Future of Macedonia name dispute

By Aristotle Tziampiris (1)
ekathimerini.com

Will the recent election landslide victory and comfortable parliamentary majority achieved by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) facilitate the resolution of the ongoing Macedonia name dispute? George Papandreou’s election was publicly welcomed by politicians in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), who indicated willingness to negotiate, and there is also a palpable feeling of renewed (if cautious) optimism by international decision-makers. At the same time, the almost two-decade-long diplomatic dispute is widely considered to have the potential to further destabilize the region of the Western Balkans.

An apparent convergence is under way among most actors involved in the negotiations toward an agreement that is also viewed by the international community as the “best” possible – but not necessarily historically just – outcome. It would most likely consist of a final and comprehensive accord between Greece and FYROM involving a compromise international compound name with a geographical connotation (e.g. “Northern Macedonia”).

If an agreement along these lines is achieved, FYROM would automatically join NATO under the new name, its accession path toward the EU would accelerate and the concerns of the country’s Albanian population (about a quarter of the population) assuaged in a manner conducive to regional stability. (Revealingly, 65 percent of FYROM’s ethnic Albanians support a compromise on the name issue to facilitate NATO and EU membership, though 95 percent of Slav-Macedonians are opposed.)

Any such agreement would also have to address a series of legitimate Greek concerns, including the recent manifestations of Slav-Macedonian nationalism that have included the renaming of airports and highways, commission of giant statues, as well as other actions often indicating a fixation with Alexander the Great. It should furthermore be stressed that directly dealing with the controversial and “thorny” issues of FYROM’s identity and language has the potential of derailing negotiations.

Solving the name dispute outright would undoubtedly represent a major diplomatic accomplishment. However, an equally likely scenario involves the issue’s nonresolution despite continuous diplomatic meetings and negotiations. As a top Slav-Macedonian politician, striking a note of realistic pessimism, recently told this author, “Almost every conceivable settlement has already been proposed at some time or another but rejected by one of the two sides.”

If this scenario prevails, FYROM’s ruling party will probably continue the campaign to link Slav-Macedonian identity and history to antiquity. Furthermore, NATO and EU accession prospects will remain stalled. The country’s ethnic Albanians would be particularly disappointed by such an outcome and it is not alarmist to imagine that the Ohrid framework agreements (which ended the republic’s 2001 ethnic strife) could be challenged. As US State Department officials warn, this could produce perilous regional implications. (FYROM borders on Kosovo and, during periods of crisis, the influx of refugees, armed ethnic Albanian guerrilla fighting and illicit activities have linked the two places.)

If a comprehensive agreement remains elusive and in order to avoid the dispute’s complete nonresolution, certain experts have began examining a third “interim” scenario. This is based on the realization that the only substantial agreement that has been reached between FYROM and Greece was the 1995 New York Interim Accord that normalized bilateral relations but (significantly) did not resolve the name dispute. (However, Athens did recognize the young republic and Skopje changed the country’s flag, which had featured the ancient Macedonian “Star of Vergina” symbol.)

According to this interim scenario, FYROM would enter NATO under its provisional UN name, after having addressed all the recent actions deemed provocative by Greece (renaming airports and highways once again, dropping the case against Greece in the International Court of Justice at The Hague etc) thus proving in practice good-neighborly relations. The signing of a Treaty of Friendship could further codify the types of actions that would be unacceptable in the future.

Nevertheless, since there can be no firm guarantee that Skopje would not revert to nationalist or other provocations (whereas NATO membership, once achieved, is effectively irreversible), Athens could publicly link any new nationalistic turn to a democratic referendum on the neighboring republic’s EU accession, with rather predictable results. (It should be noted that for FYROM, EU membership is ultimately even more significant than NATO membership.) Negotiations on the resolution of the name dispute would, of course, continue to be conducted, possibly within an improved bilateral climate.

If this scenario is realized, regional stability might be enhanced. However, the resolution of the name dispute will be pushed even further into the future, while Athens will have lost an important source of diplomatic leverage.

At this point, it is not clear which outcome will prevail. What is certain is that considerable statesmanship and diplomatic skills will have to be exhibited in order to resolve an urgent and important diplomatic problem that influences the domestic politics in both Greece and FYROM and has very real consequences for the Western Balkans.

(1) Dr Aristotle Tziampiris is assistant professor of international relations at the University of Piraeus. The views expressed in this article are his own.

The Macedonian language and the name dispute between Greece and FYROM

bu Tymphaios
October 11, 2009

In 1945, a committee set up by Yugoslav communist leader Josip Broz Tito invented for the first time an alphabet for the new "Macedonian" language. The official documents introducing the new alphabet and language were written in Bulgarian.



Introduction of the "Macedonian" language in communist Yugoslavia in 1945. The document is written in the Bulgarian alphabet. It reads: "The Macedonian Orthography proposed by the Orthography and Language Commission at the Ministry of People's Education is accepted as an official orthography. The same will be printed in books as an edition of the Ministry of People's Education".

Introduction of the "Macedonian" alphabet in communist Yugoslavia in 1945. The main document is written in the Bulgarian alphabet.

Is this language Macedonian? In the absence of knowledge of Slavic, one unfamiliar with the Macedonist argument may rightly want to know how much this FYROMacedonian language resembles the language of the ancient Macedonians and how much it resembles Slavic. One simple way to test this without knowledge of Slavic is to take a FYROMacedonian document and use Google Translator to see how much of it can be understood if it is translated using the Bulgarian or Serbian Google translator, treating it in other words as either Bulgarian or Serbian text.

I have randomly chosen an article I found on the internet called something like "When I was in the Coast I met Stalin".

http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.asp?VestID=53225

The original text is appended at the end of this article. The Google translations using FYROMacedonian Translator, Bulgarian Translator and Serbian Translator are also shown at the end. Many parts remain untranslated by the Bulgarian and Serbian Google Translators but those that become translated agree well with the FYROMacedonian Translator. The Serbian Translator and Bulgarian Translator underperformed but between the two of them one can get a very good idea of what the article says. In fact some words that fail to become translated by the Bulgarian translator are translated by the Serbian one, so the problem must be partly the choice of Slavonic characters used and the choice between a Bulgarian or Serbian word.

The Greek translation by Google failed completely. Google returned the FYROMacedonian text only. One may therefore ask, what is the link of the FYROMacedonians to the ancients? All we have attested from Macedonia in ancient times was in Greek. Until our own time historic Macedonia is being inhabited by Greeks. Why should the FYROMacedonian language be called Macedonian? Tito is dead.

There are nations that at times have fostered extreme ideologies of superiority of race. There are individuals who may believe in flying saucers, proverbial red herrings and pink elephants. There is now and then someone who thinks he is Jesus. However, until this instance there have been no nations that attempted to reinvent themselves as an ancient and completely unrelated people. This is perhaps a first in human history. It is so strange, it had left for 18 years classical scholars speechless. In fact it is so strange, diplomats have almost no means to say "that´s crazy" in a diplomatic way. It is so incomprehensible that one ponders if a logical or diplomatic response to this claim may be appreciated at all.

The way this goes, it will not be long before calling something Macedonian becomes a proverbial allusion to reaching way beyond one´s depth. Macedonism is already becoming a byword for the reinvention of "facts". Speaking of a "Macedonian theory" may soon become an alternative to using the expression "living in a parallel universe".

Though most people are stunned and some may assume they have been simply ignorant of Macedonian history, a few are rightly upset and they are not just the Greeks. One´s history and language can be tossed about to some extent but cannot be just ridiculed and misappropriated to further someone else´s lack of self esteem, outdated communist dogma and nefarious territorial ambitions. There was for example the following frustrated comment posted in an internet forum from a Syrian national:

Habib, UK: "Syrians say, get a life south Slavians. Yugoslavs never ever ruled over Syria, a thousand curses on those who tell lies … you have no history with Syria ok. Macedonians are Greek Hellenic (Yunan) people, they left us good history for Syria."

