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Originally posted by Risto the Great
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Oh, It would be remiss of me if I did not share with you the excellent work of the other Risto in diaspora ..
Last edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 05-20-2011, 04:21 PM. -
Alex - you should really update your records. The Toronto Macedono-Bulgarian churches left the Orthodox Church of America (OCA) last month and have offically become part of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.Originally posted by Makedonska_Kafana View PostMPO
I continue to monitor the Macedonian Patriotic Organization (MPO) very closely and I see some very positive results on their website and there is very little in the way of Bulgarian propaganda as we had seen in the past.
They still should NOT be trusted under any circumstances and I hope one day soon they will break away from the Macedono- Bulgarian Church's completely and truly be .. Macedonia for the Macedonians.
Does, anyone know which flags they fly at their events and conventions?Comment
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This is a stroke of Makedonska Kafana ideological brilliance - love it MK - keep up good work!Originally posted by Makedonska_Kafana View PostComment
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Amazing, over 100 years in Canada and these morons have NO OFFICIAL Macedonian identity whatsoever! Church documents that say Macedono-Bulgarian? No one knows who these people (misfits) are and frankly no one cares other then George Mladenoff and Tsar Boris.Originally posted by Mr Brandy View Post
Unless, you were born before 1960 and somehow involved with the MPOvtsi sit in the corner until I page you kid.Last edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 05-21-2011, 12:44 PM.Comment
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What, do you think of the excellent work of Macedonia 2025?Originally posted by Mr Brandy View PostComment
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Making Sense of the Modern Greek Mentality
By Risto Stefov
[email protected]
May 22, 2010
As a Macedonian born in Greece I am well aware of Greece’s denials of the existence of the Macedonian identity and language, something that has existed since Greece occupied and annexed Macedonian lands in 1912, 1913. I have enough examples in my own experience alone, to fill a book. Greeks did not only deny our existence but did everything in their power to discourage us from wanting to be who we are, Macedonians. Macedonians have been beaten, fed castor oil, slapped around, fined and even jailed for speaking Macedonian, the only language they knew. Macedonians have been jailed in concentration camps and even killed for having the courage to say that they were Macedonian.
The only place we, the Macedonians from Greece , could openly speak Macedonian and declare that we are ethnic Macedonians, was in the Diaspora, away from Greece . There too we were challenged and are continued to be challenges by Greeks with the infamous words “then iparhi tetio prama” (such a thing does not exist)!
Following are two articles that speak about the “Greek attitude” towards the Macedonians;
Wikileaks: Pangalos on Macedonia
C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000213 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2018 TAGS: PGOV, PREL, GR SUBJECT: CONTRARIAN FORMER FM PANGALOS ON MACEDONIA, EDUCATION REFORM, PASOK POLITICS Classified By: AMBASSADOR DANIEL SPECKHARD. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).
1. (C) In a cordial introductory meeting with Ambassador, former PASOK Foreign Minister (1996-1999) Theodoros Pangalos -- known during his tenure at the MFA for a sharp tongue and undiplomatic approach -- said he thought the name issue between Greece and Macedonia was "ridiculous" and a "disaster from the beginning." Now that the Republic of Macedonia had been created, he argued, the Macedonians should be allowed to use whatever name they wished. Indeed, Greece should be honored by Macedonia wanting to use the name.
As for Greek fears of irredentism, these too were "ridiculous" and stemmed from the Greek right’s memories of the civil war and fears of communist forces coming into Greece from the Slavic countries. As for the way out of the current impasse, Pangalos said the U.S. should not worry about Greece blaming the U.S. for not solving the problem (though he offered no reason to back up the assertion).
He said he thought the Nimetz proposal was a reasonable approach and noted that he had told FM Bakoyannis that PASOK would not "exploit the issue." PASOK would criticize the government for its handling but would not manipulate the substance of the issue to Greece ’s detriment.
