The Greece-Macedonian issue: American-Greek relations at odds

[Ann Evans]

Having written my MA final paper on this subject, I find myself frustrated
at this conflict.  It was a fascinating subject for investigation, since
language lies so close to the heart of it.

This conflict threatens this corner of Europe, and I wonder where the means
for compromise will come from.  By acknowledging their Slavic neighbor,
Macedonia, Greece opens up its culture to influence from not only Macedonia
but other Slavic countries in the neighborhood (Bulgaria, for example),
which will cause them to change their mindset about their own country.  One
person, for example, claimed that Macedonian was not a language but rather a
dialect of Greek.  This is an absurd claim since virtually everything about
the Macedonian language is different from Greek; however, the Greeks find
comfort in such claims, even lacking the nurture of reason.

On cannot fault the Greeks for an excess of self-protectionism, as they sit
in a rather isolated position, between a sea, or seas, Albania, Slavic
cultures, and Turkey.  They have indulged in denial, rationalization,
attempts to clear their culture of Slavic influences, and war, in an effort
to strengthen themselves.

I am hoping that the economic benefits of the European Union will prove
beguiling enough for Greeks to divest themselves of their kneejerk
defensiveness.  In the grand scheme of things, this issue should not ride
high in the Greek list of priorities, but it does.  The issue of its very
name, a linguistic issue at base, is of immediate and rather pressing
concern to Macedonians, however.  How does one become a country without a
name that can be embraced comfortably?  How does one write a national anthem
in which one has to write a rhyme to FYROM?  The linguistic issue of naming
oneself embodies many of the linguistic rights issues which are increasingly
frequently being written into law.

This conflict is the sort of thing that, left unresolved (to the
satisfaction, even the meager satisfaction, of both parties) can lead to an
unraveling of that part of the European Union, which would be threatening to
the Union itself, especially to the concept of tolerance, unity, and peace
which is the foundation of the EU.

AE

On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 5:33 AM, Simona Gruevska-Madzoska <
simonagrum at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> *The Macedonian-Greek Conflict
> The age long conflict between the Greeks and the Macedonians*
>
>
>
> The Macedonian-Greek conflict is a very complex issue. Lots of books have
> been written about Macedonia, but many of them simply serve to justify the
> aspirations, propaganda, and the partition of Macedonia of 1913, by the
> neighboring countries such as Greece. These sources are, therefore, biased.
> The Greek pages about Macedonia rely strictly on their very own Greek
> propaganda sources, which naturally makes them biased. In order to find the
> real truth about Macedonia, one has to rely on the independent and neutral
> sources when looking into history. This page is such case, which browses
> historical independent and neutral facts, to show the truth about Macedonia
> against the century-old Greek propaganda.
>
> Macedonia seceded from Yugoslavia and became a sovereign state by a popular
> referendum held in September 1991 when the majority of voters chose
> independence. Greece immediately demanded from the international community
> not to recognize the country under its name Macedonia.
>
> *Greece alleges that: *
>
> 1.     The Macedonians should not be recognized as Macedonians because the
> Macedonians have been of Greek nationality since 2000 BC.
>
> 2.     Those Macedonians whose language belongs to the Slavic family of
> languages, must not call themselves Macedonians because 4000 years ago, the
> Macedonians spoke Greek and still speak nothing but Greek.
>
> 3.      Macedonia has no right to call itself by this name because
> Macedonia has always been and still is a region of Greece.
>
> *The people of Macedonia affirm that:*
>
> 1.      The ancient Macedonians were a distinct European people, conscious
> and proud of their nationality, their customs, their language, and their
> name. The same applies to the modern Macedonians today.
>
> 2.      The ancient Macedonians regarded the ancient Greeks as neighbors,
> not as kinsmen. The Greeks treated the Macedonians as foreigners
> ("barbarians") whose native language was Macedonian, not Greek.
>
> 3.      Macedonia was never a region of Greece. On the contrary, ancient
> Greece was subjected to Macedonia. In 1913, modern Greece and her Balkan
> allies partitioned Macedonia. If today a portion of Macedonia belongs to
> Greece, it is by virtue of an illegal partition of the whole and occupation
> of a part of Macedonia.
>
> These assertions will be shown to be true in the eyes of history proving
> the absurdity of Greek allegations against the people of Macedonia..
>
> *ANCIENT MACEDONIA AND GREECE *
>
> In the course of the second pre-Christian millennium, the ancient Greeks
> descended in several migratory waves from the interior of the Balkans to
> Greece. Some passed across the plain of Thessaly on their way south, while
> others went south through Epirus. More recent scholars point to Asia Minor
> as the original Greek homeland. There is no evidence that the ancient Greeks
> ever settled prehistoric Macedonia. Archeological evidence shows that
> ancient Macedonia lay beyond the cultural and ethnic borders of the Bronze
> Age Mycenaean Greek Civilization, which ends at the border of northern
> Thessaly (1400 - 1100 BC). The prehistoric Macedonians show a remarkable
> continuation of existing material culture.
>
> Ancient Macedonia was home to many tribes. The ancient Macedonian tribes
> emerged from the Brygians or Phrygians. Some of the Brygians left Macedonia
> and migrated to Asia Minor where they changed their name to Phrygians and
> established a powerful Phrygian kingdom (Herodotus). When the Macedonian
> army under Alexander the Great<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/AlexandertheGreat.html>will enter Phrygia centuries later, Philotas spoke of the connections
> between the Phrygians and the Macedonians, by calling the Macedonians
> "Phrygians" (Curtius).
>
> Greek migrants settled few coastal areas of Macedonia, Thrace, and Illyria
> after they exhausted the possibilities of settlement in Asia Minor, Italy,
> France, Spain and Scythia (Ukraine and Russia). However, they did not
> consider Macedonia especially attractive for permanent settlement. Neither
> did the Macedonians welcome them as open-heartedly as did the Italians and
> Scythians. By the middle of the fourth century BC, the Greek settlers were
> expelled from Macedonia and their cities, including Aristotle's native
> Stragira, razed to the ground by the Macedonian king Philip II<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/PhilipofMacedon.html>(360-336). Aristotle died in exile in Greece.
>
> The ancient Macedonians regarded the Greeks as potentially dangerous
> neighbors, never as kinsmen. The Greeks stereotyped the Macedonians as
> "barbarians" and treated them in the same bigoted manner in which they
> treated all non-Greeks. Herodotus<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/herodotus.html>,
> the Father of History, relates how the Macedonian king Alexander I(498-454
> BC), a Philhellene (that is "a friend of the Greeks" and logically a
> non-Greek), wanted to take a part in the Olympic games. The Greek athletes
> protested, saying they would not run with a barbarian. Historian
> Thucydidis<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/Thucydides.html>also calls the Macedonians barbarians, and so did
> Thracymachus<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/Thracymachus.html>who called Archelaus a barbarian who enslaved Greeks.
> Demosthenes<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/demosthenes.html>,
> the great Athenian statesman and orator, spoke of Philip II as:
>
> *"... not only no Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a
> barbarian from any place that can be named with honors, but a pestilent
> knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent
> slave."* [*Third Philippic, 31*]
>
> The Macedonian "barbarian" defeated Greece at the battle of Chaeronea in
> August 338 BC and appointed himself "Commander of the Greeks". This battle
> had established Macedonian hegemony over Greece and this date is commonly
> taken as the end of Greek history and the beginning of the Macedonian era.
> Greece did not regain its independence until 1827 AD.