Unfortunately for the poor Syrian, little does he know that the Falsedonian community supporting the cult-like macedonist ideology in FYROM and abroad has become desensitized to the disbelief of others. The so-called Antique Macedonians still march on regardless, no matter how strong are the words of dismay they hear. Presumably for decades they had been told to turn a deaf ear to evil capitalists from the west, to the "false prophets" of western imperialism, who harboured fascist beliefs and false ideologies. One must ask, how can an educational system based on propagandist ideology be destroyed without a rebellion against it? FYROM became an independent country by historical accident.

Before closing, let us remember who the Macedonians were.

The words of Alexander have been cut into stone in his dedication to Athena at a temple in Priene. The dedication is mentioned by Arrian. It was discovered by archaeologists and is kept today at the British Museum. It says, in Alexander´s Macedonian language:

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΑΝΕΘΗΚΕ ΤΟΝ ΝΑΟΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙ ΠΟΛΙΑΔΙ

"King Alexander dedicated this temple to Athena Polias".

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_image.aspx?image=k63220.jpg&retpage=18026

The language is Greek.

Macedon is a word found in Hesiod and in Homer (6-8th C BC).

"And she conceived and bare to Zeus who delights in the thunderbolt two sons, Magnes and Macedon, rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and Olympus".
Hesiod (8th C BC), fragment; Constantinos Porphyrogenitos, 2 de Them. 2 p. 48B

Macedon was a Greek hero, the mythical progenitor of a Greek tribe who only left written records in Greek. At the time of Homer and Hesiod, the Slavs probably lived in the steppes of Russia. The Slavs did not appear in the Balkans until about the 6th C AD, 1300 years after Hesiod wrote about Macedon.

It is obvious that the citizens of FYROM have many words in their Slavic language. Their country was once called South Serbia and their dialect Western Bulgarian. If neither of these are suitable today, it should really not be so difficult to find a way to describe their ethnic identity in words that are not Greek. Slavonic is historically, ethnically and geographically suitable. Why this insistence in reinventing history?

APPENDIX

PACO RABBANY: WHEN I WAS IN THE COAST I MET STALIN.
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.asp?VestID=53225

Original so called "Macedonian" text:

Имав 16 години кога ме претставија на Јосиф Сталин, изјави еден од водечките светски модни креатори Пако Рабан во Москва, каде на руската публика прв пат и ја претстави изложбата на своите цртежи,

Сеќавајќи се на таа средба, 70-годишниот Рабан, кој тогаш со мајка му престојувал во Москва, посочи дека Сталин му оставил силен впечаток и оти имал некаква магнетска привлечност.

Мојата мајка беше еден од основачите на Комунистичката партија на Шпанија. Таа беше многу прагматична жена, голем реалист и силна личност", истакна Рабан за весникот „Известија".

Рабан е роден во Баскија, Шпанија, но пораснал со Франција.

Креаторот, чии модели од пластика, метал и хартија се изложени во музеи на современа уметност, смета дека модата денеска е во криза поради отсуство на идеи, но оти „има надеж за тоа што доаѓа од истокот".

1. FYROMacedonian Google Translator result:

Paco Rabbany: When I was in the Coast I met Stalin

I had 16 years ago when I was introduced to Joseph Stalin, said one of the leading fashion designers Paco Rabbany in Moscow where the Russian public for the first time and presented an exhibition of his drawings.

Recalling that meeting, 70-year-old Rabbany, who then resided with his mother in Moscow, Stalin said that he left a strong impression and that he had a magnetic attraction.

"My mother was one of the founders of the Communist Party of Spain. It was a very pragmatic woman, a realist and a strong personality, "said Rabbany newspaper Izvestija.

Rabbany was born in the Basque Country, Spain, but grew up in France.

Creator, whose models of plastic, metal and paper are exposed in museums of modern art, believes that fashion today is in crisis due to lack of ideas, but that "there is hope for what comes from the east".

2. Bulgarian Google Translator result.

Paco Rabanne: When Bev st Koskva introduced him to Stalin

Imav 16 years when I претставија of Јосиф Stalin изјави Eden sh vodechkite secular fashion kreatori Paco Rabanne st Moscow, the Russian audience Kade FTE ја pretstavi stalemate and the exhibition of their tsrtezhi,

Сеќавајќи to taa sredba, 70-godishniot Rabanne, кој gown pm мајка his престојувал st Moscow, Stalin said his deck remains strong and BTI had vpechatok nekakva magnetska privlechnost.

"Eden was Мојата мајка sh osnovachite of Komunistichkata партија of Шпанија. Таа беше многу прагматична жена, голем реалист и силна личност", истакна Рабан за весникот „Известија". Taa was многу pragmatic woman, realistic and strong personality, istakna Rabanne for vesnikot "Известија.

Raban was born st Баскија, Шпанија but grown Франција pm.

Kreatorot, whose models sh plastic, metal and exposed to хартија st museums sovremena umetnost, trash fashion deck is deneska st crisis due otsustvo ideas, "but BTI has hope for SG & A sh што доаѓа istokot".

3. Serbian Google Translator result.

Paco Raban: Where I was in Koskva go met Stalin

I had 16 years to when I presented the Joseph Stalin, said one of the world vodečkite fashion designers Paco Raban in Moscow, where the audience ruskata first time I presented izložbata on their drawings,

Seḱavajḱi at that meeting, 70-godišniot Raban, which then, with his mother stayed in Moscow, Stalin posoči that he ostavil strong vpečatok went and had a some kind of magnetic privlečnost.

"My mother was one of the founder of Komunističkata parties in Spain. It was very pragmatic woman, great realists and strong personality, "Raban pointed to newspaper" Izvestia ".

Raban was born in the Basque Country, Spain, no porasnal with France.

Kreatorot, CII models of plastic, metal and paper are exposed in museums of modern art, considers that fashion today is in crisis due to the absence of ideas, no go "for it has nadež which doaǵa of istokot".

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.

The "Albanian myth" from William Maxwell.

With a great surprise I have read a amazing historical quote that concern many periods from the European history that came from William Maxwell and contained in an article with the head name “Journey to Albania” (http://gaiaschool.info/Journey_to_Albania.html). This quote says:

The Albanians are universally acknowledged as the descendants of the Illyrians who gave the world Alexander the Great, Emperor Constantine, several other Roman and Byzantine Emperors, one of the popes of the Roman Catholic Church, several Grand Vizirs of the Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Ali Pasha, father of modern Egypt, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, as well as Mother Teresa destined for sainthood because of her services to the poor of India. Albania was also the only country in Europe that protected all the Jews, i.e. the only European country where the Jewish population was increased during WWII.

I will try to analyze step by step the accuracies of the above quote. Not all of them because I am not expert of all these that William Maxwell wrote such as the Ottoman history.

Albanians are universally acknowledged as the descendants of the Illyrians…..

This myth systemically cultivated from known Albanian centres that promote the historical revisionism and extreme nationalism in the Balkans. Albanians are not universally acknowledged as the descendants of the Illyrians. This confirms from several studies and works such as “Illyrians” by John Wilkes, several works from the expert of the Albanian history Mrs Miranda Vickers, Albanian identities: myth and history by Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers and Bernd Jürgen Fischer, global wide collectively works such as the ancient, modern and medieval history of the Cambridge and Oxford Universities e.t.c.

…Albanians are universally acknowledged…who gave the world Alexander the Great…

This is one from the most historical revisionist argument; similar with this that Alexander was a Slavonic origin as circulate from the Slavmacedonians in the neighbour FYROM State. Thousands historical works and tens of writers(Hammond, Worthington, Borza, Stoneman, Ulrich Wilcken e.t.c.) have agree that Great Alexander was born in July 356 (Arr. 7.28.1, Plut. Alex. 3.5), was the son of Macedonian Philip’s fourth wife Olympias, a princess from Epirus, situated to Macedon’s west. None of them mention that Alexander was Illyrian and the most inaccurate…Albanian as William Maxwell quoted. Macedonians according the same sources were a mix of Greek and older ancient tribes or were just Greek or unknown origin (Borza). Epirotans according the same sources were Greeks and the most known tribe was the Mollosian. None of them mention that was Illyrian or Albanian.

