Macedonia : FYROM propaganda and the Right of Self-Determination

These series of articles about Macedonia will expose to public eyes how FYROM’s Propaganda machine works. Especially the massive internet campaign used by Slavic propagandists from FYROM with sole aim to deceive the readers while misrepresenting and manipulating well-evidenced historical events to fit their petty nationalistic agenda. It is sometimes hard for the unsuspected reader who is frequently confronted by deceitful attempts to believe false claims disguised to sound truthful. These series of articles aim to familiarise you with techniques of Misinformation being spread from this former Yugoslav Republic so that you become able to assess the strength of any argument you may encounter and thus determine of its validity.

Below, there is a text written by Iconoclast shattering one of the main claims of FYROM’s propaganda. The claim regarding the right of self-determination. In fact its the FYROM’s Slavs those who deny the right of self-determination to  the Greek citizens of the Hellenic Republic to call themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian.

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1. Present day inhabitants of a nation-state are citizens of that nation-state.
 2. Citizens of a nation-state have sovereign rights.

 3. Citizens of a nation-state have equal rights to self-determination.

 4. Citizens of one nation-state must not diminish in any way, shape, or form, the equal rights of self-determination of citizens of another nation-state.

5. The Government and its citizens of a nation-state must in no way support, participate in, and/or assist in any activities or propaganda that are deemed irredentist in nature to another nation-state, and the Government of the nation-state where such irredentist activity is taking place, must take all immediate steps to ensure that any such irredentist activity immediately ceases and desists against another nation-state.

 6. The citizens of the nation-state of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have asserted their equal rights of self-determination and called themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian, but equally, a cohort of ethnic Greek citizens of the Hellenic Republic have the equal rights of self-determination and to assert their rights to call themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian, but simply, Macedonian of Greek heritage, having no ethnic or cultural affinity or ties whatsoever with the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje.

7. Therefore, in conclusion:

WHEREAS, the citizens of the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje, in their act of asserting their equal rights of self-determination to call themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian, have instantaneously, inextricably, and demonstrably diminished the equal rights of self-determination of ethnic Greek citizens of the Hellenic Republic who assert their equal rights to self-determination and to call themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian, but simply, Macedonian of Greek heritage, having no ethnic or cultural affinity or ties whatsoever with the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje;

WHEREAS, the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje, by asserting their equal rights of self-determination to call their nation-state by the appellation, the Republic of Macedonia, or simply, Macedonia, has instantaneously, inextricably, and demonstrably diminished the equal rights of self-determination of the ethnic Greek citizens of the Hellenic Republic to call themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian, but simply, Macedonian of Greek heritage, having no ethnic or cultural affinity or ties whatsoever with the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje;

WHEREAS, the ethnic Greek citizens of the Hellenic Republic, who through their domicile and/or place of birth in the Province of Macedonia of Northern Greece assert their equal rights to self-determination and call themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian, but simply, Macedonian of Greek heritage, having no ethnic or cultural affinity or ties whatsoever with the nation state, whose capital city is Skopje;

WHEREAS, the ethnic Greek citizens of the Hellenic Republic, who assert their equal rights of self-determination to call themselves by the appellation of simply, Macedonian, but simply, Macedonian of Greek heritage having no ethnic or cultural affinity or ties whatsoever with the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje, also assert their equal rights and that they must not be disadvantaged in the international community, or international fora, by having their Hellenic character in any way, shape, or form, diminished or made diminutive by the act of another nation state.

WHEREAS, the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje, by monopolizing the name Macedonia, in all the ways that they have done so, have diminished the equal rights of self-determination of the Government and citizens of the nation-state of the Hellenic Republic.

WHEREAS, the Government of the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje, must cease and desist in the use of pedagogic material that exhibits pseudo-history that has been developed by the Government of the nation-state, whose capital is Skopje, and in which this material is neither supported, nor recognised, by the leading international scientific and pedagogic communities.

