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Αυτό που μπορούμε να κάνουμε είναι να γράψουμε προσωπικά μηνύματα προς το Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών και να τα στείλομε με FAX και email στην κ. Μπακογιάννη.
Επίσης υπάρχει και ένα link μέσω του οποίου θα μπορούσατε να απευθύνετε ερωτήσεις κατευθείαν στην Υπουργό, και προϋποτίθεται πως η κ. Μπακογιάννη θα απαντήσει. Είναι στην ίδια ιστοσελίδα αν πάτε κάτω δεξιά και φέρει τον τίτλο Live με την Ντόρα.
Όσο για το περιεχόμενο των γραμμάτων μας μπορούμε να ζητήσουμε από την κυβέρνηση της Ελλάδος για μια στάση πιο σκληρή έναντι των διαπραγματεύσεων. Δηλαδή τι είδους διαπραγματεύσεις μπορούν να υπάρξουν τώρα, και πόσο σοβαρά μπορεί κανείς να πάρει αυτές τις διαπραγματεύσεις όταν η πΓΔΜ προβαίνει σε τέτοιου είδους κινήσεις;
Επίσης τα γράμματά σας μπορείτε να τα στείλετε στη εξής διεύθυνση: GreekParliament@hec.greece.org η διεύθυνση είναι του Ελληνικού Κοινοβουλίου και θα το πάρουν όλοι οι Βουλευτές και Υπουργοί.
Έχει ιδιαίτερη βαρύτητα τα γράμματα να είναι προσωπικά και όχι ένα γράμμα τυποποιημένο.
Σας ευχαριστώ,
Nina Gatzoulis
Supreme President of the
Pan-macedonian Association (USA)
E-mail: ninagatz@comcast.net
Tel: 603-742-0466
FAX (603) 617-2977.
Ένα e-mail που στάλθηκε απο Έλληνα Ομογενή στην Υπ. Εξωτ. Ντόρα Μπακογιάννη.
Τορόντο, 29 Δεκεμβρίου 2008
Προς την
Αξιότιμον κυρία Θεοδώρα Μπακογιάννη
Υπουργόν Εξωτερικών Υποθέσεων της Ελλάδος
Αθήναι - Ελλάς
Αγαπητή κυρία Υπουργέ,
Οι Σκοπιανοί, για μια ακόμα φορά, προπαγανδίζουν το Ιερόν όνομα της Μακεδονίας μας, ως δική τους κληρονομιά, σε μία διαφήμιση του CNN, την οποία μπορείτε να δείτε στο http://www.macedonia-timeless.com/.
Όπως γνωρίζετε, θάλασσα δεν έχουν, και επίσης, βάσει της ενδιάμεσης συμφωνίας του 1995, δεν μπορούν να χρησιμοποιούν Ελληνικά σύμβολα ωσάν δικά τους.
Γενικώς, πρόκειται για ένα σύνολον ανθρώπων το οποίο προσπαθεί να αυτο-προδιορισθεί βασιζόμενο σε στοιχεία τα οποία έχουν «δημιουργηθεί» από τούς ηγέτες του, κατά την διαχρονική πορεία τους, και σε αυτά τα οποία «κλέβουν» από τους άλλους. Αυτό οι Σκοπιανοί δεν το καταλαβαίνουν, και έτσι, ελλείψει ηθικών Αρχών και Υπερηφάνειας, ψεύδονται ασυστόλως και προς την διεθνή κοινότητα και στα ίδια τα παιδιά τους, όπως δείχνει η εν λόγω διαφήμιση. Αυτή η παθητική μας συμπεριφορά, εάν συνεχισθεί, θα αποβεί και πάλι, εις βάρος μας!
Αυτό το καταλαβαίνω ακόμη κι’ εγώ που δεν είμαι υπουργός εξωτερικών. Εσείς που είσθε, θα πρέπει όχι μόνο να το καταλάβετε, αλλά και να αντιδράσετε αμέσως, με όποιον τρόπο νομίζετε οτι θα είναι πιο αποτελεσματικός. Εγώ, που δεν έχω την δική σας εμπειρία, θα συνιστούσα (ως απλώς πολίτης) το να σταματήσει η ήπια πολιτική την οποία έχετε ακολουθήσει μέχρι τώρα, και να τους διαμηνύσετε, ορθά κοφτά, ότι το όνομα «Μακεδονία» δεν τους ανήκει, τελεία και παύλα!
