Risto Stefov - Articles, Translations & Collaborations

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  • George S.
    replied
    Racism and Discrimination against Immigrants and Minorities in Greece



    One of the most widely accepted concepts about migration and minorities in Greece, which in fact resembles a myth, is that the latter as a nation-state has always been a homogeneous country...




    One of the most widely known aspects of the Greek migration management system in the years 2001-2004, which is rather indicative of its inefficiency, is that due to long delays and administrative dysfunctions, residence and work permits were delivered to immigrants after their expiration date.

    Furthermore, a strict bureaucratic system for admission to enter the country for work purposes has lead to hundreds of thousand of undeclared immigrant workers. Therefore, in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 successive legalization programs took place in an effort to regularize irregular immigrants. These legalization campaigns provide employers’ amnesty, while immigrant workers are called to pay social security contributions and expensive fees in order to regularize their work and residence status for 1 year.

    The migration policy that prolongs the perennial insecurity of the suspended immigrant status, preserves the subaltern and vulnerable position of the immigrants in the labour market. It seems that there is an absence of a specific integration policy on immigration and that there are a rather fragmentary measures and contradictory policies instead. The National Action Plan for Employment still does not include immigrants as a target group. Surveys and researches on integration of immigrants and minorities’ in the labor market show that they receive lower wages and pay higher social security contributions. There are however increasing claims of higher wages backed by the unions of national and local workers. There are also increasing legislative limitations and restrictions in their entrepreneurship, concerning access to certain professions.

    Regarding the reception policies, the living conditions in the refugee reception and detention centres, especially in the Aegean Sea islands and the police departments throughout the country still remain unacceptable in many cases and degrading for human dignity, as depicted by a long list of international and national organizations.

    The rapidly increasing participation of 2nd generation immigrant children in education is accompanied by an ever larger dropout rate, which remains higher for immigrant children in relation to the total students’ population in primary and secondary education, though it is not to attribute to school performance. Isolated incidents of exclusion and discrimination against them are recorded, especially in relation to national festivities and parades, mainly due to the strongly ethnocentric aspects of Greek education.

    The state intercultural education consists of providing language support by specialized teachers and is implemented only in 26 intercultural schools which are operating throughout the country. It serves the needs of the children of over a million of immigrants. Measures for immigrant children in school do not challenge the structural and systemic role of the education system in the Greek society, which is still based on exclusion rather than inclusion and on ethnocentrism rather than multiculturalism.

    Irregular immigrants are excluded from the provision of public health, unless and as long they are at immediate risk of life loss, while their appearance in the public hospitals should be signalled to the police. In reality, the medical staff of public hospitals does provide medical services irrespective of the residence status of the patient.

    Regular immigrants are holders of similar rights to those of Greek citizens, for a narrow field of social protection, namely provisions for natural disaster victims, and are not eligible for regular disability and subsistence welfare programs, which are connected to Greek citizenship and/or ethnic origin.

    There are no provisions in place for granting voting rights in local municipal elections to subjects who are not Greek or EU nationals (third country). Nevertheless, there are isolated exceptions – in some municipalities in rural Greece, the non-voting consultative bodies representative of immigrant residents were created.

    The Greek citizenship code does not provide a distinct path to citizenship to third country nationals, neither if they were born, nor if they lived their entire life in the country. Instead, the common procedure is an application after 12 years of legal residence in Greece, supported by expensive fees (1500€), with no deadline or even an obligation of the state to provide an answer. Such requests are frequently not responded to before a decade after the application date.

    The Long Term Residence status EC Directive is yet to be fully transposed into the Greek legal order, while the application for such a status is possible only after paying a hefty 900€ fee, and passing an exam following a year-long course of Greek language, history and culture. However, there is a ‘numerus clausus’ for taking part in these courses, to an extent that in the best of cases, no more than 5-10.000 immigrants will be able to apply for LTR status until 2011. This is an extremely low percentage of long term residing immigrants in the country (estimated roughly between half and one million, and on the basis of the 2001 census records on the duration of residence).

    There are no diversity management policies in place, neither in public nor in private sector, while no percentage of job posts is reserved to ethnic cultural minorities whatsoever. Believers of religions other than Christian Orthodox are not allowed to abstain from work to exercise their religion. No other religions’ festivities are recognised for employment and leave purposes.

    According to available data, there has been a net improvement of the situation concerning the education of Roma and Muslim minority children since the 1990s. However, there are contradictory reports about Roma children enrolment and dropout rates.

    A persisting trend is that enrollment of Roma children in ordinary community schools continues to cause tensions, intolerance and violent reactions, in some cases obliging the Roma children to attend special Roma school units, despite the firm commitment of the administration to avoid segregation of minorities in education.

    Over the last couple of years (2004-2005) there has been an increase of evictions of Roma dwellings in the areas where major cultural and sport events had taken place or are going to take place in the near future (2004 Olympic Games of Athens, Patras Cultural Capital of Europe 2006, Votanikos area, site of a new Football Stadium). These are inevitably accompanied by tensions, local society intolerance and violent attacks against Roma.

    Despite the efforts of the state, the Roma living, health and sanitary conditions in improvised settlements still remain a major social and humanitarian emergency.

    In early 2005 the anti-discrimination directives have been transposed into the Greek legal order and a set of equality bodies with complementary mandates has been provided, some of which do not fully conform to the Paris Principles. After 2 years of implementation of the anti-discrimination legislation there are extremely few discrimination cases within the field of the anti-discrimination law, almost all of them handled by the Greek Ombudsman, which seems to be the only fully operative Equality Body in Greece. No official case of racist violence and crime is recorded on the basis of the relevant anti-racist penal legislation (law 927/1979), although violence against immigrants and minorities, in many cases by police officers, is a reality.

    Negative stereotypes against minority groups and legitimisation of racial violence have proven difficult to extinguish. A football game between Greece and Albania readily sets off racist tensions that lead to clashes between Greeks and Albanians and even murders of immigrants among the largest immigrant group in Greece. What raises concerns is that the episodes cannot be attributed to a few nationalist and fascist groups, but that they are legitimised through a mainstream anti-Albanian attitude, tolerated or shared by a large proportion of the Greek society.

    The problem of police and portual corps violence against immigrants-refugees and minorities is exacerbated by the fact that the internal police audit control and investigations procedures often lead to the offenders’ impunity. Only in a very small and insignificant number of cases has the investigation led to disciplinary measures, while in the absolute majority the complaint cases close as unfounded.

    The Olympic policing-racial profiling of Muslims and their surveillance because of anti-terrorist measures has lead to a major incident of mass abduction and interrogation under undefined circumstances by Greek and foreign secret services in summer 2004. This issue has lead to a heated debate in the Parliament and has been under the focus of international media in 2005.

    The religion-oriented racism is not usually the case in the Greek society and intolerance towards Muslims or islamophobia incidents have not been detected or reported. The public policies are not terror-fear driven and no particular security measures have been taken towards Muslim religious minority group in Greece.

    Notwithstanding the great numbers of immigrants of Muslim religion and the practical absence of racist tensions against them, no official mosque still exists outside of the Western Thrace Region, while a notable number of unofficial mosques operate in Athens informally but without intolerance problems.

    The ‘Greek majority priority’ principle, a perception deeply rooted in Greek society, provides the base for discrimination against minority groups and foreigners and constitutes an obstacle for development of the society on the basis of equality and non-discrimination. The hard-to-die negative stereotypes against minority groups legitimize racist violence. These are accompanied by the resolute and contradictory emerging attitudes versus the foreigners (co-existence of positive/negative views).

    A major challenge for the future is a decisive role of the representatives of the political spectrum in shielding the public sphere from extreme right-wing xenophobic and racist discourse and practices legitimized in the name of a nationalist patriotism and the preservation of the ‘Greekness’. While public condemnations against such views are frequent and generalized as rhetoric, the main arguments and repertoires of racist discourse permeate a great part of the political class and parties, while media offer ground to xenophobic and racist discourse, encouraging similar opinions and practices.

    A number of noteworthy good practices and civil society’s voluntary activities depict a rather robust and dynamic landscape of anti-discrimination action, some having significant impact on the public sphere. Civil society organisations and agencies are conducting a strongly anti-racist and pro-integration activity and a considerable part of substantial good practices concern promotion of multicultural society through high impact cultural activities. A significant number of local initiatives by civil society organizations are focused at intercultural contact and exchanges as well as at provision of specialized support to vulnerable groups, especially immigrant and refugees-asylum seekers, women and minors in major cities such as Athens, Thessaloniki, and Rethymno. After a decade of immigration, Greek cinematography is producing more films with a strong reference to the migration phenomena and the way it shapes Greek modern society, while special cinema tributes are dedicated to migration.

    Under the light of public discussion regarding the management of migration it is obvious that some things have changed indeed in terms of dealing with immigrants as subjects entitled to basic rights, while the declarative perspective is their integration into, rather than their exclusion from, the Greek society.

    The debate about concession of political rights to immigrants has been initiated, and all parliamentary parties propose full political rights especially to long-term residents and at the local or national elections, except for the right majority party in government.

    As the newly elected president of the Hellenic Republic has put it at his first presidential address to the nation for the occasion of national independence anniversary of 25/3/2005, integration of immigrants is one of the main future challenges for Greek democracy: ‘(…) the protection of human rights and personal freedoms without discrimination and smooth integration of immigrants, are serious challenges for modern Greece’.

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    Racism in Greece







    My blogging began because of a racist attack that had happened here in Greece six years earlier. It shocked the country then, not just because it was so horrific but also because the country had to wake up and see that racism exists here, contrary to popular opinion.

    It is a commonly held belief that Greeks are not racist. It is also common to hear people say, “We don’t mind Black people, it’s the Albanians, Turks or Gypsies, we have a problem with. In more recent times, the Chinese have joined the list of baddies because of the small shops selling cheap clothing that have sprung up all over the big cities. This is a country where it is still acceptable to put your house up to rent and to specify that foreigners need not apply. This is a place where the media will accuse any crime on Albanians before any facts are known. There is no shortage of stories here about racism and xenophobia. There is more material than I could possibly cover myself.

    I understand that it is often difficult for people to face up to racism. It is not an enjoyable experience to be accused of racism. And here I was accusing a whole country of the racism they didn’t want to see or acknowledge. There has been a collective temper tantrum and an avalanche of denial. How dare a foreigner call us racist? And worse still, a black one!

    The problem is that you cannot tackle racism unless there is an admission of its existence and a willingness to accept responsibility and to change it. It is pointless to say that the racism in England or France is worse than here. That is not helpful to the Roma or Albanian (or other foreign) people who are beaten up on a regular basis by the police. That doesn’t help the asylum seekers who are locked up and treated worse than animals. That doesn’t assist the hundreds of African children who cannot get birth certificates issued when they are born here leading to problems getting health care, education or a passport.

    There are many Greek bloggers who are tackling the same issues that I am. There are hundreds of people here who are working for change. Unfortunately, the mainstream media seems to have its head buried firmly in the sand. And the politicians are mainly just being politicians. They do absolutely nothing at best. The nationalist party is gaining ground, with its leader being seen regularly on TV, spouting his racist garbage. There are reasons that this is happening. The hysteria about the rising numbers of immigrants here (now at around 10% of the population) that is fueled by the media. There are the usual accusations that the nationals are losing their jobs because of foreigners. The rising crime figures are blamed on us regardless of information that this is not true. And on and on and on…

    The main problem I see is that we are now seeing second and third generation of “foreigners” who are not immigrants. They are Greek and they are growing up and they are demanding equality and opportunity. Unless Greece as a country can grow up and acknowledge that there is a problem of racism, I can see only trouble ahead. You only have to look at what has happened in other countries to see the result of ignoring, ghettoizing and generally abusing those who are “other” Lessons can be learned from the experiences of other countries if only there was a willingness to do so. I do not see that happening here. It seems to me that we are on a well-trodden path to more serious problems in the very near future. People can only be poked for so long and then they bite back.

    We will hear more angry protests about the treatment of foreigners and Greeks of different backgrounds. We will see people taking to the streets (a common pastime here for any grievance) demanding their rights as citizens of this country. We will see support for the struggle here from people outside the country. More international condemnation of the abuses that occur here. Whether the powers that be will sit up and take notice and then have the guts to actually do something about it, remains to be seen.

    I feel compelled to keep scratching away at this issue regardless of what I am being accused of (from trying to undermine the country, to being a terrorist, to the classic “you’re the racist”). I have seen small shifts even on my humble blog and have many Greek blog friends who support this effort. The outpouring of support when the nationalists targeted me was incredible. Perhaps the change can come from us, the little people who care about big things and are letting the world know what is happening.

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    The Great Lie – Chapter 19



    By Petre Nakovski

    Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

    [email protected]

    April 1, 2012



    Since then, Risto, along with some of the women, regularly, secretly visited the bunker storehouses and kitchens. Secretly during the night, before they were burned, they collected all the paper bags in a hurry, placed them into a single bag and hid them. During the day, when they were resting from the night’s work of carrying logs, Risto fetched the bags and one by one, placing them on a flat surface, smoothed them out removing all wrinkles.



    Flattened out he folded the bags and with his dagger, which he always carried on his belt, cut them into straight, rectangular pieces as wide as his hand. He then blew off the dust, placed them on top of one another and put a stone on top to keep them flat.



    Then during rest time, at lunch or at dinner, the women would gather around Risto and tell him their problems and pains and beg him to give them a larger piece of paper so that they could write a longer letter with many words. When he did, he cut the paper from the scraps because he knew they couldn’t write. They were illiterate.



    But they took the paper anyway, kept it in their hands and caressed it on their knees, just as they would caress their children who were sent to the [Eastern European] countries. They caressed the paper because on it they wanted to send their children their love and warmth and hope that soon they would receive the letter, along with their love, wishes and prayers.



    Every day the women begged Risto to write a letter for them, thanked him and every day kept asking when they would receive a reply.



    “Oh, Risto, God bless you, why don’t you write a letter to my Paskal,” she said and then continued:



    “Paskal, my dear son, my beloved child, my light, my dewy May flower...” Angelina whispered warm words, words of affection, hopeful words, repeating them again and again…



    With tears in her eyes she looked far away at the hills, at the forest, into the sky, at the clouds, at the birds and caressing the grass and the flowers by her legs, she lifted her head, looked at Risto’s face, moved closer and looked at the paper to see how much space was left. Her face became sad and her wrinkles filled with tears when Risto said: “There is no more space…”



    “How can that be Risto?” she asked, surprised. “Yesterday I told you more and the paper was smaller. Please just a little bit more, please write a little bit more right here at the corner so it won’t be empty and, here on this side write, make a cross like a prayer to God to protect my Paskal, my dear boy, my happiness, my most beloved… my falcon, my eagle, my strength… Here, Risto,” she touched the edge of the paper and with tears in her eyes and a choked up voice continued: “Write something from yourself, tell him to be good and to study hard… write… and when you finish, let me kiss the letter…”



    The woman undid her black kerchief and covered her crying face with it. Her shoulders trembled from her crying. She got up quietly and walked away and from the distance she thanked Risto: “May God bless you with good health and peace, Risto… Thank you and be well…”



    “Who is next?” Risto asked without raising his head.


    “I am...” said the woman.



    “Forgive me, but I don’t know your name...” replied Risto.



    “Stoia. My name is Stoia. I was named after my grandfather Stoian. My oldest son’s name is Traiko, named after my father’s grandfather. My daughter’s name is Traianka, she was named after my mother. My second son’s name is Trpo, he was named after his uncle, and my husband’s name is Zhivko… Everything comes from grandfather and grandmother and from father and mother. And that way we are Stoianovtsi, Traikovtsi, Trpovtsi, Zhivkovtsi… And after the last war we adopted some new names like Slobodanka, Pobeda, Slobodan, Mirka… And after this war? Maybe there will be a Traiko and a Traianka, a Stoian and a Stoianka to give birth, so that our roots are not lost… What names will there be, only God knows… There are not many Stoianovtsi, Traikovtsi, Zhivkovtsi, Trpovtsi left in our village now… Some left their bones at Gramos, some at Mali-Madi, some at Voden, some at Lerin. A total of forty-eight dead up to now and I have no idea how many wounded and crippled. Everyone young is dead… gone… These are bad times… Is this our fate, is this what has been written for us?” Risto’s hand began to shake. A muscle in his right cheek began to quiver. His forehead began to wrinkle. His throat contracted. His stare was pointed somewhere far, far away. He was silent…



    “Risto, are you listening to me?” asked Stoianka.



    “Yes, I…” replied Risto with a choked up voice.



    “Oh, not today… We will write mine tomorrow then,” said Stoianka and left.



    “Who is next?” asked Risto after he composed himself.



    Lina sat beside him and took out a piece of paper from her chest. It was folded in four. The yellowed paper shook in her hand as she extended it to Risto and said: “That’s all I could get my hands on. The others were quicker than me… The women were ripping from the bags, but the commissar, who forgot his briefcase in front of the bunker, got annoyed with them, and began to yell and chase them… When I saw all those pencils neatly arranged in his briefcase, I took one. Here it is…” She reached into her chest and pulled it out.



    Risto, showing her with his facial expressions that he was not happy, shook his moustache and with reproach in his voice said: “So you are the one who stole the commissar’s pencil?”