>
> In 335 BC, Philip's son Alexander campaigned toward the Danube, to secure
> Macedonia's northern frontier. On rumors of his death, a revolt broke out in
> Greece with the support of leading Athenians. Alexander marched south
> covering 240 miles in two weeks. When the revolt continued he sacked Thebes,
> killing 6,000 people and enslaving the survivors. Only the temples and the
> house of the poet Pindar were spared.
>
> *The Ancient Macedonian Language*
>
> The Macedonians spoke their own native language which was unrecognizable by
> the Greeks. The very label barbarian literally means a person who does not
> speak Greek. Though Alexander spoke also Greek, loved Homer, and respected
> his tutor Aristotle, there is much evidence that he hated the Greeks of his
> day, just like his father Philip II. Philip had razed to the ground the
> Greek cities on Macedonian territory (including all 32 Greek cities in
> Chalcidice) and enslaved their inhabitants. Alexander the Great thoroughly
> destroyed Thebes. His Asian empire has not once been described as "Greek",
> but is correctly called Macedonian for he won it with an army of 35,000
> Macedonians and only 7,600 Greeks, and similar numbers of Thracians and
> Illyrians who were all forced to fight with their Macedonian overlords. The
> overwhelming number of Greeks however, 50,000 in total (Curtius<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/curtius.html>),
> had however, distinguished themselves on the side of the Persians and fought
> fiercely till the end against the Macedonians. For instance, at the battle
> of Granicus there were 20,000 Greeks, out of which the Macedonians killed
> 18,000 and the 2,000 survivors were sent in chains to Macedonia (Arrian,
> Curtius). Arrian<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/arrian.html>specifically speaks of the "old racial rivalry" between Macedonians and
> Greeks that characterized this battle. At the battle of Issus, there were
> 30,000 Greeks on the side of the Persians to fight Alexander, and their
> survivors also fought at Gaugamela along with the Albanians and the
> Persians, against the Macedonians.
>
> The question of the use of the ancient Macedonian language was raised by
> Alexander himself during the trial of Philotas, one of his generals accused
> of treason. This is what Alexander has said to Philotas:
>
> *"The Macedonians are about to pass judgement upon you; I wish to know
> weather you will use their native tongue in addressing them." *Philotas
> replied:* "Besides the Macedonians there are many present who, I think,
> will more easily understand what I shell say if I use the same language
> which you have employed." *Than said the king:* "Do you not see how
> Philotas loathes even the language of his fatherland? For he alone
> disdains to learn it. But let him by all means speak in whatever way he
> desires, provided that you remember that he holds out customs in as much
> abhorrence as our language" *(Curtius<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/curtius.html>
> ).
>
> The trial of Philotas took place in Asia before a multiethnic public, which
> has understood Greek as it was then a common language, like English today.
> But Alexander spoke Macedonian with his Macedonians (the language he accuses
> Philotas of loathing) and used Greek in addressing the west Asians. Like
> Carthagenian, Illyrian, and Thracian, ancient Macedonian was not recorded in
> writing. However, on the bases of about a hundred glosses, Macedonian words
> noted and explained by Greek writers, some place names from Macedonia, and a
> few names of individuals, most scholars believe that ancient Macedonian
> was a separate Indo-European language<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/greeklie6.html>.
> Evidence from phonology indicates that the ancient Macedonian language was
> distinct from ancient Greek.
>
> *THE ROMAN OCCUPATION *
>
> Both Macedonia and Greece were annexed by the Romans after the battle of
> Pydna in 168 BC. It is significant that the Greeks again fought against the
> Macedonians during the Macedonian Wars, on the side of the Romans.. The
> Macedonians were asked to evacuate from the *whole of Greece* and withdrew
> to Macedonia by the Romans, and the Greek fought against the Macedonian army
> and its king Philip V until their final defeat (Polybius<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/Polybius.html>,
> Livy <http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/livy.html>).
> After the end of the Macedonian kingdom, Latin was the official language in
> Roman Macedonia from 168 BC until the demise of Roman rule at the end of the
> sixth century AD.
>
> *SLAV SETTLEMENTS IN MACEDONIA, GREECE, THRACE, AND ILLYRIA *
>
> In the sixth century, the Slavs penetrated Illyria, Thrace, Macedonia, and
> Greece. The Slavs settled lands as far as Peloponnesus and the Aegean
> islands, and some of the Slavic tribes in Greece remained unconquered for
> centuries. During the following centuries, the Slavs mixed with the original
> Macedonians, Greeks, Thracians, and Illyrians, and thus laid the foundations
> to the modern nations of the Balkans, and their modern languages.
>
> Today's modern Macedonian language has both ancient Macedonian and Slavic
> background. How much modern Macedonian is based upon ancient Macedonian is
> impossible to say since we do not have many ancient Macedonian words that
> have survived, except about 150 glosses. Yet, ancient Macedonian words are
> still present in modern Macedonian. Alexander's infantry *peshatairoi*literally means "armed walking men" in modern Macedonian (peshatari).
> Hammond says that the ancient Macedonians called their commander *
> tchelniku*, which again means in modern Macedonian "somebody who leads"
> (chelniku). The Macedonian *prodromoi*, were the openers in the battles of
> Alexander the Great. Today in modern Macedonian this means "somebody who
> penetrates" (prodir), etc. Many ancient Macedonian names are still present
> among today's Macedonians, and many ancient Macedonian customs have the
> ancients have described have survived as well among today's Macedonians. The
> memory of Philip II and Alexander the Great echoes in the Macedonian
> folklore.
>
> The modern Macedonian language was systemized in the middle of the ninth
> century by SS Cyril and Methodius, the two Macedonian brothers from the
> largest Macedonian city of Salonica. This language has functioned as the
> principal literary, liturgical, and colloquial language of Macedonia ever
> since. This period of the Macedonian history set the foundations for the
> development of the modern Macedonian nation and in the centuries after the
> coming of the Slavs, the Macedonians continue to exist in Byzantine sources
> as nation. Macedonia resisted the settlement attacks by the Armenian and
> Syrian dynasties, who held power in New Rome (Byzantium), and by the nomadic
> Bulgarians. From 1014 to 1204, Macedonia was part of the multi-cultural
> Byzantine Empire. In the next two centuries, the Macedonians fought foreign
> invaders, adventurers, and bandits who failed to dominate their land, apart
> from the Serbs and the Bulgarians who briefly held it. In the fifteenth
> century, the Ottoman Turks succeeded in conquering all of Macedonia, Greece,
> and the rest of the Balkans, and enforced their 500-year old rule.
>
> *MACEDONIA IN THE XIX CENTURY *
>
> *Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian Independence*
>
> In 1827, the European powers intervened on behalf of the Greek rebels and
> forced the Turks to grant them independence. The same powers, established
> the first modern Greek state, chose Prince Otto of Bavaria to be the "King
> of the Hellenes", and sent him to Athens. Serbia freed herself also from the
> Turkish rule, while Russia declared war on Turkey to help Bulgaria gain its
> independence.
>
> *San Stefano and Berlin Conferences *
>
> The war between Russia and Turkey ended on March 3, 1878, with the peace
> settlement of San Stefano. The Turks had to agree to the formation of the
> new Bulgarian state, to also include all of Macedonia but the city of
> Salonika. Russia was hoping that greater Bulgaria with Macedonia would give
> her the strategic exit on the Aegean Sea, but she encountered fierce
> resistance from Austria-Hungary and England that saw their interests on the
> Balkans endangered. On July 13, 1878 with the Berlin Conference, they forced
> Russia to give up her dream and the San Stefano agreement was revised.
> Macedonia was returned to the Ottoman Empire. From this moment, Macedonia
> became a battleground where the interests not only of the Balkan states, but
> also of the Great Powers, collide.