Ο πατέρας σας, όταν ήταν Πρωθυπουργός της Ελλάδος, έκανε το μέγα λάθος, να δεχθεί το «πρώην Γιουγκοσλαυϊκή Δημοκρατία της Μακεδονίας», καίτοι αυτό το σύνθετον όνομα εξέφευγε από την απόφαση των πολιτικών αρχηγών, αφού περιείχε τον όρο «Μακεδονία». Εσείς, όχι μόνο δεν το διορθώσατε, αλλά αποδεχθήκατε το «Μακεδονία» και πλέον, διαπραγματεύεσθε το πρόθεμα (Βόρεια, Άνω, Νέα και πέρα δώθε)! Ντροπή! που να πάρει η οργή! Τι είδους υπερήφανη Ελληνίδα, και δη Κρητικιά, είσθε! Στο κάτω-κάτω της γραφής, χρωστάμε σε κανένα;
Καλώς εχόντων των πραγμάτων, και υπό τον όρο οτι θα υπάρχει συγκροτημένη και σταθερή Ελληνική κυβέρνηση, οι διαπραγματεύσεις με τους Σκοπιανούς θα αρχίσουν και πάλι. Τώρα πια, είναι η σειρά σας να πείτε σε όλους αυτούς, αλλά και σε όλους τους άλλους, ότι το «Μακεδονία» δεν τους ανήκει, διότι και σημαίνει Ελλάδα και είναι δική μας και μόνο κληρονομιά, ως δικό μας πολιτιστικό και όχι μόνο δημιούργημα.
Κάνετέ το αυτό, κυρία Υπουργέ, και ευχαρίστως, να σας δω και ως Πρωθυπουργό της Ελλάδος, συμβάλλοντας σε αυτό με την ψήφο που θα μου δώσετε, και όχι μόνο!
Skopje’s Uneducation System and the Good Professor Čepreganov
By Marcus A. Templar
In defending his and his compatriots’ “Macedonian” ancestry, it seems that Dr. Todor Čepreganov, Ph. D, and Director of the National History Institute at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (todorc@yahoo.com) has been quoted as saying, “Eugene Borza (Prof Emeritus Penn State University) published many books on Alexander the Great and Antic [ancient] Macedonia, has asked, ‘Why would the Macedonians invade, kill and enslave their own people?’”[1]
Since Dr. Čepreganov did not understand that it was only a rhetorical question, I offer Eugene Borza’s response to his own question: “ancient history is replete with examples of bona fide Greeks who fought constantly against one another.”[2]I would love to send a copy of Borza’s paper to the good professor, although one can read Borza’s statement on the first page of JSTOR (second paragraph, fifth line) without a subscription.[3]
There is not a single historian outside the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and its diaspora that would give a different answer. Non-FYROM Slav historians respect themselves and their degrees. As for the FYROM “historians” and their diaspora, I would suggest that they take a good look and study very carefully the WHOLE book The Peloponnesian War authored by Thucydides, the first and foremost scientific historian ever, and the reasons behind the authorship of this book. The title could give them a hint!It would be useful, as well, for the same “historians” to read about the Melian Dialogue in the same book (Thucydides V, 84-116) and the result of that debate. I do not want to confuse these “historians” with offering information on other battles like the Battle of Helos that took place in circa 1213 BC, 20 years before the Trojan War (1193-1183 BC). Nevertheless, the Battle of Leuktra (371 BC), the two Battles of Mantineia (418 BC and 362 BC) could give them the clue.
Regarding the part “Why … enslave their own people?”I am referring the good professor to Pausanias who affirms:
I know also of the following rite which is performed here.By the sea was a city Helos, which Homer too has mentioned in his list of the Lacedaemonians:These had their home in Amyclae and in Helos the town by the seaside.”It was founded by Helius, the youngest of the sons of Perseus, and the Dorians afterwards reduced it by siege.Its inhabitants became the first slaves of the Lacedaemonian state, and were the first to be called Helots, as in fact Helots they were.The slaves afterwards acquired, although they were Dorians of Messenia, also came to be called Helots, just as the whole Greek race were called Hellenes from the region in Thessaly once called Hellas.[4]
I must note that the Macedonians never “enslaved” anyone the way the Spartans did, but it seems Dr. Čepreganov had cut class the day his professor was teaching that chapter.Nevertheless, how is it possible for someone who claims to be a professor and historian with a degree in History to read the book The Peloponnesian Warandquote everything on ancient Macedonia and Macedonians, but miss the reasons why the author wrote the book? It is as if one reads Lev Tolstoy’s book War and Peace quoting various parts and not knowing that the war and peace that Tolstoy wrote about was between France and Russia!
