of the left wing) were against an uprising that was too early and insufficiently prepared. Leading them, quite openly, in their opposition to the uprising was Goce Delchev. However, he continued with organizing of diversions against the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Strongly in opposition to an early uprising was Jane Sandanski, who was an influential revolutionary in the southeast part of Macedonia. He said that he would not take part in the uprising, together with his armed supporters, and that SMORO could make an uprising only in the western part of Macedonia. In the previously mentioned book of Miletich, is the record of conversations between Jane Sandanski and Goce Delchev, of which I reproduce some parts: “ ‘I have to tell him, you start the uprising too early’. Delchev told me: What can be done? Lots of refugees come from Petrich, those supremists will use them. From the other side, friends want an uprising. For example, Stefan Dimitrov, the foreign delegate, said that he would stop being involved in actions concerning the ‘Macedonian question’ if an uprising does not happen.’”
But the instigator of the uprising was Dame Gruev, one of the most influential members of SMORO. From today’s aspect it is hard to make a statement as to who was in the right. It was well known that Dame had a meeting with Goce Delchev in which they deeply analyzed the situation in connection with the coming uprising. We know that Delchev definitely gave his support to that plan. But he asked for it to be delayed until summer, to have some time for preparation. After this meeting, Goce went to his area where he continued with diversionary activities. With his own group he blew up one of the railway bridges, and became involved in supplying weapons for the revolution.
The decision for the uprising was encouraged by the Bulgarian government, which promised a lot of help to Macedonians, which was not forthcoming. In his book “Todor Aleksandrov” Dr Branislav Sinadinovski wrote: “ From the middle of March to the second of August 1903, in Macedonia and Odrin 122 encounters with the Turkish army were registered. One of them was the action of a group of anarchists. From 27 April to 1 May 1903 in Salonica (Solun) one group of Macedonian revolutionaries (well known as ‘gemigjii’) made serious attacks, the targets of which were the French boat Gvadalkivir, Salonica railway station, the Ottoman bank and others”.
From 2-7 May 1903, another congress of SMORO was held, this time in the village of Smilevo. Following the decision of the Salonica congress held in January the same year, at this congress a final decision for an uprising was made. The committee of generals ‘General Staff’, in which were Boris Serafov, Dame Gruev, and Atanas Lazanchev was formed.
During this congress, on 4 May 1903, in the neighbourhood of the village Banica (Sersko), Goce Delchev was killed in a battle against the Turkish Army.
The General Staff of the uprising ordered battles to start on July 20, 1903. The first armed action started in the village of Smilevo. The leader of that region in the fighting was a revolutionary Gorgi Sugarev. In the neighbourhood was an army garrison of 60 Turkish soldiers, who were pushed back to Bitola. After 10 days, Turkish reinforcements of around 800 soldiers came, who put down the uprising and burnt the village of Smilevo. In September, there was another uprising at this village.
In the meantime, the cities of Krushevo and Klisura were liberated. In Krushevo Nikola Karev founded the Macedonian Republic, but it lasted only 10 days, because the Turkish army destroyed it. After that, the whole uprising was completely quelled; it only lasted another few months with a weakened intensity.
Later the organization was more drastically divided into the two strands (popularly called ‘left’ and ‘right’) and between them more fighting commenced.
In both were revolutionaries who declared themselves as ‘Bulgarians’, even though they were trying to separate Macedonia. The reasons for this were different. Most of them were educated in Bulgarian schools, some of them declared so they would not lose their jobs in Bulgarian institutions.