>
> *The Macedonian and Greek Orthodox Churches *
>
> The Ohrid Archiepiscopy was founded as a separate church in 995 to care for
> the religious needs of the Orthodox Macedonians. However, under the
> influence of the Greek Orthodox church, the Turkish sultan abolished the
> Macedonian church in 1767. The Greek Orthodox church was now able to enforce
> its religious teachings in Greek as the only Orthodox church to exist in the
> Balkans. Greece hoped to spread her influence and propaganda through the
> newly opened Greek schools, with a goal to Hellenize the population of
> Macedonia. But as their influence grew bigger, so did the resistance of the
> Macedonians. On March 7, 1851, the residents of Enidje-Vardar (today in
> Greece) signed a petition, for replacement of the teachings in Greek with
> Macedonian. In 1859, in Kukush was formed the resistance movement against
> the Hellenization that quickly spread to Voden (Edessa), Kostur (Kastoria),
> Lerin (Florina), and the rest of southern Macedonia.
>
> *Balkan and Neutral Statistics on the Population of Macedonia *
>
> Adding to the Greek influence, the Bulgarians opened their schools in
> Macedonia in 1871, and the Serbs followed shortly after. This is the
> beginning of the so-called "Macedonian Question". The new independent Balkan
> states used those schools to propagate how the Macedonians do not exist, and
> how Macedonia was populated only by Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs.
> Ethnographers, historians, and writers begun writing books in favor of this
> or that propaganda. Many of them did not even visit Macedonia, while those
> who did already had a written scenario. Their presence there was only a
> simple formality. The Turkish statistics made the picture more confusing
> as the Turks registered the people based on religion, not on ethnic
> background<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/OttomanMacedonia/statistics.html>
> .  Table 1 gives an excellent proof of those Balkan speculations
> surrounding Macedonia:
>   *balkan views*
>
> *Greek *
>
> Nikolaides
>
> 1899
>
> *Bulgarian*
>
> Kenchov
>
> 1900
>
> *Serbian*
>
> Gopchevich
>
> 1886
>  Macedonian Slavs 454,000
>  -
>  -
>  Serbs  -
>  400
>  1,540,000
>  Bulgarians -
>  1,037,000
>  -
>  Greeks 656,300
>  214,000
>  201,000
>  Turks and others 576,600
>  610,365
>  397,020
>
> Table 1. Greek, Bulgarian, and Serbian Statistics of Macedonia's population
>
> It is more than obvious that all the views coming from the Macedonia's
> neighbors which sharply contradict eachother, are biased. They all claim
> their people in Macedonia to justify their well-planned aspirations. It is
> important to note that both the Bulgarian and Serbian views agree that the
> Greeks in Macedonia represent only a small minority of 10%. The Greek
> ethnographer Nikolaides, on the other hand, claims three times bigger number
> than his colleagues in Belgrade and Sofia. However, the most important about
> Nikolaides is that he recognizes the Macedonian Slavs as a separate nation,
> separate from the Bulgarians and the Serbs, to be part of population of
> Macedonia. And although he tries hard to lower the numbers of those
> Macedonian Slavs, he still comes up with a convincing proof of their
> existence.
>
> This is the time when many European slavists, ethnographers, and
> historians, are also attracted to visit Macedonia and conduct their own
> investigations. Therefore, to find the unbiased population numbers in
> Macedonia, we have to rely on neutral and independent statistics:
>   *neutral views*
>
> *German*
>
> Dr. K. Ostreich
>
> 1905
>
> *Austrian*
>
> K. Gersin
>
> 1903
>
> *English*
>
> Andrew Rousos
>  Macedonian Slavs *1,500,000*
>  *1,182,036*
>  *1,150,000*
>  Serbs  -
>  -
>  -
>  Bulgarians -
>  -
>  -
>  Greeks 200,000
>  228,702
>  300,000
>  Turks and others 550,000
>  627,915
>  400,000
>
> Table 2. Independent and Neutral European Statistics of Macedonia's
> Population
>
> Although the Macedonians are referred as "Macedonian Slavs", the main point
> of the statistics is the fact that they are recognized as distinct nation
> with cultural and historical right over their country Macedonia in which
> they are overwhelming majority. The reluctance to refer to them for what
> they are (simply as Macedonians), is explained by the overemphasizing of the
> contemporary Greek vs. Slavic (Serb and Bulgarian) rivalry over Macedonia in
> which the westerners desired to make the note that the Macedonians were more
> "Slavs" then "Greeks" - thus resulting in the use of the term "Macedonian
> Slavs" to distinguish them from all but still indicate their closer relation
> to their northern then southern neighbors, as interestingly was the case
> with the ancient Macedonians and their closer relations with the Thracians
> and Illyrians then with the ancient Greeks.
>
> Yet the term "Macedonian Slavs" is erroneous since the Macedonians,
> although conscious of their ancient Macedonian roots and Slav admixture, did
> not specifically call themselves "Macedonians Slavs", but Macedonians as the
> documents over the last 2,500 years show<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/ConciseMacedonia/Documents.html>.
> The same "Macedonian Slavs" mistake was again repeated by some western
> media, as the Albanian terrorists attacked Macedonia in March of 2001, and
> again it was done deliberately.  This deliberate bias is again there,
> unfortunately because of the political situation and the western media's
> inclination towards the goals of the Albanian terrorism for "Greater
> Albania"<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AlbanianTerrorism/greatheralbania.html>
> .  As at the beginning of the 20th century<http://makedonika.org/html/20th_century.htm>,
> the Macedonians showed their outrage at the beginning of the 21st century of
> this racial insult and publicly instead that their nationality be respected.
> Not only the Macedonians all over the world vigorously accused the western
> media for racial bias, but also did various western independent<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AlbanianTerrorism/eran.html>and
> non-government <http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa397.pdf> organizations.
> That referring to the Macedonians as "Macedonian Slavs" was a mistake was publicly
> acknowledged by BBC which apologized and withdrew its reporter Paul Wood
> precisely for his bias reporting, and since continued to rightfully refer to
> the Macedonians for what they have always been - Macedonians<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AlbanianTerrorism/westernfabrications.html>
> .
>
> From the two above tables one can easily notice that the number of Greeks
> in Macedonia according to the neutral authors also aligns with the numbers
> given by the Serb and Bulgarian authors. This is a proof that the Greeks
> before the partition of Macedonia, were indeed a small minority, only 10%
> from the total population. This fact certainly does not give them the
> copyright of the name Macedonia. Dr. Ostreich, Gersin, and Roussos, are only
> a few of the many neutral authors to prove the groundless speculations of
> the Balkan counties. They proved that Macedonia belongs to a separate
> nation, which proves that the Bulgarians and the Serbs have than simply
> substituted the numbers of the Macedonians for theirs. Another Austrian,
> Karl Hron explained why that is unjustified:
>
> *"According to my own studies on the Serb-Bulgarian conflict I came to the
> conclusion that the Macedonians looking at their history and language are a
> separate nation, which means they are not Serbs nor Bulgarians, but the
> descendants of those Slavs who populated the Balkan peninsula long before
> the Serb and Bulgarian invasions, and who later did not mix with any of
> those other two nations..." *and:
>
> *"... the Macedonian language according to its own laws in the development
> of the voices, and its own grammatical rules, forms one separate language".
> *
>
> There were even Greek and Bulgarian writers to support what Karl Hron has
> written. One such example is the Bulgarian slavist and ethnographer P.
> Draganov, who in his studies of 1887-1894 and 1903, proved the existence of
> the Macedonians and the Macedonian language as a distinct language. Here is
> what Henry Brailsford had said about the Macedonians in "*Macedonia: its
> Races and their Future*".