…Albanians are universally acknowledged…who gave…Emperor Constantine, several other Roman and Byzantine Emperors (were Albanians)…

Emperor Constantine and several other Roman and Byzantine Emperors were not Albanians as William Maxwell claim. Byzantine Dynasties were Greek, Armenian, Roman, Anatolian origin. This confirmed from tens of writers and experts of the Byzantine history like George Ostrogorski, Paul Stephenson, Cyril Mango, Joan Hussey, John Norwich as also from global wide collectively works like European medieval history of the Cambridge, Oxford and Michigan Universities e.t.c..

…Albanians are universally acknowledged…who gave…pope in the Roman Catholic Church…

Catholic Encyclopaedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/), the most known source it doesn’t mention that one from the Pope was…Albanian. Where William Maxwell find this thing is …unknown.

… Albania was also the only country in Europe that protected all the Jews, i.e. the only European country where the Jewish population was increased during WWII…

At the 30s and 40s and according the Albanian sources only 200 Jews lived! Jewish population actually grew during the Axis occupation; it is estimated that there were 1800 jews in Albania at the end of war but the small Jewish community (200 souls) of Vlore was expelled from the country at the Nazis concentration’s camp. The recorded numbers of 1800 were Jews from the neighbored occupy Greece that has returned with the end of the war.

Albania at the WWII also as is known was allied of the fascist Italy and thousands Albanians were enlisted in the known SS regiments (SS Division Skanderbeg and Handschar Division.

CONCLUSION
There is an Illyrian myth, with which Albanian culture has been flirting for at least 150 years, and as a myth it can't be questioned for it has all the answers. There is also a very tentative Illyrian science, based mainly on archaeology, and on some data transmitted by Ancient Greek and Roman Historians. Those who are ready to accept that Illyrians and Albanians were one people, should have a look at the Messapic inscriptions, in Puglia. These inscriptions, being totally alien to Albanian, show that the Illyrian question is extremely complicated, and that it isn't likely to be resolved, unless fundamental epigraphic discoveries are made.

From me and in the real world there are no examples of ancient Illyrian literature surviving (aside from the Messapian writings if they can be considered Illyrian), it is difficult to clarify its place within the Indo-European language family. Albanians first appear in the historical record in Byzantine sources of the late 11th century. At this point, they are already fully Christianized. Very little evidence of pre-Christian Albanian culture survives, and Albanian mythology and folklore as it presents itself is notoriously syncretized from various sources, showing in particular Greek influence. Albanians are and have been referred to by other terms as well. Some of them are:

--Arbër, Arbën, Arbëreshë; the old native term denoting ancient and medieval Albanians and sharing the same root with the latter. At the time the country was called Arbër (Gheg: Arbën) and Arbëria (Gheg: Arbënia). This term is still used for the Albanians that migrated to Italy during the Middle Ages.

--Arnauts; old term used mainly from Turks and by extension by European authors during the Ottoman Empire. A derivate of Arbër, Albanian.

-- Skipetars; the historical rendering of the ethnonym Shqiptar (or Shqyptar by French, Austrian and German authors) in use from the 18th century (but probably earlier) to the present, the literal translation of which is subject of the eagle. The term Šiptari is a derivation used by Yugoslavs which the Albanians consider derogatory.

There is not any historical record as regards the connection of the Illyrians (that were last mentioned in 7th century AD, during the Slavic migration to the Balkans) and Albanians. Also there is not any linguistic connection of the unkonwn Illyrian language with the Albanian language that initial recorded in 208-page parchment mansuscript written by Theodor of Shkodra, dating 600 years after.

William Maxwell must be more cautious when write these things as regards the history. Historical revisionism and historical ignorance has a close border line that either goes to the legitimate scholastic correction of existing knowledge about an historical event, or goes to the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favourable ligh.

Slavmacedonians are not related with the ancient Macedonians that were Greek, German scholar says

Mannheim, Germany -
The head of a German museum which is set to show an exhibition about Alexander the Great weighed into a dispute between Skopje and Athens on Friday, saying the ancient leader had been predominantly Greek.

The modern state of Macedonia, where the main language is a Slavic one, claims the heritage of ancient Macedonia.

'Alexander was predominantly Greek and definitely not an ancestor of contemporary Slavic Macedonians,' said Alfried Wieczorek, head of the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in the southern German city of Mannheim.

The exhibition devoted to the ancient general and ruler, who lived from 356 to 323 BC, opens on Saturday and runs till February 21.

For two decades, Athens has been objecting to its northern neighbour calling itself Macedonia. Skopje has named its airport after Alexander and insists on having Alexander's 'star of Vergina' symbol on its coat of arms.

In an interview with the German Press Agency dpa, Wieczorek said, 'The latest research shows very clearly yet again that the Macedonians in the days of Alexander were closely related to the contemporary Greeks.'

He added, 'In antiquity, Greeks and Macedonians could interact because they spoke the same language.'

Athens has been insisting that the name Macedonia can only been applied to a province in its own north.

The country of Macedonia became independent in 1991 when Yugoslavia split up. The name issue has held up efforts to bring the new country into NATO and into formal assocation with the European Union.

The museum director referred to findings that its population of 2 million, one quarter of them Albanian speakers and three quarters Slavic speakers, are descended from people who immigrated in the 6th century of the modern era, long after Alexander's death.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1504631.php/German-museum-man-says-Alexander-the-Great-was-mainly-Greek

"Macedonian Airlines" soon into the air again.!!!

During a similar ceremony upon arrival at Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport, Vgenopoulos announced that MIG possesses an internationally registered trademark for the title "Macedonian Airlines".

"We have received the codes, and no one else can fly with this name," he stressed.Vgenopoulos explained that an Olympic Air subsidiary company, named Macedonian Airlines, will be set up, headquartered in Thessaloniki, for the purpose of soon serving the business and tourism needs of the region.

Next week, he added, he will have a meeting with officials and agencies of Northern Greece to discuss procedural issues, while the new subsidiary will be up and flying in a few months' time.According to sources, the first flights to be carried out by Macedonian Airlines will be to Germany and Amsterdam.

The flight was greeted on arrival at Macedonia Airport by Macedonia-Thrace minister Stavros Kalafatis, Thessaloniki prefect Panayotis Psomiadis and other officials.

source :www.ana-mpa.gr

The Impact of the Macedonian Question on Civil Conflict in Greece (1943-1949) by Evangelos Kofos

The Impact of the Macedonian Question on Civil Conflict in Greece (1943-1949) by Evagelos Kofos

Radical racists views circulate from the so called (FYR)Macedonia Encyclopedia.

New incredible provocation contained in the so-called "Macedonians Encyclopedia, which have written, at the behest of the extreme-right Prime Minister Gruevski, the historians of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Skopje and presented himself with all solemnity on 16 September[1] . The two-volume work of 1671 pages, the version of which was financed by public funds of this Multietnnic Balkan new born State, according to Mr. Gruevski is absolutely express “the cultural and political past and our present”, the Skopje government not only tries to rewrite history region at will, but consciously alter key elements of Greek national status.

Specifically, on page 67 of the encyclopaedia and under the word "Greek" states that .......

FYROM academy and Gruevski administration: Greeks are black Africans, Parthenon and Homer are part Slavic!!!!

As revealed yesterday, the "Thema" newspaper, the new incredible provocation contained in the so-called "Macedonians Encyclopedia, which have written, at the behest of the extreme-right Prime Minister Gruevski, the historians of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Skopje and presented himself with all solemnity on 16 September . The two-volume work of 1671 pages, the version of which was financed by public funds of the neighbouring country, according to Mr. Gruevski is absolutely express “the cultural and political past and our present”, the Skopje government not only tries to rewrite history region at will, but consciously alter key elements of our national Greek status.

Specifically, on page 67 of the encyclopaedia and under the word "Greek" states that "recent research has shown that the Greek nation as having been descended from black African tribes of the Sahara desert!"

