MOYANA Meets with US State Departement
Office of Religious Freedom
July 22, 2005
Contact: Chris Purdef, (614) 296-0881
Macedonian Orthodox Youth Association of North America representative Metodija A. Koloski on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 met with the Senior Editor of Western and Central Europe Religious Freedom Reports under the U.S. State Department Office of International Religious Freedom, Mr. Michael J. Mates. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the recent issuance of TOMOS by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church to the schismatic "Orthodox Church" in the Republic of Macedonia with its leader Zoran Vranishkovski, alias Bishop Jovan.
Mr. Koloski pointed out to Mr. Mates that according to the 17th Rule of the 4th Orthodox Ecumenical Council and the 38th Rule of the 6th Ecumenical Council, the Macedonian Orthodox Church has the canonical and historic right to an autocephalous status. A prerequisite for having an independent church according to these Rules is having your own sovereign nation. The Macedonian Orthodox Church meets these criteria.
The Macedonian Orthodox Church renewed in 1967, being abolished in 1767 by the orders of the Ottoman Sultan, received full blessings by the Serbian Patriarch German stating, "for the new inducted eparches and archimandrites in the Republic of Macedonia, within the Macedonian Orthodox Church the constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church is no longer valid." However, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church retracted their blessings and refused to form a dialogue with the Macedonian Orthodox Church between 1967 and 1991.
Mr. Koloski briefed Mr. Mates that upon the declaration of independence of the Republic of Macedonia in 1991, the Greek and Serbian Orthodox Church intensified their efforts to take over the Macedonian Orthodox Church. In 2002, upon being charged by the Holy Synod of the MOC, of irregularities in his financial management and of embezzlement, Zoran Vranishkovski, then a Bishop in the MOC choose to leave the ranks of the MOC to join the ranks of the SOC. Months prior to this, the Greek and Serbian Orthodox Church made an agreement that should the Macedonian Orthodox Church take out the word "Macedonian" from its name, they would recognize the Macedonian Orthodox Church as an equal church in the International Orthodox Community.
Zoran Vranishkovski since 2002 has been trying to build a parallel Orthodox Church in Macedonia naming it the Ohrid Archbishopric and self-declaring himself as the Archbishop of Ohrid, which is the name and the title of the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The Macedonian people, and interestingly the Serbian minority in Macedonia have refused to recognize this church. With this in mind, the Macedonian government has full responsibility to deal with the political machinations of foreign churches that choose to meddle in the internal affairs of Macedonia.
Mr. Koloski is thankful to have had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Mates to discuss the misunderstandings regarding the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Mr. Koloski asked what role the U.S. is playing and Mr. Mates informed him that he had met with Zoran Vranishkovski and states that the position of the State Department is that they support the right to religious freedom - the core objective of U.S. Foreign Policy - all over the world. Mr. Mates expressed his willingness to further discussions on the above mention matters.
To read the 2004 Religious Freedom Report on Macedonia, please visit: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35470.htm
MOYANA serves to activate and unite the Macedonian Orthodox parish youth for the preservation and promotion of the Orthodox Christian Faith through collective worship, fellowship, service and witness. MOYANA also helps to foster the productive values and morals of Orthodoxy within our youth in order to build stronger ties with the North American communities.
MOYANA is an auxiliary of the American-Canadian Macedonian Orthodox Diocese, under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. MOYANA is the largest Macedonian youth organization in the world. For further information, please visit our Website: http://www.moyana.org
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Speech by Prof. Nestor Oginar
Hyatt Regency-Reston Hotel, Washington D.C.
Schiller Institute Annual Congress
September 1-3, 2001
The Balkans-Southeast Europe, has been, historically, one of the most crucial areas in the world. It has been, in the literal sense of the word, the landbridge between Europe and Asia. It is a crossroads of different cultures, nations, religions and ethnic groups. It is also a strategically crucial area between North-Central Europe and the South, the Middle East, Africa, Asia: It is the key bridge, the connecting point between east and west.
This area, for the last one hundred years at least, could have been arguably one of the most economically developed areas in the world. Unfortunately, those world powers who want to prevent an economic and mutually beneficial collaboration and prosperity of the Balkan peoples have an interest to set it on fire, which is happening right now! It has been their way to maintain the oligarchical control of the world, at any cost, even if it involves destruction of entire countries, nations, cultures, and societies - which is nothing but a genocide, a bloody crime against humanity.