If the good professor wants to offer a real service to himself and his compatriots, he should start working on their Slavic history, language, and heritage. Of course, if he still feels “Macedonian” he could author a scientific paper filled with scientific arguments using primary sources of the time on the imaginary amalgamation of the Slavic population of geographic Macedonia with the Greek speaking Macedonians, as Fanula Papazoglu determined on page 333 of her dissertation “Macedonian Cities during Roman Times.”Dr. Mikhail D. Petruševski was the editor of her dissertation that was written in Serbian, and the University of Skopje approved it in 1957.Perhaps professor Čepreganov would like to offer a catalogue of about 1,500 ancient Macedonian monuments and inscriptions, of course all Greek, hidden in the basements of museums in Skopje!The inscription of Oleveni would do it for starters.[5]
However, the professor was also quoted as saying:
Ernst Badian (Harvard University - History Department) explains the last battle between Macedonians and Greeks: ‘After hearing and rejoicing on the news of Alexander’s death, Greek soldiers and mercenaries saw their chance to remove themselves from Macedonian despot rule and rebelled. However, a Macedonian army under Pithon did defeat the rebels. Pithon, no doubt recognizing their immense value for the empire as a whole, persuaded them to go back to their posts, assuring them personal safety in return. Yet, contrary to his oath, seventeen thousand Greeks were cut down, after surrendering their arms, by the enraged Macedonians, and Pithon could not stop them.The patent needs of the empire and the oath of their commander were swallowed up in the explosion of what we can only regard as the men’s irrational hatred for their Greek enemies.’
Since the good professor has no scientific argument on his own, I would like to respond to Dr. Badian’s argument, but why do I have the feeling that the good professor of Skopje was not interested in Badian’s whole statement.I have no doubt that Badian has read Polybius V, 108, 3, 7, 8 where he says that a few Macedonian cities had revolted against Philip, who eventually re-captured them.
Here is the text,
3. He therefore set forth at once with his army to recover as soon as possible the revolted cities, … 7. as he was convinced that this was the only way by which he could recover his principality of Pharos. 8. Philip, then, advancing with his army recovered the cities I mentioned, took Creonium and Gerus in the Dassaretis, Enchelanae, Cerax, Sation, and Boei in the region of Lake Lychnis, Bantia in the district of the Caloecini and Orgyssus in that of the Pisantini. 9. After these operations he dismissed his troops to winter quarters. This was the winter in which Hannibal after devastating the wealthiest part of Italy was going into winter quarters at Gerunium in Daunia, 10. and the Romans had just elected Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paulus to the consulate.[6]
As the professor can see, not only “Greek” cities, as he put it, revolted against the Macedonian kings, but also Macedonian cities against their own king.
For the sake of the reputation of Skopje’s Academy of Sciences and Arts and all its members, one only hopes that Dr. Todor Čepreganov is neither a member nor a representative of the academic view of his country. For if he was a member and a representative of the academic view of his country, the education in the Republic of Skopje has reached rock bottom in scientific thought and arguments equal to the level of the sixth graders those books were intended for (indeed yes, the capital of a country can name the whole country, i.e. Mexico, Panama, Rome, Byzantium to name a few.)If in the end the professor’s scientific findings convince historians of his part Slavic and part Greek Macedonian ancestry, then we might have something to talk about. Until then, I have news for the professor: he is a Slav!!!
There is reciprocity in all fair and balanced scientific arguments. The FYROM Slavs cannot demand from the Greeks to prove scientifically that the ancient Macedonians were Greeks and simultaneously demand from the world to take their word that they are “the Macedonians” through an amalgamation that never existed.Why should anyone take the word of the Slavs for their unproven “Macedonian” ancestry, but not the word of the ancient Macedonian kings that they were Greeks?
Whether the ancient Macedonians were Greeks or not is an unprofitable historical question.The Athenians were Pelasgians according to Herodotus, but the dear professor has not spent a minute trying to argue scientifically whether the ancient Athenians were Greeks or not.Since however, he insists that he is “Macedonian” and connects himself to the ancient Macedonian culture, I would recommend that instead of concentrating in de-Hellenizing the ancient Macedonians, the professor should try to connect his Slavic ancestry to the Greek Macedonians; scientifically, of course!
I wish him Good Luck in his efforts; he definitely needs it!
[2]Eugene N. Borza, “Athenians, Macedonians, and the Origins of the Macedonian Royal House,” Hesperia Supplements (American School of Classical Studies at Athens),1982.
[4] Homer Iliad 2.584; Pausanias III, 2.7; Pausanias III, 20.6
[5] Fanula Papazoglu, Central Balkan Tribes in Pre-Roman Times (Amsterdam, Hakkert, 1978), 556. The plaque found at the town of Oleveni near Bitola is written in Greek.