The 260 Skopjans historians, bringing out the government arranged the shipment was, they note that the Greeks, coming from the continent, with virtually cultural backgrounds, "settled by the local appropriating Balkan cultures, which were advanced and shown as its own achievements.

The unprecedented provocation of Skopje government reaches in the point to characterize the Greek culture as result of counterfeiting and intercepting other cultures, while not hesitating to seize the historic Parthenon and even the Homeric epics! "Even the epics of Homer and the Parthenon is not the result of Greek culture, but as result of counterfeiting, adoption and even interception of these local indigenous cultures such as ours, the Macedonia!"

The new methodology of Skopje unacceptable, has not been any reaction from the Greek Foreign Ministry, this time not as a result of political unacceptable compliance applied systematically to national issues in recent years, but because apparently not even noticed! At the same time when the particular case has received international dimension with the involvement of the United States, Great Britain, Albania and Bulgaria.

Of course as I said Greek administration is absent in this new provocation from the ultranationalists.

Flawed FYROM encyclopedia sparks row over ethnic past

AP
Ethnic Albanians are seen fleeing the village of Lojane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), during a standoff between ethnic Albanians and FYROM police back in 2003. A new encyclopedia has fueled controversy in the multiethnic country.

By Kole Casule - Reuters

SKOPJE – The leading academic institution in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) said yesterday it would revise a new encyclopedia after protests by the Balkan country’s ethnic Albanian minority as well as in neighboring Kosovo and Albania.

The row has highlighted the still fragile ethnic balance that led to fighting in FYROM in 2001 and wars during the 1990s elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia.

The encyclopedia sparked outrage by recounting that ethnic Albanians settled the region in 16th century. Albanians say they were present long before Slavic tribes arrived centuries ago.

It also refers to Ali Ahmeti, leader of country’s 2001 ethnic Albanian insurgency, as a war crimes suspect.

Ahmeti now heads the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, which is a junior partner in the government. The Netherlands-based UN war crimes court has investigated atrocities in the conflict but never implicated Ahmeti.

“While [the encyclopedia] will be partly rewritten, the edition will not be withdrawn,” Georgi Stardelov, head of the editorial committee of FYROM’s Academy of Sciences and Arts, said in a statement.

The book was first promoted last week as a key national document at an event attended by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Albanian media quoted Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha as saying the encyclopedia was “absurd and unacceptable” and said he warned FYROM President Georgi Ivanov that no one can build “identity based on the forgery of history.”

In Kosovo, which has unresolved border issues with FYROM, parliament leader Jakup Krasniqi said that Skopje was “isolating itself and making enemies.” Ethnic Albanians account for a quarter of the population in the country of 2 million which peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia in 1992.

In 2001, ethnic Albanians launched an insurgency which ended after a Western-brokered peace deal disarmed rebels in exchange for broader Albanian rights and their inclusion in the society, something that riles many Slav-Macedonians.

Some academics in FYROM criticized the book as hastily prepared and politically motivated.

“Any encyclopedia cannot be written under the influence of politicians,” said Milan Gjurcinov, an Academy of Arts and Sciences member. “It is a book teeming with politics and that’s not good.”

Gjurcinov warned that a similar dispute between Serb and Croat academics in the 1980s contributed to the rise in nationalism that led to the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

ekathimerini.com

Taliban targets descendants of Alexander the Great

For centuries, the blond-haired, blue-eyed people of the Kalash tribes of North West Pakistan have lived a libertine lifestyle.

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi and Emal Khan in Peshawar
Published: 6:48PM BST 21 Sep 2009
telegraph.co.uk

The group, believed to be descendants of Alexander the Great's invading army, were shielded from conservative Islam by the steep slopes of their remote valleys.
While Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians were slowly driven out of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province by Muslim militants, the Kalash were free to drink their own distilled spirits and smoke cannabis.

But the militant maulanas of the Taliban have finally caught up with them and declared war on their culture and heritage by kidnapping their most devoted supporter.

Taliban commanders have taken Professor Athanasion Larounis, a Greek aid worker who has generated £2.5 million in donations to build schools, clinics, clean water projects and a museum.
They are now demanding £1.25 million and the release of three militant leaders in exchange for his safe return.

According to local police, it was Professor Larounis's dedication to preserving Kalasha culture that Taliban commanders in Nuristan, on the Afghan side of the border that made him a target.
Confirmation of the Taliban's role in his kidnapping came as their leader Mullah Omar urged American and Nato leaders to learn from the history of Alexander the Great's invasion of Afghanistan and his defeat by Pushtun tribesmen in the 4BC.

He was kidnapped on Sep 8, when five masked Taliban broke into the three storey museum where he was living, killed a policeman guarding the building, tied a teacher to a post and grabbed the professor from his bed.

Ajmeer Kalash, a Kalash teacher who witnessed the incident, said he had saved his own life by pretending to be a Muslim.

"I did not understand their language and they did not understand mine. I tried to make them understand in Urdu language that I'm a teacher at the school."

He said the men asked for his religion and "I told them that I'm a Muslim by reciting Kalma, though I'm a Kalash."

"They brought out the Greek national and they opened fire at his police guard. The policeman died on the spot. They took me and the Greek citizen to the forest. There they tied my hands to a tree and left me there and went away," he said.

Locals said the professor had been visiting the area since 1994 when he first came as a tourist and fell in love with the area's unique culture and its people's links to his own in Greece and Macedonia.

Today there are an estimated 3,000 Kalasha left in three remote and steep valleys in Chitral in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. The children wear their hair in orthodox Jewish-style ringlets and sport bright coloured topi hats. The women occasionally have tattooed faces, wear long black robes with coloured embroidery.

The Kalash are known as 'Black Kafirs' to local Muslims who regard them, and their women in particular, as immoral. They are scornful of their festivals and rituals, which include a rite of passage in which a prepubescent boy is fattened in the mountains over a summer and then when he returns is allowed to have sex with any woman he chooses.

Married Kalash women are able to elope with other men if the object of their desire accepts a written proposal and agrees to may double her dowry to the abandoned husband – often in cows.

Professor Larounis, who is believed to have been living in the Kalash Valleys with his wife, had generated around two and a half million pounds in aid for 20 projects in the Kalash Valleys, including clean water schemes, and the museum in Broon village in Bumburet.
Since his kidnapping Kalash women have demonstrated for his release, while elders have travelled to Nuristan to try to negotiate with his kidnappers.

Let’s stop discrimination and torture against people with Bulgarian self-consciousness in FYROM

PRESS-RELEASE
Peaceful Citizen’s Protest in Support of Spaska Mitrova

ibox.bg

The Citizens' Initiative Committee “Spaska Mitrova” is organising a peaceful, non-partisan, civil protest in support of Ms. Spaska Mitrova (an academic graduate who holds both
Bulgarian and Macedonian citizenships), jailed behind the bars of the infamous communist prison “Idrizovo”, near Skopje, because of her Bulgarian self-consciousness. This protest is born of the dismay of free Bulgarians and Europeans from both the Republic of Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The draconian middle-age sentence of the 23 year-old mother of a little child brings back horrible old-gone times and methods, which the democratic World endeavours to forget. We insist for Spaska’s immediate release as well as for public apologies and compensations on behalf of the Macedonian authorities for their ill-minded reading of the Law and the politically motivated repression over a seriously ailing young mother with a sick baby girl. We are deeply concerned whether the EU could recommend starting accession negotiations with a country holding political prisoners (thereby breaching the Copenhagen political criteria for EU membership) and whether the Republic of Bulgaria could support the accession attempts of such a country?

We feel obliged to stress that the “Spaska” case is not at all unique and forms integral part of a centrally planned, permanent and ubiquitous anti-Bulgarian campaign in FYROM and beyond, which is totally incompatible with the country’s aspirations to join a democratic, law-ruled and tolerant Europe. We want to alert that anyone, who dares to declare Bulgarian self-consciousness in FYROM, is subject to brutal repressions – sacking from work, jailing after absurd convictions, severe economic and moral deprivation, malicious ridiculing by authorities and media and even physical tortures. Europe and the democratic world cannot just observe and tolerate such a policy.