So, we have had this history of war and suffering in the Balkans for generations and generations. Ask my beloved, my suffering Macedonian people and they will tell you. Look at them now, as they are today, hopeless, humiliated, homeless, displaced, ethnically cleansed, economically impoverished, under military aggression, under military occupation, wounded in body and soul, bleeding and dying, attacked by the wild Albanian terrorist hoards, and their puppetmasters, disguised as NATO and the
"International Community," all in the name of peacekeeping, war-preventing, and human rights. What a sham, what a shame, what a theater of the absurd!
Let me stress this point again: Macedonia is being destroyed, dismantled, completely annihilated from the map of the world, as a country, as a nation-state, as a society, as a constitutional democracy, as a peaceful member state of the United Nations. Astonishingly, all this is happening on the world stage before the wide open eyes of an apathetic audience.
But I cannot, we cannot blame only the mercenary KLA, which are but a proxy, or better yet the puppets of greater and more insidious forces, whose commands they obey. We have to look at these forces, the real puppet-masters more closely, because what is at stake is not just the very existence of Macedonia, because what we are defending isn't just one small, proud, ancient, biblical land - Macedonia. We are defending, ladies and gentlemen, an idea, an ideal; above all we are defending a principle: the principle that Macedonia, like every other country in the community of mankind, has the fundamental, the inalienable right to its own national sovereignty, to its own self-determination, to its own national independence, and national dignity. The right of the people to be free of violence, of foreign interference and war mongering, from political and economic blackmail and coercion. The right of a people to organize its own democratic, economic and cultural development.
And I contend before you that this is the reason why we the Macedonians have a moral obligation, and a right to ask for the help of any individual, any institution, any country of goodwill, include this illustrious Institute. Because we are convinced that in defending Macedonia on principle, we are defending a universal principle.
I am convinced as I stand here before you now, that Macedonia must take and will take the lead on the international stage in the universal struggle of humanity against this New-World Globalized Order, piloted and manipulated by the predatory oligarchs, hiding in their headquarters in London, Washington, Brussels, or Wall Street. Just as in the manner in which my ancient and glorious king, Alexander of Macedonia, defeated the old oligarchs of the Persian empire, 2,330 years ago, just like Apostle Paul responded to the pleading voice of the biblical Macedonian man to come and help, we the Macedonia people, drawing on our rich, long history, that has survived many invasions, must stand up and fight an honorable and great battle of ideas, and give our contribution in the changing of the world system of injustice and looting to a more just and humane one.
We call upon you, all of you, to join us the Macedonians in our fight against those who in the Balkans and elsewhere have drawn the georacist designs of maps, to join us in our struggle to fight the Zbybniew Brezynskis of the world, the Henry Kissingers of the world, the Lord Ownens of the world, the Lord Robertsons, the Javier Solanas, the James Wolfensons of the world, and he list goes on and on, ad-infinitum.
We have a moral obligation to recognize that there is a monstrous design, a monstrous racism behind the policies and ideologies of these people and their likes, and we must do everything together to thwart them.
Ladies and gentlemen, need I remind you that we live in some of the most tragic, dangerous, and trying times of our era, which test the very fiber of our souls and consciousness' as member of different nations of the civilized world, at the threshold of the twenty first century. I can stand proudly here before you and state clearly that as a Macedonian, and as an intellectual, I feel that Macedonia is not defected, the Macedonian people are not defeated, the people who know, love and cherish the common welfare of mankind are not defeated. So long as our spirit is untouched, we are not defeated, so long as our pride and dignity survive, we are not conquered.
From this platform, I appeal to all of my fellow Macedonians, to all of my fellow Americans, to all of my fellows present here at this esteemed gathering, to all of mankind, we must resist the evil, dark forces that threaten to destabilize the world. We must resist the very same forces that like hungry vultures have descended upon the innocent living organism of Macedonia. In order to do that, we must recognize, I repeat, we must recognize that we are all drifting in a vast, dark sea of crisis,
pilotless and starless.