A Bulgarian Intellectual had once stated about Skopjans: “Among them, the lie is something customary, it is not considered a vice, but as a sign of wit. The one among them who is caught lying does not feel remorse or embarrassment, but only a sorrow because he wasn’t clever enough when constructing the lie“.
The Bulgarian intellectual couldnt be more right. After we witnessed a long list of Greek and other famous heroes, comically claimed by the Propaganda machine of FYROM, it was time now for Skopjans to move on and claim even…more Famous persons, in their desperate struggle to “invent” some history through lies and manipulations while they try to support their fictitious Nationality. The latest victim of Skopjan propaganda is now…Markos Botsaris!!!
We are reading in the latest article by the infamous Risto Stefov titled “Part 12 - Turn of the 19th Century and the Negush Uprise” the following absurb claims:
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“Of the many Macedonians who fought in the Morean struggle some distinguished themselves and were promoted to high ranking positions. One such person was the Macedonian Marko Bochvaro from Voden Region. The reason I decided to mention Marko Bochvaro, or as the Greeks like to call him Markos Botsaris, is because when I was a student attending public school back in my village in Greek occupied Macedonia, a large portrait of him and other revolutionaries from the Morean struggle hung inside my classroom. As young children we were asked to call out the names of these revolutionaries and sing Greek heroic songs. At the time I did not know that Marko Bochfaro and I were Macedonians.
Marko Bochvaro fought against Ali Pasha of Ioannina and was already an experienced fighter when he joined the Morean Uprising. Bochvaro was one of the first Macedonians to join the Morean rebellion and proved himself a good leader, earning the appointment of commander of the entire rebel force. Unfortunately even then Macedonians were despised, especially those in high positions, and those under his command openly showed their dissatisfaction. In spite of all that Bochvaro fought against the Ottomans and defended Mosolongion, the then capital of the insurgents. Later on August 8th, 1923 he along with 350 Macedonian fighters attacked an Ottoman stronghold where he was shot and killed. His friends buried him in the Mosolongion Church on August 10th.
Bochvaro, from what historians tell us, was a great thinker who spoke little and commanded great authority with the greatest of modesty. He was firm, but fair and mild mannered, serious but moderate. In battle he was as powerful and untamable as a lion. Even though he exposed himself to danger and was hated by his opponents he never took part in revenge nor did he allow his fighters to commit violence. He was respected by his soldiers, which prompted writers and poets to write about him and immortalize his name. Even Jules Verne and Lord Byron wrote about him. Lord Byron even mourned him after his death and when he himself was mortally wounded, Lord Byron asked to be buried in the same Church in Mosolongion.”
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After reading this how could anyone ever take seriously these people?? At least they contribute highly to the amusement of the people around the globe. We have to admit it. Notice the characteristical inability of the author even to support with a single argument his ridiculous claims. We sympathise though with these people’s total inability to write anything sensible, since otherwise if they didnt exist to contribute with such astonishing “inventions”, we wouldnt have anyone to laugh!!!
Just a couple of sources taken from Google Books.
Quote:
Decree of the Greek government to honour the memory of Mark Bozzaris,
Provisional Government of Greece,
The President of the Executive Body decreesBLESSED shade of the immortal General Mark Bozzaris !
Mayest thou hover over all the Hellenic assemblies, beholding the joy painted in our looks, and hearing the benedictions poured on thy illustrious name, which acts upon os like a talisman ; may thy memory be eternal! Beloved Greeks ! Lo ! another Leonidas figures in your history!
The first of the name with 300 companions faced the universe, and, resolving to die in obedience to the laws of Sparta, fell in the night upon myriads of foes.
Our modern one, in concert with General Karaiskaki, and 800 brave soldiers, having patriotism for their law, and being determined to conquer, charged sword in hand, and vanquished 10,000 men.
Eight hundred Turks, and among others Pliassa Pasha, lay dead, and Jeladin Bey was wounded ; few of our heroes fell a sacrifice for their faith and country. In this glorious battle died the immortal General Bozzaris, and went to the regions of eternity to darken by the rays of his exploits the lustre of former heroes. The good Souliotes have elected for their chief his brother Constantine, and were preparing again to attack the foe.
Such are the news the government has just received from Western Greece. Beloved Hellenes !
behold how Heaven assists us against the enemy of Christianity ! how a handful of patriots destroyed his innumerable army, how the cross and patriotism triumph ! God demands from you patriotism alone, and will never abandon you fighting for his cause.
