Australian Macedonian Advisory Council
November 27, 2009
Dear Editor,
We (The Australian Macedonian Advisory Council) are writing to you regarding two pages of your online encyclopedia, under the section “Countries of the world”. As an Australian-Greek organization we are extremely disappointed with the sections aforementioned, as in the first article “Countries of the world – Greece” you incorrectly refer to the ethnic composition (under Demography) of 1.8% “Macedonian”. Greece does not recognize any such minority in its borders, as there are already 2.2 million Greek Macedonians who already refer to themselves as Greeks firstly and Macedonians secondly – just like people from Athens refer to themselves as Greeks firstly and Athenians secondly. This is a huge blunder on your behalf, as you have quoted your source as a year 2000 unofficial source. An OFFICIAL source is already available for your use (provided by the Hellenic Republic), and shown in the CIA Factbook – Greece (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gr.html) and throughout many other sources.
The second page in question is the page titled “Countries of the world – Macedonia”, in which you incorrectly use a blurb which states: “DId you know? – In Plutarch’s classic history of Alexander The Great, he claims that the famous Macedonian general was tutored as a youth by none other than Aristotle.” The fact that you present is indeed correct (i.e. Alexander The Great was tutored by Aristotle), but this fact has nothing in common with the country that you are associating it with i.e. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The region of ancient Macedonia (the land of Alexander the Great) is in Greece, as confirmed by many classical scholars, including the 356 scholars involved with the “Macedonia Evidence Initiative” (www. macedonia-evidence.org). Alexander The Great was born in Pella (coordinates 40°45′36″N 22°31′09″E / 40.76°N 22.51917°E) and his father was born in Aegai (coordiantes 40°28′42″N 22°19′19″E). The Australian Macedonian Advisory Council (AMAC) demands an explaination as to why an unofficial source was quoted in the “Countries of the world – Greece” page, and why a blurb as such has been associated with the FYROM. A correction to both of these pages is quite necessary on your behalf. We patiently await your reply.
Please refer to:
(http://www.history-of-macedonia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/britanicaalmanac2010.jpg) and
(http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2069/pagesfrombritannica2010.jpg) for clarification.
Thanking you,
Australian Macedonian Advisory Council
info@macedonian.com.au
http://www.macedonian.com.au/
www.macedonian.com.au/forum
I'm getting sick and tired at Greece's 'lame' approach to this issue. Greece needs to do some good ol' fashioned 'Marketing' of their brand, because at the moment perception is reality for the the vast majority of the world who are now using "Macedonia" in their naive description of FYROM. If Skopje wants to name their airport 'Alexander the Great', so should Athens, then we'll see some interesting debates, and so on and so on..
ReplyDeleteLike it or not, Greece will eventualy have to live with knowing that by whatever name it agrees to accept for its northern neighbour - which it calls with provisional reference Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but the rest of the world calls Macedonia - the only name it will be known bt is - MACEDONIA.
ReplyDeleteBut Greece worst nightmare is yet to come: when Macedonia survives this freakish "Greek" invented problem and joins the European community as an equal and fully accredited member, we will witness an irrepresible grassroots upheaval in Greece by long suppressed ethnic groups like Vlachs, Albanians, Roma, and definitely - the ethnic Turks.