>
> *"Are the Macedonians Serbs or Bulgars? The question is constantly asked
> and dogmatically answered in Belgrade and Sofia. But the lesson of history
> is obviously that there is no answer at all. They are not Serbs, for their
> blood can hardly be purely Slavonic... On the other hand, they can hardly be
> Bulgarians... They are very probably very much what they were before either
> a Bulgarian or a Serbian Empire existed - a Slav people derived from various
> stocks, who invaded the peninsula at different periods."*
>
> At the time of the emergence of the so-called Macedonian question, and the
> aspirations of the Macedonian neighbors for occupation of the country, the
> famous Macedonian Gjorgi Pulevski wrote in 1875:
>
> *"People who originate from one and the same race, speak the same
> language, live together in harmony, and have the same customs, songs and
> mentality, constitute a nation, and the place where they live is their
> homeland. In this way, the Macedonians are a nation and their homeland is
> Macedonia" and,*
>
> *"I am not Bulgarian, nor Greek, nor Tzintzar, I am pure Macedonian as
> were Philip and Alexander the Macedonian and Aristotle Philosopher"*
>
> Pulevski was right back in 1875.  He was conscious and aware that the
> Macedonians were a distinct nation, a fact that the documents of the last
> 25 centuries clearly show<http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/ConciseMacedonia/Documents.html>
> .
>
> *Macedonian Uprisings *
>
> The Macedonians will first start an organized resistance in the XIX
> century, to free their land from the 500 year old Turkish yoke. The
> uprisings in Kresna and Razlog (1878 - 1879)<http://macedon.org/kresna/index.htm>,
> although unsuccessful, gained sympathies of many intellectuals in Europe.
> Among them was W.E. Gladstone who wrote:
>
> *"... Next to the Ottoman government nothing can be more deplorable and
> blameworthy than jealousies between Greek and Slav and plans by the states
> already existing for appropriating other territory. Why not Macedonia for
> the Macedonians as well as Bulgaria for the Bulgarians and Serbia for the
> Serbians."*
>
> Gladstone was three times elected Prime Minister of England (1868 -1874;
> 1880 - 1885 and 1893 - 1894). He supported the Macedonian nation in its
> quest for freedom. Perhaps Macedonia would have gained its independence had
> this man been once again elected Prime Minister during the big Ilinden
> Uprising on August 2, 1903. Left without any support, the uprising was
> crushed by the Turks, followed by the massacre on the innocent Macedonian
> population.
>
> *THE PARTITION OF MACEDONIA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES *
>
> On October 8, 1912, the First Balkan War begun. Montenegro, Serbia,
> Bulgaria, and Greece attacked the European positions of the Ottoman Empire.
> More than 100,000 Macedonians also took active part and contributed in
> driving the Turks out of Macedonia. Turkey capitulated soon, but Macedonia
> did not free itself. The victorious Balkan kingdoms convened in Bucharest in
> August 1913 to divide the spoils. The partition of Macedonia is best
> illustrated with the following maps:
>
>  *Macedonia within Turkey before 1912 and its partition in 1913 among
> Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania*
>
> Greece was awardedAegean Macedonia and renamed it to "Northern Greece";
> Bulgaria annexed Pirin Macedonia and abolished the Macedonian name, and
> Serbia took over Vardar Macedonia and renamed it to "Southern Serbia".The
> same year, N. Pasich of Serbia and E. Venizelos of Greece agreed on the
> newly formed Greek-Serbian (later Yugoslavian) border, so that there would
> be "only Serbs to the North and only Greeks to the South", and no
> "Macedonians" on either side. Thus, the politics to assimilate the
> Macedonians of Aegean Macedonia had already begun.
>
> *The Greek Atrocities in Aegean Macedonia*
>
> 1.      On June 21, 22, and 23, 1913, the Greek army completely burned to
> the ground the city of Kukush (today Kilkis), known for its resistance
> against Hellenism in the XIX century and the birthplace of Gotse Delchev.
>
> 2.      Between June 29 and 25, 39 villages in the Kukush area were also
> burned down.
>
> 3.      On June 23 and 24, the city of Serres (today Serrai) was set on
> fire where 4000 houses perished. In the Serres gymnasium the Greeks murdered
> about 200 people.
>
> 4.      During these days the larger portion of Strumica was also
> destroyed by the Greek army.
>
> 5.      Between June 23 and 30, many villages in the Drama and Serres
> districts were burned down..
>
> 6.      From June 27 to July 6 all Macedonian quarts of Salonika were set
> on fire.
>
> The Carnegie Commission composed of members from USA, Germany, Russia,
> France, Austria, and England, witnessed the Greek atrocities when visited
> Aegean Macedonia. Their final conclusion was that the Greek army has burned
> to the ground 170 villages with over 17,000 houses.
>
> Since 1913, official Greece has been trying to banish native Macedonian
> names of villages, towns, cities, rivers, and lakes in Aegean Macedonia. For
> example, the little stream which issues from Mount Olympus and flows into
> the Aegean Sea is labeled *Mavroneri *("black water") on the maps made by
> Greek cartographers after 1913. However, the same river appears as *Crna
> Reka*, a native Macedonian name meaning "black river" on the maps made
> before 1913. Kukush has been dropped for Kilkis and Serres for Serai,
> together with at least 300 other places all over Macedonia.
>
> *Forced Change of the Ethnic Structure of Aegean Macedonia *
>
> The presence of the Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia could not allow Greece
> to claim that land to be Greek and only Greek. Since it was proven that they
> resisted the Hellenization, Greece decided to drive them out of Macedonia.
> Greece made agreements with Bulgaria (signed 10/27/19), and Turkey (1/30/23
> in Lausanne), for exchange of population. This provided for the Macedonians
> of Aegean to leave for Bulgaria, while the Greeks in Bulgaria and Turkey
> settled in the Aegean part of Macedonia. These measures changed the ethnic
> character of the Aegean Macedonia. According to the "Great Greek
> Encyclopedia", there were 1,221,849 newcomers against 80,000 "slavophones".
> The "Ethnic Map of Greek Macedonia Showing the Ratio Between Various Ethnic
> Elements in 1912 and 1926," claims there were 119,000 "bulgarisants" in
> 1912, and 77,000 in 1926. The Greek ethnic map of Aegean Macedonia was
> submitted to the League of the nations by the Greek government. The League
> of the Nations had not visited Aegean Macedonia and did not participate at
> all in conducting this statistics. Greece here refers to the Macedonians as
> "bulgarisants", which means "those who pretend to be Bulgarians" and
> obviously non-Bulgarians. However, Greece uses many other names in
> falsifying the identity of the Macedonians. Slavophones, Slav Macedonians,
> Makedoslavs, Slav Greeks, and Bulgarisants, are only some of the names that
> prove Greece's unpreparess in this mean falsification of the Macedonian
> people and language. There are also other Greek sources that contradict the
> previous numbers of the Macedonians in Greece. The Athenian newspaper,
> "Message d' Aten" wrote on February 15, 1913, that the number of
> "Bulgar-echarhists" was 199,590 contradicting with those 119,000 of the
> "Ethnic Map of Greek Macedonia".