I am reminded here of a profound thought, expressed by Mr. Lyndon Larouche and published in the August 20th issue of the "New Federalist." Let me quote it for you: "Two things are required. First thing: people have to recognize how bad the crisis is. They also have to recognize how elementary in nature the solution is. And only when that perception of crisis occurs do we have the possibility, politically, of doing what we must do."
For me, personally, as a Macedonian, but also as a human being, the biggest enemy with which we all are confronted in our time is not the Albanian terrorist organization KLA, it is not their mentors and puppet-masters embodied in NATO, EU and the "International Community." The biggest enemy of us all is the one that dwells and lurks within ourselves. Within the dark recesses of our detached and immobilized minds. The enemy is in our demoralization, in our apathy, in our resignation, in our moral capitulation, in our complacency and our readiness to accept the reality, the Hegelian reality, as it is thrust at us, on a daily basis.
But I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn't know, that we the Macedonians have it in us, in our blood, in our veins, all the strength of our striving humanity, our national and cultural heritage, to strive, to overcome, to vanquish and never to yield, to all of our enemies from within or without.
Countless generations of our proud Macedonian ancestors have bestowed on us a priceless heritage and tradition of resistance, of fight and never yielding to the forces of evil, no matter how powerful they may be.Our resistance must spring forth from the generosity of our hearts, from the clarity of our minds, and from the nobility of our spirit. We owe these values to our children, and all new generations.
When we succeed to extricate ourselves from the double psychological trap of imposed fear and induced impotence, when we begin to realize that we are embarked on a mission of grandiose and epic proportions, only then will we be able to understand that we are not alone, isolated, abandoned and helpless sheep surrounded with the army of enemies, and we can summon strength to fight and to resist.
Only then will we be able to realize that a small band of petty oligarchs, plutocrats, speculators and usurers masked behind the metaphors of the international community, the international monetary Fund, the World Bank, NATO and others, have subjected virtually the entire world to destruction, and that my beloved and proud Macedonia is only another victim in the vast gallery of horror.
The only advantage of this evil is their ability, by way of brutal force and deception, to carry out the policy of "Divide et Impera," divide and conquer, to project the image of omnipotence, omniscience and invincibility, and to bully, frighten, degrade and humiliate, morally and psychologically, the countries which they choose to victimize in their pathological laboratories.
I must say, over and over, so that I may be understood, that our allegedly invincible enemy is not nearly so powerful as they like to be perceived.
I tell you that right now, as I speak, they are shivering in their offices, wherever they are, at the very notion that tiny Macedonia and its people will rise on mass, by the millions and say, "It is enough!" Stop this unjust invasion! Stop this military occupation! We do not accept this framework agreement being imposed on our pathetic, corrupt, inexperienced and cowardly government by way of military force, and political and economic blackmail. We refuse to accept it because it is in contradiction with the
universal principles of democracy, with the constitution of Macedonia as a nation state, with the democratic processes as they are practiced all over the world, and with international law and order as we know it.
Like the Nazi-Fascist apparatus of World War II, NATO, the International Community and its pathetic proxies, have overestimated their real strength, and we know that they are beginning to rot and collapse from within, as does the financial system that spawned them.
So, you see, ladies and gentlemen, that there is no reason, no room for pessimism. We can win! As indeed we must! The real war, the factor that determines the final outcome is not a military war, it is a battle of ideas. It is a war of principles to be fought and played out, ultimately, in the theater of civilized humanity. The historical situation we encounter today requires from all of us, in the paraphrase of the great German poet and humanist, Friederich Schiller, that we become bigger than ourselves, so that a great historical moment does not find us again - small people.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me conclude by reiterating the thought that we must not remain the mere spectator at what is happening. That no man is an island, an entity onto himself. If Macedonia is destroyed, can Europe ever be the same? Will she not be diminished, dishonored and humiliated? And, for that matter, can the world ever be the same after the demise of Macedonia?
That's why it is crucial that we organize and unite in our struggle to save and preserve Macedonia, not only as a country, a nation state, a constitutional Democracy, but an idea, and an ideal founded on the inalienable universal principles of liberty, equality, justice and dignity of the common man!
Macedonia is our one, only and last remaining hope and we must save her!