With some passing of time, SMORO changed to IMRO, and in the 1920s there came contact between this organization and the Third Communist International, who in IMRO made a few demands asking for “IMRO with a united front of all revolutionary power including criminals to start battles against all Balkan states and against capitalist Europe and the world.” (Dr. Branislav Sinadinovski “Todor Aleksandrov”, P. 220)
In that time, at the head of IMRO was Todor Aleksandrov who established one vision for autonomy for the Pirin part of Macedonia. The Bulgarian government made a decision to arrest Macedonian intellectuals and ban some Macedonian newspapers of Macedonian immigrants in Macedonia. Of this action Aleksandrov answered: “We are not like others, we are instigating fighting in the streets, but immediately with dignity we are answering, and in future we will answer the instigation of the Bulgarian governments and some ministries forgetting… and Stamboliski and Rajko and all of them were thinking IMRO is zero without Bulgaria and were trying to destroy it inside in Macedonia under Serbian slavery, and in negotiation with the Serbian state and in the provinces of Tsare Bulgaria. The result of that is can be seen…If Radev does not learn lessons from that, he can try his power.” (Dr. Branislav Sinadinovski: ‘Todor Aleksandrov’ P 225)
For those assertions, the Bulgarian government criticized Aleksandrov and his relations with them were cooled. Aleksandrov was criticized for the deaths of Bulgarian government officials.
In the newsletter: ‘Times’ Todor Aleksandrov was interviewed, in which amongst other things he said: “In the name of the organization IMRO, I formally state that the organization will cease armed fighting if the next demands are met: 1) Disbanding of Serbian troops of Stojan Mishev, Ciklev and other traitors everywhere in Macedonia and imprisoning them for their past actions (rapes, killings, robberies); 2) Using of peaceful settlement to protect the rights of nationality of ethnic groups under the control of big powers; 3) Amnesty for all Macedonians and the right to return to Macedonia by the refugees and emigrants under the control of the Society of Nations and with the guarantee of the big powers. 4) Electoral freedom in parliament and giving the right to Macedonians to form legal political parties.” Dr Branislav Sinadinovski: ‘Todor Aleksandrov’ P. 101 and 162).
In one other occasion, Todor Aleksandrov stated: “Today, Macedonia wants its own independence with the borders it had before 1912 with Salonica (Solun) as the capital city. That is actually asking for what we handed to Europe in the declaration our organization gave to the conference in Lausanne.” (Dr Branislav Sinadinovski: ‘Todor Aleksandrov’ P. 160.
Macedonian researcher and lawyer Stavre Gjikov in his book ‘Macedonia in the Communist Triangle’, on P. 11, writes: “In talking at the Paris Conference, Italy insisted that we make an autonomous Macedonian State. The English delegation was for a Protectorate over Macedonia on the side of the Society of Nations, until American and Japanese delegations were supporting the English proposal, according to which, USA needed Macedonia to become mandated under the name of the Society of Nations.”
And today, in the years since the Paris Conference, Macedonians are still asking for help from international bodies, this time from the United Nations and from the International Organization for Protection of Human Rights. Sadly, despite large efforts, Macedonians who are living in Bulgaria and Greece have yet to have basic human rights, even though both of these states declared themselves as ‘democratic’. To the contrary, they still today continue the process of denationalization of Macedonians. And all those things were happening in front of the eyes of the United Nations and the International Organization for Protection of Human Rights. But that was part of the continuing politics of bigger powers. In connection with that, I will continue with more information and quotes from the book of Dr Branislav Sinadinovski, under the title ‘Todor Aleksandrov’. Here we read: “Great Britain, for example, as the most powerful country in the world, had the strongest political and economic position in Turkey, and it was very interested in keeping its territorial access and stopping the Balkan states solving the ‘Eastern Question’ in a military way. Similar politics was evident in France… and with an even bigger interest in the Balkan Peninsula was Austria-Hungary. That interest increased especially after the Berlin Congress in 1878, when she was given the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina… Thinking about lawful successors of Byzantia, of the decomposition of the Ottoman Empire, Russia was prepared to take over the Black Sea and to go to the White Sea (Aegean Sea) like in the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean. For that they had wars in Krim (1853-1856), and in Russia-Turkey (1877-1878), by taking at the same time lots of diplomatic and political actions and interventions in different Balkan problems”.
Stavre Gjikov said that in those times, in some political arenas, the name of Macedonia was avoided being mentioned. That name was changed with the term ‘European Turkey’ or ‘Rumelia’. (Stavre Gjikov: ‘Macedonia in the Communist Triangle’ P. 8.) That was with the purpose of neglecting the ethno-geographical name of our country (Macedonia) and for it to be seen as a region of some of the neighbouring occupied states. But Stavre Gjikov finally concludes that: “Yet, it was very well-known and clear that Article No 23 of the Berlin Congress combined decision, first and foremost is for Macedonia. With that act the question of autonomy of Macedonia has its own international legal act.”