>
> *How many Macedonians remained in Greece?*
>
> When the Bulgarian and Serbian views are added, the confusion gets only
> bigger. According to the Bulgarian Rumenov, in 1928 there were total of
> 206,435 "Bulgarians", while the Serb Bora Milojevich claimed 250,000 "Slavs"
> in Aegean Macedonia. Belgrade's "Politika" in its 6164 issue of June 24,
> 1925 gave three times greater numbers for the Macedonians in Greece than
> official Athens:
>
> *"The Greek government must not complain that we are pointing to the fact
> that the Macedonian population of West Macedonia - 250,000 - 300,000 - is
> the most unfortunate national and linguistic minority in the world, not only
> because their personal safety in endangered, but also because they have no
> church nor school in their own language, and they had them during the
> Turkish rule."*
>
> The speculations with the real number of Macedonians is obvious again.
> Their true number remains disputable in the Balkan documents, same as it was
> the case before the partition of 1912. Unfortunately, the Greek government
> would not allow anybody, including neutral observers to conduct statistical
> studies. Forced to leave, the Macedonians emigrated in large numbers to
> Australia, Canada, and the USA. As a result, there are about 300,000
> Macedonians that presently live in Australia. In the city of Toronto,
> Canada, there are about 100,000. The present Macedonian colonies in these
> counties are represented mostly by the descendants of those Aegean
> Macedonians who settled there in the 1920's.
>
> According to the "Ethnic Map of Greek Macedonia Showing the Ratio Between
> Various Ethnic Elements in 1912 and 1926", only 42,000 left their homes. If
> we take the statistical tables of the Balkan and neutral sources above, by
> 1913 in the whole of Macedonia lived around 1,250,000 Macedonians. In the
> Aegean part (51%) which Greece took after 1913, half of the Macedonian
> nation remained under Greek rule - that would be 625,000 people. If up to
> 1926 42,000 out of these 625,000 left, in the Greek part of Macedonian
> thereafter remained 583,000 Macedonians.
>
> *Recognition of the Macedonian Language by Greece *
>
> After World War I and under the international law, Greece signed the
> agreement to provide education in the languages of the minorities that
> remained in its borders. As a result, Sakerlarou Press in Athens printed a
> primer in the Macedonian language called "Abecedar" in 1924. It was intended
> for the Macedonian children in the soon to be opened new schools and it was
> a clear recognition of the existence of the Macedonians in Greece. The Greek
> government, however, later changed its position and the primer never reached
> the schools.
>
> *The Macedonian Language Forbidden in Greece *
>
> The Englishmen B. Hild who traveled through Aegean Macedonia in 1928 has
> recorded that the Greeks are chasing not only the alive Macedonians, to whom
> they sometimes refer to as "bulgarophones" and sometimes as "slavophones",
> but also the graves of dead Macedonians, by destroying all non-Greek signs
> on the crosses. The use of the Macedonian language was forbidden and
> punishable when dictator Metaxis gained power in Greece. Between 1936 and
> 1940, some 5,250 Macedonians were persecuted for speaking their native
> language. The official order of the National Garde in Nered (Polipotamos):
>
> *"All residents from two to fifty years of age are forbidden to use any
> other language but Greek. I direct special attention to the youth. Anyone to
> break this law will be punished."*
>
> But as the facts point out, the Macedonians were not wiped out from Aegean
> Macedonia in spite of the many assimilation attempts by the Greek
> government. One such fact is the ethnic map of Europe in The Times Atlas of
> World History, where the Macedonians presented as separate nationality cover
> the territory of complete Macedonia, including Aegean Macedonia in Greece.
>
> Here is another map, part of a larger Balkan map and made by German
> ethnographers, first published after World War I, which proves that the
> ethnic Macedonians are the majority in Aegean Macedonia while the Greeks
> consist only a small minority.
>
> The Macedonians on this map (Mazedonier in German, and presented in green
> with stripes), populate the largest area of Aegean Macedonia, including the
> cities of Kostur (Kastoria), Lerin (Florina), Voden (Edessa), Ber (Veroia),
> and Salonika (Thessaloniki), the largest Macedonian city. This map is yet
> another clear proof that the Macedonians do exist as large minority in
> Greece. It is also very important to note, that southernmost river in
> Macedonia which many ethnographers consider to be Macedonia's border with
> Greece, is labeled on this map with the native Macedonian name *Wistritza*(Bistrica). However, Greek maps that date after the partition of Macedonia,
> have changed this name with the Greek *Aliakmon. *Another examples on
> wiping off the native Macedonian names from this map, would also be the
> second largest city in Aegean Macedonia, *Serres* which Greece changed to
> *Serrai *later, the river *Mesta* which was changed to *Nestos*, or the *lake
> Beschik* which today appears as *Volvi*.
>
> The CIA Ethnic Map of Balkans and Macedonia<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/europe/Balkans.jpg> is
> yet another proof that the ethnic Macedonians today represent a big national
> minority in northern Greece or Aegean Macedonia. According to this CIA
> source, the Macedonians live in all parts of Macedonia: today's Republic of
> Macedonia, Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria, and Aegean Macedonia in Greece.
>
> *Macedonians Oppressed in Greece *
>
> Following are several documents regarding the oppression of the Macedonians
> in Aegean Macedonia before the World War II. They appeared in "Rizospastis",
> a newspaper published by the Greek Communist Party (KKE).
>
> April 15, 1934
>
> *Serres (Serrai).** The town square was covered with leaflets with
> revolutionary proclamations calling upon the soldiers to straggle for a
> solution to their problems and against the beastly reign of terror. Officers
> imprisoned the soldiers who read the leaflets... The most barbarous methods
> were used against us Macedonians, soldiers of the 6th Heavy Artillery
> Regiment. The majority of us are illiterate, we do not know Greek and
> therefore we frequently do not understand their orders. The officers tried
> to teach us to read and write, but their efforts were abandoned too soon and
> were performed so improperly than none of us learned anything. *
>
> June 6, 1934
>
> *Voden (Edessa).** Here, in Voden, and in our whole district, in the heart
> of Macedonia, here where we Macedonians do not know any other language but
> our own Macedonian, various agents of the Greek capitalism fore us to speak
> Greek. Consequently, they threaten us constantly with expulsion to Bulgaria,
> they call us Komitajis, expropriate our fields which we have drenched with
> our sweet just to produce a piece of bread. In addition, they deprive us of
> the freedom which our fathers won after many years of struggle in which they
> gave their lives for the liberation of Macedonia. We live under the yoke of
> Greek capitalism, literally as slaves. In the elementary schools, the young
> children who speak their own language are beaten every day. Particularly
> here in Voden, the henchman and fascist Georgiadis beats the children if
> they speak their Macedonian tongue. *
>
> June 8, 1934
>
> *Lerin (Florina).** It has been some time now that the whole bourgeois
> press launched a campaign against the Macedonian people. It represents a
> part of the fascist and military measures which the Government of Tsaldaris
> carries out in its orientation towards an increasingly brutal oppression of
> the people's masses in Macedonia. The Chief of the Security Forces here,
> Karamaunas, whenever he meets us on the streets threatens us with the words:
> "You are Bulgarians and if by any chance I discover any sort of organized
> movement, I will beat you without mercy and than I will deport you." We
> Macedonians should rise with greater courage and by means of increased
> activities should reject this campaign because it brings us an even more
> brutal oppression, starvation, misery, and war*.
>
> *MACEDONIA AND GREECE AFTER WORLD WAR II *
>
> The end of World War II brought both joy and sadness to the Macedonian
> people. Joy because the Macedonians were finally recognized as a distinct
> people with their own nationality, language, and culture in Yugoslavia. The
> Republic of Macedonia was not anymore "Southern Serbia" but an integral part
> of federal Yugoslavia. The possible unification of all three parts of
> Macedonia failed however as Great Britain intervened and blocked that idea,
> afraid that the Macedonian unification will endanger her interests on the
> Balkan peninsula.