Shake off then lethargy, arm yourselves, and hasten to the field of Mars to gather crowns of laurel as the reward of your valour. To arms, Greeks ! To battle, Christians! Imitate Bozzaris and his companions !
Let us fight, and we are sure to return victorious.(signed) The president Petros Mavromikhalis,Dated Salamis, August 19. 1823
“History of the Greek Revolution: and of the wars and campaigns arising from the struggles of the Greek Patriots in amancipating their country from the turkish yoke” By Thomas Gordon, page 42
Quote:
38. MARCO BOZZARIS, THE EPAMINONDAS OF MODERN
GREECE. by the American poet Fitz-Greene Hatteck.
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His last words were— “ To die for liberty la a pleasure and not a pain.”
At midnight, in his guarded tent,
The Turk was dreaming of the hour, When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent,
Should tremble at his power. In dreams through camp and court, he bore The trophies of a conqueror;
In dreams his song of triumph heard; Then wore his monarch’s signet ring, Then pressed that monarch’s throne—a king; As wild his thoughts, and gray of wing,
As Eden’s garden bird.
An hour passed on—the Turk awoke; That bright dream was his last
He woke—to hear his sentry’s shriek, “To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek!” He woke—to die midst flame and smoke, And shoot, and groan, and sabre stroke,
And death-shots falling thick and fast As lightnings from the mountain cloud; And heard, with voice as trumpet loud,
Bozzaris cheer his bend:— ” Strike—till the last armed foe expires, Strike—for your altars and your fires. Strike—for the green graves of your sires,
God—and your native land !”
They fought—like brave men, long and well,
They piled that ground with Moslem slain ; They conquered—but Bozzaris fell,
Bleeding at every vein. His few surviving comrades saw His smile when rang their proud hurrah,
And the red field was won; Then saw in death his eyelids close Calmly, as to a night’s repose,
Like flowers at set of sun.
Come to the bridal chamber, death!
Come to the mother when she feels For the first time her firstborn’s breath;—
Come when the blessed seals Which close the pestilence are broke, And crowded cities wail its stroke; Come in consumption’s ghastly form, The earthquake shock, the ocean storm ;— Come when the heart beats high and warm,
With banquet-song, and dance, and wine, And thou art terrible: the tear, The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier, And all we know, or dream, or fear
Of agony, are thine.
But to the hero, when his sword
Has won the battle for the free, Thy voice sounds like a prophet’s word, And in its hollow tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be. Bozzaris! with the storied brave Greece nurtured in her glory’s time
Rest thee-there is no prouder grave,
Even in her own proud clime.
We tell thy doom without a sigh;
For thou art freedom’s now, and fame’s
One of the few, the immortal names,
That were not born to die.
The United States Speaker… By John Epy Lovell, page 316 published in 1844
Quote:
The name of Marco Bozzaris though never mentioned but with profound gratitude by the Greeks, in not so much in the mouths of the people, as a stranger would expect. This is to be accounted for by the fact that, cut off in the midst of his course, his influence upon the issue of the Revolution was unimportant, save in a moral point of view, as he afforded a glorious example to HIS countrymen.
“Modern Greece: a narrative of a residence and travels in that country..” By Henry Martyn Baird, page 369, published 1856
Quote:
That the Greek marine is hampered and persecuted by some admirals, who pay no attention to the neutrality which their courts proclaimed at Laybach and Verona; That Christians, armed in favour of the Koran against the disciples of the gospel, instruct and lead on the barbarous hordes which devastate the land of Cymon, Leonidas and Bozzaris; That the free government of Great Britan is the only one that has observed a strict neutrality, but that its neutrality no longer suffices to guard the Greeks from unjust and increasing persecution.
“History of the Greek Revolution: and of the wars and campaigns arising from the struggles of the Greek Patriots in amancipating their country from the turkish yoke” By Thomas Gordon, page 283
Quote:
Marco Bozzaris was a leader of the Greeks in the late revolutionary war: he was killed in the assault of a Turkish camp.
The book of recitations, page 90 by charles william smith
Quote:
Marco Bozzaris was a hero of the Greek war for independence.; he gained fame for the defense of Missolonghi against the Turks and was killed in action in 1823.
American literary autographs from Washington Irving to Henry James By Herbert Cahoon, Thomas V. Lange, Charles Ryskamp, Pierpont Morgan Library, page 13
Antonio Milososki was born in Tetovo, FYROM on January 29, 1976. Between 1994 and 1999 he studied law at Skopje’s St. Cyril and Methodius University. Between 2000 and 2001 he was Skopje’s government spokesman. From 2001 until 2002, Milososki studied at the Center for European Integration at the University of Bonn, Germany, and between 2005 and 2006 he continued as a Ph. D. and political research assistant at the Institute of Political Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. His thesis was based on the post-Cold War relations of Greece and his country since 1991.