We said that in that time (end of 19th and beginning of 20th century) Macedonian uprisings big or small started with the purpose of liberation, which ended without success, mostly because of insufficient weapons, and because of not enough international support, like the other Balkan nations had when they made their states.
Macedonians were taking part in foreign wars and takeovers, hoping that in that way they would have rewards. For example, Macedonians actively were helping and supporting the ‘Young Turkish Revolution’ of 1908, which defeated the Sultan and proclaimed a republic i.e. the feudalist system changed to a capitalist system. Even though the leaders of this revolution were promised autonomy for Macedonians, this was later denied.
Macedonians took part in both the Balkan wars (1912 and 1913), when the Balkan states together declared war on Turkey, defeating it and gaining control of the Balkans. That was in the first Balkan War. Macedonians, organized by IMRO, took an active role in the battles against Turkey, but in the end were cheated and they still remained without their own state. Worse still, Macedonia was divided and occupied by Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria, and for Macedonians more slavery occurred in the three states.
Macedonians took part in the First World War, basically on the side of the central powers because they were hoping that would make them independent. But this time again they were cheated.
Later, in Bulgaria, IMRO made one kind of autonomy. In connection with that in the book of Sinadinovski on P 141, we read: “In Pirin Macedonia IMRO instituted its own legal and taxation system, taking control of the whole economic, political and cultural life in the state, and this territory was established and commenced to function like a ‘state within a state’. In a short time, IMRO successfully cleared the territory of groups of bandits, traitors and corrupt government officials and took care of the refugees. The Todor Aleksandrov organization was powerful. Maybe the best spoken information came from Yugoslav intelligence agencies, according to who, in the time of 1923, IMRO had assets with 1675 active troops ready for action in Vardar Macedonia, of whom, 925 had to operate on the left, and 750 on the right side of the river Vardar. In Strumica’s surrounding areas were 160 people under the command of V’ndev, in Maleshevos – 60 people under the command of Vojvoda Kushev, in Tsarevoselskas – 50 people, Shtips – 250 people, Radovish – 50, Kochanskis – 180 people, Tikveshkis – 80 people, Gevgeliskis – 50 people, and in Dojranskis – 45 people. Our own organization had brigades of troops in Aegean Macedonia: Kikushkos, Enigevardarskos, Kosturskos and Porojskos. Besides this active armed power, IMRO had at its disposal the people’s police made up of peasants, who in Pirin Macedonia alone numbered 9000 – 10000 people, and that in Petrichka district numbered 2100 people, in Nevrokopska 1800 people, Jumajska 3000 people, Melnichka 1000 people and others.”
In connection with the organizing within IMRO in Pirin Macedonia, Macedonian historian Dr Zoran Todorovski in his book ‘Inside Macedonian Revolutionary Organization’ writes: “Publicizing of any information about or creation of any Bulgarian political parties or showing their candidates for district or parliamentary elections was banned.”
That especially happened in the time of Vancho Mihajlov, who came to the leadership of the right wing of IMRO, after the assassination of Todor Aleksandrov, which was organized by the Bulgarian government and communist factions.
Mihajlov was warning the Bulgarian ministers by threatening to kill them if they took action against the autonomy of Macedonians in Pirin Macedonia. This was because IMRO were showing that “…Pirin part of Macedonia is Macedonian, and not Bulgarian.” Todorovski wrote that in IMRO could be seen that: “…we will not recognize any Bulgarian law and the Bulgarian governments”.
In the same book on P. 191, Zoran Todorovski wrote: “In the schools of the Pirin part of Macedonia was introduced a special subject ‘Macedonian History’, and pupils and students were educated to believe that Macedonian people were totally different from Bulgarian people, while teachers of the Bulgarian language and literature tolerated this and were stimulating students to learn, write and speak the Macedonian dialect.”