    “I hope nothing bad comes from this, please don’t talk like that Risto, I took just one pencil… And why does he need so many pencils anyway? Do you think he is smarter than you? He had so many in his leather briefcase and they were lined up like machine gun cartridges… Here, take the pencil, you need it more than him. He only struts around with those pencils and who knows what he writes about us to those above him.” She stopped talking for a moment, looked into his eyes and with an inquiring glance, whispered:



    “Don’t look at me like that… So I took the pencil and what, the world fell apart? I did not steal it… I took it. If I stole it I wouldn’t have told you… The women had had an eye open for the commissar’s pencils for a long time. They were saying why does he need so many pencils? Our Risto has only one and that is enough to write all our letters. Isn’t that right Risto?



    I didn’t take the pencil for myself, I took it for the women, for you, to write our letters. They deserve to have a pencil like that. That’s what I thought and said to myself, ‘I will give Risto the pencil’. Here, take it and stop frowning at me…”



    Risto looked at her harshly and threatened her with his finger and after a long silence, asked: “What do you want me to write?”



    “First write that,” she spread her hand wide open and began to list on her fingers one by one, “I wish them to be well and I am hopeful that they are alive and in good health, I love them very much, my love for them is great, greater, I warmly kiss them on the mouth, cheeks and eyes and I want them to be clean and beautiful in body, spirit and mind, I want them to be happy and cheerful as the spring is joyous and merry, to be blessed with peace and kindness, to be fair and merciful, to have understanding for all, to not be envious or jealous, to not want power over others, to not be blind to evil, to love everyone and to be blessed... May the sun shine on them, may God protect them… may they always be safe and protected... They are my eyes…



    Tell them not to forget their mother and father, grandmother and grandfather, their numerous relatives, our Christian Orthodox faith, our blue sky, green meadows, forests, our home, vineyards and fields, and to look at the world before them with wide open eyes.



    Tell them to believe in God and to pray to God for the wellbeing of everyone. Tell them not to forget to cross themselves and to be good, smart, brave, proud and without fear of looking into people’s eyes…



    Tell them not to forget our songs and dances and that they are always in my thoughts, which fly towards them and nothing can prevent them from getting there, not the wind, nor the clouds, nor lightning, nor thunder. Tell them that my soul hurts and aches for them when I think of them and that my concern for them is great... I want them to return to me as soon as possible....”



    She paused and looked far into the distance as if looking for her children there.



    “Ah, if only I was a bird I would fly there to see them… And here in my chest I have a great big lump, here it brews in me and torments me, the sorrow is biting my insides, the pain is eating away in me, the anguish is poisoning me… with tears in my eyes I beg God to keep them safe and to return them to me, to fill my arms with them… they are my dreams, I dream about them and they appear in my dreams, they keep me company in my thoughts… The heart can’t keep silent when we are separated like this and they are gone so far away in unknown alien lands… can the mind be darkened and the thoughts be frozen…? Can they?



    Let them be alive and well and clean like a tear, in body, spirit and mind… just let them be alive and well… a mother will endure… a mother will always endure like a stone, a boulder, or a mountain endures… each with their own problems… with their own pain…”



    Her words started to come out broken from her lips. Her voice became quieter resembling the fluttering of trembling leaves. She paused and to Risto it seemed like her voice just died and her breathing come to an end. Inquiringly Risto looked at her face and realized that everything in her had turned upside down, she was covered by a shadow of immense sadness and depression.



    She moved and leaned her chin on her stiff and hardened hands marred with premature wrinkles and speechlessly stared ahead. Her stare pleadingly flew downhill in search, searching, shifting and probing, greedily pressing into the cracks of time and returning disappointed. She let out a long and deep sigh, waved her hand as if chasing away a bad thought, moved her head slowly and let her eyes relax. There was a barely visible gentle smile beaming from her eyes into her brightened face. She spread her arms as if wanting to hug someone, but to Risto it seemed like she was hugging her children sitting on her lap. She remained that way for a moment and then, after taking a long and peaceful sigh, she crossed her arms, lifted up her eyes towards heaven, and in a humble quiet voice she recited a warm prayer.



    Risto stirred with his head, looked at the piece of paper, turned it several times and said: “And you think everything you said I can put in this little piece of paper?”



    “Yes Risto, it can be done, why not?” she answered.



    “How can I accommodate so many words that you told me?” inquired Risto.



    “Well, Risto, then don’t write words…” she replied.



    “Not write words? What then should I write? Words are written in a letter because words speak… What kind of a letter would it be if it had no words? Words my dear woman, words speak…” added Risto.



    “So it is… words speak, but you don’t need to write words…” she replied.



    “So then, what should I write?” asked Risto.



    “Write a flower, an eye, a tear, a bird, a heart…” replied the woman.



    Risto wrote exactly what Lina told him.



    “Okay. Here is a flower, an eye, a tear, a bird and a heart. I wrote them…” answered Risto.



    “Let me see them,” she said and took the piece of paper, looked at it, and a hidden smile appeared in her eyes. “Not like this, not like this, write a flower… write a flower, like that, like the one that grows by your feet… Do you see it?” replied the woman.



    “Do you mean I should draw a flower?” inquired Risto.



    “Yes, like that… Did you write it? Good, but make the leaves a little longer… Now write an eye… Here, write my eye… Under the eye now write a tear, my tear that fell and beside it write a bird… write a bird with an open beak and open wings… Did you write it? Now write a heart… write a heart… and under it a drop…” ordered the woman, but before she could finish talking a painful sigh and a moan cut off her voice, tears filled her eyes, overflowed and glistened like pearls on her long, thick dark eyelashes...



    She bowed her head down and stared at her crossed hands lying in her lap. The shaking of a leaf in a tree was loud, the buzzing of a bee flying around a flower was noisy, the water running down the brook was thundering… the wind became wicked, infuriating and started howling, the sky went dark, the roads and highways became narrow and screams were pouring, flooding the valleys, a blunt blow to the plough pushed it further into the ground, a crow crowed on the crest of the oak tree… silent whimpers, distant shouts and pleading cries…



    Lina wiped the hanging tear, searched in her chest, took out a crumpled up piece of paper and, extending it to Risto, said: “Now put in this…”



    “And what is this?” asked Risto.



    “It is, how they say… It is the place where their father lives. There the way it is written, lives their father. So they can write him a letter, but with words… Put it inside and fold it like you fold all the letters and throw it over there in the bags… The women said the man from the big post is coming today…” replied the woman.



    It is like this every day, at midday, under the thunderous roar of aircraft, under the thick shadows of the beech trees, Risto writes the letters and adds more from himself than they tell him. He knows their wishes, their great and immense pain and love for their children, their concern and care and the hundreds of doubts they have and questions they want to ask.



    He knows what words will make them secretly smile and which ones will make them sigh a long sigh and remove their black kerchiefs and wipe their tears with its corner. He knows when they lose their voice and how long it takes before it comes back and before they can say more kind and gentle words…



    He knows the secrets that hide in their hearts and thoughts, he comforts them, he reassures them and he implores them not to worry so much, to be calm and to hope and believe… He knows how a woman will speak to her child or children and what words she will use to express her love and concern, what prayers and wishes and how to end the letter.



    From himself Risto adds that they should be good and study hard, behave and appreciate the mothers who care for them very much.



    And when there are no replies to the letters, Risto tells the worried and anxious women: “What do you think; those countries that your children were sent to are close by? Believe me, it is a long road from here to there with many bridges and it takes a long time to get there. These countries are far, very, very far…”

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    The Great Lie – Chapter 19



    By Petre Nakovski

    Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

    [email protected]

    April 1, 2012



    Since then, Risto, along with some of the women, regularly, secretly visited the bunker storehouses and kitchens. Secretly during the night, before they were burned, they collected all the paper bags in a hurry, placed them into a single bag and hid them. During the day, when they were resting from the night’s work of carrying logs, Risto fetched the bags and one by one, placing them on a flat surface, smoothed them out removing all wrinkles.



    Flattened out he folded the bags and with his dagger, which he always carried on his belt, cut them into straight, rectangular pieces as wide as his hand. He then blew off the dust, placed them on top of one another and put a stone on top to keep them flat.



    Then during rest time, at lunch or at dinner, the women would gather around Risto and tell him their problems and pains and beg him to give them a larger piece of paper so that they could write a longer letter with many words. When he did, he cut the paper from the scraps because he knew they couldn’t write. They were illiterate.



    But they took the paper anyway, kept it in their hands and caressed it on their knees, just as they would caress their children who were sent to the [Eastern European] countries. They caressed the paper because on it they wanted to send their children their love and warmth and hope that soon they would receive the letter, along with their love, wishes and prayers.



    Every day the women begged Risto to write a letter for them, thanked him and every day kept asking when they would receive a reply.



    “Oh, Risto, God bless you, why don’t you write a letter to my Paskal,” she said and then continued:



    “Paskal, my dear son, my beloved child, my light, my dewy May flower...” Angelina whispered warm words, words of affection, hopeful words, repeating them again and again…



    With tears in her eyes she looked far away at the hills, at the forest, into the sky, at the clouds, at the birds and caressing the grass and the flowers by her legs, she lifted her head, looked at Risto’s face, moved closer and looked at the paper to see how much space was left. Her face became sad and her wrinkles filled with tears when Risto said: “There is no more space…”



    “How can that be Risto?” she asked, surprised. “Yesterday I told you more and the paper was smaller. Please just a little bit more, please write a little bit more right here at the corner so it won’t be empty and, here on this side write, make a cross like a prayer to God to protect my Paskal, my dear boy, my happiness, my most beloved… my falcon, my eagle, my strength… Here, Risto,” she touched the edge of the paper and with tears in her eyes and a choked up voice continued: “Write something from yourself, tell him to be good and to study hard… write… and when you finish, let me kiss the letter…”



    The woman undid her black kerchief and covered her crying face with it. Her shoulders trembled from her crying. She got up quietly and walked away and from the distance she thanked Risto: “May God bless you with good health and peace, Risto… Thank you and be well…”



    “Who is next?” Risto asked without raising his head.


    “I am...” said the woman.



    “Forgive me, but I don’t know your name...” replied Risto.



    “Stoia. My name is Stoia. I was named after my grandfather Stoian. My oldest son’s name is Traiko, named after my father’s grandfather. My daughter’s name is Traianka, she was named after my mother. My second son’s name is Trpo, he was named after his uncle, and my husband’s name is Zhivko… Everything comes from grandfather and grandmother and from father and mother. And that way we are Stoianovtsi, Traikovtsi, Trpovtsi, Zhivkovtsi… And after the last war we adopted some new names like Slobodanka, Pobeda, Slobodan, Mirka… And after this war? Maybe there will be a Traiko and a Traianka, a Stoian and a Stoianka to give birth, so that our roots are not lost… What names will there be, only God knows… There are not many Stoianovtsi, Traikovtsi, Zhivkovtsi, Trpovtsi left in our village now… Some left their bones at Gramos, some at Mali-Madi, some at Voden, some at Lerin. A total of forty-eight dead up to now and I have no idea how many wounded and crippled. Everyone young is dead… gone… These are bad times… Is this our fate, is this what has been written for us?” Risto’s hand began to shake. A muscle in his right cheek began to quiver. His forehead began to wrinkle. His throat contracted. His stare was pointed somewhere far, far away. He was silent…



    “Risto, are you listening to me?” asked Stoianka.



    “Yes, I…” replied Risto with a choked up voice.



    “Oh, not today… We will write mine tomorrow then,” said Stoianka and left.



    “Who is next?” asked Risto after he composed himself.



    Lina sat beside him and took out a piece of paper from her chest. It was folded in four. The yellowed paper shook in her hand as she extended it to Risto and said: “That’s all I could get my hands on. The others were quicker than me… The women were ripping from the bags, but the commissar, who forgot his briefcase in front of the bunker, got annoyed with them, and began to yell and chase them… When I saw all those pencils neatly arranged in his briefcase, I took one. Here it is…” She reached into her chest and pulled it out.



    Risto, showing her with his facial expressions that he was not happy, shook his moustache and with reproach in his voice said: “So you are the one who stole the commissar’s pencil?”



    “I hope nothing bad comes from this, please don’t talk like that Risto, I took just one pencil… And why does he need so many pencils anyway? Do you think he is smarter than you? He had so many in his leather briefcase and they were lined up like machine gun cartridges… Here, take the pencil, you need it more than him. He only struts around with those pencils and who knows what he writes about us to those above him.” She stopped talking for a moment, looked into his eyes and with an inquiring glance, whispered:



    “Don’t look at me like that… So I took the pencil and what, the world fell apart? I did not steal it… I took it. If I stole it I wouldn’t have told you… The women had had an eye open for the commissar’s pencils for a long time. They were saying why does he need so many pencils? Our Risto has only one and that is enough to write all our letters. Isn’t that right Risto?



    I didn’t take the pencil for myself, I took it for the women, for you, to write our letters. They deserve to have a pencil like that. That’s what I thought and said to myself, ‘I will give Risto the pencil’. Here, take it and stop frowning at me…”



    Risto looked at her harshly and threatened her with his finger and after a long silence, asked: “What do you want me to write?”



    “First write that,” she spread her hand wide open and began to list on her fingers one by one, “I wish them to be well and I am hopeful that they are alive and in good health, I love them very much, my love for them is great, greater, I warmly kiss them on the mouth, cheeks and eyes and I want them to be clean and beautiful in body, spirit and mind, I want them to be happy and cheerful as the spring is joyous and merry, to be blessed with peace and kindness, to be fair and merciful, to have understanding for all, to not be envious or jealous, to not want power over others, to not be blind to evil, to love everyone and to be blessed... May the sun shine on them, may God protect them… may they always be safe and protected... They are my eyes…



    Tell them not to forget their mother and father, grandmother and grandfather, their numerous relatives, our Christian Orthodox faith, our blue sky, green meadows, forests, our home, vineyards and fields, and to look at the world before them with wide open eyes.



    Tell them to believe in God and to pray to God for the wellbeing of everyone. Tell them not to forget to cross themselves and to be good, smart, brave, proud and without fear of looking into people’s eyes…



    Tell them not to forget our songs and dances and that they are always in my thoughts, which fly towards them and nothing can prevent them from getting there, not the wind, nor the clouds, nor lightning, nor thunder. Tell them that my soul hurts and aches for them when I think of them and that my concern for them is great... I want them to return to me as soon as possible....”



    She paused and looked far into the distance as if looking for her children there.



    “Ah, if only I was a bird I would fly there to see them… And here in my chest I have a great big lump, here it brews in me and torments me, the sorrow is biting my insides, the pain is eating away in me, the anguish is poisoning me… with tears in my eyes I beg God to keep them safe and to return them to me, to fill my arms with them… they are my dreams, I dream about them and they appear in my dreams, they keep me company in my thoughts… The heart can’t keep silent when we are separated like this and they are gone so far away in unknown alien lands… can the mind be darkened and the thoughts be frozen…? Can they?



    Let them be alive and well and clean like a tear, in body, spirit and mind… just let them be alive and well… a mother will endure… a mother will always endure like a stone, a boulder, or a mountain endures… each with their own problems… with their own pain…”



    Her words started to come out broken from her lips. Her voice became quieter resembling the fluttering of trembling leaves. She paused and to Risto it seemed like her voice just died and her breathing come to an end. Inquiringly Risto looked at her face and realized that everything in her had turned upside down, she was covered by a shadow of immense sadness and depression.



    She moved and leaned her chin on her stiff and hardened hands marred with premature wrinkles and speechlessly stared ahead. Her stare pleadingly flew downhill in search, searching, shifting and probing, greedily pressing into the cracks of time and returning disappointed. She let out a long and deep sigh, waved her hand as if chasing away a bad thought, moved her head slowly and let her eyes relax. There was a barely visible gentle smile beaming from her eyes into her brightened face. She spread her arms as if wanting to hug someone, but to Risto it seemed like she was hugging her children sitting on her lap. She remained that way for a moment and then, after taking a long and peaceful sigh, she crossed her arms, lifted up her eyes towards heaven, and in a humble quiet voice she recited a warm prayer.



    Risto stirred with his head, looked at the piece of paper, turned it several times and said: “And you think everything you said I can put in this little piece of paper?”



    “Yes Risto, it can be done, why not?” she answered.



    “How can I accommodate so many words that you told me?” inquired Risto.



    “Well, Risto, then don’t write words…” she replied.



    “Not write words? What then should I write? Words are written in a letter because words speak… What kind of a letter would it be if it had no words? Words my dear woman, words speak…” added Risto.



    “So it is… words speak, but you don’t need to write words…” she replied.



    “So then, what should I write?” asked Risto.



    “Write a flower, an eye, a tear, a bird, a heart…” replied the woman.



    Risto wrote exactly what Lina told him.



    “Okay. Here is a flower, an eye, a tear, a bird and a heart. I wrote them…” answered Risto.



    “Let me see them,” she said and took the piece of paper, looked at it, and a hidden smile appeared in her eyes. “Not like this, not like this, write a flower… write a flower, like that, like the one that grows by your feet… Do you see it?” replied the woman.



    “Do you mean I should draw a flower?” inquired Risto.



    “Yes, like that… Did you write it? Good, but make the leaves a little longer… Now write an eye… Here, write my eye… Under the eye now write a tear, my tear that fell and beside it write a bird… write a bird with an open beak and open wings… Did you write it? Now write a heart… write a heart… and under it a drop…” ordered the woman, but before she could finish talking a painful sigh and a moan cut off her voice, tears filled her eyes, overflowed and glistened like pearls on her long, thick dark eyelashes...



