Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Greek comments as regards the FYROM issues at ECRI’s report(pages 61-62)

With respect to the references to ‘’Macedonian’’ community and language (paras. 111-120), we would like to stress that a small number of people in Greek Macedonia, mainly in the prefecture of Florina, apart from Greek, speak a Slavic dialect, which is confined to family or colloquial use. This dialect has similarities with the language spoken by the Slav-Macedonians in the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Cross-border contacts, such as tourism and trade, keep this dialect alive,as is the case with the Greek language spoken in the southern part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. All people in Greece speaking this dialect are bilingual (Slavic/Greek).

Subjective claims or perceptions of some of the above-mentioned individuals, which are not based on objective facts and criteria, that they are ethnically “Macedonians” do not establish by themselves a corresponding obligation of Greece to officially recognize this group as a «minority» and to guarantee to its members specific minority rights, additional to those guaranteed by human rights treaties. Moreover, the use on their behalf of the term “Macedonian” in order to define a distinct ethnicity creates confusion with the 2,5 million Greeks who identify themselves as Macedonians in the regional/cultural sense.

In any case, in Greece, even if a group is not recognised as a minority enjoying specific minority rights, individuals are free to declare that they belong to a distinct ethnic or cultural group, without any negative consequences resulting from such a statement. In addition, these persons enjoy fully all their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, which are recognized by the provisions of national and international law. Both the judiciary and the administration are obliged to implement these provisions. Persons who consider that their rights are
being violated can bring their case before the Greek courts and also have the possibility to appeal to the competent international bodies, as provided for by the relevant treaties binding Greece.

A couple of examples prove the above mentioned affirmations:

- There is a political party in Greece, which claims to represent the “Macedonian minority”. This party operates freely and participates without any impediments in the elections. One of the leading figures of the party is a civil servant, working for the Greek State, regardless of his political activities and views.

- There are regular cultural events and festivities organised by the Slav-speaking persons in the region of Florina, where everyone is free to participate, including nationals of the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.


In conclusion, all persons residing in Greece, regardless of their nationality, ethic origin, language, religious or political affiliation enjoy full protection of their human rights and liberties. Everyone is free to declare his/her origin, speak his/her language, exercise his/her religion and observe his/her particular customs and traditions.

Finally, with regard to the implementation of measures of reconciliation, the Greek State, in order to definitely heal the wounds of the Civil War, proceeded to the reinstatement of the citizenship and the return of confiscated property of persons of Greek origin who had fled the country after this traumatic historical experience. However, all individuals, irrespective of their ethic origin, have the possibility to bring before Greek courts any claims regarding property or other issues, under the general provisions of law.

6 comments:

  1. What a load of BS. Nothing but lies from Greeks mouths when it comes to the Macedonians. The political party mentioned above (Rainbow) had its mail delayed and in some cases confiscated or opened by the Greek Mail Service in the lead up to the last European elections. Why, you may ask? To spy on them, to delay them getting their message out, and to simply bully them into not expressing their beliefs.
    Cradle of democracy in deed!

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  2. Rainbow party? They truly are in a dream world these skopjian lunatics.
    All mail is subject to inspection by governments in which the letters pass through. Doesn't matter which country your in.
    So are emails, phone calls, faxes, but these are done through the Echelon system that the Imperialist powers have put in place.
    By the way your so-called Rainbow party had ample time to send out mail or deliver flyers by hand to the election districts it contested.
    Lame excuse for a fake party with a fake cause.
    skopjia the cradle of lies, historical revisionism, and inferiority complexes

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  3. Face it Greece, you have lost the so called name game question you created yourself. Over 120 countries recognize Macedonia by its constitutional name, and it is only a matter of time before your newly elected government will break under internationally pressure and give in itself, thus loosing at the game it started. What will happen to the fragile Greek psychie then? Don't get me wrong, the Macedonian politicians are not the best, but at least they stood their ground on this, and will prevail in the end.

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  4. The pro-Fyromian party of Greece got about 4500 votes in the whole of Greece, half of them probably by mistake. It is bad form to blame the failed pseudomacedonian propaganda on a delay in the post.

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  5. Anonymus, the name issue was created by yourselves, not by Greece. You have chosen to call yourselves Macedonians, a Greek word, do not refuse reality. Or have you now chosen another name and we are not aware of it? In the League of Nations, Nazi Germany was also bilateraly recognised by the several individual nations but left the League of Nations because of its disregard for the League. This is becoming the situation with FYROM today, for having failed for 14 years to propose an alternative name to Macedonia, in violation of the New York Agreement FYROM has signed. FYROM president Ivanov went as far as practically call the Agreement 'absurd'.

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  6. 120 countries recognized FYROM as "Macedonia".....
    Modus operandi of skopjians: They sign small government contracts with these nations whether to sell a couple cases of nuts and bolts. The contracts state the signing parties are "Macedonia" and "and the other country". That is how they claim 120 countries recognize them. A number of small island countries were party to such agreements.
    There are a number of slavic countries which ran to recognize FYROM under their stolen name of "Macedonia" and you don't have to guess why.
    You also have to ask yourself "anonymous simpleton" that 100% of those who recognized the skopjians as "Macedonians" not only DO NOT know history, but couldn't even name the capital city of "FYROM". Ignorant signatories, who are easily fooled or have been compensated in some fashion to parrot the lies of the skopjians.
    skopjians are bunch of laughable lunatics taking the the playbook of the Nazis and Communists = the bigger the lie the more propaganda you use at some point in time uneducated and dim witted people will believe it.

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