To continue, we read that priests in the churches were using the term “Macedonian people”, but not “Bulgarian People”. Zoran Todorovski wrote that a large Macedonian gathering or picnic was held in Gorna Jumaja from 12-14 February 1933, and that with the politics of Vancho Mihajlov was targeting “…very deep feelings of the Macedonian refugee immigrants en masse and encouraging their dreams for liberation of their homeland and their return to it.”
But, in 1934, in Bulgaria a new Bulgarian government came to power and it disbanded IMRO. Before that, the Balkan States Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Turkey had made a Balkan Treaty. In reaction to that, IMRO decided to drop the idea of an autonomous Macedonia and start to stand for a united and independent Macedonian state. That resulted in the disbanding of IMRO on the Bulgarian territory, and the arrest and jailing of their members.
Mihajlov just managed to escape into Turkey. In connection with that, Zoran Todorovski in his book wrote: “…the new Bulgarian government with a separate declaration of the 14th June 1934, disbanded the old political parties and organizations in the state, including IMRO…It was disappointed with the changing of the slogan of Mihajlov’s IMRO from asking for an autonomous Macedonia within Bulgaria to the new proclamation asking for a whole independent Macedonia.”
(Received from Mr. Risto Stefov: rstefov@hotmail.com) |
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akritas
Envíos 9 |
Enviado - 05 agosto 2007 : 21:13:32
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THE NATIONAL COORDINATED EFFORT OF HELLENES (CEH)
1100 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington , D.C. 20037
(202) 393-7790 [fax] (202) 628-0225
E-mail: CoordinatedEffort@Manatos.com
MENENDEZ, OBAMA AND SNOWE
TAKE TO U.S. SENATE
EFFORT TO END FYROM PROPOGANDA THAT THREATENS GREECE
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 3, 2007 – “Legislation to stop state-sponsored propaganda in FYROM (the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) that is potentially dangerous for Greece was introduced in the U.S. Senate today. The Senate’s leaders of Hellenic and Orthodox issues, Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), along with one of the leading Presidential candidates and the Senator most important to European matters, the Chairman of the European Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), introduced this legislation,” said the leaders of the Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH).
This bill in the House of Representatives – which has received strong support, cosponsored by over 75 Members of Congress and climbing – is championed by the Chairman and Ranking Republican of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe Subcommittee, Congressmen Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Elton Gallegly (R-CA), respectively, along with the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL).
“The bill points to a television report showing students in a FYROM state-run school being taught that parts of Greece should be part of their country. The legislation also points to recently-published textbooks of their military academy that contain maps showing ‘Greater Macedonia’ extending many miles into Greece and into Bulgaria . According to the legislation, the UN Accord requires them to not ‘support claims to any part of the territory of the other party or claims for a change of the existing frontiers.’”
“The legislation asks FYROM to adhere to its UN agreement and stop its schools and others from teachings that threaten Greece . As well, the bill urges FYROM to adhere to UN and US policy and reach agreement with Greece on a name for their new country – one that does not encourage FYROM aggression”.
“American concerns about these threats began in 1944 when U.S. Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius said, ‘This Government considers talk of a Macedonian ‘nation’… representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece.’ That aggression subsequently killed thousands of Greek citizens.”
“Like the ‘Confederate Flag’ issue in the US , this issue awakens memories of terrible suffering in the past and can encourage extremists today. Adherence to the UN agreement and to American policy regarding the name issue is in the best interests of the United States , FYROM, Greece and the Balkan region”.
The leaders of the Coordinated Effort of Hellenes include Andrew A. Athens, Chairman, National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH); National Chairman, United Hellenic American Congress (UHAC), Honorary President, World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE); Andrew E. Manatos, President, National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH); Philip Christopher, Vice Chair, National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH), President, International Coordinating Committee--Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA); President, Pancyprian Association of America; Executive Board Member, UHAC and PSEKA, Panicos Papanicolaou, Supreme President, Cyprus Federation of America; and Nikos Mouyiaris, Executive Vice President, Pancyprian Association of America.
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MACEDÒNIA I EL SEU ENTORN / MACEDONIA Y SU ENTORNO