Spaska does not conceal her Bulgarian self-consciousness originating from her predeces-sors. She is among the key founders of the non-government association “Radko”, which brings together FYROM's citizens of Bulgarian nationality. Spaska Mirova has the basic human right to freely raise and educate her child in the tradition of her Bulgarian predecessors from Macedonia, who remained outside the modern Bulgaria's borders and spent their life as Ottoman, Serbian and Yugoslav citizens. But we have today another Europe !

Everyone is welcome to the protest. It will be a peaceful, non-political and mass event of free European citizens for defending principal human rights in FYROM. Please forget your political affiliations and join us to raise our common voice and to express prominently our solidarity in a civilized way – by singing and dancing, without threats and demonstration of power. Let us show that we love and cherish Vardar Macedonia, since not very long time ago (just before 1944) to be a Macedonian from the Vardar region simply meant to be a decent Bulgarian.

EU enlargement, revisionism and nationalism

Dr. George Voskopoulos in American Chronicle
August 04, 2009

In international affairs scholars have long scrutinized the issue of conflict and cooperation among state actors. These directly or indirectly refer to the issue of war and peace. Revisionist states are unsatisfied with the territorial status quo and use all means available to pursue what they see as valued ends.

In south-eastern Europe this has been the main feature of the framework of local interaction among states lacking a developed political culture and an operationally democratic demos. Whether they are "reformed" communists, remnants of the old communist regime, descendants of Nazi collaborators or militarists, they have identi-cal aims pursued under the pretext of ideologically or politically oriented goals.

The end of the Cold War did not bring about the end of history in south-eastern Europe but assisted the reemergence of the long supported irredentist policies of those political vampires who have been in a dormant state waiting for the right moment to become once again a threat to the rest. The means used may be shortly categorized in military and non-military. Eventually the selection of those means relates to what is at hand, to the power available, the determination to use it, the inadequacy of international law and ignorance.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey have taken parallel routes in becoming in-system and out of system destabilizers in the region. Their means are not similar but their nominal aim identical. Actually this has provided them with the most powerful motive in bilateral cooperation in terms of policies, multi-level support, mutual funding and establishment of NGOs operating on a clearly geo-political framework. It has led to a relationship typically described through the patron and client state framework.

On the one hand the re-invention of history has been the selected terrain of action. The dispute is not a question of survival and grandeur but an issue of challenging territorial stability. This has led to the extreme position of discarding Slav origin and la-beling it as a "derogatory term", an "insult". It is indeed dangerous not to cut ties with the Slav past because this brings the country closer to Bulgaria. At the same time it is convenient to baptize Bulgarian national heroes "Macedonians", to deny the Bulgarian origin of the language spoken, to usurp Greek history and to suppress Bulgarophilia and Grecophilia within the country. A visit to Vergina, Pella and tens of archaeological sites in Greece would be enough to ridicule those who suggest that ancient Macedonians spoke Greek because it was a fashionable thing to do. In effect what some suggest here is that ancient Macedonians did not speak their mother tongue but a "foreign language".

The aim of this historical conundrum and the elimination of historical facts take place under the pretext of the freedom to chose an identity at will. Yet, identities have long been associated with control of territories and eventually this brings to the surface their aim, namely to challenge the territorial status quo. Some suggest that legal action could be a useful tool to materialize their irredentist dreams, yet, they forget that territorial changes in the region have taken place only after wars.

For long, inaction, ideologically-stemmed utopia and politically correct behaviour have sidelined the real danger of supporting revisionist states. These are the kind of states that do not belong to the EU, a nuleus of parochial states representing the worst side of Balkan history and its Hobbesian microcosm. This is the mentality Bulgaria, Greece and Romania have long discarded and a major hurdle in building a pan-European zone of stability, security, development and prosperity.

A second country that wishes to join he EU is Turkey. Yet, a number of defining features of its national value system, operational mode of democracy and legitimacy of its international behaviour should be dealt with in an efficient and radical way. For long it has been a militaristic regime, a less mature democracy, a country that constitutes an actual military threat to an EU member. On top of the indicative only failures of its constitutional and behavioural record the country illegally occupies a part of Cyprus refusing to apply the European acquis. Greek air space violations and overflying Greek islands in the Aegean are a daily routine leading to dogfights. These are not signs of modernity but remnants of an empire mentality alien to European values. These facts distance Turkey politically from the EU and turn it into the odd man out.

Nationalisms and irredentism in the region have been suppressed or "legitimized" whenever this has served an intrusive power´s purpose, a policy that has turned the Balkans into a cost-effective battleground for big power practices. Yet, not all dis-putes should be analysed under the rubric of nationalism. There are different forms of nationalism which is or can be a powerful, emancipating political force. As under-pinned, "nationalism…conceals within itself extreme opposites and contradictions. It can mean emancipation…Nationalism, it seems, is a repository of dangers as well as opportunities. It has so many different forms and "national" variations in space and time that is often argued whether they can all be accommodated under one roof".

On the other hand militarism glorifies the use of military means in "resolving" any differences. It is by far a distant practice within the European regulatory system and values. Any future compromise on the issue is bound to have two simultaneous ef-fects. First, it will jeopardise the sustainability of the European edifice since flexibility leads to the application of double standards and second it will certainly lead to veto situations in defence of national interests.

The newly-elected President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek estimated that the Western Balkans present an "interesting and promising situation…

Countries queuing up to join is a symbol of our success". Yet, success is measured at every single step the EU is taking. Success should be defined in terms of imposing norms of international behavior in an uncompromising way. Eradicating irredentism and politically isolate those who have turned it into a national ideology should be the first step in ensuring the homogeneity of value application. Also, demilitarizing the political system of a candidate country should be a guarantee for future success of the enlargement endeavor.

FYROM's False Claims to "Macedonianism" debunked

By George C. Papavizas
source:panmacedonian.info

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A Challenge to the Macedonism of the Slavs © Marcus A. Templar, 2008.(Reloaded)

Vasilije Gligorijevic

After the latest events that are not known in the wide public, this blog it deletes all the threads that concern Vasilije Gligorijevic.
Each one decides alone the path that wants to choose it.

Polish newspaper promotes FYROM extreme nationalism , known as Slavmacedonism!!!!!!

On a Gazetta Pozan article we read with big letters "Macedonia, powerful as the King Alexander". This article speaks for the FYROM basketball team and hosts comments from Slavmacedonians that speak for theirs "ancient" great past. Is obvious that promotes the Slav-Macedonism, a political idea that prevailing in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) which utilises historical revisionism to establish links between an ethnic group that formed in the 20th century - ethnic 'Macedonians' - and historical events and figures of the 19th century and Middle Ages. For example, Bulgarian Tsar Samuil, despite the overwhelming evidence, is portrayed as a "Macedonian" king. Further attempts are made to deny the Hellenic nature of the ancient kingdom of Macedon and to seek connections between present day ethnic Macedonians and the Ancient Macedonians.

Polish newspaper with such as articles and headlines promotes the extreme nationalism of this Slav new-born nation, a nation that born under communist era, a era that seems the editors forget it. Unfortunately the editor and the writer , history bears witness to the fact that in the early 1940s the Bulgarian inhabitants of Vardar Macedonia were transformed into "Macedonians" for political reasons by communist dictators (Tito, Stalin, and Dimitrov) and infamous communist organizations (Comintern and the Balkan Communist Federation ).

The editor and the writer are so many biased and erroneous statements in this article that one fails to comprehend how a journalist who writes for an esteemed newspaper could write something like this. This come to conclusion that either you have been duped by FYROM's propaganda, or you have deliberately written a propaganda piece. A little more professionalism on your part would have avoided this unfortunate circumstance. History and human morality demand this of journalists.

Resolving the FYROM name dispute

A supporter of FYROM wears an ancient Greek helmet during a 2009 Eurobasket preliminary round game against Greece in Poznan on Monday.