2. (C) On education reform, Pangalos took a similarly maverick view. In contrast to his party’s opposition to the ND government’s efforts to change Greek law to allow private higher educational institutions, Pangalos said everyone knew the current system of public universities in Greece was "b.s." and that private institutions should be recognized. He noted that even his leftist professor second wife (he has been married three times and said his personal life was a "disaster") refused to send their son to a Greek university, opting instead to send the boy to the UK . He said Greece was number three in the world (after India and China ) in terms of the number of students it exported. But the Greek left -- including his own party -- had hitched itself to the policy of opposing private universities. Particularly guilty was the Synaspismos party, which had taken a demagogic approach to the issue and was just inflaming the situation.
3. (C) Finally, Pangalos offered an assessment of the current political situation in Greece and the PASOK party’s fortunes. He asked rhetorically why PASOK was doing so poorly even though, as opposition, its fortunes should be rising as the government increasingly got into trouble. Pangalos attributed PASOK´s slide, first, to changing economic conditions. Since joining the EU, Greece had seen rapid economic growth, which created and benefited the middle class, making them wary of changing political leadership. At the same time, the government -- beginning under PASOK PM Simitis -- had to limit deficit spending in line with EU rules. This hurt pensioners, new graduates, and others on the lower end of the economic ladder who were a natural PASOK constituency but were angered by what they perceived to be PASOK´s complicity in cutting government support. PASOK also suffered from poor leadership and poor leadership decisions. George Papandreou was honest and direct, but he was a poor communicator and not a leader. At the same time, PASOK was doing a bad job in pitching itself to voters, who perceived PASOK and ND as the same. From that perspective, Pangalos argued, Greek voters saw little reason to bother switching governments.
4. (C) COMMENT: Pangalos avoided the sharp language that characterized his statements as FM, but he was not shy in taking positions at variance with his party and, indeed, most of the Greek political establishment. Our conversations with Greeks indicate that a very small percentage would agree with Pangalos on the Macedonia name issue. The overwhelmingly more common position is one of opposition to compromise. And Pangalos is unlikely to voice in public the opinions he voiced with us.
SPECKHARD
Macedonian Name for the Macedonians Only
By J.S.G. Gandeto
Greeks have nothing to do with the name " Macedonia ".
As a matter of fact, until the late nineteen eighties in Greece , the name " Macedonia " or "Macedonians" was avoided like the plague; To the Greeks Macedonia did not exist. There was no Macedonia and there were no Macedonians. They felt that the ethnic cleansing of the ethnic Macedonians living in Greece was successful; the repopulation of Macedonia with recently transplanted Christians from Asia Minor was completed and the eradication of anything Macedonian from the newly acquired territory of Macedonia was an accomplished fact. Gleefully, they must have concluded that this subject was dead and buried and there was no reason to dwell on this topic anymore.
I remember visiting a restaurant in Windsor, Canada in the late nineteen seventies, where we met a patron who was quite cordial and pleasant fellow at first, but as soon as we revealed our identity as Macedonians, this fellow abruptly became indignant; his facial expression changed and you could tell that he was brewing with anger inside and was visibly quite disturbed. He hurriedly got up, bolted towards the exit and as he was leaving the restaurant shouted: "there is no Macedonia ; there are no Macedonians."
This illustrates that Greeks before the break up of Yugoslavia felt quite comfortably secured in the notion that Aegean Macedonia [Greek occupied Macedonia ] was fully Hellenized and the file on " Macedonia " securely wrapped up and locked up inside their national archives. And as long as the other " Macedonia " (in the Yugoslav federation) was under the firm control of their 1912-13 partners in crime, the Serbs, they believed that they had nothing to fear about. The fact that one of the sixth constitutive republics of Yugoslavia was called "Macedonia" and her inhabitants called themselves Macedonians did not register any alarm in the Greek government. But as soon as the break up of Yugoslavia was imminent and the Greeks learned that Macedonia will become a separate country, they fetched an idea that the name " Macedonia " belongs to them and the real ethnic Macedonians cannot use it. Taking advantage of the difficulties and the precariousness of the position in which the Republic of Macedonia found itself, Greeks embarked on a campaign to prove to the world that the name "Macedonia" exclusively belongs to them since the ancient Macedonians, who conquered and enslaved Greece for centuries, became not just "Hellenes" but the champions of Hellenism overnight. The Republic of Macedonia , regrettably, did not put up a serious challenge to this Greek charade. Thus, Greeks, now emboldened by their initial success proceeded to push further. Desiring to destabilize the country to the point of disintegration, they imposed economic embargo hoping for administrative collapse of the country through economic strangulation. The fact that neither the ancient Greeks nor the ancient Macedonians ever considered each other as brethren was lost to them.
