Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Rabid attacks against the Greek President and Deputy MFA laced with hatred and profanities

The language used in a stream of op-eds, press releases and postings in mainstream websites of the Muslim Minority of Western (Greek) Thrace and the Makedonski (Slavomacedonian) communities in Greek Macedonia and trans-Atlantic diaspora, raises eyebrows, points --once again-- to deeply entrenched psychological pathologies and dampens enthusiasm about the prospect of a nearing solution.


Three representative examples are presented below:


1. Openly attacking the integrity of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, effectively calling him a "war criminal"...
http://www.trakyaninsesi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79:o-&catid=1:son-haberler&Itemid=50
[About the author of the trakyaninsesi.com piece] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIKhzNxMAi4


2. The site administrator of MakNews.com uses highly offensive language laced with hatred and profanity to describe the mother of Greek Deputy MFA Droutsas [scroll down half way in the URL below]: http://www.maknews.com/forum/general-discussions/drucas-we-negotiate-only-for-name-t18999.html


3. Witness a barrage of slanderous remarks and innuendos against Greek Deputy MFA Droutsas in a Press Release titled "Droutsas, the “new” nationalist,"which was posted in the official website of EFA-Rainbow Party:
http://www.vinozito.gr/news/2009/december18_g.asp

Christos D. Katsetos, MD, PhD, FRCPath

http://www.drexelmed.edu/Home/AboutOurFaculty/ChristosKatsetos.aspx

9 comments:

  1. I interpret these hysterical reactions to mean that the calm, steady and determined policies of Greece are frightening and panicking the extremists. They are, of course, self-defeating. They should be met with indifference. Any extremist response to them can only damage the Greek position.

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  2. Carol,
    I am not so sure that the views expressed by the people on Maknews are from the fringe of Skopje's Diaspora. While they may not be representative of the whole, MANY Disapora groups associated with Skopje use Maknews as a recruitment and information hub.

    1) The website of Vinozito Party in Greece is administered by the man behind Maknews. They also promote Maknews on their website by providing a link to it.

    2) "Macedonian" Human Rights Movement International, Australian "Macedonian" Human Rights Council, United "Macedonian" Diaspora, Cultural and Educational Movement of "Voden"/Edessa, are ALL examples of groups which contribute to this forum, campaign for funds, and recruit members from this group of bigots.

    3) Calls for physical harm to greeks in the Diaspora, and posts like "f-k your mother", "Kill your father", "deport Albanians", "Hellenism is a disease", "f-n Jews", "all Greeks are gay homos" are just some of the examples of popular posts on this supposed "news" website. People have saved print screen copies of these things.

    It is hate speech and instigation. There are internet laws against hate in Canada where Maknews originates (Toronto). My guess is that they may well be in serious trouble when someone cites them for hatred. This is pervasive in Skopje's diaspora and if I may venture an educated guess: in Skopje's official circles as well.

    PS: I hope that you reread the repost of the St Germain en Laye Treaty.

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  3. Well-said, Anonymous. My objection is to any like-minded reply. I agree that a calm and measured legal response as you suggest is an appropriate reaction. In fact, the Slav-Macedonian diaspora has taken such a step against an Australian Premier who voiced support for Greece and opposition to the Slav-Macedonian leadership in the most innocuous terms. I have no idea, however, as to who would, and who should, take up the challenge, a Greek-diaspora NGO, perhaps.

    best,

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  4. Η ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ.
    ΜΑCEDONIA IS HELLENIC.

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  5. Slogans like "Macedonia is Greek" are, and were when the slogan first appeared, misunderstood by foreigners to mean that Greece has territorial designs on another country. It works against Greece and should be avoided. It is a confusing slogan, anyway.

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  6. Why does the Greek government not recognize minorities?!
    What are they afraid of?!

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  7. Greece will soon be gone into Crete, half of Aegean to Turkey and all the minorities in Greece to be recognized.

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  8. There is a critical difference between the acceptance of a minority and a government's official recognition of one. Official recognition of a minority involves constitutional and political obligations by a country. It means, above all, officially allocating a number of parliamentary seats, administrative positions and linguistic concessions. In the FYROM, the officially recognised Albanian minority, some 25 to 30% of the population has all these rights enshrined in the constitution. The 1960 Cyprus constitution enshrined the political rights of the Turkish minority. The United States, which consists of a variety of recognisable minorities, including the large Hispanic one, does not officially recognise any of them. Neither does Canada (the French being a "founding nation" and not a Minority). Turkey, with some 25 million Kurds, also does not officially recognise any minority (outside the Lausanne Treaty).

    Greece recognises a "Muslim Minority" as it is obligated to do under the Lausanne Treaty. In turn, Turkey recognises a "Christian Minority" as it is obligated under the same treaty with the exception that in Turkey's case that minority was expelled through pogroms.

    Greece recognises several minorities, including a Slav-speaking one, but none officially. The grounds for Greece to officially recognises such minorities do not exist as they do not exist for a long list of European and other countries.

    A UN report on Greek minorities, while it recommended that Greece gives these minorities official recognition, also pointed out that in Greece everyone is free to pursue his own cultural and linguistic preference and has the same political rights as anyone else.

    The suggestion made by some people that Greece recognises a "Macedonian" minority belongs to an Alice in Wonderland absurdity. There are some two and one half million Greeks, and whose first identity is Greek, who identify themselves as Macedonian and who live in that region and who have no connection to the Slav speakers in that area. Greece does offer some financial consideration to its Slav-speaking minority which has its own organizations (some openly hostile to Greece) and political party which garners a few thousand votes in the elections it chooses to take part in.

    best,

    Alfred di Genis

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  9. I should add that in the 300-member Greek Parliament, there are two deputies from the Muslim minority (many of whom identify as Turkish). They are, however, voted in by their constituents as are all members of Parliament.

    AdG

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