In September 2006, he became the foreign minister of FYROM as a member of prime minister Nikola Gruevski’s right-wing nationalist party VMRO-DPMNE.
He is the one responsible for starting the false statement that Greece renamed the “province of Northern Greece“ to “Macedonia and Thrace“ back in 2003. This utter lie has now been used over and over by Skopje and its diaspora as an excuse for claiming the Greek name “Macedonia“ for their country. As a lawyer, he surely knows how to distort the truth in order to achieve what he feels is right. For him, dishonesty is the means which will justify an end.
The Truth is: Macedonia (ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ) has been the official administrative name of Greece’s province since 1913 when it was liberated from the Ottoman Empire and joined the rest of Greece. Unofficially, the area had been known as Macedonia since the Dorian Greeks migrated to it before the 4th Century B.C. What change? The “Ministry of Northern Greece” (ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΒΟΡΕΙΟΥ ΕΛΛΑΔΑΣ) changed its name to “Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace” (ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑΣ - ΘΡΑΚΗΣ) in 1988.It is very unlikely that Mr Milososki does not know this very simple yet important point. It is more likely that he is purposely distorting facts for his country’s gain. One wonders if Mr Milososki studied Political Science or Fictional Writing in Duisburg-Essen.
The following links can be used to educate anyone about the simple fact that the name Macedonia has been used in Greece before 1988:
The following 2 videos show an interview given by Antonio Milososki on Greece’s SKAI TV. Please pay special attention to what he says during the highlighted timeline:
4 minutes 6 sec: “…in respect to the Greek northern province which was renamed in 1988 from Northern Greece to province of Macedonia and Thraki…“
5 minutes 51 sec: “…we are prepared to share the heritage of this rich historical past of our common region…like Alexander the Great…that greatness goes beyond national borders…no one should have a monopoly over the name…“
6 minutes 57 sec: “We would have been more pleased if…the [Greek] officials could have said, ‛Well, thank you very much for expressing a gratitude and respect to a person being very – of a great importance to our Greek history.’“
7 minutes 38 sec: “We are prepared to go forward and to have a mutual educational historical committee – both sides to delegate experts and professionals in this direction – and they to be able to go through all books in our or in the Greek curricula.“
Essentially what he is telling the reporter is that Greece renamed Macedonia in 1988 so there was no Macedonia in Greece before that time however he continues to say that Skopje accepts that Ancient Macedonia was in Greece! Furthermore, he states that his country is willing to share Greece’s history and Greece should in fact thank his country for honouring Alexander the Great. Moreover, he expresses the idea that his country is ready to go ahead with a common history project involving “experts and professionals“ that apparently will review (and revise) the history of the region. This last statement is very important indeed and in fact this project has already started.
It is uncertain whether he is referring to The Joint History Project of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe (CDRSEE) but if not, it is an impressive coincidence. The CDRSEE is a non-governmental organization formed in 1988 whose motto is Thomas Paine’s quote “An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot“. It is supported by various corporations (e.g. Coca Cola and George Soros’s Open Societies) and despite it being a non-governmental organization, some major sponsors are various governmental bodies (like the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US State Department). It is based in Thessaloniki, Greece and is chaired by Dr. Erhard Busek, an Austrian politician. The first chair of the CDRSEE and a sponsor of this organization is Matthew Nimetz, a New York lawyer and a partner in the private investment firm General Atlantic partners, LLC. He is also the UN negotiator between Athens and Skopje in the Macedonia naming dispute.
Four common history books have been written in languages of countries they are intended for and have entered the educational curricula of various countries in the Balkans. One of the people responsible for overseeing the Joint History Project is the Deputy Secretary of the CDRSEE Costa Carras. So far the books have not entered the Greek educational system but the CDRSEE’s goal is to achieve this. These four books present a common revised history (intended to be politically correct) to the Balkans.
Although superficially the aim of this project seems noble, the major problem is that history is indeed ethnocentric and is a source of a nation’s pride. The history of the Balkans has already been written and needs no revision. It is a tumultuous history and a politically correct revision only serves to “sugar coat“ events that do need to be. Every country has its own history and does not need to be revised by another country’s experts especially when some of the intentions of another country are not noble. A thorough examination of Macedonism is not required to understand the Greek citizen’s mistrust of this Joint History Project. Even though the opinions and books shown in the 2 videos are not those of the Joint History Project, they highlight the problems encountered when a country’s education system is based on historical revisionist irredentism. Consequently, if one plans on using this country’s historical experts to help write your history, there is an obvious conflict of interest.