The fact that their own Greek 19th century historiographers rightly excluded the ancient Macedonians from the Hellenes and considered them as conquerors of Greece was dismissed in favor of the new political thinking that "Macedonians" and " Macedonia " were always Greek. Whence, we must ask ourselves the following: (a) why this sudden and highly speculative shift in Greek thinking (b) what is the reasoning behind such a highly unusual, politically unethical, conventionally immoral and historically unprecedented Greek request of the Republic of Macedonia to change its name and (c) do they think that the writings of the ancient chroniclers can be cooked and manipulated like they cooked and manipulated their financial disclosures to the EU?
Why all of a sudden were Greeks awakened with a desire to be called "Macedonians"? Why, indeed? Why go against their previously held 19th century position where they viewed the ancient Macedonians as people of a different nationality quite separate from the Hellenes? Why disrespect their own "Greek sons" who felt that Macedonians were a separate ethnic group of people who conquered Greece and did not share in the richness of the Hellenic nation? Why dismiss the works of their earlier Greek nation builders and historiographers like Paparrigopoulos, Gregorios Paljuritis, lambros Antonijadis, Koubourlis, Politis, Oimaras? Why go against the proclamation of their first Greek President Yannis Kapodistria who called for a sovereign and independent Macedonian State ? Why instead of "occupied territory" as King Georgios I called the Aegean Macedonia (which the Greeks received from the west as a gift, as payment for their services as bulwark against the "communists' advances" from the east), today they claim that Macedonia was always Greek?
For many people this issue about the name is a trivial and unimportant thing deserving neither time nor attention. For us, though, the ethnic Macedonians, it is of a pivotal importance. It is of pivotal importance because the name issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath its apparent, innocuous name change demanded by the Greeks, lurk hosts of venomous implications with calamitous consequences for all Macedonians. The Greek plan envisions and hopes to accomplish the following objectives: (1) eradication of our existence as people, (2) obliteration of our identity as Macedonians and (3) annihilation of anything Macedonian, including, most importantly, our Macedonian language. This is a well planned, methodically prepared and systematically executed Greek plan of action employed since 1913. With the acquisition of Macedonia , after the Balkan Wars, the Greek government embarked on Hellenizing the newly acquired territory. Willy-nilly, the population of ethnic Macedonians had to conform to the envisioned Greek doctrine -"they must be made Greeks" and so the brutal policy of forced assimilation began in earnest, sparing neither the rod nor the hand. This in effect is but a continuation of that policy.
The Greek "good neighborly behavior", preached by today's Greek politicians, is nothing short of a poisonous libation offered through and supported by the actions of the naive European bureaucrats and corrupt, forked-tongued politicians.
Let it be known that Greeks' objective is not the change of the Macedonian name.
The name is just the staging ground for their sinister attack on the ethnic Macedonians. It is the attack on (a) the Republic of Macedonia because of its citizens who claim and identify themselves as ethnic Macedonians and (b) it is an attack on the ethnic Macedonians who currently live in Greece . These people, these ethic Macedonians who endured decades of persecution, state sponsored assimilation and persistent, degrading humiliation in the hands of the Greek authorities, have recently awakened and started to assert their identity as ethnic Macedonians. This is the crux of the matter. This is what Greece fears the most.
But Greece will not be in this position if not supported by some European nations. Some of these nations who support Greece in this irrational demand about the name of the Republic of Macedonia (there are 129 nations in the world who have no problem calling Macedonia by its constitutional name), have done it because of economic advantage. Greece has obliged to buy huge amounts of French weaponry and expensive German-built submarines for exchange of their support. Too bad that the forged financial reports on Greek economy got entangled in a web of perennial lies and fabrications and did not pass the test. Greece 's late engagement with communist China did not raise an eyebrow in the west either. Fact is that the massive financial help and political support Greece has received from the western countries in the past one hundred or so years, was, strictly speaking, because of her stand against the communists. The hypocrisy of these western European bureaucrats is overwhelming: they criticize other countries about human rights violations but remain conspicuously silent on Greece .