    She bowed her head down and stared at her crossed hands lying in her lap. The shaking of a leaf in a tree was loud, the buzzing of a bee flying around a flower was noisy, the water running down the brook was thundering… the wind became wicked, infuriating and started howling, the sky went dark, the roads and highways became narrow and screams were pouring, flooding the valleys, a blunt blow to the plough pushed it further into the ground, a crow crowed on the crest of the oak tree… silent whimpers, distant shouts and pleading cries…



    Lina wiped the hanging tear, searched in her chest, took out a crumpled up piece of paper and, extending it to Risto, said: “Now put in this…”



    “And what is this?” asked Risto.



    “It is, how they say… It is the place where their father lives. There the way it is written, lives their father. So they can write him a letter, but with words… Put it inside and fold it like you fold all the letters and throw it over there in the bags… The women said the man from the big post is coming today…” replied the woman.



    It is like this every day, at midday, under the thunderous roar of aircraft, under the thick shadows of the beech trees, Risto writes the letters and adds more from himself than they tell him. He knows their wishes, their great and immense pain and love for their children, their concern and care and the hundreds of doubts they have and questions they want to ask.



    He knows what words will make them secretly smile and which ones will make them sigh a long sigh and remove their black kerchiefs and wipe their tears with its corner. He knows when they lose their voice and how long it takes before it comes back and before they can say more kind and gentle words…



    He knows the secrets that hide in their hearts and thoughts, he comforts them, he reassures them and he implores them not to worry so much, to be calm and to hope and believe… He knows how a woman will speak to her child or children and what words she will use to express her love and concern, what prayers and wishes and how to end the letter.



    From himself Risto adds that they should be good and study hard, behave and appreciate the mothers who care for them very much.



    And when there are no replies to the letters, Risto tells the worried and anxious women: “What do you think; those countries that your children were sent to are close by? Believe me, it is a long road from here to there with many bridges and it takes a long time to get there. These countries are far, very, very far…”

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    President Ivanov: Macedonia achieves significant success in 2009, open issues to be settled through unity
    Skopje, December 21 (MIA) - Macedonia achieved significant success in 2009. A stable multiethnic coalition and functional democracy operated within the country. Pertaining to international relations, the country achieved some of the objectives in obtaining the visa liberalization and EC recommendation for beginning of European Union accession negotiations, along with enhancement of relations with neighbors and other countries, settlement of the Kosovo border demarcation issue etc. However, open issues and serious problems, which will easily be solved through unity, remain, assessed Monday President Gjorge Ivanov in his first annual address before the MPs.

    President Ivanov said one of the open issues was the dispute with Greece over Macedonia's constitutional name, which is an impediment to the country's Euro-Atlantic integration.

    "In the course of 2009, Macedonia achieved significant success in the field of Euro-integration. It managed to obtain a positive European Commission report and a recommendation for beginning of negotiations. The date was not obtained due to the irrational opposition by the political elite of our southern neighbor to Macedonia's EU and NATO accession", stated Ivanov.

    According to him, this has demonstrated that policy based on power can exist in such circumstances, even through abuse of regulations set to protect those which meet conditions in being part of a community. However, Ivanov added that Macedonia would continue its search for a solution to the problem.

    "Macedonia is part of the 21st century when taking into account respect of human rights and rights of communities! Macedonia is part of the 21st century because it wants open space, offers freedom and competition of cultural and civilizational values! Macedonia is part of the 21st century because the identity of the other is equally sacred as one's own! Macedonia will find a solution to the open issues with all those who live the 21st century in this way! The ones outside of the civilizational and democratic benefits of our time will not be part of our agenda!", emphasized President Ivanov.

    He reiterated Macedonia's 'red lines' in the name dispute, in case someone was not familiar with them by now.

    "Is there anyone in this country who does not know the red lines regarding the issues of identity, language, culture, tradition. Those individual red lines are our national red lines. Macedonia's place is in NATO and EU, with a common contribution of all in achieving the strategic objective. You are all aware of the red lines, as are the Macedonian citizens - no concessions from the Macedonian identity, no changes in the Constitution, a solution that will not violate our national, cultural and language identity", underlined Ivanov.

    He added that Macedonia has proven its constructiveness in this absurd and imposed dispute through concrete steps of good will.

    "Beyond all known standards in constitutional practice, the country has changed its Constitution, stating the commonly known fact that it has no territorial pretensions towards anyone. The Republic of Macedonia took another step by doing the unthinkable and changed its flag", said Ivanov, adding that Macedonia was ready for a solution of compromise, but only regarding things foreseen in UN resolutions.

    The President stressed that everyone should strive towards building a Macedonia that takes its interests into account without giving justifications to anyone, but taking into consideration the common European interests.

    "This is the ancient way of thinking, which does not bring us closer to Europe. It cannot bring respect if we do not respect ourselves. Macedonia needs to be asked on many things. Macedonia will say a lot. And be heard!", stated Ivanov.

    He said the state's leadership has demonstrated its commitment to Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic path through undertaken activities and initiatives.

    "The Republic of Macedonia does not ask more than any other state, but will not take anything less", Ivanov emphasized.

    Regarding domestic political developments, President Ivanov assessed that Macedonia has demonstrated it was a functional democracy with a successful electoral model, through constructive debates on a number of issues, free expression of positions, functioning of a stable interethnic coalition capable of implementing reforms.

    Ivanov added that when undertaking the office, he set himself a task of promoting the Macedonian model of community integration.

    "Macedonia deserves to be accepted as a model for other regional countries, being a true microcosm of tolerance, mutual respect and cooperation. Our model of integration without assimilation, through observance of cultural, lingual and religious diversities, represents a large contribution to the European treasury of nations and cultures", he stated.

    Ivanov praised the Government for its combat against corruption and crime, as well as successful management of the economic crisis.

    "Timely and appropriate reaction based on sound economic principles has resulted in Macedonia avoiding the hardest hit of the crisis. Successful measures have protected citizens from serious economic hardships", said the President.

    According to Ivanov, success of Macedonia's foreign policy can be achieved only through harmonization of political stakeholders.

    "Republic of Macedonia can realize its foreign policy objectives only through such principle of strong, efficient and productive diplomatic activity, as well as create new partnerships and enhance the existing ones", he stated.

    Referring to relations with neighbors, President Ivanov emphasized that all countries should look to the future, things that connect them, common presence and future, but through observance of the other's history.

    "All Balkan countries can move forward together by helping each other. I am committed to regular contacts with regional leaders, in the active search for ways of cooperation, but also in removing the obstacles for such cooperation. The building of a new, democratic Balkans is Macedonia's vital commitment. We are setting the foundations of a Balkan without borders. United without domination, united on the basis of mutual respect", underlined President Gjorge Ivanov.

    The President's annual address was attended by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Government ministers, diplomatic corps, judicial authorities, leaders of religious communities etc. ik/fd/13:55

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  • George S.
    replied
    Macedonia faces delay in the EU as Greece is dragged screaming to the principal´s office
    Alexandra AleksovskaDecember 17, 2009
    When you are a little kid at school – you are afraid of the principal. You see him as some kind of ogre who is responsible for punishing both kids and teachers. When you get to high school you realize that principals are much more vulnerable and struggle to maintain order with students and keep teachers from killing each other. When you get to university you almost feel sorry for principals when you realize they were jaded ex-teachers stuck at the top of their job ladder counting down the days to retirement.

    But apparently principals have a new career path. In the EU it seems, principals are allowed to dictate accession conditions to candidate countries. Don´t believe me? The Australian 'Macedonian' Advisory Council´s recent article "FYROM´s inability to adhere to EU principals ends in delay of accession talks" seems to indicate so. And you were thinking principals were there to council children about not smoking on school premises!

    Apart from their inability to tell the difference between the words ´principal´ and ´principle´, the Australian 'Macedonian' Advisory Council has some other interesting characteristics. It isn´t 'Macedonian' (as most of the world understands it) but is actually rabidly Greek. It isn´t really Australian in that most of it´s handful of people that comment on its website are from other countries. It doesn´t really 'advise' as much as it cuts and pastes from other Greek propaganda sites and it really isn´t a 'council' in that until a few months ago it wasn´t a registered organization and it solely consisted of a bulletin board. So it´s real name should probably be something like 'Global Greek Cut and Paste Bulletin Board´ – but lets get back to their article.

    They tried to portray the delay of the EU´s Macedonian accession discussion until March as an EU mandate for Greece´s position on Macedonia. Nothing could be further from the truth. The EU has merely postponed a discussion. Statements that have emerged from the discussions show that the EU was split on the issue – pretty much France and Greece against the rest of Europe. It is true that Greece opposed it, but another part of the issue is that it is close to the end of an EU presidency in 2 weeks and that it may be better to discuss it in the next presidency that is about to start.

    But the delay may provide time for other events to help break the deadlock. On 20 January 2010, Greece needs to appear before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to answer whether or not it has violated the 1995 Interim Accord with Macedonia. Macedonia took them to court after the last time they obstructed Macedonia´s accession to an international organization. There has been no legal reason for Greek obstruction.

    You see Macedonia has already bought Greek cooperation for its entry into NATO and the EU. They bought it in 1995. Article 11 of the 1995 Interim Accord states:

    11. Upon entry into force of this Interim Accord, the Party of the First Part (i.e. Greece) agrees not to object to the application by or the membership of the Party of the Second Part (i.e. Macedonia) in international, multilateral and regional organizations and institutions of which the Party of the First Party is a member (ie. NATO and the EU)

    In obtaining this agreement, Macedonia agreed to change its flag and alter its constitution to appease its neighbor – something that no other nation has done. It also was required to apply for registration to international organizations under the temporary designation – which Macedonia has done for both NATO and the EU. Greece has not held up its side of the bargain. All Greece was required to do was to "not to object to" Macedonia´s entry into international organizations. Greece has repeatedly objected.

    In 2008 Greece objected to Macedonia´s entry to NATO. That is what sparked this current court case. The ICJ will look for evidence of Greek objections to Macedonia´s entry into international organizations. They won´t have to look far.

    The Greek foreign minister at the time, Dora Bakoyannis stated in the Greek media:

    "It should be clear that no Greek government can accept the existence of a so-called Macedonian ethnicity, identity and language. This was in fact the spirit of the NATO summit veto"

    Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis boasted about Greece´s veto:"Raising a veto at the NATO Alliance was a case that required boldness and courage."

    If we are to believe the two politicians responsible for the NATO veto – they both claimed that they exercised a veto and this veto was exercised because they can´t accept a Macedonian identity. This is the real problem.



    We don´t have to look far to see more evidence that this is really about ethnicity. The UN, and each major global human rights organization, has stated that Greece has a Macedonian minority. Greece denies they exist. Greece is afraid of acknowledging them – they dislike the idea of a Macedonian ethnicity in Greece and in Macedonia. There appears no way of satisfying Greece short of renaming ourselves, our country and our language something else to appease them. This is ridiculous – but it is what Greece is really seeking.

    The so-called 'name problem' is not going to go away. Anybody who has seen what Greek politicians say in Greek media knows it is nothing about a name. It is about Macedonian identity. Greece is insisting on the changes being made in every public building, on passports, the name of the language, even how people refer to themselves and is trying to dictate how the 127 countries who use Macedonia´s constitutional name refer to Macedonia. Even if Macedonia changed its name as part of a deal – who can trust the Greek government not to seek more of the Macedonian identity next time? They got Macedonia´s flag changed in 1995 and reneged on that deal. Macedonia got nothing out of it; Greece got Macedonia´s flag for free.

    If you can´t accept someone´s identity you are denying their human rights. Greece is abusing its positions in both NATO and the EU in order to force a denial of human rights upon a neighboring country. It can also be argued that Greece is trying to force Macedonia to change its constitutional name – which is outside the context of the original UN process. The original agreement related to the name used at the UN – not the constitutional name.

    What can the ICJ do? Well the ICJ has no power to make anything binding on a nation. It does however have influence on the UN – it is the UN´s court. If the ICJ shows that Greece has failed to abide by the Interim Accord, we can use this, with our friends, to launch a motion in the UN to allow our membership under our constitutional name. Macedonia has 127 countries supporting it; Greece has 14. If this resolution were to go to the UN, the UN name issue would be instantly solved. With no argument in the UN about Macedonia´s name – the NATO and EU issues would disappear. It is very doubtful that either NATO or the EU would create a 'NATO use' name or an 'EU use' name merely to appease nationalist sentiments in Greece, one of their weakest and poorest members.

    This would probably suit the current Greek government. The issue is burning a lot of goodwill in NATO and the EU. Given Greece´s opposition to NATO policies in Serbia and Afghanistan and the fact that they contribute very little militarily to the alliance, the type of drama they are creating in NATO is not endearing them to the others. In the EU, Greece´s lying in relation to the true nature of its economy has burnt a lot of goodwill. If the Macedonia issue is taken out of the Greek government´s hands – it enables Greek public opinion to blame "world powers" rather than their government. Greek PM Papandreou can give a speech about NATO or EU betrayal then get back on with trying to dig Greece out of its economic hole.

    Maybe the Australian 'Macedonian' (actually Greek) Advisory Council was correct when they misused the word ´principal´. Although rather than the ´EU Principal´ – it is technically the ´UN Principal´, as on 20 January Greece is being dragged to the UN´s ´principal´s office´ to explain themselves. An ICJ judgment against Greece will further show the injustice that Macedonia is suffering. The world is on our side; France´s token (and paid by military contract) support aside – Greece is isolated on this issue.

    We don´t need to sacrifice our identity to participate in international organizations with the rest of the world. Greek denial of our identity has gone back a century – and this is just the latest attack. But now have a lot of supporters, and if we stick to the human rights we enjoy - and make sure that we don´t sell these for more empty Greek promises – the world will see the injustices we have suffered. From the first struggles of Macedonian nationalism, the blood spilt by oppressors who denied our existence, and now the abuse of international process by the children of those very same oppressors – we have paid more than almost anybody for our own identity. We should never forget that and soon, with an ICJ judgment in our hands, we can remind the UN of the first sentence of their International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

    "All peoples have the right of self-determination."
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    Alexandra Aleksovska

    I am a Macedonian girl in my late 20s. I studied journalism in both Australia and Japan. I have written for a number of major Australian newspapers and magazines and a few Japanese ones.
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  • George S.
    replied
    The EU Circus: Greece, France, Macedonia and Turkey

    Ireneusz A. Slupkov, Ph.D. candidate - 1/27/2010

    Discussion regarding the accession of Macedonia into the European Union was postponed until June 2010. Two countries have delayed this process, the first of course being Greece which cannot accept Macedonia being a member of the EU. Neither can it accept the name ´Macedonia´ nor the Macedonian idenity or language. In other words, everything that has any connotation to ´Macedonia´ and ´Macedonian´ is unacceptable to Greece.

    The other country that opposes Macedonia by supporting Greece in this endeavour is France.

    Why is France doing this?

    Perhaps because Greece has signed a contract to purchase military supplies from France or perhaps because, similar to Greece, France does not recognize minorities in its own territory.

    What about indigenous minorities like the Alsatians, Basques, Bretons, Catalans, Corsicans and Occitans (Provencals) who today exist in France? Unfortunately all of these national minorities, and the languages they speak, are not formally recognized by France.

    France, like Greece, has "specialized" in signing but not ratifying resolutions for the protection of minorities and their languages. If there is any doubt as to the existance of minority languages in France, let me remind you that all manifestos written just before and after the great French Revolution of 1789-1799 were written in these so-called local languages.

    After the Revolution was over authorities withdrew from this linguistic pluralism and took advantage of a single obligatory language and that was ´French´. The methods used to discourage the use of local languages was to make fun of adults and young children who spoke them, a similar method was used by Greece against the Macedonians.

    Greek State-Promoted Terror and Persecutions

    In addition to making fun of people, Greek authorities also employed terror tacticts, beatings, imprisonment and expulsion to prevent Macedonians from speaking their native language even on their own native Macedonian territories.

    This is why these two so-called ´democratic´ countries allied themselves to block Macedonia´s accession into the European Union. Thus the paradox; if other countries are willing to accept Macedonia into the Union they cannot because current EU law allows any single member country to veto and block the other 26. This shows how fragile and abnormal the foundation of this Union is.

    Can this be called democracy? No, definitely not!

    This is a dictate of one, or in this case, of two countries dictating to the rest. Also there is little logic in this. In this situation we cannot say all countries are treated equally.

    This is nothing more than a European circus.

    The European Union, which does not hesitate to mentor and teach others about democracy and human rights, harbours two countries which care nothing about human rights or democracy, worse, they can´t even be punished for this. New countries with aspirations of joining the European Union and have fulfilled all requirements put before them, for ´some reason´ are being blocked while ´old´ European Union countries, like France and Greece, which have broken every minority law, are not only allowed in, but are treated like the proverbial ´holy cows´.

    Macedonia

    Macedonia, the only ex-Yugoslav country in the Balkans able to meet all European standards since 1991, has not been allowed entry into the EU. Macedonia comparing to other Western Balkan's countries is ahead of reforms . Even today, attempt after attempt to gain entry has been obstructed by Greece and all obstructions have been accepted without question by the EU.

    Where have we ever seen or heard of a situation where a paranoid country like Greece ´forcibly imposed´ a name on a normal country like Macedonia? How is it possible for the majority of democratic European countries to accept and come to terms with such dictates from a small economically and morally bankrupt country like Greece?