>
> *The Greek Civil War *
>
> During the Greek Civil War that followed World War II, the Macedonians of
> Aegean Macedonia fought on the side of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) who
> promised them their rights after the war. After two years of KKE's success
> in the civil war, the United States decided to side up against them, afraid
> that Greece would become another communist country. With the military
> support that came from the United States and Great Britain, the communists
> lost the war, and the Macedonians once again did not get their human rights.
>
>
> *The Yugoslav - Greek Relations *
>
> In the years following the war, Yugoslavia urged Greece many times to
> recognize the Macedonian minority in Aegean Macedonia. The Greek paper
> "Elefteros Tipos" wrote that in September of 1986 the Prime-Minister
> Papandreu in the talks with Yugoslav presidency member Stane Dolanc has
> agreed to recognize the Macedonian language as one of the official languages
> in Yugoslavia. As a result of those talks, on March 16, 1988, the Greek
> Prime-Minister Papandreu and the Foreign Affairs' Karolos Papulias, even
> agreed to recognize the Macedonian language in Greece. However, the bankers
> affair "Koskotas" emerged, the PASOK government fell, and the documents were
> never signed. Greece continued to refer to the Macedonians as "Slavophones"
> who speak an idiom.
>
> *THE MACEDONIAN - GREEK RELATIONS *
>
> When the Republic of Macedonia seceded from Yugoslavia and became
> independent in 1991, Greece urged the world not to recognize Macedonia under
> that name because Macedonia's Constitution "threatens the security and
> integrity of Greece". What Greece is referring to is the Article 49 of the
> Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia which states:
>
> *"The Republic of Macedonia cares for the statue and rights of those
> persons belonging to the Macedonian people in neighboring countries, as well
> as Macedonian ex-parties, assists their cultural development and promotes
> links with them."*
>
> Athens sees Article 49 to be a direct threat for the security of Greece
> because Macedonia cares for the people in Greece who consider themselves
> Macedonians? How can a country of two million be a danger to Greece's ten
> million? Furthermore, Greece has also similar article in her Constitution,
> as any other country in the world, to care for her minorities in the
> neighboring countries. Should Albania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, urge the world
> not to recognize Greece because of her Constitution to care for her
> minorities in these neighboring countries? What Greece is doing is against
> the international law. Greece demands that Macedonia change its Constitution
> because there are "no Macedonian people" in Greece but this will be proven
> to be a lie once again, when Human Rights Watch / Helsinki, visited Aegean
> Macedonia in 1994.
>
> *Violation of the Human Rights of the Macedonians in Greece *
>
> The 80-page human rights violation report on Greece entitled "Denying
> Ethnic Identity - Macedonians of Greece" was published in May 1994. After
> visiting Aegean Macedonia, The Human Rights Watch/Helsinki concluded:
>
> *"Although ethnic Macedonians in northern Greece make up large minority
> with their own language and culture, their internationally recognized human
> rights and even their existence are vigorously denied by the Greek
> government. Free expression is restricted; several Macedonians have been
> persecuted and convicted for their peaceful expression of their views.
> Moreover, ethnic Macedonians are discriminated against by the government's
> failure to permit the teaching of the Macedonian language. And ethnic
> Macedonians, particularly rights activists, are harassed by the government -
> followed and threatened by the security forces - and subjected to economic
> and social pressure resulting from this harassment. All of these actions
> have led to a marked climate of fear in which a large number of ethnic
> Macedonians are reluctant to assert their Macedonian identity or to express
> their views openly. Ultimately, the government is pursuing every avenue to
> deny the Macedonians of Greece their ethnic identity."*
>
> The Helsinki Watch has, therefore, proven that there is nothing wrong with
> the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. The Macedonians indeed exist
> in Greece as a large minority and, therefore, Macedonia has the full right
> to care for them. Helsinki Watch found the Greek government guilty for
> oppressing the Macedonian minority and demanded they be given their basic
> human rights to which they are entitled to. Another human rights
> organization, Amnesty International, also urged the Greek government to
> respect the human rights of the ethnic Macedonians. The European Union has
> furthermore recognized the Macedonian language as one of the languages
> spoken within the EU borders. The Republic of Macedonia is not a member of
> the European Union, but Aegean Macedonia in Greece, is within those borders.
>
>
> *The Greek Embargo *
>
> Greece slapped a trade embargo on Macedonia because of the refusal of the
> Macedonian President Gligorov to rename the country, nation, and language,
> and change the constitution.The embargo had devastating impact on
> Macedonia's economy. Macedonia was cut-off from the port of Salonika and
> became landlocked because of the UN embargo on Yugoslavia to the north, and
> the Greek embargo to the south. Greece said it will remove the embargo only
> if Macedonia satisfies her demands. This blackmail was not acceptable to the
> Republic of Macedonia which considered the embargo illegal. At the same
> time, Greece withdrew from the Greek - Macedonian talks, monitored by the UN
> as a mediator, and blocked any acceptance of Macedonia in the international
> institutions by using its power to veto new members.
>
> *CONCLUSION *
>
> The claims put forward by Greece that the ancient Macedonians were Greeks,
> that their native language was Greek, and that Macedonia had always been a
> region of Greece are all false. The historical truth is that Greece was
> inhabited by ancient Greeks, Macedonia by ancient Macedonians. Today, it is
> the modern Greeks and the modern Macedonians to occupy those lands.. It is a
> total absurdity to hear the Greeks of today to claim they are the
> Macedonians, the Greek Macedonians, the only and true Macedonians. How can
> they be "the only and true Macedonians", when today's Greek population of
> Aegean Macedonia immigrated there just 80 years ago joining that small Greek
> minority of 10%? How can they overlook the atrocities they committed on the
> people who than, as centuries before, proudly called themselves Macedonians?
> What about the statistics and maps made by neutral and independent
> ethnographers, slavists, and writers, to prove the existence of the
> Macedonian nation? And finally, what about the ethnic Macedonians whose
> discrimination by the official Greek government was witnessed by the
> independent Human Rights Watch / Helsinki and Amnesty International in 1994?
>
>
> The existence of the Macedonian nation and the ethnic Macedonian minority
> in Greece can not be questioned. There is, however, a great deal of irony
> surrounding the issue. In spite of the truth about Macedonia and the
> Macedonians, many Western countries have not yet recognized the Republic of
> Macedonia under its constitutional name but under the reference "Former
> Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". This includes the United States which after
> the recognition, did not send an ambassador to Skopje for more than a year.
> Interestingly enough, this "freeze" coincides with the visit of the most
> powerful representatives of the Greek-American lobby to President Clinton in
> the White House, behind closed doors, and in the presence of Clinton's
> adviser George Stefanopoulos, who himself, is a Greek-American.
>
> How it is possible that the Western countries have chosen to follow
> "democratic" Greece where lies prevail over the truth? The European Court
> found the Greek embargo illegal and put Greece on trial, but did nothing to
> stop it while it was so harmful to the Macedonian economy. They never cared
> about the rights of the Macedonians in Greece while the Macedonians of the
> Aegean are still facing daily oppression and persecution. Finally, they
> still play that game for the Macedonia's name, the way Greece wants them to.
> Yes, this is yet anotherproof that interests are stronger than the truth.
> Greece is a member of the European Union, NATO, an important ally that
> occupies a very strategic position. On the other hand, all other countries
> that do not belong to those organizations have recognized Macedonia under
> its constitutional name. Russia and China are among those countries. The
> question now is if the West is willing to risk losing Greece for the small
> landlocked Macedonia? But by standing silent on the issue, they are taking
> an active role in Greece's politics.