A major concern is that UN negotiator Matthew Nimetz is involved. This immediately defeats his purpose as a neutral and unbiased catalyst for a resolution to the name dispute between Athens and Skopje.
57 seconds: “If a Macedonian [sic] journalist goes to some school in Yannena [Greece] for example…and especially if these children are – if they are younger – and if you ask them a similar questions [sic] maybe some of them would say Greece ends…[in] Constantinople or um some other let’s say –”
1 minute 23 sec:REPORTER: “No I don’t think so.“
MILOSOSKI: “Well…I don’t think so as well.“
If Mr. Milososki didn’t think so, then why did he say so? Instead of answering the reporter’s question as to why his country’s educational curriculum encourages irredentism against Greece, he tries to turn the tables on her with a sly but unsuccesful attempt to deflect the question and put her on the defensive.
This is the man that supports a common history with Greek Macedonia. He is the first official person recorded to say that Greece renamed Northern Greece to Macedonia in 1988. He has repeated this view many times in his career as is also evident in the following Newsweek article:
The various diaspora groups of Skopje have also adopted his views and so the lie becomes bigger:
The following is an essay Antonio Milososki had written about a book he had read which claimed that Greek Macedonia was in fact Hellenized in 1913 since there was a majority of non-Greek inhabitants there. Again, he uses historical distortion and revision. He further continues the commonly used propaganda idea that the only Greeks living in Macedonia are the Pontian Greek refugees from Asia Minor.
About the Hellenization of Southern (Aegean) Macedonia - A Review of ‘Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood’
By Antonio Milososki Ph.D. Candidate
University of Duisburg
Germany
“Elsewhere in Greek Macedonia, the term [en-] dopyi (”local”) is used to refer to Slavic-speakers who had inhabited the region prior its incorporation into Greece in 1913; in the Edessa and Florina prefectures, for example, the phrase dopyos Makedhonas (”local Macedonian”) is used by many to signify a Slavic-speaker, and his descendants.
After the partition of Macedonia, beside the Patriarchate, state-sponsored schools and the Army (through the army-obligation for adult males) undertook the leading role in the process of nation building of the Greek national consciousness among the non-Greek inhabitants, which at that time consisted of the majority of the population in Southern (Aegean) Macedonia. Those were the main assimilation-levers for the realization of the state-sponsored project for the Hellenization of that part of Greece.
Further on, one can understand the significance of the refugees (prosfighas) and their immense importance in the process of “national homogenization” of the young Greek state
The next method that had accelerated this process of state sponsored assimilation was the so called “voluntary resettlement” of the native population, mainly to Turkey and Bulgaria, but also to the East-European countries during and after the Greek Civil War.
Nonetheless, it gives us more than enough evidence to draw the conclusion that Macedonia has never been exclusively Greek. Moreover, at the beginning of the twenty-century, Southern Macedonia was a multiethnic region with an overwhelmingly non-Greek majority. As the Bishop of Florina (Lerin) Augostinos Kandiotis once said, “If the hundreds of thousands of refugees had not come to Greece, Greek Macedonia would not exist today”.
Secretariat General of Information of the Hellenic Republic
Fragoudi 11 and Al. Pantou, Kallithea
10163 Athens
Greece
Dear Mr. Secretary General,
On behalf of the North American Pan Macedonian Associations (Canada and United States of America), we are writing you this letter to express our dissatisfaction with an incident that occurred on your English online bulletin Greek News Agenda on Friday, November 7, 2008. In a news bulletin entitled “Ancient Greek Spoken By Tribe” regarding Elisabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou’s findings concerning the Kalash people of Pakistan, when one would click on the name “Alexander the Great” your website linked to www.historyofmacedonia.org which is a propagandistic website administered by Skopje’s diaspora. In it one finds articles titled:“Ancient Macedonian Genes in the Modern Macedonian Nation not-related to the Greek Nation: HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks”, “Why is Greece Stealing the Macedonian History?”, “Why Macedonia and the Macedonians had Never Been Greek?” and other articles dealing with the supposed partition of “the country of Macedonia” by Greece and its allies in 1913, and about the “oppressed Macedonian minority” in Greece. Is this the link that the Greek Government wants to showcase on its websites?