    The Merciless Persecution of Macedonians in Greece

    A country which after its unlawful seizure of Macedonian territories in 1913 has issued a number of racist laws against its own citizens. A country which after its Civil War in 1949 exiled both Greeks and Macedonians and in 1982 and 1985 allowed only Greeks by birth to return. How long will the EU allow Greece, which does not recognize the 250 thousand strong Macedonian minority living on its territory, a minority already recognized by international organizations, to break European and international laws? When will the fools of Brussels move their heavy bottom and go to Northern Greece and see and hear for themselves the Macedonians living there?

    When will decision-makers from the EU understand that it is not Macedonia but Greece that is a destabilizing factor in the Balkans? It is not Macedonian but Greek nationalism and the Greek Orthodox Church that inflames other Balkan nationalisms.

    Fake "Greek History"

    Another idiotic idea that inflames hatred and nationalism is Greece´s claims of having 4000 years of cultural continuity and being ethnically pure, which are nothing more than a myth. The Greek nation is an artificial creation invented in the XIX century by the Philhellenic English and German fans of Classical Greece. The Greek language is also an artificial creation which survived only because it was a language of Eastern Christianity and not the langauge spoken by the Greek people.

    In the XIX century the language spoken in Athens, a small Ottoman village, was Albanian, called Arnautian or Arvanitika. The Greek language was revived by academics and taught in schools and in this way it became the official language of the Greek state. These facts are not taught in school.

    The so-called ´Greek studies´ offered to students are no more than fictional concepts promoting an invented continuity and an invented language. It is enough to read the 19 century memoirs of scientists and travelers in order to learn that they were not able to communicate with the people of Greece in Greek. Macedonia was incorporated into Greece in 1913 against the will of the Macedonian nation which dwelt in these territories from times immemorial.

    EU support to Turkey's Kurds - but not to Greece's Macedonians

    Turkey is constantly being accused by the EU for not respecting minority rights, particularly those of the Kurdish people.

    Why has no one in the EU accused Greece of doing the same with regards to the Turkish and Macedonian minorities living there?

    Why isn´t criticism directed at Greece?

    Why this anti-Turkish obsession, not justified by the way, because racism is present in the EU and nobody in Brussels is asking questions about that?

    There are more liberties for minorities in Turkey than in Greece.

    It is a result of the very nature of Turkey which was an empire and was comprised of many nations and religions. While Turkey left all Christian Churches intact in its territory, Greece on the other hand after 1915 destroyed all Turkish minarets in the Greek territory.

    Do Turks from Thrace have guaranteed rights as a minority? No, they, as well as the Macedonians have no minority rights and are discriminated against to no end in Greece. But do you see anyone writing about this, particularly in Europe? No, not at all! And why is Turkey presented in such bad light and not Greece?

    Greeks living in Istanbul enjoy full religious freedom but not Turks living in Thrace.

    These people are called Muslims because Greece forbids them to call themselves Turks. This says a lot about how the EU operates and how much member nations like Greece respect the rights of their citizens who cannot call themselves what they are but need to be called as deigned by governments!

    If we are to speak frankly, Turkey, not Greece, is a stabilizing factor in the Balkans even though a small part of Turkey exists in the Balkans.

    It seems that political correctness has taken European politicians away from common sense. They look at one thing and call it something else. The EU has taken a dogmatic approach to things like an aparatchik and preposterously dictates instead of using sound logic and reasoning. In theory a EU is a sound idea but it does not practice what it preaches. Instead of being a union governed by citizens, the EU is a union run by nonchalant bureaucrats.

    Accepting countries like France and Greece which have committed serious human rights violations and imposing unjust conditions on countries like Macedonia will cause that the EU sooner or later, will get the hiccups which it deserves. It is not a union of equal nations. It seems that some are more equal than others in the EU and that is not right.

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  • George S.
    replied
    ]MAKEDONIKI TRADITION IN GREECE
    Live view is now planned by our Web Tv "Macedonians Tradition" with 1 hours tribute the first "reunion" in Florina Sitara! - Direct broadcast with Web Tv His blog Delivery Macedonians in Greece-Macedonian Culture webTv http:/ / www.livestream.com / aegeanmacedonianculture aege ...
    Macedonian Abecedar - Reading Makedoniko
    The Truth About the first reunion in Sitara - * ==== * Direct Broadcast with * Web Tv His blog Delivery Macedonians in Greece - Macedonian Culture webTv * http://www.livestream.com/aegea ...
    belomorska macedonia
    Makedoniko nation recognized in 1620 by the Vatican - In 1619, the Dalmatian bishops asked Pope Paul V decide to return to Loreto College, and also provide test positions, ...
    Ilinden Makedonia
    The Message of the locals. . . for 100 years by the annexation of Macedonia -
    "GREEK" ANTIMAKEDONIKOS STRUGGLE
    Call the newspaper Nova Zora Makedonikis-Nova Zora-Нова Зора (New Dawn), the annual dance of two thousand and twelve то! - The HOVA http://novazora.gr/arhivi/4541 3OPA (NOVA ZORA), Journal of ethnic Macedonians in Greece invites you to the annual dance with the orchestra ...
    Macedonians in Greece
    Bridges of dialogue Makedonoellinikou DICTIONARY-presentation in Brussels - Dear readers, users of the Dictionary, the Dictionary of Greek-language Makedonikis is essentially the first comprehensive dictionary of two modern languages ​​...
    MA.KI.BE
    GREEK LOGIC - Left: Macedonia is one and is in Greece! Right: Macedonia is a region!
    Wednesday, November 18, 2009
    Ethnic Macedonians in Greece
    Websites in modern Greek:
    (Use translate.google.com to read in English)
    (Користете translate.google.com да читате на македонски)
    Educational and Cultural Movement of Edessa
    Macedonian Abecedar - Reading Makedoniko
    MAKEDONIKI TRADITION IN GREECE
    "GREEK" ANTIMAKEDONIKOS STRUGGLE
    Belomorska Makedonia
    Ilinden Makedonia
    MA.KI.BE-Macedonians Balkan Prosperity Movement
    Mladini-Makedonci
    Maknews Forum-Discussions in Greek
    NovaZora.gr
    Sites in English :
    (Користете translate.google.com да читате на македонски)
    (Use translate.google.com to convert to Greek)
    European Free Alliance-Rainbow Political Party (Macedonian Minority in Greece)
    Greek Helsinki Monitor
    Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI)
    Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC)
    Maknews Forum
    Macedonian Truth Organisation (MTO) forum
    United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD)
    World Macedonian Congress (WMC)
    Documents-MK
    Македонски страници:
    (Use translate.google.com to convert to Greek)
    (Use translate.google.com to read in English)
    Nova Zora (Нова Зора)
    Mladini-Makedonci Младини-Македонци
    Posted by mkdgr at 7:59 PM the 4th comments

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  • George S.
    replied
    Cause of Greek Fears and Paranoia
    Risto StefovJanuary 04, 2010
    What causes Greece´s fear and paranoia? Why does Greece appear to be afraid of the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian people? A very interesting question!

    A relative of mine believes Greece is getting anxious because the year 2013 is soon approaching and like Great Britain, which gave up Hong Kong, Greece will have to give up the 51% of Macedonia it illegally acquired in 1913. Not that he doesn´t know this but I had to remind him that Hong Kong was rented out for 100 years and its lease expired. That´s why Britain had to give it up. But in Macedonia´s case the division was permanent and final, at least according to what I know from history. Besides it was I who started the rumour about the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest expiring. I did this to get some attention for the plight of the Macedonian people living in Greece, especially from the Macedonians from other parts of Macedonia. I even wrote a book about it entitled "Recovering Macedonia Expiration of the Bucharest Treaty of 1913". But as I said the book´s title was intentional to capture peoples´ attention. The Treaty does not expire. Here is what I wrote about it on page 3 of my book;

    "Even though the title of this book makes reference to the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest expiring, in reality this Treaty has no expiration date.

    The Treaty of Bucharest is one of the most tragic and significant event in the twenty-eight centuries of Macedonian history. It is the conclusion to a number of preceding bilateral agreements between the Balkan States and an end not only to the Balkan Wars, but also to the many and continuous armed conflicts that took place in Macedonia such as the 1902 Gornodjumajsko uprising, the 1903 Ilinden uprising, the 1908 Young Turk uprising, the so called 1910 and 1911Magareshki assassinations.

    At the end of all these conflicts the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest was drafted as a means of partitioning the Macedonian territory with intent to eradicate the name "Macedonia" and permanently divide the Macedonian national unity.

    The desire to see this treaty expire is symbolic and will be used as a means to bring attention to the plight of the Macedonian people and their condition after being divided for almost a century." (Stefou, Chris. Recovering Macedonia Expiration of the Bucharest Treaty of 1913. Toronto: Risto Stefov publications, 2007, page 3)

    Knowing that the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest does not expire still left us puzzled as to why Greece is behaving so anxiously lately. I have no answers and neither did my relative but that did not stop us from speculating.

    We agreed that Greece´s fears must be about something we don´t know. But what?

    Looking at history for the last 100 years from the day Macedonia was illegally invaded, partitioned and annexed by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria in 1912, 1913, in spite of many attempts by the international community to bring these states to accept universal human rights standards, we can see that nothing has been done to address the Macedonian question. In fact every request made of Greece and of Bulgaria to "do something" for the Macedonians living in their respective countries has been ignored. Why? What could Greece and Bulgaria possibly lose by recognizing and giving some basic human rights to a few thousand or even to a few hundred thousand Macedonians? How could these Macedonians be a threat to these large, well established countries, recognized world wide with populations numbering in the tens of millions?

    I believe, and my relative agrees with me, that we are missing some vital information here, perhaps some secret agreement made by the powers that divided Macedonia and by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. We believe some information contained in these Treaties was kept secret from the general public. We believe the powers that allowed the division and annexation of Macedonia by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria were aware that Macedonians existed. We also know that Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria insisted that Macedonians did not exist. To prove these Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian allegations all you have to do is look at the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian demographic statistics that these countries produced over the last 100 years about the people living in Macedonia and you will see that all three countries made claims that NO Macedonians were present in Macedonia during those times. That was no accident or coincidence, there were secret agreements made between Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria to keep the Macedonian identity secret and out of the hands of outsiders until they could permanently deal with it.

    The powers that allowed the division of Macedonia, fortunately for us, did not believe Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria assertion that Macedonians did not exist so a "secret compromise" was reached. The powers, we believe, agreed with Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria that "If no Macedonians surfaced after 100 years of Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia then Macedonia would be theirs permanently. If Macedonians however did surface after 100 years, Macedonia would be given back to them." Serbia lost Macedonia, so at this point it has nothing at stake. Greece and Bulgaria however still occupy Macedonian territories that don´t belong to them and that is why they still insist NO Macedonians exist.



    Despite Greek and Bulgarian attempts to eradicate the Macedonians, the Macedonian ethnic identity has survived and is now thriving not only in the Republic of Macedonia but also in Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, the USA, Canada, Australia and the world over.

    No wonder the Greek and Bulgarian governments are feeling anxiety and paranoia.

    Knowing that Macedonians existed at the time of Macedonia´s invasion, occupation and annexation by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, the governments of these three countries had to "do something" to eradicate the Macedonian presence.

    This explains why Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria introduced radical and brutal assimilatory policies and practices that forcibly attempted to assimilate the Macedonian population into their fold. This also explains why Greece was quick to remove every trace of Macedonian presence in the Macedonian territory it occupied from renaming every person, village, town, city, lake, river, mountain, etc., to forcibly expelling, punishing, torturing and murdering those who refused to be Hellenized; not to mention the eradication of Macedonian books and the Macedonian writing on public buildings, cemetery headstones, church icons, etc.

    This explains why Greece has used every possible measure to remove and eradicate all traces of Macedonia from its territory, including the name "Macedonia", which until yesterday was loathed, and today is cherished by every Greek. This is Greece for you, please get to know it. Get to know it like we the Macedonians who lived and still live there know it!

    Here is another question for you. If you are still not convinced that Macedonians do exist then please explain how a million or so Macedonians exist today in the Republic of Macedonia when Serbia, less that a century ago, reported that NO Macedonians existed in that very same territory? (A) Did Tito "create" the Macedonians as Greeks readily claim, or, (B) did Serbia lie about its demographics? If you said (A) you are probably a Greek or a Bulgarian with a complex, experiencing high anxiety. If you said (B) you are correct, which should lead you to the next question. If Serbia lied about its demographic what makes you think Greece and Bulgaria didn´t? Of course Greece and Bulgaria did lie! These two countries are not beyond lying when it comes to protecting their interests. And that´s all this is all about, isn´t it?

    If there are no Macedonians as the Greeks, with no shame, like to claim then why does the Greek government spend so much money on anti-Macedonian propaganda? Just recently another Greek scandal was revealed with headline news that the Greek government bribed Greek journalists to promote anti-Macedonian propaganda. And if those journalists refused to accept bribes they were automatically labeled "traitors", something that notorious nationalist Greeks are known to do. Unfortunately the scandal did not end inside Greece, it apparently "spilled over" into the Republic of Macedonia. There too Greek government money was used to bribe Macedonian journalists to promote anti-Macedonian Greek propaganda.

    It seems, to me at least, that the Greek government in spite of its money woes has money to spare for producing and spreading propaganda against an enemy it claims does not exist.

    Another interesting phenomenon about Greece is the amount of money it spent lately on purchasing military equipment; money it doesn´t really have. Did you know that Greece is the 5th biggest purchaser of military equipment in the entire world? What is Greece planning to do with all this expensive state of the art military equipment? Defend itself against the Republic of Macedonia? Or is there something else, something more sinister that Greece knows that we don´t know about? Is Greece, a NATO member and member of the European Union and of every world institution in existence, preparing for war? But with whom, who does Greece see as its enemy?

    No matter how you look at it Greece´s irrational behaviour defies logic.

    If we look at Greece from the inside, everyone is an enemy; the Slavs, the Americans, the Turks, you name it. But there is one group that stands out in its xenophobic and bigoted hatred and that is the Macedonian people, the very same people Greece claims do not exist. The sixty-four thousand dollar question here is why does Greece hate the Macedonians so much? What does Greece know that we, the general public, don´t know?

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    Greece Struggles to Stay Afloat as Debts Pile On

    Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
    Garbage piled up on a street in central Athens on Thursday because of a municipal worker strike.
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    By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS
    Published: December 11, 2009
    ATHENS — Ever since Greece’s credit rating was downgraded last week, its new Socialist government has fought back, saying it has the mettle to tackle the soaring deficit and structural woes that have earned the country a reputation as the weak link in the euro zone.

    Multimedia

    Related
    DealBook: Too Greek to Fail

    “We will reduce the deficit, we will control the debt and there will be no need for a bailout,” the Greek finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, said in an interview in his office here this week. “We are not Iceland; we are not Dubai.”

    But Mr. Papaconstantinou may have good reason for the traditional Greek metal worry beads he fingered during the interview. Outside his office, garbage was piled high in Syntagma Square, a result of a two-week strike by trash collectors that ended Friday.

    A student demonstration was advancing on the square a day after pensioners had taken to the streets. This week, protests for the first anniversary of the death of an Athenian teenager shot by the police turned violent, but did not cause as much damage as disturbances last year.

    Common in Greece even during better times, such protests are expected to increase drastically once the government introduces austerity measures in its 2010 budget, including wage freezes and measures to scale back public sector hiring, steps it says are needed to bring Greece’s finances under control.

    As Mr. Papaconstantinou suggested, the problem is not Greece’s alone: heavily indebted countries, including Ireland, Britain and Spain, are under pressure to show that they can stimulate growth and grapple with debt burdens at the same time. Investors and European monetary officials are skeptical.

    Greece, in particular, has to transform a culture with a low tolerance for change and a high tolerance for protest, no easy task for a two-month-old Socialist government that says it is committed to sustaining social spending. While convincing European Union leaders in Brussels, the new government also has to win over Greece.

    The president of the civil servants’ union Adedy, Spyros Papaspyros, said the union was prepared to strike if cutbacks were unilateral and severe. “If funding cuts are made in critical sectors such as health or welfare, we create a serious risk of destabilization,” he said.

    The political and social challenges are intense. “It will be a very tall order for any country to pull off the fiscal rescue they’ve now got to pull off,” said Simon Tilford, the chief economist at the Center for European Reform in London, a research group. In light of Greece’s political challenges, he added, “I find it at this point difficult to see how Greece is going to manage this without some kind of fiscal crisis.”

    Certainly, the bond markets think Greece is a risky bet. Yields on the country’s two-year bonds soared to 3.09 percent from 1.9 percent this week — the worst for the markets here in more than a decade — and were about 3 percent on Friday, while the 10-year bond rose to 5.3 percent this week from an already elevated 4.99 percent. In the United States, by contrast, a 10-year bond yields 3.55 percent, and a two-year bond 0.81 percent.

    The dire economic situation has prompted the question of what went wrong in a country that was once seen as a model for European Union membership and that enjoyed 15 years of sustained growth, coming from behind to host the 2004 Summer Olympics.

    “We didn’t use the Olympic spirit well,” said Elias Clis, a former Greek ambassador. “The previous government took the safe way, and the safe way is a very dangerous path.”