Thank You
Prof. Nestor OginarLeave a comment:
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Open Letter to the Greek Prime Minister
on the Matter of Greek Racial Profiling
by Dr. George Nakratzas
February 25, 2003
E-mail: [email protected]
To the Right Honourable
Konstantinos Simitis
Prime Minister of Greece
Athens
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
It was reported by the Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada that last year three Canadian nationals of Macedonian descent had been denied entry to Greece.
This latest incident took place on 30th May 2002: entry to Greece was refused to Mr. Mendo Petrovski, a Canadian national of Macedonian descent.
When representations were made by the Canadian Embassy in Athens, the Greek authorities responded that nothing could be done because Mr. Petrovski had no relevant documents from the Niki border post, and did not know the name of the border official concerned in the decision.
If this accusation is true, then the official response of our government to the Canadian Embassy in Athens does little credit to our country - the country currently holding the Presidency of the European Union.
The Greek authorities must be perfectly well aware of the identity of the official on duty at the Niki border post on 30th May 2002.
The fact that this Canadian national had no document explaining why he was regarded as persona non grata in Greece, is entirely due to the failings of our own authorities. In all such cases, as in the case in question, the necessary stamp should have been placed in the Canadian passport.
Sir, no country with any self-respect can insult a tourist on the grounds that he has a suspect record without offering evidence to this effect, or at the very least communicating these grounds to the individual in question.
The truth is, however, that the facts of the matter are somewhat different.
It is well known that the border posts of the EU countries keep a list of individuals whose entry is deemed undesirable. However, this list contains the names of persons known for their criminal activities.
It is claimed - although I admit I have no certain knowledge of this - that our border posts also keep a second, unofficial list of names of individuals whose entry to our country is forbidden for purely political reasons. More specifically, this list contains the names only of those individuals who declare that they are ethnic Macedonians.
A similar incident in the relatively recent past involved a Mr. Karatzas, a 78-year-old resident of the Republic of Macedonia, who was refused entry to Greece. After international protests, and only following your own wise intervention, this old man, a veteran of the Democratic Army, was allowed to visit for the last time his village near Kastoria, the village where he spent his childhood. I learned of this visit - with great relief - from the man himself.
Do you not think that it is now time for this alleged second, unofficial list to be abolished - the list which names ethnic Macedonians as personae non gratae.
I ask you to imagine how we ourselves would react if we were to be refused entry at the borders of neighbouring countries, simply because we described ourselves as ethnic Greeks?
Yours faithfully,
Dr. George Nakratzas
P.S. I beg to inform you that copies of this letter, translated into English, will be forwarded to the 600 Members of the European Parliament, as well as other interested individuals.Leave a comment:
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Greek Acts against the Macedonians
(1912 – 1994)
By Peter Medichkov
The following chronicles the methods employed by Greece in its effort to eradicate the centuries old Macedonian ethnic presence in Aegean Macedonia (Greek Macedonia) in the name of Greek territorial expansion. Specific laws and decrees are presented against the backdrop of relevant historical events affecting Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia.
The chronology begins in 1912 when Greece, for the first time ever, came into possession of Macedonian territory and this by force of arms, almost a decade after the 1903 Ilinden (St. Iliya Day) Uprising lead by the IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) in a failed effort to free Macedonia from the Ottoman yoke.
The ominous prophecy of Harilaos Trikoupis, Greek Prime Minister from 1882 to 1895, foretold what the neighboring Greek state had in mind for Macedonia and its people:
"When the Great War comes, Macedonia will become Greek or Bulgarian, according to who wins. If it is taken by the Bulgarians, they will make the population Slavs. If we take it, we will make all of them Greeks".
1912 Balkan Wars
Irredentist Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro drive a crumbling Ottoman Empire out of the Balkans and pursue territorial expansion into Macedonia. Greek army enters Aegean Macedonia ostensibly to "liberate" Macedonia from the Ottoman.
1913
The Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian alliance breaks down over competing claims for Macedonia. Bulgaria miscalculates and attacks Serbia and Greek armies. Ottoman forces rejoin the war against Bulgaria. Bulgaria defeated, loses territorial gains in Macedonia.
From "liberation to tyranny", Greek army commences savage and bloody "ethnic cleansing" of the towns of Kukush, Doiran, Demir-Hisar and Serres in the Aegean Macedonia.
160 Macedonian villages burned, and atrocities committed. Mass exodus of refugees.
Treaty of Bucharest (Aug. 10, 1913), ends the War and partitions Macedonia.
