Tipping Point on "The Name Issue"?

By David Edenden

I see the "Grosomanidou Affair" as the tipping point when Macedonia's long struggle with Greece succeeds. However, nobody else seems to have noticed. See how little coverage this issue has received by Googling the News.

A purely Greek problem’
Kathimerini, Greece - 16 Jul 2007
Theodora Grosomanidou committed the sin of commenting to a reporter for The Financial Times that “Greece has to face the new reality, as the Former Yugoslav ...

Greek diplomat summoned home over Macedonia comments Forbes, NY - 6 Jul 2007 'Grosomanidou is here so that the necessary explanations can be given,' Greek foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos told reporters. ...

Greek Ambassador in Macedonia recalled Makfax, Macedonia - 10 Jul 2007 Greece has abruptly recalled its Ambassador to Macedonia, Mrs. Theodora Grosomanidou, upon an executive order signed by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis. ...

Greek FM Bakoyannis dismisses country's ambassador to Macedonia MRT online, Macedonia - 10 Jul 2007 Head of Greek diplomatic mission to Skopje Dora Grosomanidou has been dismissed from her post by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, reports Tuesday Greek ...

Papadopoulos proposes meeting with Talat over reunification Kathimerini, Greece - 10 Jul 2007 Greece’s ambassador to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Dora Grosomanidou, summoned to Athens last week to explain her suggestion that ...

Diplomat in FYROM faux pas Kathimerini, Greece - 7 Jul 2007 “Ms Grosomanidou is here so that the necessary explanations can be given,” ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said. “At this point, there is no talk of ...

Greece demands explanation from its ambassador in Macedonia Makfax, Macedonia - 6 Jul 2007 Greek Ambassador in Skopje Theodora Grosomanidou has been summoned in Athens to clarify her statement for Financial Times regarding Macedonia's name. ...

PRESS TV

Greek diplomat summoned over name PRESS TV, Iran - 6 Jul 2007 ... by more than half of the members of the United Nations," Dora Grosomanidou, the head of the Greek mission in Macedonia, told the Financial Times. ...

Condi to Antonio: Next Year in Nato!

US supports Macedonia's NATO bid (SETimes.com)
16/07/2007

The US wants to see NATO offer member ship to Macedonia next year, but emphasises that certain key reforms must take place beforehand.

By Zoran Nikolovski for Southeast European Times in Skopje – 16/07/07

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thanked Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki for his country's military co-operation. [Getty Images]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support for Macedonia's NATO bid during a meeting last week in Washington with Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki. They also discussed the Kosovo situation, and Macedonia's military contributions to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"We have US support concerning the Adriatic Charter, and we expressed our confidence that together with the other partner countries, Macedonia has the capacity to meet the criteria and be a serious and well-prepared candidate for NATO membership, ready to accept an invitation at the Bucharest summit next year," Milososki said after the July 11th meeting.

In Washington, he met with Deputy Secretary of Defence Gordon R. England, National Security Council Director for Southeast Europe Burt Brown and US lawmakers and NGO representatives.

Although they vowed support for Macedonia's NATO bid, many officials underlined that key reforms must take place. To become a member of NATO, Macedonia must strengthen judicial reforms, fight corruption and maintain its image of a multiethnic society and functional democracy.

Milososki said the government is prepared to give it's all and demonstrate results needed to convince all Alliance members.

Concerning Kosovo's status, Milososki said he was pleased that Macedonia's position corresponded to that of the United States. "As a neighbouring country, we prefer a final status for Kosovo without intending to interfere, instead of maintaining the status quo, which is not a solution whatsoever," Milososki said. The process for Kosovo's status should not circumvent Belgrade, however. The EU should be encouraged to offer a clearer European perspective for the whole region, he said.

The visit also promoted the newly established Friendship Group in the US Congress. The group will help strengthen ties and inform the US public and lawmakers regarding Macedonia-related issues.

"The United States needed 15 years after the independence of Macedonia to recognise Macedonia's constitutional name. Today, it has been accepted by 170 UN member countries. I hope the rest will do the same," Democrat Bill Pascrell said at the group promotion event during a Capitol Hill reception organised by the Macedonian embassy in Washington.

No Equal Time for Macedonians in Globe and Mail

By David Edenden
This is how the world works. I once tried to have an op-ed published in the Globe and Mail in the early 1990's about the Greek embargo against Macedonia. After a few annoying phone calls, a very nice editorial assistant admitted that it would not be published because "the Greeks", whenever a sympathetic story appeared about Macedonia, had a phone bank which constantly phoned the Globe tying up its phone lines.