    After winning by a wide margin in October, the Socialist government of Prime Minister George Papandreou announced that the country’s budget deficit was 12.7 percent of the gross domestic product, more than four times the 3 percent ceiling set by the European Monetary Union.

    Mr. Papandreou last week estimated the national debt at $430 billion, calling it Greece’s worst crisis in three decades and blaming his conservative predecessors for the economic state. Greece’s national debt is expected to rise above 110 percent of its gross domestic product.

    Last week, the ratings agency Fitch downgraded Greece’s credit rating based on fears that the deficit might cause the country to default, and the change sent Greek shares plunging and made the markets jittery. Standard & Poor’s has said it will reserve judgment until it sees the plan the government is expected to announce in January.

    On Friday, Mr. Papandreou stressed the need for drastic measures. “We acknowledge the scale of the problem that we are faced with, and we are determined to make the shift toward a sustainable and healthy economy,” he said in Brussels.

    He called for a “merciless crackdown on the corruption that is endemic in society and on widespread tax evasion.”

    Yet that is not expected to be easy. The underground economy, which some estimates place as high as 30 percent of gross domestic product, helps people in countries like Greece that have European prices but salaries below the European average.

    As he sat in a cafe with friends in the chic Kolonaki area on a recent afternoon, Antonis, 33, who disclosed only his first name, proudly announced that he refused to pay taxes.

    “Why should I pay?” he asked with a grin. “I don’t care about my government; I don’t care about my country,” he added. He conceded, however, that he did care about soccer and women.

    Such views, while not always so vehement, are common in Greece, where the government is widely seen as corrupt, regardless of who is in power. Few people expect much from the state — except highly coveted public sector jobs. Today, one in four Greek workers is employed by the state, a result of decades of public hiring to stave off social unrest.

    The Papandreou administration has said that in 2010 it will hire only one new state worker for every five who retire. But that, too, poses problems. Savas Robolis, a member of the main labor union, the Greek General Confederation of Labor, who serves on a government committee on pension reform, called the pension situation a “time bomb.”

    He said Greece had only enough money to pay pensions for one more year. If the country does not replenish the pension funds, “then we will face a huge social crisis in 10 years,” Mr. Robolis said.

    Fears of cutbacks are causing widespread anxiety. Lambrini, who works in the Health Ministry and would give only her first name, said a possible freeze on her $1,300 monthly salary was a real concern for her and her husband, a municipal worker.

    “We want to plan a family, but I don’t see how we can with such low incomes and with prices going up all the time,” she said.

    She said she had never joined a labor protest before, but would take to the streets if her salary was frozen or cut. “I’ll be there,” she said. “And so will half the population.”

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  • George S.
    replied
    The Great Lie – Chapter 18



    By Petre Nakovski

    Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

    [email protected]

    March 25, 2012



    Last year, all through the fall, at the foothill of Lisets, opposite the village Kolomladi, in the thickest clump of old oak trees, secretly at night, around one hundred trusted villagers from the surrounding villages, in shifts and under the leadership of Risto, dug a large network of bunkers with branching tunnels.



    Again during the night for months, caravans of horses and mules driven by old women and men, transported weapons, ammunition, clothing and food from warehouses in Rula, Trnava and Oshchima and filled the tunnels in Lisets.



    The approaches to the tunnels were well guarded by crippled fighters brought there from the hospitals in Albania and Yugoslavia. Their commander was also crippled.



    On the other side of the road, between Dolna Statitsa and Kolomladi, under the shade of a branching walnut tree was a water spring. A man kneeling on his one knee filled his palm with water and splashed it on his face. Risto got closer, and before removing his backpack from his shoulder, he greeted the man.



    “Good day” said Risto.



    The man raised his head and looked at Risto.



    “Good day” he answered and continued to look at Risto with a surprised look in his face. “Do we know each other or am I wrong?” the man spoke slowly without taking his eyes off Risto’s face. “You look familiar… Wait… the mustache… I used to know someone with a fancy mustache… like yours… is that… is that you Risto?!”



    “Yes it is me…” answered Risto.



    They hugged and in their long and tight embrace memories began to unfold…



    “Do you remember, Risto, you carrying me when I was wounded at Ivan Mountain? I am in your debt. You saved my life.” said the man.



    They were in the same unit fighting the Italians in 1940 at the Albanian front during the Greek-Italian war.



    “And you Stoian, do you remember looking after me at the prison camp when the Greek gendarmes beat me to pulp?” replied Risto.



    A year after the war ended, in gratitude for fighting to save Greece from the Fascists at the Albanian front, the heroic fighters were sent to prison at the concentration camps on the island Ai Strati. Then after the coronation of king Konstandinos to the Greek Royal Throne, the sick, the invalid and the adolescent prisoners were amnestied. Among them were Risto and Stoian.



    They sat down. Risto noticed that Stoian’s left sleeve was empty. Pointing at it with his eyes, Risto asked: “And that?”



    “That is my reminder of last year…” replied Stoian.



    “Where?” inquired Risto.



    “At Gramos… more precisely at Gorisha… yes…” Stoian exhaled noisily a long sigh. “When they released us from the prison camps, I didn’t go home. Ever since the police in Kostur interviewed me and gave me a mandatory order to report to them every third day, I left the city, and during the night, I took the road to the mountains, to the Partisans.



    There too they asked me many questions and kept me under watch. They didn’t believe my story, and here I thought they would welcome me with open arms. I guess they finally realized I was not the person who they thought I was, the heavy machinegun gunner they were looking for, so they gave me a job to lead horses.



    I led horses for a long time sometimes loaded with ammunition, other times with food, pots, caldrons and sometimes I held the horses steady so that the unit commanders can get on them.



    One night, the second platoon had returned from battle during which they had seized a heavy machine gun. So now the unit had a heavy machinegun but not a gunner. The unit commander admired the big gun and caressed it with both hands, complaining: “Ah, dam, now if I only had a gunner!”



    “I approach him and quietly asked: ‘Comrade Commander, will you allow me?’ He looked at me menacingly, took out his pistol and yelled: ‘If you wreck it I will kill you!’



    ‘Don’t worry’ I said quietly, kneeled down, lay my coat on the ground and, like a miracle, rapidly dismantled the entire machinegun into pieces. I then took my shirt off and with it I cleaned all the parts and rapidly put the pieces back together. And from that day forward the commander took away my horse strap, promoted me to machinegun gunner and hurried to inform high command that he now had a heavy machinegun and a smart gunner. My promotion was approved and I was transferred to Gramos.



    We loaded the heavy gun on a horse and ten of us left that evening. They sent us to a battle position at Kopanche. There were bunkers there to the left and to the right everywhere with five, six and even more rows of thick logs. They were well camouflaged. It was a well established defense line spanning along Sveti Ilia, Gorusha and Krusha hills and beyond up to the Albanian border.



    On June 16th, last year, before dawn, we were attacked by airplanes. They pounded us for twenty minutes and just as they left we came under cannon fire. They pounded us at a fast rate in rapid fire volleys. The artillery barrage lasted thirty five minutes and just as they were done, we were attacked by the infantry. During the course of that day we repelled four attacks. By the evening, before sunset, it was all quiet again.



    Orders came from Command to repair the damaged bunkers and trenches. In the night we were again pounded by cannon fire. In the morning, precisely at 5 o’clock, the airplanes came back and pounded us again, same as the previous day. By the afternoon we were forced to withdraw to the second line of defense at Sveti Ilia and Krusha.



    They did this everyday until June 22nd but could not remove us. That day the airplanes came shortly before noon. They did not drop bombs or fire on us with their machine guns. First they flew low then high and we could see barrels being dropped from not too high above our positions which exploded about fifty to a hundred meters above us. Fire and flames fell on us. Everything began to burn. Everything burned, the ground, the trees, the rocks, the mountain, we were burning too… Those people, who unfortunately got splashed by this never before seen burning fluid, caught fire and burned like candles.



    There was squealing, screaming and many sounds of horror as people rushed out of the trenches looking to the sky and begging for help. All you could see are flames running at you screaming and begging for help, flames that you had to put out with your bare hands?! We fought the flames all day, then, at night, under the light of a full moon, we buried the burned corpses in mass graves.



    The aircraft attacked us in this manner, with that damn fire, several more times, but we quickly learned we could avoid being burned by burying ourselves deep into the ground. We dug tunnels in the bunkers and trenches and before the barrels fell we hid underground like moles.



    It is one thing to see a cut tree falling down and another to see it burning. And how does a man fall when he is shot compared to being burned? This is something that no one should never even think about never mind see it…



    And as long as we were burning, our opponent, step by step, came closer, about 100 to 200 meters bellow us and dug himself in. Perhaps that was the reason why the aircraft stopped dropping barrels on us, and the cannons began firing behind our positions.



    Suddenly there was silence, no cannon shelling, not even a bullet was fired. There was no movement at all, not from our side and not from theirs. We waited patiently in silence. Then the silence was broken by the roar of airplanes. There were six of them and flew in three’s. The first three made a circle above us and didn’t drop anything, not even a burst of machinegun fire. The other three did the same.



    They kept circling above but we didn’t dare fire at them in fear of uncovering our exact positions. I don’t know how many times the aircraft circled but suddenly the sky was filled with colourful leafs of paper. There was no wind to blow them so the clouds of paper fell directly on top of us. The sun was shaded and the earth became covered with paper. I took a few and began to read:



    ‘Communists, bandits surrender! Tito has come to our side. There is no salvation for you Slavo-Macedonians! Surrender! Tito gave you up! Stalin and Tito had a fight! Tito has come to the American and English side! Tito has closed the border! Tito is our Ally now! You are all alone! Gramos is done! Don’t expect any help from Tito! You will die of hunger!’



    The entire front, all combat positions were covered with leaflets like this… It was June 29th. They dropped the same leaflets the next day and several days after that… These leaflets had the effect of large and scary bombs falling… They were an assault on our spirit, our faith and our hopes… They made our effort seem fruitless and empty, they seized our soul, torn our hopes apart and killed our dreams. This is how I felt and so did many Macedonians… Most of us were at the north-eastern front… The political commissars kept telling us that the leaflets were only enemy propaganda but still that didn’t help ease our fears.



    The front was peaceful for three days and during those three days our opponents on the other side ridiculed us and profanely swore at us.



    One day the political commissars were invited to go to high command. They returned late at night and explained to us that one of the communist party information bureaus in power, under Soviet Union control, accused Tito of not following Informburo rules, as the others did, so it sent him a message, a letter, asking him to reconsider and leave things to comrade Stalin because comrade Stalin knows best and for Tito not to think himself smarter than Stalin.



    Tito replied to this by saying he will do as he pleases. In other words, Tito became disobedient and because of this the advanced and progressive communist and workers’ parties, shunned him and called on the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to fight against him and his associates.



    The commissar also told us that the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) on account that today it is leading a merciless struggle against Anglo-American imperialism, silently agrees with Stalin, and will openly state its position under better conditions. That’s why the Party is inviting all fighters to fight more vigorously to break the enemy at Gramos. That’s when we learned that the enemy Division XV, considered to be elite, after six days and nights of un-relentless bitter fighting, despite the major air and artillery support, failed to break us at the northern front and close the door to the Albanian border.



    On August 2nd, after forty-one days of lying in trenches in a defensive position, I returned to the starting point and saw action after the fall of Kleftis Hill at the south end of the front. Our east side resiliently held Sveti Ilia, Gorusha, Krusha, Bel Kamen and Kula on top of the village Koteltse for forty-five days and nights.



    In the course of the heavy fighting for every inch of ground, few of the fighters thought as to why Tito and Stalin had a fight. But the worm of doubt began to eat away, scratch and dig deep. And the planes, in addition to dropping bombs, continued to drop leaflets inviting us to surrender, continuously reminding us of what awaits us because of what Tito did.



    One morning, at the top of the hill, our side opened a white cloth on which written with large red letters was the message:



    ‘Your leaflets are printed on thick and hard paper. Print them on thinner and softer paper so that it would be easier for us to wipe our asses with!’”



    Stoian stopped talking. He felt like he was loosing his voice. The silence was broken by Risto who asked: “And what happened next?”



    “The aircraft continued to fly and drop rockets and bombs on our bunkers and trenches and…” Stoian moved his arm and shook his empty sleeve “a piece of a bomb like a knife…” he then pointed with his eyes at the empty sleeve. During the silence that followed the men broke eye contact, immobile and dazed they silently thought about their bitter experience in which they left part of themselves and wondered where all this was going to take them. Stoian took a deep puff from his cigarette made from strong and thickly cut tobacco twisted in a paper ripped our of a newspaper, and began a long stretched out caught.



    “The tobacco is no good for you” said Risto with a sad voice while gently tapping Stoian’s back.



    Stoian spit out after he coughed and added: “Up there in the tunnels” pointing with his head at the foot of the mountain “I have loads of it in paper bags but it’s too weak for me. It’s not just plain tobacco. It is beautifully rolled up in thin paper without markings. You smoke it and nothing. Only smoke. I take the cigarettes up to the positions at night along with other provisions.”



    “In paper bags you said?” Risto asked with a surprise in his voice. “And do you have any empty paper bags?”



    “Piles of them…” answered Stoian.



    “What do you do with them?” asked Risto.



    “I burn them” replied Stoian indifferently. “I always burn them. By order, I have been ordered to do so. I have a written order on which it clearly says ‘the sacks from sugar, rice and all other papers must be burned to leave no trace of them…’ A few days ago a man from Military Intelligence came here, allegedly to inspect the place, and when he saw a whole bunch of empty bags of paper, he threatened me with court martial. ‘Did you know’ he said to me ‘you jack ass, you villager’ yelling at me ‘if the enemy came in possession of these bags, he would discover our military secrets?’ After that he opened a great big book and wrote an order for me and in accordance with that directive I had to order my people to burn the papers…”



    “And what about up there at the positions how do you deliver the rice, sugar, flower, cigarettes?” asked Risto.



    “In bags… I load them on donkeys and horses, but mostly on the backs of the village men and women from the surrounding villages…” answered Stoian with a heavy, long and protracted sigh. “I have to load them on the backs of old men and women like on beasts of burden and send them uphill to way up there.” Stoian pointed in the direction of the surrounding hills with his good arm.



    “Self composed they go up quietly and carry the load, along with their broken souls, to the destination. I feel like crying when I look at them. The poor people, on their backs they carry crates of ammunition, of food, and when they return they carry back wounded.



    They carried me the same way to the main hospital in Gramos where they amputated part of my arm and later they amputated the rest of my arm at the hospital in Elbasan, a reminder of my fate… When my wound was closed they took me to Suk. And there, what can I tell you! In the barracks there were people recovering, crippled, blind, deaf, mute, they were all our people, there were also epileptics, crazy people, informants and some sly and sneaky people.” Stoian stopped talking for a moment, looked around and, shortly afterwards, whispered: “There was also one among them from the 2nd Bureau…”



    “I didn’t hear you.” said Risto and leaned his ear towards Stoian. “What did you say?”



    “They say, Risto, the walls have years… and here even the mountains have ears, and that’s why I am whispering to you, understand?” replied Stoian.



    “Of course, I understand” said Risto, raised his eyebrows and closed his mouth.



    “I thought you should know…” replied Stoian, spit on the side and continued. “At Suk, once a week they brought recovering patients by truck from the hospitals for a short rest and upon return they took them to the battle lines. We, the ones with one leg, one arm, one eye, mute, deaf, were asking to also return to the formations but the camp commander, some Thessalian, also with one leg, was telling us there is no more formations for us.



    So, we waited there with our idle time being filled with lectures about what Marx said, what Lenin did in Russia but mostly about Stalin. Our teacher was a former long time prisoner from Rumeli. He wore glasses with thick lenses and his hearing was not very good. People said that he studied in Moscow with Zahariadis and that he was imprisoned by the dictator Metaxas. They said he was in Bulkesh and that many became political commissars under his tutelage. But he was not just our teacher. In time we found out that the man established an entire network of spies, informants, whistle-blowers and other undesirables with whose help he placed us all in his book and pegged some of us as nationalists, other as chauvinists, opportunists, autonomists, Titoists…



    The last two categories were considered the most dangerous. So, we, the Macedonians were the most dangerous. But that was not all, not enough for him. He infiltrated our group with a spy and a provocateur. They too were our people. We quickly uncovered the spy and brought him into line. He told us about the book. And look what happened. That book began to work on our minds. Every time we came near the man, day or night, all we could think about was which one has he fingered now? Which one has he labeled autonomist or Titoist, or both…”



    “And the spy?” inquired Risto.



    “The poor guy slipped on a watermelon peel and broke his neck. We all felt sorry for him… So I tell you, we all began to wonder how we can get our hands on that book. We thought about it but nothing good came of it. Then one day one of the so called ‘marked man’ spoke up: ‘brothers, I can see that you have heads on your shoulders but I have to wonder what they’re filled with, straw or hay’. So I casually remarked… why don’t we outfox the bugger…? Let’s do it! I will go inside the clinic and take an alcohol bottle. You know the man has a passion for drinking? I have seen him mix half a glass of alcohol with half a glass of water. At knight when he finishes making notes he will drink and pass out. Without him knowing, I will leave the bottle on his table. I will be damned if he does not plaster himself. Then, quietly I will enter and finish the job. Smart, don’t you think?”