What puzzles me the most, though, are their constant deflections of the truth: instead of saying that Macedonia 's accession into the European Union is delayed because of the Greek veto, they say that Macedonia 's entry into the union hinges on the name problem. We have no problem with the name; 129 other nation in the world, among which are Canada , USA , China , Russia , India , just to name a few, have no such problem. Do the math; how many billions of people have no such problem? The problem is not the name of Republic of Macedonia but the Greek veto. Stop hiding behind your finger. Stop being a dull, unimaginative and recalcitrant pencil pusher. If you represent Europe and claim that you uphold all the conventions on human rights issues, then, stand up and be counted.
Do not be a hypocrite. Do not close your eyes on countries that implement bigoted policies and exhibit racist behavior. Nothing diminishes your integrity more than a hypocritical stand on important human rights issues. A wise man once said: pray not to be stronger than your brother but to fight the demons within you. Yes, the demons within us. That's the gist of the problem.
I couldn’t agree with you more Joe and thank you for allowing me to use segments of your book in my articles.
So, after all that is said and done, should we still be “negotiating” our country’s name with the Greeks?
J.S.G. Gandeto’s book “The Theft of a King Who Stole Alexander” is available through;
This is a book that every Macedonian needs to own and must read. Since I purchased it I could not put it down.
J.S.G. Gandeto was born in Lubojno , Macedonia . Educated at Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje , Republic of Macedonia . He immigrated to United States and continued his studies at Wayne State University , Detroit , Michigan and Nova South-Eastern University in Fourth Lauderdale, Florida where he received his post graduate degrees. He recently completed his 29th year as an educator and has since retired and is continuing to pursue his passion in writing. In 2002 he published his first book Ancient Macedonians - Differences between Ancient Macedonians and the Ancient Greeks. In 2005 he published the romantic novels One Golden Ray upon the Rock and in 2007, The Wolves of Trappers Bluff.
In the Macedonian Language he has published the following novels: Spasa's Light in 2004, Saraf in 2009 and Rosamarina's Grave in 2010. Book of poems Muabeti in 2003, poemata Ko Jagne in 2005 and Majka -Egejka in 2009. Currently, he is preparing for publication his latest novel Folded Impressions.
Other articles by Risto Stefov:
Free electronic books by Risto Stefov available at:
- http://makedonskakafana.com/macedonian_ebooks.html
Our Name is Macedonia
Last edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 05-21-2011, 01:31 PM.Comment
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The real question: What is the WMD position on Macedonia 2025?Originally posted by Makedonska_Kafana View PostComment
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Considering, the business professionals on the board of directors extremely disappointed in the overall results to date - UMD, kinda rating ..Originally posted by Mr Brandy View Post
Wine & cheese.Last edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 05-21-2011, 03:34 PM.Comment
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Now, can we get your opinion or would you care to remain "silent"? That, would not surprise me because you people (followers) have a reputation for leaving things unanswered and open ended - fence sitters.Originally posted by Makedonska_Kafana View Post
Go LEAFS GoLast edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 05-22-2011, 12:10 PM.Comment
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Canadian Postal Censorship
Ottawa Ontario
C. 33
March 24, 1941
“Narodna Volya”
(People’s will)
5856 Chene Street ,
Detroit , Michigan .
U.S.A.
February 21, 1941
Bulgarian
The lease-lend bill is pure Fascism, reads the leading article
The standard Oil is supplying both opponents in the European conflict: England directly, Germany and Italy by way of Spain . England having appropriated the merchant marine of all the countries overrun by Hitler has a higher tonnage at the present time than ever before. It is quite inaccurate to say that England needs ships as, with the 10,000,000 tons of so called “Allied Shipping”, she now commends 45% of the world’s aggregate merchant fleets. The lease-land bill is leading the U.S.A. into war. The working class wants neither war nor Fascism and must, therefore, oppose the measures which will drag us into both with all means at her disposal.