By Aristotle Tziampiris (1)

The states of the Western Balkans are confronting a multiplicity of challenges and problems within the context of an acute international economic crisis. Bosnia faces significant internal challenges and is far from functioning as an effective unitary state. Kosovo remains unrecognized by most states, including several European Union members and is in a perilous economic situation. Montenegro is being hit hard by the global crisis, as is Serbia, which is still ostracized by some in the international community. Croatia’s border dispute with Slovenia threatens its EU future, while Albania seems to lack an adequate administrative capacity and remains poor overall.

Within this worrisome context, the ongoing Macedonian name dispute, centering on what the new republic in the Western Balkans should be called, has the potential to further destabilize the region.

Because of Greek concerns and objections first to the use and currently to the monopolization of the term Macedonia by their neighbors (as well as various cases of irredentist propaganda), “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM) remains the country’s provisional, international United Nations name, though many states (including the United States, Russia and China) have extended recognition for bilateral purposes under its constitutional name, “Republic of Macedonia.”

During almost two decades, several international diplomatic efforts have come up with various proposals, all of which proved unsuccessful. In April 2008, Greece effectively blocked FYROM from acceding to NATO due to the name dispute and other bilateral matters (the Alliance’s decision was unanimous). In July, the UN’s special mediator Matthew Nimetz suggested that a deal “could be done in a period of months.” However, the issue’s past history only allows for (at best) guarded optimism.

Following a series of interviews and discussions with decision-makers dealing directly with this issue, this author sees three possible scenarios. They could be labeled “best,” “worst” and “interim.”

The “best” scenario (from the viewpoint of the international community and not necessarily historically just), consists of a final and comprehensive agreement between Greece and FYROM. Such an outcome would almost certainly involve a compromise compound name with a geographical connotation (e.g. “Northern Macedonia”). If an agreement among these lines is achieved, FYROM would automatically join NATO under the new name, its accession path toward the EU would accelerate and the concerns of the country’s Albanian population (about a quarter of the total) assuaged in a manner that would be conducive to regional stability (65 percent of FYROM’s Albanians support a compromise on the name issue to facilitate NATO and EU membership, though 95 percent of Slav-Macedonians are opposed). It should be stressed that any such agreement would also have to address a series of legitimate Greek concerns (including the recent manifestations of Slav-Macedonian nationalism that have included the renaming of airports and highways, commissioning of giant statues as well as other actions often connected to a fixation with Alexander the Great). Solving outright the Macedonian name dispute would undoubtedly represent a major diplomatic accomplishment.

The most likely scenario, however, probably remains the “worst” and involves the issue’s non-resolution despite continuous diplomatic meetings and negotiations. As a top Slav-Macedonian politician, striking a note of realistic pessimism, recently told this author: “Almost every conceivable settlement has already been proposed at some time or another but rejected by one of the two sides.”

If this scenario prevails, FYROM’s ruling party will probably continue the campaign to link Slav-Macedonian identity and history to antiquity. Furthermore, NATO and EU accession prospects will remain stalled. The country’s Albanians would be particularly disappointed by such an outcome and it is not alarmist to imagine that the Ohrid framework agreements (that ended the republic’s 2001 ethnic strife) could be challenged. As State Department officials warn, this could produce perilous regional implications. (FYROM neighbors Kosovo and during periods of crisis the influx of refugees, armed Albanian guerilla fighting and illicit activities have linked the two places).

At the same time, it should be kept in mind that the political “space” for a compromise in Athens is decreasing, given the government’s slim parliamentary majority, early elections and continuous majority popular disapproval of a compound name. In addition, FYROM’s Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski appears to many in Greece as untrustworthy because of his intense nationalism and continuous provocations and there is understandably little enthusiasm to reach an agreement with him in particular.

A third scenario can be labeled “interim.” It is based on the realization that the only substantial agreement reached between FYROM and Greece was the 1995 New York Interim Accord that normalized bilateral relations but (significantly) did not resolve the name dispute. (However, Athens did recognize the young republic and Skopje changed the country’s flag which had featured the ancient Macedonian “Star of Vergina” symbol).

According to this “interim” scenario, FYROM would enter NATO under its provisional UN name, after having addressed all the recent actions deemed provocative by Greece (renaming airports and highways anew, dropping the case against Greece at the International Court of Justice at the Hague etc.), thus proving in practice good neighborly relations. The signing of a Treaty of Friendship could further codify the types of actions that would be unacceptable in the future.

Nevertheless, since there can be no firm guarantee against Skopje returning to nationalist or other provocations (whereas NATO membership, once achieved, is effectively irreversible), Athens could publicly link any new nationalistic turn to a democratic referendum on the neighboring republic’s EU accession, with rather predictable results. (It should be kept in mind that for FYROM, EU membership is ultimately even more significant than NATO membership). Negotiations on the resolution of the name dispute would, of course, continue to be conducted, possibly within an improved bilateral climate.

If this scenario is actualized, regional stability might be enhanced. However, the resolution of the name dispute will be pushed even further into the future, while Athens will have lost an important source of diplomatic leverage.

At this point, it is not clear which scenario might prevail. What is certain is that considerable statesmanship and diplomatic skills will have to be exhibited in order to resolve an urgent and important diplomatic problem that influences domestic politics in both Greece and FYROM and has very real consequences for the Western Balkans.

(1) Aristotle Tziampiris is assistant professor of International Relations at the University of Piraeus and visiting scholar at Columbia University (The Harriman Institute). His views are personal.

source:ekathimerini.com

V.K. Sugareff article as regards the Bulgarian Nationality of the Macedonian (Slavs)

Slav Macedonians

source: encyclopedia of world cultures, volume 4, europe

BBC again presenting falsifications, distortions of historical facts as regards Krushevo history

In an video that presented from Slavmacedonians BBC presenting falsifications, distortions of historical facts as regards Krushevo history

Here are my remarks:

None from the BBC mentioned that this uprising was staged by the Bulgarians and the Bulgarians were inviting all the nationalities in the area, even the peasant Turkish population, to revolt against the Sultan.

None from the BBC pointed out that the Manifesto of Krushevo was written in Bulgarian.

None from the BBC revealed that during the revolt, with Krushevo as its epicenter, the Turks who had been bribed by the Bulgarians exterminated the Greek population and the Hellenized Vlachs of Krushevo.

None from the BBC mentioned that 366 Greek homes and 203 Greek shops were destroyed by the vengeance of the Turks and Bulgarians. The Slavs, today's self-proclaimed "Macedonians" were coerced to finance the "revolution", but as soon as they found the chance, they escaped to the mountains. The scholars totally glorified individuals such as Damien Grueff and their horrid actions during that period. Dr. Duncan Perry in his book The Politics of Terror: The MacEdonian Liberation Movement, 1893-1904, identified this uprising as an act of terror. It is not known under which circumstances he changed his opinion and why during the deliverance of his theme he concluded that the Ilinten revolution "awakened the "Macedonian" national consciousness".

Below is a article from the TIMES that show a small description as regards the reality.

I am an Indigenous Macedonian I am Greek

UN Committee: Slavmacedonians must recognise its “Slavic Macedonian” culture.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered the combined sixteenth to nineteenth periodic reports of Greece on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Below you can read the points that consern the Slavmacedonians in Greece.

Report of Greece

In the context of minorities, references made by a very small number of non-governmental organizations to a so-called “Macedonian minority” in Greece do not correspond to existing realities. The fact that a small number of persons who live in Northern Greece use, in addition to the Greek language, Slavic oral idioms, does not indicate the existence of a national minority. Furthermore, the use of the term “Macedonian” to describe a so-called minority usurps the name and national and cultural identity of some two and a half million Greeks who identify themselves for many centuries as Macedonians (Makedones) in the regional and cultural context and can therefore not be accepted.