    Stoian took a puff from his cigarette, spit after coughing and continued:



    “We were not sure if it was a smart thing to do, but we accepted it because our fellow countryman often entered the storehouse unnoticed and returned with pockets full of the type of food the chiefs of staff ate.



    The next morning, after waking up, the public announcement speakers went silent for a moment. The blazing songs praising the struggle were finally interrupted for an announcement from the commander: “Προσοχη! Προσοχη! Αμεσος ολοι στην πλατεια!” (Attention! Attention! Everyone report to the square immediately!)



    “We line-up. Those without legs were wheeled there on wheel chairs. We stood there and waited. Fifteen minutes later the commander and the teacher who taught us about Marx, Lenin and Stalin and fingered us in his notebook, arrived. They frowned, looked hostile and had malice in their eyes. They climbed on the stage.



    “Comrade fighters…” began the commander, but at the same moment the teacher pushed his way in front of him, all red from anger and malice, swung his right arm, pulled out a wrapped newspaper from under his arm, quickly unwrapped it with his trembling hands and low and behold, the book fell out of it on the floor!



    With his finger pointing to the book on the floor the teacher, like a crowing crow, yelled out with a pounding voice that worked its way up from his neck: “The person that defecated in my book report here immediately!”



    “At that moment everyone thundered with a loud and elongated laugh. Unfortunately our laughing made things worst. Days afterwards they called us in, one by one, at the chief’s office at headquarters. They interrogated us, threatened us with court-martial and took away our privileges. At the end we endured that too.



    After the battles for Negush, Voden and Lerin an order was issued recommending to those who wanted to ‘volunteer’ for various behind the scenes services to signup.



    At the end of May the trucks came and everyone left except those with no legs, the blind and the mad. All others, some missing two or three fingers, some missing hands, arms, a leg, an eye, those who were deaf or half deaf, were all free to go. A little later in May the trucks came again and during the night took us to Breznitsa. There we received military deployment orders. They sent me here and appointed me commander of the storehouses…” concluded Stoian.



    “And what happened to the provocateur?” asked Risto.



    “He came with us. He sat at the end on the truck. The truck took a curve too fast and he, the poor man, was not hanging on very tight, and fell off into an abyss and disappeared in the darkness. We yelled at the driver to stop but he could not hear us and continued to drive. Later, when we asked why he did not stop, he said he did not hear us, the engine of the old American truck was too loud.



    Yes… That’s that brother. A bit of carelessness and you are swallowed by the abyss. What a misfortune… He was one of ours too, that idiot… a sly dishonest fellow.



    Sown in the pocket of his backpack we found the names of thirty of our boys written on a list. They were all accused of planning to escape to Yugoslavia. And you know what happens to those accused of desertion? They get buried under a wall…” concluded Stoian.



    While Risto listened to Stoian telling his story, he kept wondering what happened to the paper bags, so he asked again: “What do they do with the paper bags up there?”



    “I don’t know what they do with them up there, but I know what I need to do with them down here when they are empty… I burn them… Those are the orders. And why are you so interested in the paper bags?” asked Stoian.



    “Well… what can I say.” responded Risto.



    “So direct… so open.” replied Stoian.



    “Listen, Stoian… My work involves digging trenches and building bunkers.” remarked Risto.



    “Oh, so that means you are in command of the women?” mockingly replied Stoian.



    “Not me, I am not in command of the women. Others are in charge of them.” answered Risto.



    “Okay then, you are not in command but you do tell them how to dig and how to carry logs from the forest.” jokingly remarked Stoian.



    “Something like that…” answered Risto.



    “And…” inquired Stoian.



    “And those who don’t know how to write, I write letters for them when they want to send a letter to their friends and relatives in the units, but mostly to their children in the [Eastern European] countries. But…” paused Risto.



    “But what?” inquired Stoian.



    “There is no paper to write on…” replied Risto with a complaining tone of voice.



    “I don’t have that kind of paper in my storehouses.” answered Stoian.



    “I am not asking you for paper from the storehouses…” remarked Risto.



    “Ah, you want the paper from the bags?” commented Stoian.



    “Yes. Can I have it?” asked Risto.



    “To take with you? Go ahead” replied Stoian “but remember; I saw nothing, I heard nothing!”



    “Me too Stoian…” added Risto.



    They both looked into each others eyes and a barely visible smile appeared on their faces.

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    The Great Lie – Chapter 18



    By Petre Nakovski

    Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

    [email protected]

    March 25, 2012



    Last year, all through the fall, at the foothill of Lisets, opposite the village Kolomladi, in the thickest clump of old oak trees, secretly at night, around one hundred trusted villagers from the surrounding villages, in shifts and under the leadership of Risto, dug a large network of bunkers with branching tunnels.



    Again during the night for months, caravans of horses and mules driven by old women and men, transported weapons, ammunition, clothing and food from warehouses in Rula, Trnava and Oshchima and filled the tunnels in Lisets.



    The approaches to the tunnels were well guarded by crippled fighters brought there from the hospitals in Albania and Yugoslavia. Their commander was also crippled.



    On the other side of the road, between Dolna Statitsa and Kolomladi, under the shade of a branching walnut tree was a water spring. A man kneeling on his one knee filled his palm with water and splashed it on his face. Risto got closer, and before removing his backpack from his shoulder, he greeted the man.



    “Good day” said Risto.



    The man raised his head and looked at Risto.



    “Good day” he answered and continued to look at Risto with a surprised look in his face. “Do we know each other or am I wrong?” the man spoke slowly without taking his eyes off Risto’s face. “You look familiar… Wait… the mustache… I used to know someone with a fancy mustache… like yours… is that… is that you Risto?!”



    “Yes it is me…” answered Risto.



    They hugged and in their long and tight embrace memories began to unfold…



    “Do you remember, Risto, you carrying me when I was wounded at Ivan Mountain? I am in your debt. You saved my life.” said the man.



    They were in the same unit fighting the Italians in 1940 at the Albanian front during the Greek-Italian war.



    “And you Stoian, do you remember looking after me at the prison camp when the Greek gendarmes beat me to pulp?” replied Risto.



    A year after the war ended, in gratitude for fighting to save Greece from the Fascists at the Albanian front, the heroic fighters were sent to prison at the concentration camps on the island Ai Strati. Then after the coronation of king Konstandinos to the Greek Royal Throne, the sick, the invalid and the adolescent prisoners were amnestied. Among them were Risto and Stoian.



    They sat down. Risto noticed that Stoian’s left sleeve was empty. Pointing at it with his eyes, Risto asked: “And that?”



    “That is my reminder of last year…” replied Stoian.



    “Where?” inquired Risto.



    “At Gramos… more precisely at Gorisha… yes…” Stoian exhaled noisily a long sigh. “When they released us from the prison camps, I didn’t go home. Ever since the police in Kostur interviewed me and gave me a mandatory order to report to them every third day, I left the city, and during the night, I took the road to the mountains, to the Partisans.



    There too they asked me many questions and kept me under watch. They didn’t believe my story, and here I thought they would welcome me with open arms. I guess they finally realized I was not the person who they thought I was, the heavy machinegun gunner they were looking for, so they gave me a job to lead horses.



    I led horses for a long time sometimes loaded with ammunition, other times with food, pots, caldrons and sometimes I held the horses steady so that the unit commanders can get on them.



    One night, the second platoon had returned from battle during which they had seized a heavy machine gun. So now the unit had a heavy machinegun but not a gunner. The unit commander admired the big gun and caressed it with both hands, complaining: “Ah, dam, now if I only had a gunner!”



    “I approach him and quietly asked: ‘Comrade Commander, will you allow me?’ He looked at me menacingly, took out his pistol and yelled: ‘If you wreck it I will kill you!’



    ‘Don’t worry’ I said quietly, kneeled down, lay my coat on the ground and, like a miracle, rapidly dismantled the entire machinegun into pieces. I then took my shirt off and with it I cleaned all the parts and rapidly put the pieces back together. And from that day forward the commander took away my horse strap, promoted me to machinegun gunner and hurried to inform high command that he now had a heavy machinegun and a smart gunner. My promotion was approved and I was transferred to Gramos.



    We loaded the heavy gun on a horse and ten of us left that evening. They sent us to a battle position at Kopanche. There were bunkers there to the left and to the right everywhere with five, six and even more rows of thick logs. They were well camouflaged. It was a well established defense line spanning along Sveti Ilia, Gorusha and Krusha hills and beyond up to the Albanian border.



    On June 16th, last year, before dawn, we were attacked by airplanes. They pounded us for twenty minutes and just as they left we came under cannon fire. They pounded us at a fast rate in rapid fire volleys. The artillery barrage lasted thirty five minutes and just as they were done, we were attacked by the infantry. During the course of that day we repelled four attacks. By the evening, before sunset, it was all quiet again.



    Orders came from Command to repair the damaged bunkers and trenches. In the night we were again pounded by cannon fire. In the morning, precisely at 5 o’clock, the airplanes came back and pounded us again, same as the previous day. By the afternoon we were forced to withdraw to the second line of defense at Sveti Ilia and Krusha.



    They did this everyday until June 22nd but could not remove us. That day the airplanes came shortly before noon. They did not drop bombs or fire on us with their machine guns. First they flew low then high and we could see barrels being dropped from not too high above our positions which exploded about fifty to a hundred meters above us. Fire and flames fell on us. Everything began to burn. Everything burned, the ground, the trees, the rocks, the mountain, we were burning too… Those people, who unfortunately got splashed by this never before seen burning fluid, caught fire and burned like candles.



    There was squealing, screaming and many sounds of horror as people rushed out of the trenches looking to the sky and begging for help. All you could see are flames running at you screaming and begging for help, flames that you had to put out with your bare hands?! We fought the flames all day, then, at night, under the light of a full moon, we buried the burned corpses in mass graves.



    The aircraft attacked us in this manner, with that damn fire, several more times, but we quickly learned we could avoid being burned by burying ourselves deep into the ground. We dug tunnels in the bunkers and trenches and before the barrels fell we hid underground like moles.



    It is one thing to see a cut tree falling down and another to see it burning. And how does a man fall when he is shot compared to being burned? This is something that no one should never even think about never mind see it…



    And as long as we were burning, our opponent, step by step, came closer, about 100 to 200 meters bellow us and dug himself in. Perhaps that was the reason why the aircraft stopped dropping barrels on us, and the cannons began firing behind our positions.



    Suddenly there was silence, no cannon shelling, not even a bullet was fired. There was no movement at all, not from our side and not from theirs. We waited patiently in silence. Then the silence was broken by the roar of airplanes. There were six of them and flew in three’s. The first three made a circle above us and didn’t drop anything, not even a burst of machinegun fire. The other three did the same.



    They kept circling above but we didn’t dare fire at them in fear of uncovering our exact positions. I don’t know how many times the aircraft circled but suddenly the sky was filled with colourful leafs of paper. There was no wind to blow them so the clouds of paper fell directly on top of us. The sun was shaded and the earth became covered with paper. I took a few and began to read:



    ‘Communists, bandits surrender! Tito has come to our side. There is no salvation for you Slavo-Macedonians! Surrender! Tito gave you up! Stalin and Tito had a fight! Tito has come to the American and English side! Tito has closed the border! Tito is our Ally now! You are all alone! Gramos is done! Don’t expect any help from Tito! You will die of hunger!’



    The entire front, all combat positions were covered with leaflets like this… It was June 29th. They dropped the same leaflets the next day and several days after that… These leaflets had the effect of large and scary bombs falling… They were an assault on our spirit, our faith and our hopes… They made our effort seem fruitless and empty, they seized our soul, torn our hopes apart and killed our dreams. This is how I felt and so did many Macedonians… Most of us were at the north-eastern front… The political commissars kept telling us that the leaflets were only enemy propaganda but still that didn’t help ease our fears.



    The front was peaceful for three days and during those three days our opponents on the other side ridiculed us and profanely swore at us.



    One day the political commissars were invited to go to high command. They returned late at night and explained to us that one of the communist party information bureaus in power, under Soviet Union control, accused Tito of not following Informburo rules, as the others did, so it sent him a message, a letter, asking him to reconsider and leave things to comrade Stalin because comrade Stalin knows best and for Tito not to think himself smarter than Stalin.



    Tito replied to this by saying he will do as he pleases. In other words, Tito became disobedient and because of this the advanced and progressive communist and workers’ parties, shunned him and called on the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to fight against him and his associates.



    The commissar also told us that the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) on account that today it is leading a merciless struggle against Anglo-American imperialism, silently agrees with Stalin, and will openly state its position under better conditions. That’s why the Party is inviting all fighters to fight more vigorously to break the enemy at Gramos. That’s when we learned that the enemy Division XV, considered to be elite, after six days and nights of un-relentless bitter fighting, despite the major air and artillery support, failed to break us at the northern front and close the door to the Albanian border.



    On August 2nd, after forty-one days of lying in trenches in a defensive position, I returned to the starting point and saw action after the fall of Kleftis Hill at the south end of the front. Our east side resiliently held Sveti Ilia, Gorusha, Krusha, Bel Kamen and Kula on top of the village Koteltse for forty-five days and nights.



    In the course of the heavy fighting for every inch of ground, few of the fighters thought as to why Tito and Stalin had a fight. But the worm of doubt began to eat away, scratch and dig deep. And the planes, in addition to dropping bombs, continued to drop leaflets inviting us to surrender, continuously reminding us of what awaits us because of what Tito did.



    One morning, at the top of the hill, our side opened a white cloth on which written with large red letters was the message:



    ‘Your leaflets are printed on thick and hard paper. Print them on thinner and softer paper so that it would be easier for us to wipe our asses with!’”



    Stoian stopped talking. He felt like he was loosing his voice. The silence was broken by Risto who asked: “And what happened next?”



    “The aircraft continued to fly and drop rockets and bombs on our bunkers and trenches and…” Stoian moved his arm and shook his empty sleeve “a piece of a bomb like a knife…” he then pointed with his eyes at the empty sleeve. During the silence that followed the men broke eye contact, immobile and dazed they silently thought about their bitter experience in which they left part of themselves and wondered where all this was going to take them. Stoian took a deep puff from his cigarette made from strong and thickly cut tobacco twisted in a paper ripped our of a newspaper, and began a long stretched out caught.



    “The tobacco is no good for you” said Risto with a sad voice while gently tapping Stoian’s back.



    Stoian spit out after he coughed and added: “Up there in the tunnels” pointing with his head at the foot of the mountain “I have loads of it in paper bags but it’s too weak for me. It’s not just plain tobacco. It is beautifully rolled up in thin paper without markings. You smoke it and nothing. Only smoke. I take the cigarettes up to the positions at night along with other provisions.”



    “In paper bags you said?” Risto asked with a surprise in his voice. “And do you have any empty paper bags?”



    “Piles of them…” answered Stoian.



    “What do you do with them?” asked Risto.



    “I burn them” replied Stoian indifferently. “I always burn them. By order, I have been ordered to do so. I have a written order on which it clearly says ‘the sacks from sugar, rice and all other papers must be burned to leave no trace of them…’ A few days ago a man from Military Intelligence came here, allegedly to inspect the place, and when he saw a whole bunch of empty bags of paper, he threatened me with court martial. ‘Did you know’ he said to me ‘you jack ass, you villager’ yelling at me ‘if the enemy came in possession of these bags, he would discover our military secrets?’ After that he opened a great big book and wrote an order for me and in accordance with that directive I had to order my people to burn the papers…”



    “And what about up there at the positions how do you deliver the rice, sugar, flower, cigarettes?” asked Risto.



    “In bags… I load them on donkeys and horses, but mostly on the backs of the village men and women from the surrounding villages…” answered Stoian with a heavy, long and protracted sigh. “I have to load them on the backs of old men and women like on beasts of burden and send them uphill to way up there.” Stoian pointed in the direction of the surrounding hills with his good arm.



    “Self composed they go up quietly and carry the load, along with their broken souls, to the destination. I feel like crying when I look at them. The poor people, on their backs they carry crates of ammunition, of food, and when they return they carry back wounded.



    They carried me the same way to the main hospital in Gramos where they amputated part of my arm and later they amputated the rest of my arm at the hospital in Elbasan, a reminder of my fate… When my wound was closed they took me to Suk. And there, what can I tell you! In the barracks there were people recovering, crippled, blind, deaf, mute, they were all our people, there were also epileptics, crazy people, informants and some sly and sneaky people.” Stoian stopped talking for a moment, looked around and, shortly afterwards, whispered: “There was also one among them from the 2nd Bureau…”



    “I didn’t hear you.” said Risto and leaned his ear towards Stoian. “What did you say?”



    “They say, Risto, the walls have years… and here even the mountains have ears, and that’s why I am whispering to you, understand?” replied Stoian.



    “Of course, I understand” said Risto, raised his eyebrows and closed his mouth.



    “I thought you should know…” replied Stoian, spit on the side and continued. “At Suk, once a week they brought recovering patients by truck from the hospitals for a short rest and upon return they took them to the battle lines. We, the ones with one leg, one arm, one eye, mute, deaf, were asking to also return to the formations but the camp commander, some Thessalian, also with one leg, was telling us there is no more formations for us.