Before the Explosion in the Balkans
The eyes of the world are on the Balkan Peninsula which may soon become a theater of war. English maneuvers have caused disturbances in Rumania . Italian reverses on all fronts have compelled Hitler to come to the rescue and threaten Greece with invasion unless the latter signs a separate peace with Hitler. Mussolini has held frantic consultations with Franco and the head of the French Fascist Republic , Petain. But Franco has pleaded Spanish exhaustion, and the opposition to the various bourgeois factions in France is strong enough to compel Petain to the utmost caution. So that passage of Nazi and Italian troops over French and Spanish territories to North Africa is for the time being at 1east not likely. The United States hold the key to the situation and here opinion is divided. The mass of the people want peace and preservation of the rights of the workers, but reactionary leaders and Wall Street are all out for war. They have given the President dictatorial powers and they are pushing the lease-lend bill through. This bill means war - war in the Balkans, war for America .
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria Threatened with War
England is trying to engage part of the German forces in the Balkans in order to relieve the pressure on the British Isles . She has severed diplomatic relations with Rumania and is waiting to do the same with Bulgaria and Yugoslavia . She can then bomb Rumanian oil fields and Bulgarian towns. Hitler, it is said, has promised Salonika to Yugoslavia ; Agach and Kavala to Bulgaria , if they let his troops through to Greece . There are 600,000 soldiers in Thrace . The Balkans are once again facing the horrors of destruction.
The Bulgarian Government has Betrayed the People
The Bulgarian Government has conspired with the German Nazis against the Bulgarian people. The Filoff Government and Tsar Boris are embarking upon the same course as the Rumanian traitors who provoked anti-Semitic pogroms in order to hide national opposition to Fascism and German occupation.
In order to justify this flagrant act of treason, Filoff gives the excuse that Bulgaria has been told by Moscow she must not count on help from the U.S.S.R. -Local Bulgarian papers in America, namely, the NARODEN GLAS, have repeated this lie.
The Bulgarian Government never intended to oppose German invasion and never took any measures to prevent it. Tsar Boris and Premier Filoff are Hitler’s best Fifth Columnists in Bulgaria -they have bargained away the life and the independence of the people. How could Soviet Russia help to save a country from Hitler, when the leaders of that country have already sold it to Hitler! The U. S. S. R. would be falling right into the famous Munich trap laid by British Imperialists at the time and still waiting to be sprung: a war with Hitler.
The Bulgarian people know that the U.S.S.R. is their friend but the Bulgarian bourgeoisie is afraid of that friendship and prefers to conspire with imperialists, be they German or British, against the best interests of the country. The Bulgarian ruling classes are betraying the Fatherland because they fear the Bulgarian people. The Bulgarian Government never asked for Russian help -they avoided it. Tsar Boris sold the country to Hitler for 30 pieces of silver just as Tsar Ferdinand sold it to the Kaiser, in his day, against the wishes and better judgment of the nation. The Bulgarian people are keeping count of these treasons and the day is not far oft when the traitors will be brought before a people's Court. When that day comes, the Hitlers, the Churchills and the Roosevelts will not be able to save themselves either. The people will win in the end, after the imperialist forces and their puppets at the helm of the Balkan States have plunged the Balkan fields and dales into a murderous war -the day of reckoning will come. The Balkan workers and peasants will suffer and die, but enough of them will survive to put an end to imperialism forever.
Canadian Legation
March 22nd, 1949
Belgrade , Yugoslavia
No. 66
Sir,
The importance which the Yugoslav Government attach to the questions of Macedonia and a South Slav Federation, acerbated as they now are through Bulgaria's strong pro- Cominform stand and the resultant worsening of relations with Yugoslavia, was again emphasized by a full-page, six-column article by Moshe Pijade entitled "The Question of Balkan Federation" which appeared in "Borba" on March 6th. Pijade is the CPY's able theoretician whom the Cominform Journal recently called a "paltry pigmy playing the buffoon on the rostrum… clowning… and, like a jester, raving, ranting, threatening and brandishing documents…"
2. The article was mainly a resume and recapitulation of what has already been said on the subject on various other occasions, such as in the speeches by Kardelj and Rankovich reported in my dispatch No. 21 of January 29th. With bitterness and heavy sarcasm Pijade attacked the "alluring voices of friendship" in Sofia whence came a stream of propaganda in favour of a South Slav Federation coupled with reproaches against Yugoslavia for blocking its realization. Recently the proposal had been broadened and Sofia had passed to the preaching of a Balkan Federation although only yesterday such a Federation was considered too artificial and problematic to be worth mentioning. The writer said that it would not be worth his attention either were it not for the attempt to embroil "democratic" Greece in the intrigue.