Greece refers to conquered Macedonian lands as the "new territories" under "military administration". Not yet officially incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece.
Military occupation augmented by influx of administrators, educators; police brought from Greece.
Professor R.A. Reiss reports to the Greek government: "Those whom you would call Bulgarian speakers I would simply call Macedonians...Macedonian is not the language they speak in Sofia...I repeat the mass of inhabitants there (Macedonia) remain simply Macedonians."
1917
LAW 1051 Greece inaugurates new administrative jurisdictions for governing newly acquired lands in Aegean Macedonia.
1919 Treaty of Versailles (Paris)
England and France ratify the principles of the Bucharest Treaty and endorse the partition of Macedonia.
Greece pursues the forced expulsion and denationalization of Macedonians and begins colonization by transfering “Greeks” into Aegean Macedonia.
Article 51 of Treaty of Versailles espouses equality of civil rights, education, language, and religion for all national minorities which Greece violates and ignores.
Neuilly Convention and forced exchange of populations. About 70,000 Macedonians expelled from Aegean Macedonia to Bulgaria and 25,000 Greeks transfered from Bulgaria to Aegean Macedonia.
Greek Commission on Toponyms issues instructions for choosing Hellenized names for Macedonian places in Aegean Macedonia.
1920
Greek Ministry of Internal Affairs publishes booklet: "Advice on the change of the names of municipalities and villages" in Aegean Macedonia.
1925
76 names of Macedonian villages and towns in Aegean Macedonia Hellenized since 1918 by Greek authorities.
League of Nations pressures on Greece to extend rights to Macedonian minority.
ABECEDAR Primer printed in Athens for use by Macedonian school children in Aegean Macedonia. Written in Latin alphabet and reflects the Macedonian language spoken in Bitola-Lerin (Florina) district in Western Aegean Macedonia.
Serbs and Bulgarians protest to League of Nations. Primer undermines their claim that Macedonians are Serbs and Bulgarians respectively.
Greece counters with last minute cable to League: "the population.....knows neither the Serbian nor the Bulgarian language and speaks nothing but a Slav-Macedonian idiom."
Greece "retreats" so as to preserve Balkan alliances. Primer is destroyed after League of Nations delegates leave Salonika (Solun).
Thereafter, Greece denies existence of Macedonians. Refers to Macedonians as "Slavophone Greeks", "Old Bulgarians" and many other appellations but not as Macedonians.
1926
Legislative Orders in Government Gazette #331 orders Macedonian names of towns, villages, mountains changed to Greek names.
1927
Cyrillic inscriptions in churches, tombstones and icons rewritten or destroyed. Church services in the Macedonian language are outlawed.
Macedonians ordered to abandon personal names and under Duress adopt Greek names assigned to them by the Greek state.
1928
1, 497 Macedonian place names in Aegean Macedonia Hellenized since 1926.
English Journalist V. Hild reveals, "The Greeks do not only persecute living Slavs (Macedonians)..., but they even persecute dead ones. They do not leave them in peace even in the graves. They erase the Slavonic inscriptions on the headstones, remove the bones and burn them."
1929
Greek Government enacts law where any demands for national rights for Macedonians are regarded as high treason.
LAW 4096 directive on renaming Macedonian place names.
1936
Reign of terror by fascist dictator General Metaxas, (1936-40). Macedonians suffer state terrorism and pogroms.
Thousands of Macedonians jailed, sent to internal exile (EXORIA) on arid, inhospitable Greek islands, where many perish. Their crime? Being ethnic Macedonian by birth.
LAW 6429 reinforces Law 4096 on Hellenization of toponyms (place names).
DECREE 87 accelerates denationalization of Macedonians.
Greek Ministry of Education sends "Specially trained" instructors to accelerate conversion to Greek language.
1938
LAW 23666 bans the use of the Macedonian language and strives to erase every trace of the Macedonian identity.
Macedonians fined, beaten or jailed for speaking Macedonian. Adults and school children further humiliated by being forced to drink castor oil when caught speaking Macedonian.
LAW 1418 reinforces previous laws on renaming.
1940
39 more place-names Hellenized since 1929.
1945
LAW 697 more regulations on renaming toponyms in Aegean Macedonia.