    So, we waited there with our idle time being filled with lectures about what Marx said, what Lenin did in Russia but mostly about Stalin. Our teacher was a former long time prisoner from Rumeli. He wore glasses with thick lenses and his hearing was not very good. People said that he studied in Moscow with Zahariadis and that he was imprisoned by the dictator Metaxas. They said he was in Bulkesh and that many became political commissars under his tutelage. But he was not just our teacher. In time we found out that the man established an entire network of spies, informants, whistle-blowers and other undesirables with whose help he placed us all in his book and pegged some of us as nationalists, other as chauvinists, opportunists, autonomists, Titoists…



    The last two categories were considered the most dangerous. So, we, the Macedonians were the most dangerous. But that was not all, not enough for him. He infiltrated our group with a spy and a provocateur. They too were our people. We quickly uncovered the spy and brought him into line. He told us about the book. And look what happened. That book began to work on our minds. Every time we came near the man, day or night, all we could think about was which one has he fingered now? Which one has he labeled autonomist or Titoist, or both…”



    “And the spy?” inquired Risto.



    “The poor guy slipped on a watermelon peel and broke his neck. We all felt sorry for him… So I tell you, we all began to wonder how we can get our hands on that book. We thought about it but nothing good came of it. Then one day one of the so called ‘marked man’ spoke up: ‘brothers, I can see that you have heads on your shoulders but I have to wonder what they’re filled with, straw or hay’. So I casually remarked… why don’t we outfox the bugger…? Let’s do it! I will go inside the clinic and take an alcohol bottle. You know the man has a passion for drinking? I have seen him mix half a glass of alcohol with half a glass of water. At knight when he finishes making notes he will drink and pass out. Without him knowing, I will leave the bottle on his table. I will be damned if he does not plaster himself. Then, quietly I will enter and finish the job. Smart, don’t you think?”



    Stoian took a puff from his cigarette, spit after coughing and continued:



    “We were not sure if it was a smart thing to do, but we accepted it because our fellow countryman often entered the storehouse unnoticed and returned with pockets full of the type of food the chiefs of staff ate.



    The next morning, after waking up, the public announcement speakers went silent for a moment. The blazing songs praising the struggle were finally interrupted for an announcement from the commander: “Προσοχη! Προσοχη! Αμεσος ολοι στην πλατεια!” (Attention! Attention! Everyone report to the square immediately!)



    “We line-up. Those without legs were wheeled there on wheel chairs. We stood there and waited. Fifteen minutes later the commander and the teacher who taught us about Marx, Lenin and Stalin and fingered us in his notebook, arrived. They frowned, looked hostile and had malice in their eyes. They climbed on the stage.



    “Comrade fighters…” began the commander, but at the same moment the teacher pushed his way in front of him, all red from anger and malice, swung his right arm, pulled out a wrapped newspaper from under his arm, quickly unwrapped it with his trembling hands and low and behold, the book fell out of it on the floor!



    With his finger pointing to the book on the floor the teacher, like a crowing crow, yelled out with a pounding voice that worked its way up from his neck: “The person that defecated in my book report here immediately!”



    “At that moment everyone thundered with a loud and elongated laugh. Unfortunately our laughing made things worst. Days afterwards they called us in, one by one, at the chief’s office at headquarters. They interrogated us, threatened us with court-martial and took away our privileges. At the end we endured that too.



    After the battles for Negush, Voden and Lerin an order was issued recommending to those who wanted to ‘volunteer’ for various behind the scenes services to signup.



    At the end of May the trucks came and everyone left except those with no legs, the blind and the mad. All others, some missing two or three fingers, some missing hands, arms, a leg, an eye, those who were deaf or half deaf, were all free to go. A little later in May the trucks came again and during the night took us to Breznitsa. There we received military deployment orders. They sent me here and appointed me commander of the storehouses…” concluded Stoian.



    “And what happened to the provocateur?” asked Risto.



    “He came with us. He sat at the end on the truck. The truck took a curve too fast and he, the poor man, was not hanging on very tight, and fell off into an abyss and disappeared in the darkness. We yelled at the driver to stop but he could not hear us and continued to drive. Later, when we asked why he did not stop, he said he did not hear us, the engine of the old American truck was too loud.



    Yes… That’s that brother. A bit of carelessness and you are swallowed by the abyss. What a misfortune… He was one of ours too, that idiot… a sly dishonest fellow.



    Sown in the pocket of his backpack we found the names of thirty of our boys written on a list. They were all accused of planning to escape to Yugoslavia. And you know what happens to those accused of desertion? They get buried under a wall…” concluded Stoian.



    While Risto listened to Stoian telling his story, he kept wondering what happened to the paper bags, so he asked again: “What do they do with the paper bags up there?”



    “I don’t know what they do with them up there, but I know what I need to do with them down here when they are empty… I burn them… Those are the orders. And why are you so interested in the paper bags?” asked Stoian.



    “Well… what can I say.” responded Risto.



    “So direct… so open.” replied Stoian.



    “Listen, Stoian… My work involves digging trenches and building bunkers.” remarked Risto.



    “Oh, so that means you are in command of the women?” mockingly replied Stoian.



    “Not me, I am not in command of the women. Others are in charge of them.” answered Risto.



    “Okay then, you are not in command but you do tell them how to dig and how to carry logs from the forest.” jokingly remarked Stoian.



    “Something like that…” answered Risto.



    “And…” inquired Stoian.



    “And those who don’t know how to write, I write letters for them when they want to send a letter to their friends and relatives in the units, but mostly to their children in the [Eastern European] countries. But…” paused Risto.



    “But what?” inquired Stoian.



    “There is no paper to write on…” replied Risto with a complaining tone of voice.



    “I don’t have that kind of paper in my storehouses.” answered Stoian.



    “I am not asking you for paper from the storehouses…” remarked Risto.



    “Ah, you want the paper from the bags?” commented Stoian.



    “Yes. Can I have it?” asked Risto.



    “To take with you? Go ahead” replied Stoian “but remember; I saw nothing, I heard nothing!”



    “Me too Stoian…” added Risto.



    They both looked into each others eyes and a barely visible smile appeared on their faces.

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    The Great Lie – Chapter 17



    By Petre Nakovski

    Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

    [email protected]

    March 18 2013



    The area near the seat of the Democratic Army of Greece’s (DAG) General Headquarters and the area in front of the cave and everywhere around it were secure and tightly guarded. It was two o’clock in the morning and the Military Council was gathering for a meeting. Included among it were members of the Military Council, the General Staff and the commanders of major military units deployed in Vicho. Zahariadis was chairing the meeting. Inside, hanging on the front wall was a large map.



    In a confident voice of a sure winner, Zahariadis began with his opening speech.



    “Great battles are coming to Vicho. Unwilling to admit their defeat, the Monarcho-Fascists are now forced to fight by initiating a major offensive at Vicho because otherwise they will lose ‘the eggs and the basket’.” This was one of Zahariadis’s favourite sayings that he would express whenever someone wanted to undermine him or present him as incapable.



    He paused for a moment and looked at his audience. There were shadows of smiles on people’s faces with a touch of intense looks. He continued:



    “Our enemy is losing the war and the peace. In places where he wanted to show courage and claim victory, he must admit that he was incapable of overpowering the Democratic Army. And precisely for that reason he is forced to come to Vicho. It is now a matter of pressing need, political and military, as well as moral. And therefore whether he wants to or not, he will have to drink from the bitter cup called Vicho. We need to take this to the end; the destruction of Monarcho-Fascism in Vicho which will be the beginning of his end. The Monarcho-Fascists are incapable of carrying out intense and continuous military actions this year not like they did last year - four months of continuous Gramos and Vicho campaigns.



    This year all winter long and during the spring we will not allow them to rest. There are all kinds of indications that their morale is low to the final frontier... Now more than ever, military morale will be very low because they are in a state of worry... Here lies one of the most important reasons as to why they will not lead any battles in Gramos this year. They will not again open themselves to significant bleeding or expose themselves to trauma like fear frozen soldiers when they hear the word ‘Gramos’.



    Based on the above, I came to the following conclusion: despite the poor state of morale the Monarcho-Fascist is forced to lead a major campaign at Vicho. If he does not undertake such a military campaign he will have to accept defeat. We have but one task to accomplish here - destroy him at Vicho. And we will destroy him. To achieve this, it is imperative that we engage him in small battles to further erode his morale. In that regard Gramos gives us fantastic daily examples, but it should be mentioned that the major achievements will be at Vicho. There, with a strong defense when it is needed, we will force him to bleed to exhaustion. With a firm defense we will hold him back and then with an element of technical reversal we will counterattack.



    We also need to acquire more troops. We can do this by providing enhanced education, organizational and political work inside the Monarcho-Fascist army, where events will be taking place because exactly there is one of our most crucial reserves. Anyone who today does not understand this is making a big, a giant mistake. Can anyone imagine what it would be like when, at a critical moment, an entire enemy battalion rebels?



    Having a battalion rebel today is not an abstract concept but a possibility. We have many examples of this. A soldier refusing orders to go to battle is a daily occurrence for the simple reason that the soldier is already soaked in blood. He does not want another war. His view is directed towards his home not towards a coffin.



    We know what the soldiers thought when they put a time bomb in the luggage of Kotsalu and he was liquidated together with the plane in which he was traveling. They thought that for the duration required to replace him with his deputy they would have 15 to 20 days rest. And that was gain for them. And that is the way the soldiers thought. Why not find hundreds and even thousands of soldiers in Vicho who would try to gain 15 to 20 days of peace, life and a return to their homes? They can be found. Suffice it to say that we will help them.



    With a strategic counterattack from all sides, and we do have such abilities, it is okay to believe in the fact that we will firmly hold Gramos and at the right moment, perform a twist on the Monarcho-Fascists.



    The enemy will come to Vicho, mainly with Search and Destroy units (LOK) and with a great aviation and artillery force. But, unlike last year, the question now is whether they can endure more than a month of fighting. Meaning, the great battle will have to be settled in 20 to 30 days. That is why we need to be ready all around, militarily, practically, technically, politically, morally and materially. And in fact, we are ready. We anxiously await our enemy. There is a need for intense effort from all of us. We all need to take part in the great battle. We all need to be active. Everyone needs to respond with great honour in the protection of Vicho, accordingly, all without any distinction. We will break the enemy on Vicho and we will not let him pass...”



    The last words spoken by Zahariadis aroused the audience into a hand clapping frenzy. Gusias stood by the military map, tapped the map handle several times with his pointer and when the audience calmed down, he began his presentation:



    “Comrades, the General Headquarters, in close cooperation with the Military Council, has prepared a plan in defense of Vicho and set the following objectives to be achieved in two phases.



    The first phase will provide defense of the free territory in the spirit of the slogan ‘the enemy will not pass Vicho’. In its good judgement, DAG Headquarters, in March of this year, issued an order to build strong fortifications in Mali-Madi, more precisely on the Buchi-Orlovo-Sveti Atanas line (elevation 1,186) continuing on the hills between the villages Kosinets and Labanitsa along the Albanian border. The line continues west of Orlovo establishing a link to Rabatina and Buchi extending up to the rocks above the village Smrdesh.



    The aim, at all costs, of this section of the front is to prevent enemy penetration into the village Smrdesh from where - this can only be an unreasonable assumption – the enemy would try and take the Smrdesh-Zhelevo-Psoderi road with military vehicles and tanks.



    This will mean cutting the free territory into two parts with disastrous consequences for us. We are well established north of Mali-Madi in the Polenata-Kula-Plati line of hills extending to the Roto-Baro and Iamata line. This is our central front behind which, similarly, we have built strong fortifications in Lisets and its southern approaches and in Moro, Chuka and Iorgova Glava north of Lisets. This is the second defensive line that should ensure free flow of communications and supplies to the front along the road Smrdesh-Zhelevo-Psoderi.



    At the north end, at the Yugoslav border, which as you know is now closed, is the chain of hills called Bela Voda. The fortifications here connect the Bigla-Lundzer line to Kulkuturia hill, elevation 1,694, northwest of the village Neret. This is our northern front whose aim is to stop enemy attacks from Lerin. The area west of the road Smrdesh-Zhelevo-Psoderi is not without significance.



    Here is our third line of defense whose aim is to protect the approaches to the valley of Prespa. But, comrades, the stated facts are not our main strength. Our main strength is well established in the field and it is very important, and perhaps more important is our fighting spirit and strong belief in victory.



    Behind us is the great practical experience that we gained from last year's struggles. The Gramos retake in April, the successful struggles in Mali-Madi in September, the destruction of the 22nd enemy brigade, the deep penetration behind our opponent and the capture of the strongly defended cities Karditsa-Karpenisi-Negush, the reorganization of our troops, the improvement of our clothes, food and weapons supplies. These are all factors that will ensure our victory.



    In regards to the upcoming battle for Vicho we will need about twenty days to endure the enemy blow. We will need to nail him down at his starting position and force him to lead positional warfare during which, with our defensive-offensive tactics, we will deal him a huge blow in manpower, material and technical losses which will break his morale, then when we are good and ready we will go on the attack.



    I visited all our positions. I visited and spoke with all the commanders of the larger units and with some commanders of the smaller units. I found the entire sector to be ready. I want to underline with acknowledgement that there is not a dot anywhere that is not under our watchful eye. Everything that needs to be seen from the bunker gunhole is at the centre of our view. When I observed the terrain and everything that is there, I had a serious thought - is it possible for anyone living to pass unnoticed? Is it possible to break such a defense as this? Is it possible for even a bird to fly unnoticed? The experience in Gramos has taught us how to defend ourselves, how every hill, how every stone and boulder, every corner, are literally, to make a point... the Vicho sector, comrades, is a large fortress.


    It is now up to all the command units, from the smallest to largest, to make this fortress invincible. We have all the opportunities here to break the enemy and, at the appropriate moment, switch to a counter offensive,” concluded Gusias confidently, taking a sip of water from his glass he asked: “Are there any questions?”



    “Comrades,” replied Bardzotas, Political Commissar of General Headquarters, “Zahariadis’s report is sufficient guarantee of our victory. Any question you pose now would take valuable time…”



    Gusias, who was still standing beside the operational map, spoke:



    “I have only presented the actual state of our defense. But I have the impression, comrades, that we haven’t sufficiently analyzed all possibilities from where the enemy may strike. According to my observations and assessment, the most likely place our opponent will first attack is Bela Voda, elevation 2,156, from the direction of Lerin in order, of course, to break down our defense of Prespa. This is the shortest route to Prespa. Here,” Gusias hit the map with his fist, “this is where our opponent will close the road to stop us from our eventual departure...”



    “Will this be a scheduled departure?” asked the XIV Brigade commander in charge of the defense line Lundzer-Bigla-Bela Voda.


    “Of course not, but...” replied Gusias as they all noticed his chin trembling.


    “Continue!” requested Zahariadis.


    “Yes. Comrades, the opponent will consider whether to attack here or to target other sectors. According to my thinking, I came to the conclusion that because the Mali-Madi sector would be a hard nut to crack for the opponent and because we made an impenetrable defensive wall at Bela Voda, which no doubt would be further from the opponent’s consideration, then the question to ask is ‘where will he strike?’



    Take a look,” continued Gusias covering that part of the map with his palm, “here is Bigla and Lundzer. It is not difficult to see that this is the middle, the middle between Mali-Madi and Bela Voda. Here,” Gusias raised his voice and hit the map with his hand, “he will attack exactly here! Why exactly here?! Because if he breaks through the Bigla defense, where we have situated a Positional Battalion, think of our battalion, composed of experienced and hardened fighters, all lost, then the loss of this defence will introduce tanks and they will occupy the Lerin-Psoderi-Zhelevo road...”



    When Gusias spoke about Lerin, the audience noticed that he was losing his voice. For him Lerin was a nightmare and the mere mention of that name gave him chills. He was one of the architects of the Lerin battle in which DAG suffered catastrophic losses. The approach to Lerin was a slaughter house, a suicide mission with horrific consequences.



    “Bigla-Lundzer, elevation 1,922,” Gusias continued, “needs to become the new strong fortress. The opponent needs to be made to bleed here. I repeat, if our opponent breaks through Bigla and Lundzer then he will break our entire defense. Therefore we should devote most of our attention…”



    “And Lisets? What about Lisets hill?” interrupted the commander of Division X.



    “Lisets? Look at the map,” suggested Gusias. “Do you see how far it is from the first line of defense? There are well established defences before Lisets located on the hills in the Plati-Kulata-Roto-Polenata-Baro-Iamata line and south to Mali-Madi…”



    Zahariadis halted Gusias’s explanation, slowly stood up, turned to the map and, after tapping it with his finger, began to count:



    “We need to break the enemy here, here, here and here. And you, why do you worry so much about Lisets, what about Lisets?”



    “I comrades,” the Division X Commander straightened himself, “do not know all the hills from the map which comrade Zahariadis just pointed out, but every hill and brook, stone and boulder I have traveled and I know them by sight, I have passed over them on foot. It is very important for our defense, I would say most important, to know where our opponent will attack and exactly why there…”



    “Here, here, here and here,” Zahariadis again tapped the map with his finger.



    “I don’t doubt you, but why there?” asked the Division X Commander. “My thinking is that he would attack at the centre but his main goal will be to take Lisets. He will do everything to take Lisets. And if he succeeds in taking it he will have us in his palm. The entire region is visible from the top of Lisets. He who holds Lisets under his control holds everything around it…”



    “That is your opinion,” interrupted Gusias, “you’ve had your say and we understand your concerns. So, comrades, we have a very strong defense, that is why it will be very hard for our opponent to take that damn Lisets. Isn’t that right?”