3. He attempted to show that the Resolution passed at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Communist Party of Greece held at the end of January spoke against Greek chauvinism and in favour of the right of the Macedonian peoples to self- determination, but that it said nothing of a Balkan Federation or the relations of Greece with other Balkan states. However, the Bulgarian trade union paper 'Trud" interpreted the resolution as evidence of the Greek Communist Party's alignment with the views of the Bulgarian Workers' Party on solving the Macedonian problem through the early creation of a Balkan Federation.
4. It was better for the Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia, wrote Pijade, to continue their struggle for liberation in the knowledge that the Greek Communist Party, as stated in its Resolution, would fight for Macedonia's right of self- determination after liberation, than to bother themselves at this stage about projects for union with the other two parts of Macedonia, especially when one of them, Pirin Macedonia, did not enjoy the most elementary autonomous rights in Bulgaria.
5. Pijade retraced the history and nature of the Bulgarian and Yugoslav proposals for a South Slav Federation which have already been outlined in paragraph 6 of my dispatch No.21. At first the Bulgarians wanted only some kind of pact of mutual assistance but Kardelj wrote Tito from Sofia in December 1944 to say that he had told the Bulgarians that such a pact was absolutely worthless; it would not alter the existing situation whereas what was needed was an alliance which would be interpreted by the masses in both countries as an initial step towards union. It was then agreed that a Bulgarian and a Yugoslav delegation should meet to discuss their respective drafts of an agreement for federation, and the meeting took place in January 1945.
6. The first and fifth articles of the Yugoslav draft read as follows:
"1) Democratic Federative Yugoslavia and Bulgaria are uniting themselves in a single federal state, which is henceforth to consist of seven components: Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with a joint People's Parliament and a joint Federal Government, and forming a single customs area."
"5) A joint Bulgarian-Yugoslav Commission with its seat in Belgrade , to be called the Commission of the South Slav Federation, is to be formed with the task of preparing a draft Constitution of the joint federal state. This Commission is to include representatives of Bulgaria and the six constituent parts of Democratic Federative Yugoslavia which are to be designated by their respective Governments.”
7. The Bulgarian draft agreement contained the following proposals:
"1) The Government of Bulgaria and the Government of Yugoslavia declare that they are realizing the unification of the South Slavs by way of the formation of a common, federally regulated state which will be called the South Slav Federation, with a joint People's Parliament, with joint Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense and other joint institutions and ministries which will be finally established in the mutual Constitution of the Federation, which Should be drafted as the result and final realization of this treaty."
"2) The beginning of the realization of such a Federation will be achieved by setting up a special joint agency of the Federation --a Provisional Council of the South Slav Federation with its seat in Belgrade . This Council will be formed on the principle of proportional representation of both Governments."
8. The Yugoslavs rejected the Bulgarians' arguments in favour of their draft: that Bulgaria , as an independent state with its own traditions, should not be put on unequal footing with the constituent republics of Yugoslavia , but should be equal with the whole six-membered Yugoslavia . It is not difficult to see that to the Bulgarians the Yugoslav draft must have seemed inconsiderate of their feelings and ungenerous.
9. The boundaries of Macedonia, according to the Yugoslav draft agreement, were to be finally settled by Bulgaria seding to Macedonia territory acquired under the 1913 Peace Treaty (Pirin Macedonia was accorded to Bulgaria under the Treaty of Bucharest after the Second Balkan War) and by Yugoslavia seding to Bulgaria territory acquired as a result of the Peace Settlement of 1919 (under the Treaty of Neuilly Bulgaria lost Tsaribrod and some territory in the Strumica valley to Yugoslavia).