So don't expect any rebuttal op-ed piece to appear to this incoherent mess of an article. Vasil Yankov had his letter published in a letter to the editor. Here's a response from the United Macedonians.

What's in a name? Blood, if it's Macedonia
ANDRÉ GEROLYMATOS
Chair of Hellenic studies at Simon Fraser University
globeandmail.com: "


Last month, Liberal MP Lui Temelkovski introduced a private member's bill that called for Canada to recognize the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the Republic of Macedonia. This seemingly innocuous bill raised nary an eyebrow in Ottawa. Yet, the name change is a potential source of regional conflict. For 16 years, Canadian governments have stayed clear of Macedonian politics and avoided contributing to such a crisis."

Thaci threat bad precedent for region

By Preljubiste

Hacim Thaci and Agim Ceku on July 13th threatened to declare independence for Kosovo no matter what the UN Security Council does. This is a really bad precedent if he and the Kosovo leaders are allowed to get away with it. Why?

For one, many Hot Spots around the globe will follow suit. The breakaway regions of Georgia, the never-ending issue of Kurdistan, the Taiwan issue and we can go on. But right there in the Balkans you have two big issues- Republika Srpska in Bosnia and the Tetovo-Gostivar-Debar-and half of Kumanovo region in Macedonia. Each wants to break away and join their neighbors. If Kosovo is allowed to do this, with the help of the United States, then it surely will destabilize the region.

For the U.S. it is simple, you promised Kosovars independence. But, at the same time you promised the territorial integrity of Macedonia. So what are you going to do if a conflict breaks out? From what we saw in 2001, it is not very reassuring for Macedonians that you will side with them. Many feel betrayed after Bush made the declaration that Kosovo must be independent. It will be an interesting couple of months and we will see if Thaci and Ceku's threat materializes into anything. A unilateral recognition of Kosovo by the United States will be a farce no matter what the situation.

Will the Greek Macedonian Dispute Be Solved?

By David Edenden

I was really caught by surprise, in the early 1990's, when the Greeks reacted so vociferously to the name of the Republic of Macedonia , given that it has been around since 1945. Although Macedonia suffered, the controversy had the happy result of focusing attention on the plight of ethnic Macedonians living in Greece.

I had always thought that Greeks, as a people, had greater concerns regarding Turkey and Cyprus and minority rights for Greeks in Albania, than to spend valuable political capital on a minor issue. Greece became the laughing stock of Europe.

The drum beat for a shift in Greek policy is gathering momentum. First Greece's ambassador to Macedonia (here) (here) (here) and now Nikos Konstandaras . Greek moderates do not want to be further humiliated, when all its friends and allies move forward with Nato and EU membership for Macedonia, without a thought to Greece or its bizarre position that ethnic Macedonians go on Ebay and bid on a new ethnic identity.

Now if we can only get the Greek Issues Caucus, Christopher Hitchens and Robert D. Kaplan, Matthew Nimetz on board, not to mention all the pseudo human rights groups, all will be fine.

Nikos Konstandaras is a columnist for Post Global, moderated by David Ignatius and Fareed Zakaria, at Newsweek. He is the managing editor and a columnist of Kathimerini, the leading Greek morning daily. He is also the founding editor of Kathimerini’s English Edition, which is published as a supplement to The International Herald Tribune in Greece, Cyprus and Albania.

This is a long and thoughtful article. I have highlighted the phrases that are quotable.

‘A purely Greek problem’
ekathimerini.com

By Nikos Konstandaras

The Foreign Ministry’s recall of the Greek ambassador to Skopje shows the dead-end that Greece has reached in the dispute over a permanent name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Theodora Grosomanidou committed the sin of commenting to a reporter for The Financial Times that “Greece has to face the new reality, as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been recognized under its constitutional name by more than half of the members of the United Nations.”

What she did not need to add was that among those countries are the United States, China and Russia – which means that the big powers, all of them, have moved on and will not pay heed to Greece’s arguments. The only thing that Greece has to show for the enormous diplomatic capital that it has spent on this issue over the past 17 years is the (impatient) tolerance of its friends and the ridicule of its rivals.

However justified a country’s arguments might be on an issue – and Athens has all the right in the world to protest against Skopje’s behavior – there comes a time when its leadership has to estimate whether persisting with a specific policy is worth the long-term costs.

We need only remember that countries have fought wars and reached peace with their enemies in a less time than the dispute between Athens and Skopje has lasted. The US involvement in Vietnam began seriously in 1961 and ended 12 years later, with the Paris peace treaty in 1973.