WHEREAS, the Government and the citizens of the nation-state, whose capital city is Skopje, have shown by way of support, participation in, and/or assistance in activities or propaganda that are deemed irredentist in nature to the Government and the citizens of the nation-state of the Hellenic Republic, and the Government of the nation-state, whose capital is Skopje, where such irredentist activity is taking place, has not taken all immediate steps to ensure that any such irredentist activity immediately ceases and desists against the nation-state of the Hellenic Republic.

The Greeks do not want to impinge on the self-determination of another people, in any way, shape or form. However, there is one undeniable caveat that must apply, vis-a-vis, to both parties when the act of self-determination is asserted by any one party. The caveat being, that the party who asserts their equal right of self-determination can not in any way, shape, or form, diminish or make diminutive the equal right of self-determination of any other party. That is, each party, vis-a-vis, must have *equal rights*, which is exactly the wording used in the UN Charter [1]. So, any decision made, vis-a-vis, by one party that is inextricably connected, mutually dependent on, and affected by, the counter-party can *not* be made in a uni-lateral manner. Each party, vis-a-vis, must appreciate the sensibilities of their counter-party. It needs to understood that the Slavs, of the FYROM, are not the only ones who have equal rights to self-determination. The Greeks also have the same equal rights.

Just like a Texan, is both a proud Texan and a proud American, equally I am a proud Macedonian and a proud Hellene (Greek). And no one, has the right to deny me of my God given right to self-determine myself as a Hellene (Greek) and a Macedonian.

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In order to make it even more clear to the readership, we include a previous article of our blog dealing with the identity of Macedonia:

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According to Article 2 of UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, “it is essential to ensure harmonious interaction among people and groups with plural, varied and dynamic cultural identities”.

5 million people live in the modern region of Macedonia, and more than half of them have a Greek national identity, along with their Macedonian cultural identity, due to their Hellenic heritage. Another quarter has Bulgarian, Albanian, Serbian, Roma or Turkish national identity.

That leaves us with a minority; less than a quarter of the region’s population. These are the people inhabiting a former Yugoslavian province, prone to state-sponsored propaganda and historical falsification. They refuse to accept that they constitute only a small part of Macedonia, have a different origin, and should define themselves accordingly.

But what’s the story about Greeks having different cultural identities? People from the island of Crete have their own cultural identity, and the same goes for Macedonians. When two Greeks discuss about their origins, they say “I am a Cretan” or “I am a Macedonian”. If foreigners are involved, they might ask “So, you’re Greek… from where exactly?”. Ross Daly, an ethnic Irish musician living in Greece for decades, being completely integrated, would say in his thick Cretan accent: “I’m a Cretan”.

Macedonians belong in the Greek nation: they do not claim a separate ethnic identity, only a cultural one. This is very common. Sicilians and Bavarians are proud of their heritage. Sicilians are Italians, Bavarians are Germans. However, Germans aren’t Bavarians, and Italians are not Sicilians.

Point of Interest: United Nations seem to agree that cultural identities should be protected.

Over 3.5 million people worldwide with a Greek national identity and a Macedonian cultural identity, have a right to self-determination and preservation of their historic cultural identity. They claim what is rightfully theirs. If their northern neighbours monopolise the terms “Macedonia/Macedonian” for international use, in practice they are being denied one of their basic rights. In that sense, the term “Greek Macedonian” is problematic because it implies mixed ethnic background (another example: “my German Italian friend“).

Greeks do not want to be associated with “ethnic Macedonians”. This is where a “pure” identification term for the latter (a 25% minority in the region of Macedonia) leads to. There is no reason why a majority with continuous presence in the area, should give up their cultural identity, in favour of a newly emerged nation whose folk heroes described themselves as Bulgarians.

Read also:

Macedonia : FYROM’s Hideous Propaganda Technique #1 – The Victim Card

Macedonia : FYROM’s Propaganda and Human Rights

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