10. Pijade charged that the Bulgarian leaders lacked sincerity and that their plans ignored Macedonia ’s equality and the Macedonian peoples’ right to self-determination. He repeatedly castigated them for their "Greater Bulgarian" chauvinism, which he named as the real reason which prevented the union of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria . Although, he wrote, it went against the Leninist conception of a nation's right to self- determination for Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to negotiate a solution of the relations between Pirin Macedonia and the Macedonian People's Republic as a pre-condition for South Slav Federation, the Yugoslav Government had been prepared to do this in order to help obtain practical results. Nothing came of the agreement however because the Anglo-Americans prevented Bulgaria from signing treaties with any countries.
11. If the Bulgarians are serious in their advocation of Federation they should, in Pijade's view, first give Pirin Macedonia the same freedom and cultural, territorial and political autonomy as the Macedonian People's Republic enjoys in Yugoslavia . When this had been done the two Macedonian republics could negotiate directly with each other. Then the Macedonian Republic , within an eventual South Slav Federation in which it would be equal with Bulgaria , Serbia and the other constituent republics, would be free for all time from the menace of Bulgarian chauvinism and Bulgarian designs to transform the Macedonians into part of the Bulgarian nation. In the meantime, Pijade concluded, the Bulgarian campaign for Federation and for an independent Macedonia within a Balkan Federation was, in present circumstances, not a progressive step but part and parcel of the Cominform attack on the building of socialism in Yugoslavia .
12. Writing early in the War Professor Hugh Seton-Watson, whose knowledge of the Balkans is practically unrivalled, was of the opinion that:
“The real Macedonian Problem is the problem of Yugoslavia Macedonia. Here neither Serbian nor Bulgarian rule has benefited the people. The people of Yugoslav Macedonia are in fact neither Serbs nor Bulgarians, and they have had reason to dislike almost equally the dictatorial nationalist centralism of Belgrade and the dictatorial centralist nationalism of Sofia . Probably the only method which offers any promise of a satisfactory solution is that of regional autonomy within a federal Yugoslavia . This would mean that the administration, school system and economic life of Macedonia would be conducted by Macedonians, men born and bred in the province; that the State authorities would officially recognize that the Macedonians are neither Serbs nor Bulgars, but a separate branch of the South Slavs; and that in all matters affecting State policy the Macedonians would accept the authority of the Central Government.
The Macedonian Problem is essentially an internal problem of Yugoslavia . If the relation between Macedonians and Serbs can be cleared in the manner described above, then minor territorial questions, such as Florina or Petrich, can be settled with little difficulty between the Governments of Yugoslavia, Greece and Bulgaria .
The Macedonian problem cannot be solved independently of the Balkan problem as a whole. Everything depends on the type of regimes that prevail in the Balkan States after the war. If the old nationalist claims are supreme, then Macedonia will again be a cause of international rivalries.”
13. Up to a point, and admittedly more on paper than in practice, the Tito regime has taken all the steps recommended by Prof. Seton-Watson. As I pointed out in paragraph 21 of my dispatch No. 13 of January 18th these measures, are fresh memories of Bulgarian behaviour when in occupation of Macedonia during the war, may have brought about a considerable reduction in Macedonian antipathy to the Yugoslav state.
14. But the territorial questions remain unsolved and have indeed become hopelessly entangled with rival nationalist claims, the problems arising out of the Yugoslav-Cominform dispute, the Macedonian policies of the Royal Greek Government and the Greek Communist Party, and last but not least, the Soviet Union's veiled and enigmatic Macedonian policy. And thus the Macedonian Problem remains and festers, for, in the words quoted above, it "cannot be solved independently of the Balkan Problem as a whole"
15. I am sending copies of this dispatch to Athens , London , Prague , Warsaw and Moscow . I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, (can’t make out the signature), Minister
JAM: aw
Canadian Mounted Police
Ottawa , December 4th, 1946
Sir:
Information has reached this department that there have been appeals for Macedonian relief by a Fund in which Toncho Naibenoff, Domiter Nicholoff and Nano Petcoff are associated and that monies to the amount of $ 15,000 have been collected for the purchase of relief supplies.
About a year ago an application for registration under the War Charities Act by a Macedonian Group in Toronto was received by this Department whereby funds would be raised for the relief of Macedonians in Yugoslavia .
We explained that the policy of the Department allowed only one registered fund for each country and that, in this connection, the registered organization to deal or to become affiliated with for relief to Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav Relief Fund.