1947
LAW L-2 citizens suspected of opposing Greek government in Civil War stripped of their citizenship, including relatives, arbitrarily and without due process.
1948
LAW M properties confiscated from citizens who fought against government and those accused of assisting.
28,000 child refugees, mostly Macedonians, from areas of heavy fighting evacuated to Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. Greece denies their right of return to this day.
RESOLUTION 193C (III) United Nations Resolution calls for repatriation to Greece of child refugees.
U.N. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ARTICLE 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive an impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
DECREE 504 continues property confiscations of exiles and colonization of Aegean Macedonia with people from Turkey, Egypt and other parts of Greece. Parcels of land given to the colonists along with financial incentives.
1959
LAW 3958 allows confiscation of property of those who left Greece and did not return within five years.
Several villages in Aegean Macedonia forced to swear "Language Oaths" to speak only Greek and renounce their mother Macedonian tongue.
1962
DECREE 4234 reinforces past laws regarding confiscated properties of political exiles and denies them right to return.
1968
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS accuses Greece of human rights abuses.
1969
Council of Europe declares Greece "undemocratic, illiberal, authoritarian, and oppressive". Greece forced to resign from Council of Europe under threat of expulsion.
Military Junta continues the policy of colonizing the confiscated lands in Aegean Macedonia. Land handled over to persons with a "proven patriotism" for Greece.
European Convention For the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms signed by Greece states: ARTICLE 10(1) “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers”.
1976
DECREE 233 suspends about 150 past decrees, government decisions and laws since 1913. Regulations for the confiscation of properties belonging to Macedonian political exiles not affected.
1979
135 places renamed in Aegean Macedonia since 1940. The Greek vigil regarding names is an indicator of the Macedonian ethnic identity in Aegean Macedonia.
1982
Greek internal security police urges intensive campaign to wipe out remaining Macedonian language and consciousness in Aegean Macedonia.
LAW 106841 political exiles who fled during the Civil War and were stripped of their citizenship are allowed to return providing they are "Greek by ethnic origin". The same rights are denied to Macedonian political exiles born in the Aegean Macedonia.
U.N. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ARTICLE 17, “No one can be deprived of his own property against his will”.
1985
DECREE 1540, Political exiles who fled during Civil War allowed to reclaim confiscated lands provided they are "Greeks by ethnic origin". Same rights denied to Macedonian exiles born in Aegean Macedonia.
U.N. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ARTICLE 13, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, as well as to return to his own country”.
1986
International writers' organization, PEN, condemns Greece's denial of the existence of Macedonians and their language.
Greece escalates climate of fear in Aegean Macedonia.
Greece officially calls the Republic of Macedonia as the “Republic of Skopje", after the name of its capital city; and Macedonians are called "Skopjans".
The term "Skopjans" used to label Greek citizens who declare themselves as ethnic Macedonians. "Skopjans" laced with hatred, and racism. It connotes a traitor to Hellenism.
1990
CSCE COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN DIMENSION, to which Greece is a signatory, states in ARTICLE 32: "Persons belonging to national minorities have the right freely to express, preserve, and develop their ethnic, cultural, linguistic, or religious identity and to maintain and develop their culture in all its aspects, free of any attempts as assimilation against their will". ARTICLE 33: "Participating states will protest the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of national minorities...and create conditions for the promotion of that identity".
GREEK HIGH COURT DECISION 19 refuses registration of "CENTER FOR MACEDONIAN CULTURE" in Florina (Lerin). Appeal is turned down by High Appeals Court in Salonika. Further appeal dismissed by Supreme Administrative Council of Greece in Athens.
1991
CSCE MEETING ON NATIONAL MINORITIES IN GENEVA, in which Greece participated states: "Issues concerning national minorities...are matters of legitimate international concern and consequently do not constitute exclusively an internal affair of the respective State...Participating States reaffirm, and will not hinder the exercise of, the right of persons belonging to national minorities to establish and maintain their own educational, cultural and religious institutions, organizations and associations".
Belligerent anti-Macedonian propaganda incites Greek population into a state of chauvinistic hysteria.
Translation from Greek: "Hang the Skopje Gypsies"
1992
Greece and Serbia conspire to overthrow and partition the Republic of Macedonia.
