British, and E.U position regarding Macedonian Question

[Pelister]

I thought I would open this up.

The British have always said there are Macedonians, and British military reports generally accept the existence of a separate Macedonian ethnic group.

But British attidues always reflected British self interest in the balkans, and the Macedonians paid a heavy price.

I just wanted to start a thread where anything "British" regarding the Macedonians was drawn out. Some of it is positive and some it isn't, but here it is anyway.


Here is the "Final Solution" of the Macedonian minority in Yugoslavia according to Official British government policy.

In 1925, Miles Lampson, the head of the British Foriegn Office Central Department wrote: "the only way to deal with the Macedonians is the Serb way - that is not recognizing that any Macedonian minority as such exists in [southern] Serbia. Miles argued that: "given ten years of undistrubed possession [of Macedonian lands] the Macedonian question will cease to exist. Miles therefore advised Britain that Britain should; "do nothing to upset the present Serbianization of South Macedonia: it is the only way of avoiding trouble and is after all not al all a bad solution".

The British government at the highest level talked about the Macedonian question in terms of a "final solution". The Final Solution was to make sure the Macedonians "cease to exist".


Source:

Finney, Patrick, B., "An Evil for All Concerned: Great Briain and Minority Protection after 1919", in Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Jul., 1995), pp. 533-551, (page 540)

Primary Source for this quote from the British Archives:

PRO FO Item no. 371/10667 Lampson to Kennard (minister in Belgrade), unnumberd letter, 7 November 1925, and "The Macedonian Question and Komitaji Activity", memorandum by the British Central Department, 26 November 1925; PRO FO Item 371/10673 minute by Lampson, 3 Novebmer 1925.

[Rogi]

I know you're post is mostly related to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but I thought I'd post something somewhat relevant to the future of Macedonian / English relations.

Of course, this is assuming David Cameron wins the next election and is the next Prime Minister of England.

The Macedonian job
By David Cameron

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/sep/10/davidcameron.politicalcolumnists

[Pelister]

It's relevent.

But look at the double standards of Cameron.

He chides Greece for its position on the name, but at the same time refuses to use anything but F.Y.R.O.M to refer to Macedonia; this kind of double standard reminds me of U.M.D's politics but thats another story.

There was nothing positive in the article from a Macedonian point of view.

[osiris]

british policy has always been determined by what they think best serves british interests, while gladstone was pro macedonian his opponenent disraeli was not. lets face it british policy was based on their sense of superiority towrads the lessser people who we macedonians they deemed belonged too. there have been many progressive british individuals and organisations but their foreign policy and their ideals underpinning their foreign policy were always determined by tory ideals. david cameron is no exception he writes one good article but soon reverts to true brtitish form.

[The LION will ROAR]

Articles about Macedonians found in the London Times, 1895-1928!

[The LION will ROAR]

http://makedonika.wordpress.com/2008...ity-1918-1941/ - The British Foreign Office and Macedonian National Identity, 1918-1941!

[The LION will ROAR]

Harvard Encyclopedia on the Macedonian Language, 1980!-

[The LION will ROAR]

Encyclopedia Britannica, the real ethnic composition of Greece includes Macedonians, 2008!

http://makedonika.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/encyclopedia-britannica-the-real-ethnic-composition-of-greece-includes-macedonians-2008/

[The LION will ROAR]

http://makedonika.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/the-macedonians-of-aegean-macedonia-a-british-officers-report-1944/

The Macedonians of Aegean Macedonia: A British Officer’s Report, 1944!

[Pelister]

Thanks Lion,

The British have always acknowledged that the Maceodnians form a distinct and unique ethnic group in the balkans, but that has never stopped politics getting in the way.

From the Report:

6. THE FUTURE

There can be no independent MACEDONIA. Even if one regards it, as I do, as right, in the abstract, that there should be, one has to concede that practically it is undesirable.