As a result of our suggestion the committee in question informed us they did not care to co-operate with the registered Fund mentioned and that they would rather stop fund-raising activities for the benefit of the Macedonian people.
We have since tried to contact the above mentioned gentlemen and to advise them that if the $ 15,000 in question had been raised for relief to Macedonians in Yugoslavia or elsewhere, such fund-raising activities should not have been carried out without registration under the War Charities Act. We have, however, been unsuccessful in contacting the parties involved and would be most grateful if your Department could conduct an investigation in this connection.
The foreign exchange control board have passed on information to us in connection with the Macedonian groups in Toronto , which reads as follows:
a) Mr. Iedro Hristoff applied for a change of status and to transfer money out of Canada . He declared assets of $ 4,000.00 in his bank account and was given permission to transfer this money. When he bought his Canadian draft he presented four $ 1,000 bills, leaving his bank account untouched.
b) These $ 1,000 bills were traced and found to come from a bank account in Toronto of $15,000 held by three persons mentioned in the opening…
…persons claiming to be journalists;
Edward Yardas
Maxim Bielie
George Metesac
Have raised to transfer $ 2,500, $ 3,500 and $ 3,500 reportedly to take to Europe , for travel expenses on behalf of their employers;
Edinas Publishing Co.
Zvesti Publishing Co.
League of Canadian Croatians
Srpski Glasnik.
Me. Yardas' request was approved and he bought his draft with a cheque for $1,500 and with a $1,000 bill, which was traced to the account mentioned in paragraph (b).
Dr. Kaye of the Naturalization Branch, Secretary of State Department, gave further information on the activities of the Macedonian group in Toronto . It appears from the Bulgarian language newspaper in Toronto that there have been appeals for a fund for Macedonian relief of which the Treasurer was Mr. Toncho Naibenoff and associated with him were Mr. Spaso Michailoff and Mr. Nano Petcoff. On October 11th it was announced in the Bulgarian paper that the fund had collected # 15,295.
I also understand that further information concerning Andro Christoff, Nicholas Kiriakopolos and Andro Palmeroff is available in your file No. D 945-3-E 353.
It would therefore appear from these facts that monies which have been collected from persons or persons of Macedonian and Bulgarian origin in Toronto , ostensibly for relief purposes, are being misused.
The Foreign Exchange Control Board has been keeping a close watch on all Macedonian applications for transfer of funds abroad and, in this connection, the last information we have from that Department is that a contract with Iedro Hristoff, Pencho Penchoff, Anton Tsvetcoff and Lambro Luticoff concerning the sale of “The New Times Publishing Company” of 386 Ontario Street, Toronto, for the sum of $1.00 was duly conveyed on the 26th November, 1946. Obviously some other consideration but the one dollar involved has been understood in completing this transaction. In this respect our understanding is that Hristoff's Bank Account is the pivoting feature of the deal. .
As previously stated, if the $15,000 referred to has been raise, for war charity purposes such collection has been made without the benefit of registration. Further, the funds so collected, whether under registration or not, should not be used for purposes other than those for which they were raised, and, of immediate importance, the Committee responsible is required to have prepared an audited statement showing all receipts and disbursements since the beginning of…Comment
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rtg, and the other owners of mto. something, you may want to consider setting up a small team of excellent writers to send correspondence to various governments and organizations when there is need to do so. There, could be a locked thread for those memo's with feedback in the general forum.
Why, wait for other's? You, have by far the best Macedonian forum writers and it would be wrong not to be more active in this regard. I, was just kidding better then MOST large Macedonian organizations ..
Akritas, dream on sweetie - not, even close!Last edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 05-25-2011, 05:41 PM.Comment
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YouTube - ‪History of the ethnic Macedonians in Canada‬‏
Narrated by John Evans & Yana Branova (mark's mother)
Mark, can't answer this question or he will blow his cover here; however, Yana was at the Grand Gala Banquet in 2010 yet I don't recall seeing any booth on Macedonian foods over in that area .. was, there anything Staro_Selo? Lubi, was off to the side enjoying his bopche ..
Since, when did prime rib become traditional Macedonian food - eight years ago?
Last edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 05-26-2011, 12:21 PM.Comment
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