One might say, of course, that this is not an apt example, that the dispute between Athens and Skopje does not create the same urgent need for a solution as does a war in which tens of thousands of people lost their lives.

But it is valuable for us to remember that however much passion has been aroused by the FYROM issue, it remains a dispute that is on paper, that has to do with theories, with fears, with suspicions, with history and possible future complications. But the fact that it has aroused such passions for such a long time – wherever in the world there are Greeks – shows the need for a solution.

The clash has been mighty from the start: Athens, with the grudging support of its partners in the EU (whom the conservative Mitsotakis government in the early 1990s threatened with a return of Papandreou’s PASOK in order to garner their backing) demanded the total surrender of Skopje. This entailed dropping the use of the name “Macedonia” in any form or derivative. The other side, with no way out but also with no wish to back down, gave way nowhere (other than in dropping the use of the Star of Vergina as the national emblem, something that was a bargaining chip to start with). And the political leadership in Skopje has certainly done all it can to provoke the Greeks.

The renaming of their national airport as “Alexander the Great” last January is just the kind of decision that shows how right Greece was to complain about its neighbor’s irredentist propaganda – and at the same time how futile. On the one hand, Alexander the Great was a Greek warrior king who lived some 1,000 years before the Slavs who now call themselves “Macedonians” arrived on the scene; on the other, no one can stop anyone from calling himself or his airport or his dog by whichever name he chooses.

Our neighbors realize that they have won. From the moment that they can join NATO (which they will do soon) and the European Union (sometime in the future) under their temporary name (FYROM), they know that continuing their dispute with Greece will not cost them anything. When they accede to these organizations, they will be equal partners with Greece and will, in all probability, have more allies than Athens does – in which case they will achieve their renaming as “Republic of Macedonia” with few obstacles.

The dispute today is “a purely Greek problem – it’s not our problem,” a trade promotion minister in Skopje, Vele Samak, told The Financial Times in the same report that got Ambassador Grosomanidou into trouble. The fact that an experienced diplomat of Grosomanidou’s ilk incurs her ministry’s wrath simply for stating the obvious shows that Samak’s cynicism is justified. It shows also how much this problem will keep burdening Greece.

When an issue which demands a serious national policy becomes a flag of convenience for every kind of political adventurism, when the sincere concerns of serious people are exploited by frivolous populists across the political and social spectrum, the problem keeps growing and cannot be solved by the main political parties that govern.

But we are used to our politicians’ weaknesses. However, when the Foreign Ministry gets worked up and overreacts simply for reasons of domestic politics, then it appears that the only tactic we have is to allow ourselves to be dragged toward defeat, with the proud excuse that we never gave in, we never compromised anywhere. But is it policy to abandon the effort, to be at a loss as to the next step, to blind oneself to the facts of the situation?

The Dirty Deeds of EU Politics in Macedonia

By David Edenden

It is now time to take a deep breath and look back and see what a wonderful job all of our politicians and intellectuals have done in keeping Macedonia united and free. See the story below, from 2006 by Prof. Mirjana Maleska, editor-in-chief of New Balkan Politics and see what Macedonians have had to fight.

If Macedonia does stumble and fall, it will be in no small measure to the action of hundred's of "Luigi Sandrin's" who have come to Macedonia to show contempt for our identity, our culture and history so that the EU/Nato can curry favor with with EU/Nato member, Greece. They are enforcing, not only Greek values, but also EU/Nato values. All the while, patting themselves on the back and congratulating themselves on what a good job they are doing.

By showing contempt for ethnic Macedonians, they are the main force for destabilization in the Balkans (the Greeks know it, the Bulgarians know it, the Serbians know it, the Albanians know it and so do the Macedonians). See the ethnic structure of the so called "human rights NGO" AID - Macedonia and weep.

SHAMEFUL BEHAVIOR OF THE OFFICIALS OF THE EUROPEAN AGENCY FOR RECONSTRUCTION

Prof. Mirjana Maleska, editor-in-chief
New Balkan Politics

Prof. Mirjana Maleska

A sublime goal, to stimulate the protection of the minority rights in Macedonia, has ended up in the exactly opposite direction: with violation of the human rights by the officials of the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR).
In 2005, EAR for Macedonia announced a competition on the topic “Support of minority rights/activities”. Three non-governmental organizations – Action for Democratic Initiative from Gostivar (ADI), Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation (MCIC) and Center for Peace and Democracy: Ian Collins (CMD) responded to the competition with the project: Power-Sharing – a New Model of Decision-Making in the Multicultural Municipalities in Macedonia”. EAR selected this project among the many projects that applied, and on 15.08.2005 an agreement was signed between ADI, as a leading organization, and Luigi Sandrin, EAR Director, for financing the project under the abovementioned title.