{ [57] Captain Evans developed an unusually clear understanding of
{ the complexities of the Macedonian problem. He was fully
{ conscious that the dominant impulse among the Macedonians was
{ in favour of a ‘free Macedonia’. Although he considered such a
{ solution to be the ‘right’ one ‘in the abstract’, or morally, he did
{ not think it was ‘desirable’ on practical grounds. And yet, he could
{ not put forth another, more practical, clear-cut solution, for he was
{ only too aware of the many grave difficulties that stood in the way
{ of any other resolution of the Macedonian question. Hence, his
{ pessimism about the future, a pessimism which, as subsequent
{ developments in the Balkans showed, was only too well founded….

A MACEDONIAN rising would be resisted almost violently by the GREEKS, who would probably rise in a body from all over GREECE to beat it down. In particular the demand for SALONIKA would rouse the GREEKS to fury. The result would be an extremely bloody war out of which no good would come.

The official position of Britain and the E.U regards the Macedonian minorities has been to support their assimilation and eradication for the sake of peace in the region, even though they fully acknowledge the Macedonians are a separate ethnic group.

[Pelister]

An Evil for All Concerned: Great Britain and Minority Protection after 1919, by Patrick B. Finney.

This paper looks at the official position of the League of Nations, Britain and Western Europe regarding the question of Macedonian minority protection, post 1919.

The League of Nations regarding minority rights was impotent and useless:

the whole system of minority protection was in favor of the successor states and against the minorities and limited the efficacy of protection

What was Britain's, and Europe's primary political concern:

The minorities (Macedonian) created by the treaties of 1919 clearly constituted a potential threat to the stability of the peace in the region

What was Britain's, and Europe's official position regarding the Macedonian national minorities:

By according the Macedonian minorities a very limited freedom from oppression, the British aimed to forestall them from claiming self determination, and thus prevent them emerging as causes of friction in international relations.

the ultimate aim was to eliminate the Macedonians as active elements in the international system

How did Britain and the E.U propose to do this:

.... by encouraging the successsor states either to deny the existence of their minorities or to suppress them ruthlessly in order to reduce the danger of their secession, p.536

In August 1922, Alexander Cogan wrote to the League of Nations that:

the governments of the new states are undoubtedly contravening the minorities treaties

But he then had this to say:

more harm would in the end be done by unnecessary intereference, even at the risk of a little suffereing, to allow these minorities to settle down under their present masters. As you know as long as the Macedonians can air their grievances before the League of Nations they will refuse to settle down ...

The author of this paper concludes:

arguements about the identity of the Macedonians was often simply camouflage for the political aspirations of the dominant nationalities in the region

The view of the British Office:

Macedonians formed a distinct group with unique characteristics...

Where does the problem regarding the Macedonians come from then:

The problem in Macedonia was not really to do with the Macedonians, one Foreign Office official wrote in 1925, it has to do with the revisionist aspirations of the dominant nationalities in the region

How to solve the problem of the revisionist and nationalist aspirations of Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia?

The British Solution.

peace would best be secured in the long term by permitting the violation of minority rights and thus achieving assimilation...

And this:

peace could only be connived through the repression of the Macedo-Slavs, even though it is considered regrettable

Conclusion:

The author of this article writes:

It was impossible (from a European point of view) to make the 1919 territorial boundaries congruent with the ethnic ones. The minorities treaties (in League of Nations) were intended to overcome this discrepency by encouraging the minority groups to assimilate, and thus in the long run effectively getting rid of them. There was however an alternative strategy available for maximizing ethnic homogeneity, namely that of physically transferring or exchanging the minorities (Macedonians)

Eleutherios Venizelos

it is in Greeces interests to Hellenize her northern territories

Who can we trust? The hypocritical position of Europe.

The British (and Europeans) argued that the Greeks could be trusted not to persecute their Macedonian minority and accordingly the minorities protocol was annulled

The result was that the minorities treaties were never enforced, and Greece had a green light from Europe to eliminate and eradicate its minorities.

Game, set and match.

Lesson:

Greece is able to get away with its appalling treatment of the Macedonians, now and historically, ONLY THROUGH THE SUPPORT OF EUROPE.

If Greece is denying the Macedonians, its because their position is fully backed by Europe.