1993
Macedonian human rights activists Hristos Sidiropoulos and Tasos Boulis were prosecuted under Greek Panel Code: Article 36, Para 191; disseminating false information; Para 192; inciting citizens to disturb the peace. Their crime? Declaring themselves as Macedonians in an interview for Greek magazine ENA.
Macedonian human rights activist and priest Nikodimos Tsarknias derobed and expelled by Greek Orthodox Church because of his human rights activities. Tsarknias refused a Greek bribe which would have elevated him to bishop in 1989. He received death threats.
1994
Extremists of Australia's Greek Community burn two Macedonian churches, after Australian recognition of Macedonia.
Greece continues to deny the existence of Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Greece continues repressive and unrelenting policies against Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia despite objections by international human rights organizations.Leave a comment:
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Address by Athanasios Parisis
to the first International EBLUL Conference
November 15, 2002
See Related Articles:
• Minority Languages, Plea For More Recognition
• Minutes on Linguistic Diversity in Greece
• Macedonians of Greece (MSWord .doc)
Welcoming Address by the President of the Greek branch of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL), Mr. Athanasios Parisis to the first International EBLUL Conference Thessaloniki, 15 November, 2002
Subject of conference: Promotion of the lesser used languages in Greece
Mr. President, Bojan Brezigar, Honoured guests,
On behalf of the Greek EBLUL Committee I take great pleasure in welcoming you to the first EBLUL international conference dedicated to the various linguistic groups in Greece.
Across the European Union, no fewer than forty million people speak languages in their everyday lives, which are different from the official language of the state in which they are living. At present this figure represents 10% of the total European population, but shortly, with the expansion of the Union, the number of people speaking a different language from the official language of their state will be much, much greater. Greece, too, is no exception; however vigorously the state may deny it, the facts tell their own story. A by no means negligible section of the Greek population is bilingual. It is not possible to provide precise figures, since none of the censuses carried out to date has included a question on language. The one exception was the census of 1920, yet the figures it yielded for the northern regions of the country were never published.
Moreover, the long-standing policy of marginalisation and suppression has succeeded, naturally enough, in reducing the actual number of those speaking the non-official languages. This hostile treatment of heteroglossy in Greece had its beginnings in the early days of the modern Greek state, 170 years ago. In those areas of the country where Arvanitika was prevalent, every effort was made to discourage its use. There was perhaps some justification for this in the desperate efforts being made to unite the regional populations into a single Greek state, using as a means to this end a policy of homogenisation of the various populations.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when new territories were annexed by the Greek state, the process of displacing alternative languages and forcing their speakers to assimilate the Greek language and Greek national ideology - one state, one nation, one language, one religion - assumed new dimensions. The state resorted to violence, persecution, exchanges of populations and the mass 'cleansing' of villages, which refused to submit. Later, in the course of the Civil War, many tens of thousands of individuals, among them whole villages, were forced to flee as political refugees to eastern Europe. Some of the children of these refugees are still living in exile, a situation almost incomprehensible in the context of the modern Europe.
Those of us who remained in Greece were subjected to special schooling, kept in the classroom all day to minimise our contact with our family environment - the environment where our native tongue was spoken. It is worth mentioning that the 1961 census lists just ten child day care centres for the region of Messenia, whereas in the area of Florina no fewer than 48 such centres were in operation. The numbers are, of course, inversely proportional to the size of population in each region actually in need of these centres. The selective policy of the Queen Frederika Foundation, which was accompanied by the movement of 'poor children' - the actual phrase used - to isolated schools in southern Greece, was intended to encourage the children to change their language and thereby further the process of national integration.
In the years which followed the tactics of psychological violence, the undermining of the dignity of the child and the intimidation of the parent - all produced the results the state desired, the 'persuasion' of individuals to deny their own identity, their tradition, their language. And this in a Europe, which claims to respect the ideal, among others, of respect for human rights and the linguistic and cultural disparity of its peoples.
As President of the Greek branch of EBLUL I should like to stress the need to introduce our languages into the Greek educational system. We also seek access for the linguistic communities of our country to the mass media, radio and television.
We very much hope that in this endeavour we shall enjoy the support of the Brussels office, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe and all the other agencies of the European Union with an interest in these issues.
Athanasios Parisis
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