>
> Yet, on every atlas (like National Geographic), encyclopedia (like
> Britannica), newspaper (like New York Times), and TV media (like CNN),
> Macedonia is referred simply as Macedonia. Even the US Secretary of State
> Warren Christopher, and Defense Secretary William Perry, speak of
> Macedonians and refer to Macedonia as Macedonia. Matthew Nimitz, the US
> mediator in the Greek - Macedonian talks has said that "the country has an
> Constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia" and that besides the opposing
> of Greece, Macedonia was admitted at UN under the reference "former Yugoslav
> Republic of Macedonia", but that is "only a reference and not name". The
> truth about Macedonia slowly but surely is coming to the top, working
> towards a final end to the century-old shadow of Greek lies and propaganda.
> That is until the change of the Balkan policies and interests might push it
> all back to where it started. But regardless of everything, the Macedonians
> continue to exits on every part of divided Macedonia - the Republic of
> Macedonia, and the Macedonian parts which are today held by Greece and
> Bulgaria. They have survived as Macedonians for almost 3,000 years and
> nobody by renaming them will change the fact that they are and will remain
> Macedonians.
>
> *BIBLIOGRAPHY *
>
> 1.      Karl Hron. *Das Volksthum der Slaven Makedoniens*. Wien, 1890.
>
> 2.      P. Draganov. *Makedonski Slavjanski Sbornik*. St. Petersburg,
> 1894.
>
> 3.      Spiridon Gopchevich.. *Makedonien und Altserbien*. Wien, 1899
>
> 4.      Dr. Cleonthes Nikolaides. *Macedonien, die gesschichtliche
> Entwickelung der makedonischen Frage in Alterthum und in die neuren Zeit*.
> Berlin, 1899.
>
> 5.      Newspaper *The Times*, London. Saturaday, February 6, 1897
> edition.
>
> 6.      K. Gersin. *Macedonian und das Turkische Problem*. Wien, 1903.
>
> 7.      Dr. K. Ostreich. *Die Bevolkerung von Makedonien*. Leipzig, 1905.
>
> 8.      Dr. Karl Peucher. *Statistische Angaben. Die Volker Macedoniens
> und Altserbiens*. 1905.
>
> 9.      Henry N. Brailsford.. *Macedonia, its Races and their Future*.
> London, Metheuen and Co, first published in 1906.
>
> 10.  *Volker und Sprachenkarte der Balkan - Halbinsel vor den Krigen
> 1912-18*. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig.
>
> 11.  Newspaper *Message d' Aten*. Athens, February 15, 1913.
>
> 12.  *Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Report of the
> International Commision to Inquire the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars
> *. Washington, 1914.
>
> 13.  R.G.D. Laffan. *The Serbs*. New York, 1917.
>
> 14.  League of the Nations. *Ethnic Map of Greek Macedonia Showing the
> Ratio Between Various Ethnic Elements in 1912 and 1926*. Lausanne, 1926.
>
> 15.  Newspaper *Politika*. Edition 6369. Belgrade, January 5, 1926.
>
> 16.  Andrew Roussos. *The British Foreign Office and Macedonian National
> Identity 1918 - 1941*.
>
> 17.  Newspaper *Rizospastis*, ar.195 (7132), 4/12/34, p.3 and ar.89
> (7026), 6/10/34, p.3 and ar.87, (7024), 6/8/34, p.1.
>
> 18.  Dr. Vladimir Rumenov. *Makedonski pregled*. Sofia, 1941
>
> 19.  Elisabeth Barker. *Macedonia - Its Place in Balkan Power Politics*.
> London, 1950.
>
> 20.  *Spoljnopoliticka Dokumentacija No 36*. Belgrade, 1951.
>
> 21.  Lazar Moysov. *Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia*. Skopje, 1953.
>
> 22.  Hammond Incorporated. *The Times Atlas of World History*. Maplewood
> NJ, 1989. Copyright Times Books Limited, London.
>
> 23.  Stoyan Prebicevich. *Macedonia, Its People and History*. The
> Pennsylvania State University Press, 1982.
>
> 24.  Jacques Bacid, Ph.D. *Macedonia Through the Ages*. Columbia
> University, 1983.
>
> 25.  Quantis Curtius Rufus. *History of Alexander the Great of Macedon, VI
> *. Harmondsworth, 1984.
>
> 26.  Rand McNally and Co. Inc. *The Random House Encyclopedia* Random
> House, New York, 1990.
>
> 27.  Jackson J. Spielvogel. *Western Civilization*The Pennsylvania State
> University, West Publishing Company, 1991.
>
> 28.  Human Rights Watch / Helsinki. *Denying Ethnic Identity - Macedonians
> of Greece*, New York, 1994.
>
> 29.  Newspaper *Elefteros Tipos.* Athens, September 20, 1994.
>
> 30.  The Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia<http://faq.macedonia.org/politics/constitution.html>.
>
> --- On *Tue, 6/3/08, Harold Schiffman <haroldfs at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
> From: Harold Schiffman <haroldfs at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: The Greece-Macedonian issue: American-Greek relations at odds
> To: lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
> Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2008, 11:41 AM
>
>
> The name that Greece suggests is FYROM: "Former Yugoslav Republic of
> Macedonia"
> I think that Macedonia is suggesting "Republic of Macedonia."
>
> HS
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Ann Evans <annevans123 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > What is the name(s) that Greece is suggesting for FYROM?  What name(s) is
> > Fyrom suggesting?
> >
> > Ann
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 7:41 AM, Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> American-Greek relations at odds
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Dr. George Voskopoulos in American Chronicle
> >> June 01, 2008
> >>
> >> The US and Greece have been strategic allies ever since the end of the
> >> Second World War. Greece became a NATO member in 1952 thus cementing
> >> the alliance´s south-east European flank against the Warsaw Pact.. In
> >> this way the leaders of the country hoped to strengthen democracy and
> >> assist development in the only country that practiced free market in
> >> the region. During the Cold War years the Atlantic Alliance provided a
> >> reliable casus foederis against non-alliance members, a fact that left
> >> out of this collective security mecha-nism the biggest military threat
> >> the country faced. Still Greek governments supported alliance policies
> >> vis-à-vis neighboring countries and refrained from upsetting its
> >> cohe-sion and its overall effectiveness in dealing with Soviet
> >> expansion. This explains Greek subtle policy vis-à-vis non-aligned
> >> Yugoslavia and Tito´s expansionist dreams.However, today the picture
> >> of bilateral relations looks rather gloomy. One of the causes of the
> >> rift is the Greece-FYROM dispute over the latter´s constitutional
> >> name. At the end of the Cold War the issue originally appeared to be a
> >> technicality, yet it proved to be more than that.
> >>
> >> Under the circumstances FYROM is treated as a de facto and de jure
> >> ally and Greece as alliance outcast. All of a sudden the US appears
> >> willing to overlay the essentials that brought the two countries
> >> together. They give Athens wrong signals and adopt an inconceivable
> >> policy that affects bilateral relations. The prerequisites of turning
> >> American-Greek relations into a meaningful strategic partnership again
> >> are simple. Most of them apply to every single partnership built on
> >> consensus not coercion. Even-tually going back to the basics will
> >> assist the revitalization of this strategic partnership and trigger
> >> the so needed by both sides understanding of the issue at hand. The
> >> first refers to the US being able to acknowledge the vital interest of
> >> a local part-ner who faces multidimensional hostile activities by a
> >> neighboring state wishing to join the Atlantic Alliance. Vital
> >> interests are defined in terms of threats, their percep-tion and
> >> intensity and the degree they affect the survival of a country.
> >> Eventually they may turn into non-negotiable national interests and
> >> lead to a dead end.