Luigi Sandrin, EAR Director

Several months after the realization of the project had started, on 16 March, 2006, Mr. Luigi Sandrin changed the conditions of the agreement. Namely, he sent a “Note to all partners that have concluded an agreement with EAR”. The subject of the note: “Use of the name of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
In the note, Mr. Sandrin informs us that the only denomination that can be used is “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (with a small “f” and a small “o” and with capital letters only in the beginning of the sentence), in accordance with Resolution 817/1993 of the UN Security Council and Resolution 225/1993 of the UN General Assembly.
Later on in the letter, he says: “The name “Republic of Macedonia” or “Macedonia” is not be used, notwithstanding the fact that it is the official denomination used by the country itself and that all documents from Skopje (letters, reports etc.) will refer to it in this form”.
In the end, Mr. Sandrin adds, “Please, ensure that all printed documents and external communication, as well as the web-sites, books and other materials related to EU-funded projects follow this policy”.
As one of the authors of the Research Report on Power-Sharing Project , I responded to Mr. Sandrin that he misinterprets the EU policy. Namely, if their “European policy” is to censure the letters and the reports that include the name Macedonia, then they should emphasise this. They do not have the right to humiliate us, requesting that we ourselves renounce our name.
Contrary to any civilized communication, Mr. Sandrin did not respond to this letter at all, or, at least, I did not get any reply. In the meantime, the EAR bureaucrats are exhorting impudent pressure that they will proclaim the project unsuccessful unless we delete the word “Macedonia” from the Research Report. This implies that its implementers will be placed on the “black list” of European funds. What a shame!
“The word “Macedonia” must not appear – you should delete it”, Mrs. Jutta Bulling from EAR threatens. “I do not even have to tell you at all that the word Macedonia cannot be inside the book”.
The absurdity goes so far that, at one moment, the Macedonians became “former Macedonians”, the councillors in the municipalities – “former Yugoslav-Macedonian councillors”, and the Macedonian language – “of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia language”! The word “Macedonia” is deleted or replaced by “fYROM” or “Our Country” even from the quotations of other authors mentioned in the Report, as well as from the legal texts, and even from the Constitution of the state.
What is published on the web page of NGO, ADI(www.adi-macedonia.org/publications/ is a shameful evidence of a policy of EU and its agencies, which, at one moment, have become accomplices of the Greek nationalism. The denomination “Macedonia” and “Republic of Macedonia” has been deleted from the title of the text, contrary to the will of the authors of the Research Report – Mirjana Maleska, Ph.D, Lidija Hristova, PhD, and Jovan Ananiev, PhD. – and despite the reactions of the NGOs that participated in the carrying out of this project.
The EAR officials do not consider it necessary to apologise for the humiliation inflicted on us or for the violation of our basic right to dignity.
Prof. Mirjana Maleska, editor-in-chief

Macedonian Orthodox Church is 40 Going on 988

By David Edenden

I really don't care if any other Orthodox Church recognizes the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Recently the Catholic Pope said that the Protestant denominations are not Christians, and only grudgingly accepted that the Orthodox barely qualified as second class Christians.

I am sure that Jerry Falwell is not losing any sleep over this. I forgot, Falwell is dead ... oh oh!

"HH Stefan: MPC will ultimately be recognized by other Orthodox Churches"
Macedonian Information Agency:


Ohrid, July 15 (MIA) - We shall persist on the road we have chosen and ultimately the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MPC) will be recognized by other orthodox churches, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia HH Stefan told media Sunday after a religious service at St. Sofia Church in Ohrid, held in honour of the 40th anniversary of the restoration of the Ohrid Archbishopric as MPC.

We hope and believe that it will happen in the near future, HH Stefan said, pointing out that the attendance of President Branko Crvenkovski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of last night's formal academy, dedicated to the jubilee, reaffirms the MPC role as a peoples' church which "belongs both to those in power and common people."

The presence of Macedonia's leadership demonstrates the respect of MPC, as this is a jubilee of the Macedonian state and nation, HH Stefan said.

Marking of the 40th anniversary was finalized this morning with a holy liturgy at the St. Sofia Church in Ohrid. PM Gruevski and EU Ambassador to Macedonia Erwan Fouere attended the ceremony along with great number of guests and faithfulls.

On July 17 MPC marks its great jubilee - 40th anniversary of its restored autocephalous.