Presentation of Report

In this connection, claims that Greece did not recognize the existence of a national linguistic minority by the name of “Macedonian” were totally unsubstantiated and threatened to create potential tensions over existing identities in the region, as well as serious confusion over that name, as it was also used by hundreds of thousands Greek Macedonians living in the northern part of the country, said Ms. Telalian. Also, the non-recognition of numerically small groups as a national minority did not imply discriminatory treatment.

Oral Questions Raised by the Rapporteur and Experts

JOSE LINDGREN ALVES, the Committee Expert serving as country Rapporteur for the report of Greece, said he could not agree more with Greece’s answer to his question as to why Greece had not ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe, while it had signed it in 1997. In its response Greece had said that the diversity of legal and socio-political circumstances and historic traditions prevailing in each country called for tailor-made rather than “one size fits all” conceptual approaches and practical solutions. If this response held true for Europe, it held truer for the rest of the world.

Turning to the question of those who insisted on a Slavic Macedonian minority, Mr. Lindgren Alves said that the most important thing was to assure their human rights in general, including their right to use their dialect or mother language, as any other group. The non-recognition of a group as a minority did not deprive such a group from the enjoyment of its rights. He had been interested to learn that even a political party to foster the claims of Slavic Macedonians had been accepted and had been freely participating in parliamentary elections.

One Expert noted that there was a group speaking a Slavic language in the country, they did not need to be considered as Macedonians, if this led to confusion over the name, but they were still using a Slavic language, which they had not invented and they should have the right to use it. Also political parties should not be divided by ethnicities as this could undermine the unity of the State. Further, for him it was more important to know whether a minority had the right to use its language, not if it had the right to form a political party.

Response by Delegation to Oral Questions

On the so-called Slavic “Macedonians” the delegation said that this was not a case of self identification as this group did not base its identification on objective criteria. The “Slavic” qualifier was not used in this case. The only qualifier used by this community was the “Macedonian” one. The problem was that the “Macedonian” term was already used by thousands of people in Greece. Up until recently, this group of “Slavic Macedonians” had been completely unknown, not only to Greece but to the whole Balkan region.

The delegation said that the “Slavic Macedonians” were however not prevented from speaking their oral idiom or from stating that they were part of a certain group. The fact that the Greek State had not officially recognised them did not mean that this community was not fully enjoying its rights and that its members were not fully respected by the Greek State.

The delegation underscored that there was a dignity in the name of the Greek Macedonians and said that Greece had not gotten any answer yet on why the State should not respect the cultural and historical heritage of the Greek Macedonians. It had nothing to do with the denial of the existence of a minority group but the denial of a name that was already used since a long time.

Further Oral Questions Posed by Experts

Jose Lindgren Alves, the Committee Expert serving as country Rapporteur for the report of Greece, said that, on the question of the so-called “Slavic Macedonians”, he did not know that they were denying their Slavic origin, even though he had been an ambassador to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He wondered if it would change something if this community would recognise its “Slavic Macedonian” culture.

Replies by the Delegation

Responding to this question, the delegation said that they were not in a position to respond in a hypothetical sense. Very recently, Greece had said that the “Slavic Macedonians” should have used a qualifier to clarify their origin. Why were they constantly using the name Macedonian, which already identified 2.5 million Macedonians in the cultural sense? Even the former leaders of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had admitted that they were of Slavic origin. This question had only come up in the last years. Everyone in the Balkans knew very well what minorities there were in the Balkans, as the question of minorities in the Balkans had created so many tensions in the region. This was the very first time that they had heard of a “Macedonian” group in this region. It was a question of dignity of the name “Macedonian”.

This difference had created a tension with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and even the United Nations Security Council had said that there was a difference in the name. This situation had to be solved. In Security Council resolution 1845, the Council had asked the two parties to settle the question under the auspices of the United Nations.

This clearly showed that what was in a name had several historical and political implications. It was not a question of a specific denial but the risk of creating tension among identities in the Balkans.

The use of the Macedonian name as a state appellation in no way confers the right to appropriate everything and anything derived from or pertained to the entire region of Macedonia. This needs to be legally clarified and remain binding erga omnes. The state name needs specifically to refer to and describe the present region of FYROM. It should apply erga omnes in multilateral and bilateral international relations and transactions and should be observed by all organizations, states, and other non-governmental international organizations, including the government and the agencies of FYROM. As Kofos said [7] Greek and FYROM parties should accept the name used by the inhabitants of FYROM for their region of geographical Macedonia, i.e. Vardar Macedonia, or preferably Vardar Makedonija.

It is therefore clear that the appropriation of the name Macedonia by the FYROM, on which they have based all their propaganda and even their national existence, does not even correspond to their own false national identity since their artificially created state does not have any national homogeneity. This appropriation of the Macedonian name goes against every principle of justice and conceals other expediencies which directly insult Greek national and Macedonian Cultural Identities as shows the unchanging nature of their continuous propaganda.

Correspondence between Craig Whitlock and Christos Karatzios as regards the Washington Post article.

June 31, 2009 Craig Whitlock wrote:

Dear Dr. Karatzios,Thanks for the note and for taking the time to write, though I'm sorry you didn't like the article.I don't think it would be productive or satisfying for either of us to engage in a running debate regarding each of the lengthy points you outlined in your email. I certainly respect your opinions, however, and feel you deserve the respect of a thoughtful reply.First, just because I interviewed and quoted individuals in Skopje and elsewhere does not mean that The Washington Post endorses or supports their views. We are a newspaper; we interview people of all stripes and let our readers make up their own minds whether to agree with their views or not. I'm sure many people -- including very many Greeks -- find the views of Todor Petrov and Pasko Kuzman to be irritating, or worse. That's OK. I have enough confidence in our readers to decide whether to take someone like Petrov seriously, given his assertions of "genocide" and so forth. But it's not the job of a journalist to suppress or ignore or censor people when it comes to a newsworthy topic.A few factual points to counter the ones you raised:1) I'm sure you know that the Republic of Macedonia changed its constitution and flag in 1995 (as reported in the article). The constitution in particular makes clear that the Republic of Macedonia harbors no territorial ambitions and considers current national borders to be binding. I'm sure you know this, but it seems disingenuous of you not to mention it when you imply the opposite is still the case today.2) You're certainly entitled to your views regarding US-Cuban relations, but I really don't see what that has to do with my article. Furthermore, The Washington Post is an independent newspaper and not responsible or connected to US foreign policy, despite your efforts to link the two.3) I think it is completely accurate to report, as we did, that Greece vetoed the Republic of Macedonia's membership application to NATO. I think you know as well as I do that if Greece had not objected, the Republic of Macedonia would be a member of NATO today. Personally, I have no stake or opinion in the matter. But I think you're distorting what happened at the Bucharest summit last year.

Sincerely,
Craig Whitlock
Berlin bureau chief
The Washington Post

=================================================================================

Athens and Skopje - Reply to Mr. Craig Whitlock from Christos Karatzios

Dear Mr. Whitlock,
Friday, July 31, 2009

I thank you for taking the time to respond to my e-mail. It was courteous of you to do so in view of your busy schedule, and since many readers on this issue have probably contacted you.
However, and unfortunately I continue to disagree with your views. You state that you would prefer not to argue each of the points I outline in my letter to you. In my view, these .. points that you dismiss are testament to the bias in your article. How can you state that the article has no bias when you interviewed no less than 6 individuals from Skopje and its Diaspora, and quote them without verifying the facts, all the while presenting their opinions as if they are the Gospel truth? In the meantime, you only quote the Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece and in a very conscious way, you state that Greece's views stem only from the government. You state that it is not the job of the journalist to censor anyone. I agree with you however, it is the job of the journalist to report truthfully. Otherwise you reduce your newspaper to the level of a supermarket tabloid. Would you have devoted word after word to a Holocaust denier or the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan? Would you have written a story about how the CIA flew airplanes into the World Trade Center in 2001? I can provide you with examples of overt racism uttered by elite members of organizations like the World Macedonian Congress (WMC), and United Macedonian Diaspora [1, 2, 3]. Yet you give Todor Petrov a platform.Mr. Whitlock, despite the freedom of expression, and the right of journalistic freedom, hate and fringe ideas do need to be censored or at least presented with counterarguments. Statements like: "The Athens government says there is no question that he [Alexander the Great] was Greek" reflect your view as well. You seem to collude with pseudohistorian Pasko Kuzman. How then are you not putting The Washington Post's reputation on the line?