> >>
> >> In the so called "Macedonian dispute" [1] Greece has made
> every single
> >> effort to meet the other side half way. It is obvious that the Greek
> >> political elite is ready to accept a name with a geographical
> >> definition that leaves no space for further misunderstanding. Greece
> >> has taken a step back in its rhetoric and policy with a view to
> >> enhancing stability in the region.
> >>
> >> However the other side refuses to adopt a name that clearly
> >> distinguishes it form the Greek province Macedonia. Constructivism may
> >> be a useful, at times, approach to international relations, yet, it
> >> runs the risk of over-extending into relativism, thus making any
> >> claim, whether sustainable or not, appear attractive or noble.
> >> Eventually it dramatically blurs the dividing line between facts and
> >> beliefs, something American officials should comprehend. The semantics
> >> of Skopje rejecting the covertly implied by the Greek government
> >> solution enhances suspiciousness in Athens and eventually reveals the
> >> real motives behind Macedonianism, a state ideology built on Great
> >> Idea inspirations. These are externalized in the form of a demand, a
> >> historical duty on the part of Slav-Macedonians and especially the
> >> Diaspora to unite geographical Macedonia. A part of this strategy
> >> includes "liberation" of Greek Macedonia. A less informed or
> >> misinformed reader would probably think that there used to be a united
> >> country dismembered by neighboring states. Yet, the truth is
> >> different. What we know is that "the region of Macedonia,
> inhabited by
> >> Slavs from the fifth century, was never able to have its own
> >> independent state" [2]. Still even if history had proven an
> >> unfortunate experience for our neighbors they would not be liable to
> >> advance irredentism as a means of purging it. This would certainly
> >> give many in the region the right to start claiming possessions of the
> >> past. It would probably give me and another 1.200.000 Greeks forced
> >> out of Asia Minor the right to claim our property. This is not the
> >> case and we should all ac-knowledge certain facts of history, politics
> >> and reality.
> >>
> >> Second, the issue at hand is not related to race purity or historical
> >> accuracy but security. The concept affects not only inter-state
> >> relations but national psychology. After all, the feeling of security
> >> bears a strong psychological aspect. This makes the in-volvement of
> >> the Atlantic Alliance imperative on the basis of its being a
> >> collective security mechanism. Once an ally faces hostile propaganda
> >> and overt irredentist claims NATO should be in a position to intervene
> >> and protect existing non prospec-tive members. It is a matter of
> >> priorities stemming from alliance commitments not vague ideological
> >> stances. Providing stability is what gives NATO its raison d´ être
> and
> >> makes it a meaningful (or meaningless?) alliance.
> >>
> >> Washington´s support to a revisionist state constitutes today´s
> >> paradox with American policy in the issue. The US joins lines with
> >> extremists in FYROM and supports the weakest but aggressive party, a
> >> non-NATO member not a strategic ally that has defended the territorial
> >> status quo and served the alliance´s interests ever since 1952.
> Greece
> >> is the only NATO member and EU country that still faces military and
> >> non-military threats. It is the only NATO member whose security has
> >> been solely con-structed on the realist concept of self-help.A
> >> substantial number of US senators have acknowledged that Greek worries
> >> are not imaginary and do not constitute a side-effect of national
> >> psychosis. Actually this could not have been the case since there are
> >> tangible facts that turn FYROM into the odd man in the Balkans. It
> >> also exposes the inability of the political establishment in Skopje to
> >> define real enemies as illustrated by the 2001 crisis.
> >>
> >> What is disappointing with US policy is its easiness to dismiss Greek
> >> security considerations, at least on the practical level, since in
> >> terms of rhetoric the State Department is more careful. What we have
> >> seen so far is a policy of punishing a NATO ally for defending
> >> territorial status and regional stability, a policy that means to
> >> consistently provoke Athens through the use of the term Macedonia, a
> >> policy of supporting all those inside and outside the country that
> >> wish to destabilize the political system. It is fully understood that
> >> America´s strategic priorities vary from balancing short-term needs
> >> and long-term interests in a region prone to Russian influence. Yet,
> >> long- term allies and their interests cannot vanish into thin air.
> >> They have been there to sup-port what used to be the West and they
> >> will be there in times of need. Supporting a country that has just
> >> discovered the merits of Atlanticism (this is what I call
> >> opportun-istic Atlanticism) gives merit to those – like me - who
> >> suggest that NATO has lost its collective security meaning, a debate
> >> inaugurated in the early 1990s after the demise of the Soviet Union.
> >>
> >> US policy during the last years has been a challenge to foes and
> >> allies since it has lost its "persuasive credibility",
> arbitrariness
> >> and ability to see the obvious. It has led allies to question NATO´s
> >> scope, its utility and above all its ability to impose norms of
> >> in-ternational behaviour based on rigid, uncompromised principles and
> >> values. Above all it lacks the ability to devise policies formulated
> >> outside the current militarily and power-imposed ethos.
> >>
> >> In 2005 T.K. Vogel and Eric A. Witte, senior fellows of the
> >> Democratization Policy Council, commented on the gap between American
> >> policies and rhetoric suggesting that "grand rhetoric about
> democracy
> >> and freedom only resonates when it is supported by actual
> policy". [3]
> >> In the same way American policies cannot bear multidimensional
> >> semantics that can be interpreted in many contending ways. It has to
> >> be clear at least vis-à-vis allies such as Greece. One of the
> greatest
> >> challenges leaders and simple individuals have always faced is to cope
> >> with power and how to put it in good use. Whether a university
> >> professor or the leader of a superpower one needs internal balancing
> >> mechanisms to reconciliate needs, values, prerogatives and
> >> commitments. In the case of an alliance priorities should be formed on
> >> the basis of the needs of those inside and the advertised ethical
> >> basis of American active involvement in world politics. It takes at
> >> least two to have peace..at least two to go to war and at least two to
> >> form an alliance.
> >>
> >> notes
> >>
> >> [1] The term "Macedonian issue" is rather inaccurate, since
> "the
> >> Macedonians of to-day are not, as many in the West think, descendants
> >> of the long vanished Macedoni-ans of Alexander the Great. They are
> >> Slavs, who speak a language related to the Serbo-Croatian and the
> >> Bulgarian. Together with other Slavs, they came from the
> >> Russo-Polish-Ukrainian plains at the end of the Great Migrations, in
> >> the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. and settled in the mountainous
> >> Balkan land then ruled by the Byzantine emperor. All the Slav tribes
> >> that almost fourteen hundred years ago had established in the
> >> Byzantine provinces known of old as Macedonia in the second half of
> >> the nineteenth century began to use the name of that province as their
> >> own national appellation". See Stoyan Pribichevich, Macedonia,
> its
> >> people and history, The Pennsylvania State University Press,
> >> University Park, 1982, p. 2
> >> [2] Stephane Lefebvre, "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
> >> (FYROM): Where to?", European Security, vol. 3, n. 4, winter
> 1994, p.
> >> 711.
> >> [3] "America should ditch its tyrant friends", International
> Herald
> >> Tribune, August 15, 2005.
> >>
> >>
> >>http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2008/06/american-greek-relations-at-odds.html
> >>
> >> --
> >> **************************************
> >> N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
> >> its members
> >> and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
> >> or sponsor of
> >> the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
> >> disagree with a
> >> message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
> >> *******************************************
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
>
>  Harold F. Schiffman
>
> Professor Emeritus of
>  Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
> Dept. of South Asia Studies
> University of Pennsylvania
> Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305
>
> Phone: (215) 898-7475
> Fax: (215) 573-2138
>
> Email: haroldfs at gmail.comhttp://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/ <http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Eharoldfs/>
>
> -------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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