After the fall of Samuel's state, the Ohrid Archdiocese was reduced to a lower rank of church hierarchy (archbishopric) and it existed as such for eight centuries, until its abolishment in 1767 by the Turkish sultan Mustapha III, and its dioceses were annexed to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. From this moment on Macedonian people made all possible efforts to restore the Archdiocese. Its dioceses were under several jurisdictions of the neighbouring Orthodox Churches and this struggle became particularly fierce in the second part of the 19th and the first part of the 20th century. Convenient conditions for restoration of the independence were created not earlier than during World War II (1941-1945).

Right before the end of the war, in 1944, in the village of Gorno Vranovci, an Initiative Board for Organisation of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was formed. In March, 1945, in Skopje, a Resolution to restore the Archdiocese of Ohrid as Macedonian Orthodox Church was made at the First Clergy and Laity Assembly. This decision was submitted to the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, since before World War II several dioceses in Macedonia were under the United Orthodox Church of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, known later as Serbian Orthodox Church. The Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church did not accept this decision, which resulted in the following actions of the Initiative Board: instead of as an autocephalous, the Board insisted on the Church being recognised as autonomous. This request was also rejected. In 1958, the Second Clergy and Laity Assembly was held in Ohrid and the proposal for restoration of the Ohrid Archdiocese of Saint Clement as a Macedonian Orthodox Church was accepted and Dositheus was appointed the first archbishop.

The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church agreed with the decisions of the Macedonian Clergy and Laity Assembly in the resolution AS. No 47/1959 and 6/1959, minutes 57 of June 17/4, 1959.

As a sign of agreement, a Liturgy was concelebrated with the Serbian Patriarch German, on July 19, 1959, in Skopje, in the church of Saint Menas. At the same time, Clement was ordained the bishop of Prespa and Bitola. This meant that the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church gave autonomy to the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which remained in canonical unity with the Serbian Church under their Patriarch. Few days later, in the church of St. Nicholas in Stip, H.E. Nahum was ordained the bishop of the diocese of Zletovo and Strumica.

The Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was established together with other administrative bodies in the Archdiocese and the dioceses in conformity with the Constitution of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. In May, 1962, accompanied by Patriarch German and other representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexis of Moscow visited the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Among them were Metropolitan Nicodemus, Bishop Pimen and other dignitaries of the Russian Orthodox Church. On the feast of Saints Methodius and Cyril, in the church of the Holy Mother of God Kamenska, in Ohrid, Patriarch Alexis of Moscow, Patriarch German and the Macedonian Metropolitan Dositheus concelebrated Holy Liturgy. It was the first Holy Liturgy to be concelebrated by the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church with heads of other autocephalous Orthodox Churches.

In 1966 the relations with the Serbian Church got worse again. Due to the conflicts and misunderstandings, the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church summoned the Third Clergy and Laity Assembly on July 17, 1967, in Ohrid. At the formal session in the Ohrid church of St. Clement, the Holy Synod proclaimed the Macedonian Orthodox Church as AUTOCEPHALOUS. The act of proclamation was made by the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church during the Holy Liturgy celebrated in the church of St. Clement of Ohrid on July 19, 1967, or exactly on the second centennial after it had been banned by the Ottoman authorities.

His Beatitude Archbishop Stefan of Ohrid and Macedonia was appointed the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church on October 10, 1999.

The Macedonian Orthodox Church has 13 dioceses, 7 of which are in the Republic of Macedonia while 6 are in the diaspora. The dioceses are administered at the moment by 10 episcopes assisted by over 500 active priests. The Macedonian Orthodox Church has around 500 parishes, with more than 2000 churches and monasteries. Ten years ago about twenty monasteries were renewed in which today live more than 100 monks and nuns. With the declaration of independence, the Macedonian Orthodox Church has founded a Theological High School and an Orthodox Faculty of Theology in Skopje.

According to the sources in the Acts, Saint Paul, Christ's disciple, began spreading Christianity in Macedonia and elsewhere on the Balkan Peninsula towards the mid 1st century AD. He visited this region on two occasions during his journeys through Europe and Asia. He was followed by Timothy and Silas, who remained in Macedonia after his departure. At that time, as a Roman province Macedonia often changed its borders and its ethnic composition. As a result of the Christianization in the first three centuries, the Christians in Macedonia at the beginning of the 4th century already had an organised Church with an established ecclesiastical hierarchy, whose bishops regularly participated at the ecumenical councils.

In the 5th century the Church had several metropolises and dioceses. The metropolises of Thessalonica and Skopje were the most distinguished among them. Several Christian basilicas originate from this period, including the one near the village of Bardovci, in the western outskirts of Skopje.