I will now focus on your counterpoints to me. In your first counterpoint, you claim that I am disingenuous when I discuss the first constitution written in Skopje. I know very well that Skopje changed its constitution and flag in 1995. You state that Skopje has stopped all irredentist activity (including land claims) and I am not truthful when I state (with supporting references and pictures) that Skopje still harbours such feelings. Did you not see the picture of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski laying a wreath on [Bulgarian] hero Goče Delčev's grave under a poster of a "United Macedonia"? Despite changing their flag, the Diaspora and even members of Skopje's government still use the old irredentist flag in their offices and in public [4, 5, 6, 7]. There are even official calls to revert back to the old flag. Did you not see the video of Antonio Milososki that I linked in my original letter? If he denies that a Macedonia existed in Greece before 1988, how then is his government to be trusted? If Skopje would have adhered to the Interim Accord, its government would not promote the idea of an unredeemed "Aegean Macedonia" in the school curriculum [8], and its government would not encourage the plight of land claims in Greece by "Aegean Macedonians"[9, 10, 11]. Last summer, in a pre-election strategy, instead of focusing on his country's economic and social problems, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski started chasing waterfalls by writing to the Greek Prime Minister, to the United Nations, and to the European Union, requesting human rights for the "Macedonian" minority in Greece. Did he not violate the Interim Accord by doing this? Why has the country, whose official name is the cumbersome but accepted FYROM until a mutually acceptable name is agreed upon, gone around and marketed itself as "Republika Makedonija"? Why have they brought suit against Greece at the International Court of Justice in The Hague claiming that Athens violated the Interim Accord when she objected in Bucharest in 2008? They will likely lose the suit (which will probably be heard in 3 to 5 years) but again this was a pre-election coup by the VMRO for internal consumption only.

Mr. Whitlock, the constitution and (arguably) the flag may have changed but the ATTITUDE in Skopje has not changed. We know very well that a constitution and flag can easily be reverted back to the original by parliamentary decree if there is enough will and power by the government, the Assembly, and the people (Articles 68, 74, and 129 of the country's new constitution discuss how "changes in the [Republic's] borders" can be achieved): The governing VMRO overwhelmingly holds the Presidency, the Prime Minister's office, and controls the parliament. There are laws that make it a crime to research ethnicity and to question ultra-Macedonism (Article 179 of the country's Criminal and Penal Code). People in that country have been jailed and sent to psychiatric institutions for questioning these laws [12, 13]. For goodness sake Mr. Whitlock, God appeared on TV and spoke to the nation, edging them on in their struggle against Greece and reaffirming their view that they are the progenitors of the white race [14]!

As for the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest: I am not distorting any facts. Greece did not use any veto. As I have mentioned before, Skopje was not invited to join NATO (to the personal dismay of then-President George W. Bush) because there were many countries concerned with the lack of democratic and good-neighbourly progress by Skopje. As NATO Secretary General Jan de Hoop officially stated, "There has never been a veto" [15, 16 (see par. 20), 17]. Despite your claims to not really have an opinion on the matter, you state that if Greece had not objected, "Macedonia" would be in NATO right now. Is this the crux of the problem as you see it? Is this the bone you have to pick with Greece? Is FYROM ready to be a NATO or EU country before countries like Croatia? If you support NATO expansion at any cost, then yes you and your newspaper are reflecting ex-President George W. Bush's US Foreign Policy. By the way, Skopje's bid was sponsored by the United States as "Republic of Macedonia", and not FYROM. Greece has no obligation to accept the country as anything but FYROM as per the Interim Accord of 1995. As a result, I did not distort any facts on the matter.

Finally, I fail to see how you fail to see the analogy I give with US-Cuban relations. It is a very clear analogy of a larger country rightfully reacting to the irredentism of a smaller one and yet you criticize Greece. This is an obvious double standard.

Mr. Whitlock, we are both educated people and you can't deny the influence the media has on public opinion and on a country's internal and foreign policy. US senators and congressmen/women frequently quote newspapers when making their arguments in the Senate and the House of Representatives. As a recent example, the media was very much responsible for propagating the idea that Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction" and had direct links to Al Qaeda. However, in the view of many people around the world, the US went to war against a ruthless dictator but under false pretense as was evident later. I hope you can see the analogy of how the media influences public and governmental opinion and the responsibility you have as a journalist to present balanced news.

I would be more than happy to continue a discourse with you. In closing, I invite you to write a balanced article on the Athens-Skopje debate. I invite you to give some of the worldwide classicists who deride pseudohistory [18] a voice, I invite you to interview members of the PanMacedonian Association [19] and bilingual Greeks, and I invite you to visit Vergina, Pella, Philippoi, and Dion and see the real Macedonia.

Sincerely,
Christos Karatzios MD

References:
1) http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/2399/45/
2) http://history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/2008/10/26/the-arnaiz-villena-theory-another-skopjean-myth-exposed-and-explained/
3) http://maktruth.blogspot.com/2008/04/one-of-most-significant-ethnic.html
4) http://akritas-history-of-makedonia.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post_07.html
5) http://akritas-history-of-makedonia.blogspot.com/2009/01/director-of-agency-of-youth-sports-16.html
6) http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2007/08/faqs-what-is-rightful-name-of.html
7) http://history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/2009/07/18/skopianoi-kai-paraviaseis-endiamesi-sumfonia-tou-1995/
8) http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2008/07/fyrom-denies-ethnic-sovereignty-of.html
9) http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/4427/45/
10) http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=11378&subid=2&tag=8777&pubid=1862745
11) http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-provocation-from-fyrom.html
12) http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2009/02/fyrom-fascism-in-action.html
13) http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2009/07/vasko-vasilije-gligorijevic-has-been.html
14) http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2009/01/racial-discrimination-from-fyrom-tv-as.html
15) http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/Articles/en-US/140509_H1918.htm
16) http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-049e.html
17) http://www.summitbucharest.ro/en/doc_185.html
18) http://macedonia-evidence.org/about.html
19) http://www.panmacedonian.info/

5 Cypriot POW confirm as dead

Cyprus soldiers’ remains traced

AP
In this iconic image that became available after the Turkish photographer who shot it strayed into the hands of Greek-Cypriot soldiers, a member of the Turk invasion force lights the cigarette of a prisoner, Yiannis Papayianni. The latter’s funeral is due to take place in Nicosia on Friday after officials confirmed that his remains had been found.

Thirty-five years after iconic photographs were taken of a group of five Greek-Cypriot soldiers surrendering to Turkish troops on Cyprus, authorities have confirmed that their remains have been identified, prompting accusations they were executed.

The United Nations-led Committee on Missing Persons confirmed that the families of the five soldiers in the photographs, which have become synonymous with the struggle of Greek Cypriots to discover the fate of hundreds of missing people, had been informed of the results of forensic tests.

The remains of the five soldiers, named as Antonakis Korelli, Panayiotis Nikolaou, Yiannis Papayianni, Christoforos Skordi and Filippos Chatzikiriakou, were found in a well along with the relics of 14 others, also thought to be Greek-Cypriot soldiers.

“For the soldiers to be discovered the way they were, in a well, proves they were murdered,” said Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou, who urged Turkey to investigate what happened.

“The discoveries confirm the crimes and flagrant breach of international law and human rights during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus,” said Greek Foreign Ministry spokes-man Grigoris Delavekouras.

“It is a cold-blooded execution,” said Andreas Chatzikiriakou, the brother of one of those killed on August 14, 1974. “I can never accept this.”

The Turkish government had not commented on the findings by last night.

Since starting exhumations three years ago, the UN-sponsored program has unearthed the remains of 537 people and has returned those of 119 Greek Cypriots and 44 Turkish Cypriots to their families.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100008_11/08/2009_109730