    “Maybe it’s like that,” continued the Division X Commander, “but I still say Lisets is the key. If Lisets falls then our entire solid defense will fall, comrades and…”



    Zahariadis interrupted before the commander could finish what he was saying.


    “Comrades, in these trying days we don’t need faintheartedness. Are there any more questions and opinions?”



    There were no more questions and no one answered the questions already asked.

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    The Great Lie – Chapter 17



    By Petre Nakovski

    Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

    [email protected]

    March 18 2013



    The area near the seat of the Democratic Army of Greece’s (DAG) General Headquarters and the area in front of the cave and everywhere around it were secure and tightly guarded. It was two o’clock in the morning and the Military Council was gathering for a meeting. Included among it were members of the Military Council, the General Staff and the commanders of major military units deployed in Vicho. Zahariadis was chairing the meeting. Inside, hanging on the front wall was a large map.



    In a confident voice of a sure winner, Zahariadis began with his opening speech.



    “Great battles are coming to Vicho. Unwilling to admit their defeat, the Monarcho-Fascists are now forced to fight by initiating a major offensive at Vicho because otherwise they will lose ‘the eggs and the basket’.” This was one of Zahariadis’s favourite sayings that he would express whenever someone wanted to undermine him or present him as incapable.



    He paused for a moment and looked at his audience. There were shadows of smiles on people’s faces with a touch of intense looks. He continued:



    “Our enemy is losing the war and the peace. In places where he wanted to show courage and claim victory, he must admit that he was incapable of overpowering the Democratic Army. And precisely for that reason he is forced to come to Vicho. It is now a matter of pressing need, political and military, as well as moral. And therefore whether he wants to or not, he will have to drink from the bitter cup called Vicho. We need to take this to the end; the destruction of Monarcho-Fascism in Vicho which will be the beginning of his end. The Monarcho-Fascists are incapable of carrying out intense and continuous military actions this year not like they did last year - four months of continuous Gramos and Vicho campaigns.



    This year all winter long and during the spring we will not allow them to rest. There are all kinds of indications that their morale is low to the final frontier... Now more than ever, military morale will be very low because they are in a state of worry... Here lies one of the most important reasons as to why they will not lead any battles in Gramos this year. They will not again open themselves to significant bleeding or expose themselves to trauma like fear frozen soldiers when they hear the word ‘Gramos’.



    Based on the above, I came to the following conclusion: despite the poor state of morale the Monarcho-Fascist is forced to lead a major campaign at Vicho. If he does not undertake such a military campaign he will have to accept defeat. We have but one task to accomplish here - destroy him at Vicho. And we will destroy him. To achieve this, it is imperative that we engage him in small battles to further erode his morale. In that regard Gramos gives us fantastic daily examples, but it should be mentioned that the major achievements will be at Vicho. There, with a strong defense when it is needed, we will force him to bleed to exhaustion. With a firm defense we will hold him back and then with an element of technical reversal we will counterattack.



    We also need to acquire more troops. We can do this by providing enhanced education, organizational and political work inside the Monarcho-Fascist army, where events will be taking place because exactly there is one of our most crucial reserves. Anyone who today does not understand this is making a big, a giant mistake. Can anyone imagine what it would be like when, at a critical moment, an entire enemy battalion rebels?



    Having a battalion rebel today is not an abstract concept but a possibility. We have many examples of this. A soldier refusing orders to go to battle is a daily occurrence for the simple reason that the soldier is already soaked in blood. He does not want another war. His view is directed towards his home not towards a coffin.



    We know what the soldiers thought when they put a time bomb in the luggage of Kotsalu and he was liquidated together with the plane in which he was traveling. They thought that for the duration required to replace him with his deputy they would have 15 to 20 days rest. And that was gain for them. And that is the way the soldiers thought. Why not find hundreds and even thousands of soldiers in Vicho who would try to gain 15 to 20 days of peace, life and a return to their homes? They can be found. Suffice it to say that we will help them.



    With a strategic counterattack from all sides, and we do have such abilities, it is okay to believe in the fact that we will firmly hold Gramos and at the right moment, perform a twist on the Monarcho-Fascists.



    The enemy will come to Vicho, mainly with Search and Destroy units (LOK) and with a great aviation and artillery force. But, unlike last year, the question now is whether they can endure more than a month of fighting. Meaning, the great battle will have to be settled in 20 to 30 days. That is why we need to be ready all around, militarily, practically, technically, politically, morally and materially. And in fact, we are ready. We anxiously await our enemy. There is a need for intense effort from all of us. We all need to take part in the great battle. We all need to be active. Everyone needs to respond with great honour in the protection of Vicho, accordingly, all without any distinction. We will break the enemy on Vicho and we will not let him pass...”



    The last words spoken by Zahariadis aroused the audience into a hand clapping frenzy. Gusias stood by the military map, tapped the map handle several times with his pointer and when the audience calmed down, he began his presentation:



    “Comrades, the General Headquarters, in close cooperation with the Military Council, has prepared a plan in defense of Vicho and set the following objectives to be achieved in two phases.



    The first phase will provide defense of the free territory in the spirit of the slogan ‘the enemy will not pass Vicho’. In its good judgement, DAG Headquarters, in March of this year, issued an order to build strong fortifications in Mali-Madi, more precisely on the Buchi-Orlovo-Sveti Atanas line (elevation 1,186) continuing on the hills between the villages Kosinets and Labanitsa along the Albanian border. The line continues west of Orlovo establishing a link to Rabatina and Buchi extending up to the rocks above the village Smrdesh.



    The aim, at all costs, of this section of the front is to prevent enemy penetration into the village Smrdesh from where - this can only be an unreasonable assumption – the enemy would try and take the Smrdesh-Zhelevo-Psoderi road with military vehicles and tanks.



    This will mean cutting the free territory into two parts with disastrous consequences for us. We are well established north of Mali-Madi in the Polenata-Kula-Plati line of hills extending to the Roto-Baro and Iamata line. This is our central front behind which, similarly, we have built strong fortifications in Lisets and its southern approaches and in Moro, Chuka and Iorgova Glava north of Lisets. This is the second defensive line that should ensure free flow of communications and supplies to the front along the road Smrdesh-Zhelevo-Psoderi.



    At the north end, at the Yugoslav border, which as you know is now closed, is the chain of hills called Bela Voda. The fortifications here connect the Bigla-Lundzer line to Kulkuturia hill, elevation 1,694, northwest of the village Neret. This is our northern front whose aim is to stop enemy attacks from Lerin. The area west of the road Smrdesh-Zhelevo-Psoderi is not without significance.



    Here is our third line of defense whose aim is to protect the approaches to the valley of Prespa. But, comrades, the stated facts are not our main strength. Our main strength is well established in the field and it is very important, and perhaps more important is our fighting spirit and strong belief in victory.



    Behind us is the great practical experience that we gained from last year's struggles. The Gramos retake in April, the successful struggles in Mali-Madi in September, the destruction of the 22nd enemy brigade, the deep penetration behind our opponent and the capture of the strongly defended cities Karditsa-Karpenisi-Negush, the reorganization of our troops, the improvement of our clothes, food and weapons supplies. These are all factors that will ensure our victory.



    In regards to the upcoming battle for Vicho we will need about twenty days to endure the enemy blow. We will need to nail him down at his starting position and force him to lead positional warfare during which, with our defensive-offensive tactics, we will deal him a huge blow in manpower, material and technical losses which will break his morale, then when we are good and ready we will go on the attack.



    I visited all our positions. I visited and spoke with all the commanders of the larger units and with some commanders of the smaller units. I found the entire sector to be ready. I want to underline with acknowledgement that there is not a dot anywhere that is not under our watchful eye. Everything that needs to be seen from the bunker gunhole is at the centre of our view. When I observed the terrain and everything that is there, I had a serious thought - is it possible for anyone living to pass unnoticed? Is it possible to break such a defense as this? Is it possible for even a bird to fly unnoticed? The experience in Gramos has taught us how to defend ourselves, how every hill, how every stone and boulder, every corner, are literally, to make a point... the Vicho sector, comrades, is a large fortress.


    It is now up to all the command units, from the smallest to largest, to make this fortress invincible. We have all the opportunities here to break the enemy and, at the appropriate moment, switch to a counter offensive,” concluded Gusias confidently, taking a sip of water from his glass he asked: “Are there any questions?”



    “Comrades,” replied Bardzotas, Political Commissar of General Headquarters, “Zahariadis’s report is sufficient guarantee of our victory. Any question you pose now would take valuable time…”



    Gusias, who was still standing beside the operational map, spoke:



    “I have only presented the actual state of our defense. But I have the impression, comrades, that we haven’t sufficiently analyzed all possibilities from where the enemy may strike. According to my observations and assessment, the most likely place our opponent will first attack is Bela Voda, elevation 2,156, from the direction of Lerin in order, of course, to break down our defense of Prespa. This is the shortest route to Prespa. Here,” Gusias hit the map with his fist, “this is where our opponent will close the road to stop us from our eventual departure...”



    “Will this be a scheduled departure?” asked the XIV Brigade commander in charge of the defense line Lundzer-Bigla-Bela Voda.


    “Of course not, but...” replied Gusias as they all noticed his chin trembling.


    “Continue!” requested Zahariadis.


    “Yes. Comrades, the opponent will consider whether to attack here or to target other sectors. According to my thinking, I came to the conclusion that because the Mali-Madi sector would be a hard nut to crack for the opponent and because we made an impenetrable defensive wall at Bela Voda, which no doubt would be further from the opponent’s consideration, then the question to ask is ‘where will he strike?’



    Take a look,” continued Gusias covering that part of the map with his palm, “here is Bigla and Lundzer. It is not difficult to see that this is the middle, the middle between Mali-Madi and Bela Voda. Here,” Gusias raised his voice and hit the map with his hand, “he will attack exactly here! Why exactly here?! Because if he breaks through the Bigla defense, where we have situated a Positional Battalion, think of our battalion, composed of experienced and hardened fighters, all lost, then the loss of this defence will introduce tanks and they will occupy the Lerin-Psoderi-Zhelevo road...”



    When Gusias spoke about Lerin, the audience noticed that he was losing his voice. For him Lerin was a nightmare and the mere mention of that name gave him chills. He was one of the architects of the Lerin battle in which DAG suffered catastrophic losses. The approach to Lerin was a slaughter house, a suicide mission with horrific consequences.



    “Bigla-Lundzer, elevation 1,922,” Gusias continued, “needs to become the new strong fortress. The opponent needs to be made to bleed here. I repeat, if our opponent breaks through Bigla and Lundzer then he will break our entire defense. Therefore we should devote most of our attention…”



    “And Lisets? What about Lisets hill?” interrupted the commander of Division X.



    “Lisets? Look at the map,” suggested Gusias. “Do you see how far it is from the first line of defense? There are well established defences before Lisets located on the hills in the Plati-Kulata-Roto-Polenata-Baro-Iamata line and south to Mali-Madi…”



    Zahariadis halted Gusias’s explanation, slowly stood up, turned to the map and, after tapping it with his finger, began to count:



    “We need to break the enemy here, here, here and here. And you, why do you worry so much about Lisets, what about Lisets?”



    “I comrades,” the Division X Commander straightened himself, “do not know all the hills from the map which comrade Zahariadis just pointed out, but every hill and brook, stone and boulder I have traveled and I know them by sight, I have passed over them on foot. It is very important for our defense, I would say most important, to know where our opponent will attack and exactly why there…”



    “Here, here, here and here,” Zahariadis again tapped the map with his finger.



    “I don’t doubt you, but why there?” asked the Division X Commander. “My thinking is that he would attack at the centre but his main goal will be to take Lisets. He will do everything to take Lisets. And if he succeeds in taking it he will have us in his palm. The entire region is visible from the top of Lisets. He who holds Lisets under his control holds everything around it…”



    “That is your opinion,” interrupted Gusias, “you’ve had your say and we understand your concerns. So, comrades, we have a very strong defense, that is why it will be very hard for our opponent to take that damn Lisets. Isn’t that right?”



    “Maybe it’s like that,” continued the Division X Commander, “but I still say Lisets is the key. If Lisets falls then our entire solid defense will fall, comrades and…”



    Zahariadis interrupted before the commander could finish what he was saying.


    “Comrades, in these trying days we don’t need faintheartedness. Are there any more questions and opinions?”



    There were no more questions and no one answered the questions already asked.

    Leave a comment:


  • George S.
    replied
    Greek Proposal for a Sovereign Macedonia

    By Aleksandar Donski

    Translated and Edited by Risto Stefov

    (This article was taken from the Macedonian magazine
    “Makedonsko Sonce” 531 / 3.9.2004, pages 52 and 53)
    First Greek President Yannis Kapodistria calls for a sovereign and independent Macedonian State! Imperial Russia was in favour of the creation of a contemporary Greek State!

    It is interesting to note that Imperial Russia, in October 1829, during a leadership meeting with Czar Nikolai I, decided that it was in Russia’s best interests to preserve the Ottoman Empire.

    It is also interesting to note that during the same meeting the Russian leadership considered the eventual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and reviewed the proposal put forward by the then Greek national advocate Yannis Kapodistria. This proposal (in which Macedonia was considered as an independent state), at the same meeting, was brought forward by Dashkov, the Russian minister of foreign affairs. In his proposal, the Greek Kapodistria envisioned the formation of five Balkan states. These are:

    Dachia (which consisted of the principalities of Moldavia and Vlachia, i.e. the closest territories to present day Romania and Moldavia);
    Serbia (which consisted of the territories of the then Serbian State, along with parts of the territories of Bulgaria and Bosnia);
    Macedonia (which consisted of the entire territories of the then Rumelia together with the surrounding islands, i.e. the entire territory of ethnic Macedonia and parts of today’s Bulgaria, Thrace and Thessaly);
    Epirus (which consisted of the territories of upper and lower Albania); and
    Greece (with the name “Territory of the Hellenes”, which consisted of the territories south from the river Pena in Thessaly including the city Arta and the entire Archipelagos). (For more details about this consult Blazhe Ristovski’s “Istoria na Makedonskata Natsia”, MANU Skopje, 1999, page 10.)
    From this Greek proposal we can clearly see that the then nationally conscious Greeks considered Thessaly to be the most northern part of their Greek territories. Epirus was not considered to be part of the Greek territories and Bulgaria was not even considered to be a country.

    This proposal carries even more weight if we consider that it was put forth by Yannis Kapodistria, the first president of the Independent Greek State!

    Before becoming president of Greece, Kapodistria was a Russian Count and served in the Russian State as secretary of foreign affairs. Afterwards he became President of the newly formed Peoples Greek Assembly and at the end he was chosen as the first president of the Greek Independent State.

    Russian Proposal for a Macedonian State

    At the same Russian leadership meeting one more proposal was put forth, this one from the Russian Count Bulgari who proposed the following states for the Balkans:

    Greece (with the Archipelagos, Samos and Crete);
    Macedonia (together with the northern part of Albania and part of Thrace up to the river Maritsa);
    Serbia (together with Bosnia), for which he asked to become a protectorate of the Great Powers; and
    The Territories of Moldavia, Vlahia and Bulgaria (as one state), to become a protectorate of Russia.
    The Academic Ristovski (from whose book this information is obtained), justifiably concluded that during that time in Europe, and in the Balkans, there was no clear representation of ethnic boundaries in the Balkans and in these combinations Bulgaria was only mentioned as part of Serbia, Romania and Russia.

    And now we will return to the history of the creation of the then Greek State, its development and territorial expansion.

    During the period between 1453 and 1460, most territory of present day Greece was captured by the Sultan Mohamed II and annexed by the Ottoman Empire. In the following two centuries the Ottomans fought against the Venetians and other City States who had remaining colonies in Greece. In 1669 the Ottomans succeeded in taking the island of Crete but lost Peloponnesus to the Venetians. In 1718 the Ottomans recaptured the Peloponnesus and the Greek territories remained under Ottoman rule up until the 19th century.

    A great number of Greeks suffered from the Ottoman regime, however it is a fact that many of them also enjoyed a variety of privileges in the Ottoman State. This, above all, was carried out by the Greek Church whose high ranking officials (with the Patriarch in charge) enjoyed great privileges and influence in the politics of the Ottoman Empire. Actually, the worst suffering was felt by the Macedonians, when under the influence of the Patriarch, the Sultan ordered the abolishment of the Ohrid Eparchy.

    Many Greeks took important positions in the Ottoman administration and served as officials and political advisers (for more information on this consult the world famous Microsoft Encarta CD encyclopedia, 1988, re: Greece).

    The first signs of serious and significant Greek nationalism surfaced in the mid 18th century directly initiated by Russia. Being a Pravoslav (Orthodox Christian) State, Russia incited the Pravoslav (Christian Orthodox) Greeks to rebel against Ottoman rule. Unfortunately these first attempts at creating a Greek consciousness were unsuccessful. In 1770 the Russian Count Orlov came to the Peloponnesus with warships aiming to start a Greek rebellion, but without success.

    Another factor that played an important role in the awakening of the Greek ethnic consciousness and its desire for liberation was the French Revolution. Then again under Russian influence, the Russian prince of Greek descent, Alexander Ispilanti, in 1814 formed a secret organization under the name “Filiki Heteria” (friendly association) and in 1821 started a rebellion, which was quickly put down. In the next three years the Greeks again began to actively arm but in their fight they were almost entirely alone. They did receive material help from a number of European countries but that help was self serving in the eventual creation of the Greek State.

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