The work of the holy Apostle Paul and the holy emperor Justinian I was continued by the holy brothers Methodius and Cyril and their disciples Saints Clement and Nahum of Ohrid. In the second half of the 10th century, within the borders of Samuel's state, the autocephalous Ohrid Archdiocese was established with the rank of patriarchate, on the foundations of Justiniana Prima. After the fall of Samuel's state, the Ohrid Archdiocese was reduced to a lower rank of church hierarchy (archbishopric) and it existed as such for eight centuries, until its abolishment in 1767 by the Turkish sultan Mustapha III, and its dioceses were annexed to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.lk/fd/13:15

Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly

By David Edenden

This is a question presented at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) by Mr. Geert Lambert, a member of the Socialist bloc.

One small step for Mr. Lambert, on giant leap for Macedonian kind!

Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly: "Doc. 11356

12 July 2007

Discrimination in Greek law which affects ethnic Macedonians

Written question No 530 to the Committee of Ministers

presented by Mr Lambert

presented by Mr Geert Lambert

---

The Civil War in Greece witnessed the plight of thousands of political refugees, both ethnic Macedonian and others, including Greeks. At least 28,000 child refugees, mostly ethnic Macedonians, were also evacuated from areas of heavy fighting and relocated in countries like Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. The Greek State then proceeded to confiscate the properties of these exiles as well as strip them of their Greek citizenship. Moreover the relatives of these citizens who had been suspected of opposing the Greek government during the Civil War also had their citizenship taken away, arbitrarily and without due process. A series of Decrees and other enactments followed regulating the government’s actions. A 1962 Decree (4234) reinforced past legal enactments pertaining to the confiscation of properties of political exiles and denying them a right of return.

It was not until 1982 that the Greek State enacted a law permitting repatriation and the return of Greek citizenship for these individuals. However, this law was not introduced without some inherent prejudices. Relevantly, leading up to the 1982 law for repatriation, the Greek authorities were attentive to the possibility of seeing thousands of ethnic Macedonians return. Hence, motivating their suggestion that 40,000 people (ethnic Macedonians) living in various Eastern European countries did not constitute an issue that concerned Greece and the principle of free repatriation could not be accepted or applied by Greece.

This was (and remains) an emblematic attitude of the Greek State and culminated with Ministerial Decree number 106841, which announced the relevant passages to the stipulations of Law no. 400/76, providing that;

“Free to return to Greece are all Greeks by genus, who during the Civil War of 1946-1949 and because of it have fled abroad as political refugees, in spite that the Greek citizenship has been taken away from them.”

Similarly, Law no. 1540 was subsequently introduced making provision for the return of confiscated properties to political emigrants, read political refugees. The wording used in the legislation was again unjustly circumspect. It defines political emigrants for whom the law shall have application limited to those who are “Greeks by genus”.

The term ‘Greeks by genus’ is a term used by Greek authorities for all those who identify themselves as being ethnic Greek. Hence, ethnic Macedonians who are also political refugees and have had their Greek citizenship rescinded and/or properties confiscated are excluded from enjoying the rights granted under these laws, therefore severely questioning the very standing of the laws based on grounds of equity and fairness. Moreover, the construction of the wording as relating to these laws is not benign, it has the clear intent to discriminate against all those who belong to the category of people classified as political refugees and who are not “Greeks by genus”. Given that ethnic Macedonians predominantly make-up this category of people, it is indisputable that they have been the ones targeted by this exclusivist definition and the ones to have suffered the most.

Minority Rights Group Greece report referred to earlier confirms that there are many cases of Macedonian political refugees “who could not come to Greece for a short visit even when an important family matter”, such as terminal illness, funeral, wedding and other, was involved. Not unless these ethnic Macedonian political refugees are prepared to abandon their Macedonian consciousness and identity do they stand a chance of exercising their right of return to their birthplace as proclaimed under the laws. However, how does one deny who they are? As the MRG Greece mission itself concluded, these political refugees “have a Macedonian national identity which they are not willing to renounce.” Consequently, this exposes the discriminatory substance of the laws in question by enabling the continual refusal of entry to Greece of ethnic Macedonian political emigrants and/or return of their properties, based on a rejection of a Macedonian identity by the Greek State.

This discrimination has also been noted by the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). In the Third Report on Greece (8 July 2004), ECRI “notes that in a number of spheres Greek law draws a distinction between non-citizens of Greek origin and non-citizens of another origin. This difference generally takes the form of a privileged status for persons of Greek origin.” ECRI backs up this assertion by citing the fact that “in 1982 a regulation permitted the return to Greece of people having fled the country during the 1946-1949 Civil War, together with their families. However, this regulation applied solely to persons ‘of Greek origin’, thus excluding persons of non-Greek and particularly of Macedonian origin who had nonetheless left Greece under the same conditions.”

Given that one of the founding principles of the Council of Europe is non-discrimination, does the Committee of Ministers think that Greek authorities should review these laws, with a view to ending the discrimination resulting from them?

Signed:

LAMBERT Geert, Belgium, SOC

Attached documents:

I. Law 106841 of 1982 (English translation)

II. Excerpt of Law 11540 of 1985 (English translation)

I. Law 106841 of 1982

English translation:

“THE JOINT DECISION OF THE GREEK MINISTRIES OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC ORDER

Athens 29 December 1982

Topic: Free repatriation and restoration of Greek Citizenship to political refugees.

Keeping in mind:

The provisions of Law 400/76 “Concerning the Ministerial Council and Ministries” as amended by Law 1266/1982 and with in the framework of the Greek government’s policy on national reconciliation and compassion

WE HAVE DECIDED:

…can return to Greece all Greeks by genus who left Greece during the Civil War of 1946-1949 and because of which went abroad as political refugees, even if they have lost their Greek citizenship…

(Signed)

THE MINISTERS OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC ORDER

George Yennimatas, John Skoularikis

II. Excerpts of Law 1540 of 1985

English translation:

Article 1- Definition and Implementation

Paragraph 1

This law considers as political refugees the Greeks by genus, who due to the civil war immigrated abroad after 1.1.1945 or were imprisoned or sent in exile.

Paragraph 2

The law’s provisions are implemented: ….

Section 1….

Section 2….

Section 3….

Section 4

For the landed property that came to the State’s possession or for which the State has received additional price after it has retained seller rights according to Law 1323/1949, due to the fact that the seller was deprived from the right to buy back the property he/she had sold for violations of the Articles 1,2,3 and 5 of the 3^rd Petition or lost Greek citizenship according to the provisions of the 27^th Petition or fled to a foreign country to organize the civil war.

Article 2- Return of property-Beneficiaries

Paragraph 1

Property stated in the previous article are returned to the beneficiaries political refugees that reside in Greece or repatriate and have or regain or receive Greek citizenship. The return is not hindered if the property was devolved to a Local Government Organization (LGO) by possession or occupancy. If the property was devolved to an LGO by ownership, it can be returned only with the LGO’s consent. The return is not hindered if the property has received forestal status. In such a case, provisions of Article 75, Paragraph 1,2 and 3 of Law 998/1979 are also implemented

……

……

……

Paragraph 4

If the political refugee diseased, return beneficiaries are, to the extend that they are heir- at-law and to the percentage of their hereditary share, the spouse, children, parents and from the other heirs only the ones that are political refugees and reside in Greece or repatriate. In case that a lot of the above individuals found hereditary rights, the Civil Code provisions for hereditary succession are to be implemented.

Book Review: Hugh Garner

By David Edenden

Hugh Garner is a famous Canadian novelist who lived and wrote about "Cabbagetown", an area of Toronto where the first "Macedonian - Bulgarian" church was built . He must have been aware of the "Macedonian Question".

There is a minor character named Mike, who is a restaurateur (naturally) in the novel. These are the only references to Macedonians in the novel. Mike is Toronto's first "Grkoman" in Canadian literature - good fun.

If anyone has more information on Garner and Macedonians, don't be a stranger!

Cabbagetown by Hugh Garner is "the classic novel of the Depression inCanada" first published in 1950. MCGraw-Hill Ryerson 1968 Trade Paperback

p 234

Before putting Mrs. Plummer on the Greyhound bus for Detroit Myra found a job as a waitress in a restaurant on Queen St. West. Her boss was a short chunky man of fifty with a nearly bald head. He was a Macedonian who claimed to be a Greek, or the other way around. He wore heavy tortoise-rimmed glasses when he checked the invoices or read his New York newspaper with the queer-looking print. His name was Mike.

p 238

He told her about Greece when he was a young man there, and about driving a mule team during the Balkan War. He had arrived in Halifax with twelve dollars in his jacket and had got off the train in Toronto without knowing a soul in the city. He had seen a Macedonian name above a restaurant, had gone in and had been given a job washing dishes for his meals, tobacco and a place to sleep in the cellar. Myra found his story fascinating.

Book Review: Victor Serge

By David Edenden

Victor Serge was a famous French author of Russian descent who was a follower of Leon Trotsky. He was jailed by Stalin and then expelled from the Soviet Union after an international campaign to secure his freedom. He had an interest in the Balkans. It is a very interesting book. There are only a few pages relating to Macedonia. He wrote for many French radical papers and some of his writing may be about Macedonia, if anyone is interested in doing some research. He seemed to be friends with Dimitar Vlahov and Todor Panitza.

Victor Serge wrote about his prison years (1912-1917) in a novel called "Men in Prison". I do not know if he mentions Macedonians in that novel but he does mention them below. If someone could get a copy and post a review, it would be great. I wonder what Christopher Hitchens would have to say about Victor Serge and Macedonians?

Memoirs of a Revolutionary - University of Iowa Press ed. 2002. Translated Peter Sedgwick OUP 1963.
There is more here, and here.


P. 63-64 Paris France. 1917

One day I was arrested in the street by two terrified inspectors who for some unknown reason were expecting me to resist to the death.
...I was conveyed by administrative decision to a concentration camp at Precigne, in La Sarthe.

... Guarded by weary Territorials, who never had an idea unless it was to re-sell us bottles of wine at a handsome profit, we would hold pro- Soviet meetings in the courtyard of the secularized monastery.
...Belgians, Macedonians, and Alsatians, variegated "suspects (some of them genuinely, in fact horribly suspect), would hear us out in silence...

...The Belgians and Alsatians were vaguely pro-German; the Macedonians, proud, destitute and silent were just Macedonians, ready to fight the whole world for their primitive mountain liberty.

...one of our group tried to escape, under cover of a storm. He fell in the camp's perimeter, under the livid glare of searchlights: "Twenty years old and six bullets in his body," it was remarked. On the following day, we summoned the camp to revolt. The "Starost", or Elder of the Macedonians, came and told us that they would support us.

...The local Prefect came, and promised us an inquiry ...the revolt subsided.

P 179-180 Vienna, Austria 1925

I became interested in the movement for a Balkan Federation. The conception was noble: no other remedy was appropriate to the division of the small kindred peoples of the peninsula into feeble states, destined to be destroyed sooner or later through their mutual laceration.

The Doctor, a big white haired Bulgarian, scholarly and Parisified, would arrange appointments with me in the discreet little local cafes. A taxi, and then the tram: we would head out to the vineyards, between Floridsdorf and Modlin .

There we would meet a young stranger in an outsize overcoat, whom I immediately classified as a bodyguard; I thought I could see the enormous Browning revolver, the favorite weapon of Macedonians (who do not trust small bullets), bulging through his coat pockets.
The overcoat-man, all smiles, hurried me along urgently. The tram again, and then we came to a village full of charming taverns, and after that to a villa, adorned with flowers like its neighbors, in which lived the last surviving leader of the Communist-influenced "La Federation Balkanique" (1) a former member of the Ottoman Parliament.

...Vlahov (2) rarely goes out now. Murder lies in wait for him at every street corner, and at night trusted men stand on watch in the garden of his villa.

In this very city his predecessor, Todor Panitza, was recently killed while watching a performance in a theater. A short while before that, Panitza's predecessor, Petar Chaulev, had discovered that he was being trailed in these streets and took the train to Milan. In Milan he was murdered. A short while before that, the old leader of I.M.R.O. (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) (3), Todor Alexandroff, had been killed at the end of a conference in the mountains, in which he had advocated cooperation with the Communists. I had drafted the three obituaries for the press.

Around the great conception of a Balkan Federation, there swarmed hordes of secret agents,impresarios of irredentism, pedlars of the influential word, night-walking politicians engaged in six intrigues at a time.

And all these smart gentlemen, with their over-gaudy neckties sought to harness the unbridled energy of the Comitajis and sell it to and fro to any buyer. There was the Italian wing, the Bulgarian wing, the Yugoslav wing, two Greek tendencies, one monarchist and one republican, ideologies, personal cliques, and vendettas. We knew the cafes in which the revolvers of any given group lay in wait, watched from the café opposite by those of another.

Footnotes
(1)La Federation Balkanique: a multi-lingual review published in Vienna from 1924 and after 1931 in Frankfurt, with communist backing but a wider appeal. (It advocated a Balkan Federation including an independent Macedonia)

(2) Dimitar Vlahov, a leading Macedonian communist and Commintern delegate. After 1935 he took refuge in the Soviet Union; in 1943 emerged as a partisan leader with Tito, with special responsibility for Yugoslav Macedonia, and died in 1951 as Vice-President of Yugoslavia.

(3) I.M.R.O. was a Macedonian nationalist and terrorist organization founded in 11893 and financed by a levy on all Macedonians; it was based on local activist bodies called Comitajis which elected delegates to a national convention.