It was a member of our group that noticed this huge error on your part and spread the news via the Internet on Saturday, November 8, 2008. Even though some letters had an inappropriate tone, we applaud the coordinated effort of Greeks who took the time to write to you on this matter. Furthermore, we applaud and thank you for promptly correcting your error by removing the link on this particular news item by Sunday, November 9, 2008.
However, we are deeply concerned about the initial lack of professionalism exhibited by your organization in this matter. What would have happened if no one noticed the error? As the Secretariat General of Information for the Hellenic Republic, you are responsible for the dissemination of information about Greece throughout the world. How ironic is it then that you link to a website based on the dissemination of pseudoscience, racism, and revisionist history? It was almost as if your members searched “Alexander the Great” on the Internet and chose the first website that appeared on Google with the heading “Alexander the Great (Alexander of Macedon) Biography”. This begs the question: “Are there no official Greek websites that provide a biography of this great Greek leader?”. We know of many un-official ones so why don’t you? This kind of oversight is unacceptable from the Greek Government especially in an age of revisionist history for political gain in the Balkans from our northern neighbor.
The Pan Macedonian Association has been at the service of Macedonia and Hellenism for over sixty years now. We continue to be the watchmen and watchwomen of our glorious Macedonian history and legacy. We truly hope that mistakes like the one on your website do not occur in the future.
Sincerely,
Nina GatzoulisCharalambos Moutousidis
Supreme PresidentPresident
Pan Macedonian Association (USA)Pan Macedonian Association (Canada)
Γενική Γραμματεία Πληροφοριών Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας
Φραγκούδη 11 και Αλ. Πάντου, Καλλιθέα
10163 Αθήνα
Ελλάς
Εξοχότατε κ. Λειβαδά,
Εκ μέρους των Παμμακεδονικών Ενώσεων ΗΠΑ και Καναδά σας γράφομε αυτή την επιστολή να σας εκφράσουμε τη δυσαρέσκειά μας με ένα περιστατικό που συνέβη στο ελληνικό δελτίο ειδήσεών σας στην ηλεκτρονική του μορφή, την Παρασκευή, 7 Νοεμβρίου 2008. Πρόκειται για δελτίο ειδήσεων με τίτλο «Αρχαία Ελληνικά που ομιλούνται από μια Φυλή», αφορώντας τα συμπεράσματα της Ελισάβετ Μελά-Αθανασοπούλου για τους Καλάς του Πακιστάν. Ο παραλήπτηςμπορούσε να κάνει κλικ στο όνομα «Μέγας Αλέξανδρος», αλλά υπήρχε άμεση σύνδεση με τον ιστόχωρο του www.historyofmacedonia.org η οποία είναι μια προπαγανδιστική ιστοσελίδα και χορηγείται από τη Διασπορά των Σκοπίων. Σε αυτό βρίσκονται άρθρα με τίτλο, όπως: «Αρχαία Μακεδονικά γονίδια στο σύγχρονο Μακεδονικό Έθνος που δεν σχετίζονται με το Ελληνικό Έθνος: HLA γονίδια σε Μακεδόνες και η υποσαχάρια καταγωγή των Ελλήνων», «Γιατί η Ελλάδα Κλέβει τη Μακεδονική Ιστορία»; «Γιατί η Μακεδονία και οι Μακεδόνες δεν ήταν ποτέ Έλληνες»; και άλλα άρθρα που ασχολούνται με τον υποτιθέμενο διαμελισμό της«Μακεδονίας» από την Ελλάδα και τους συμμάχους της το 1913, και για την «καταπιεσμένη Μακεδονική μειονότητα» στην Ελλάδα. Αυτός είναι ο ιστότοπος τον οποίο η ελληνική κυβέρνηση θέλει να προβάλλει στις ιστοσελίδες της;
Μέλος της ομάδας μας διαπίστωσε αυτό το τεράστιο σφάλμα εκ μέρους σας και προώθησε την είδηση μέσω του Διαδικτύου, το Σάββατο, 8 Νοεμβρίου 2008. Ακόμη και αν κάποιες επιστολές είχαν κάποιο αυστηρό τόνο, εμείς επικροτούμε την συντονισμένη προσπάθεια των Ελλήνων που μπήκαν στον κόπο να γράψουν για το θέμα αυτό. Επιπλέον, επικροτούμε και σας ευχαριστούμε για την άμεση διόρθωση του λάθους καταργώντας τον ηλεκτρονικό σύνδεσμο για τη συγκεκριμένη είδηση, την Κυριακή, 9 Νοεμβρίου 2008.
Ωστόσο, εκφράζουμε τη βαθιά μας ανησυχία για την αρχική έλλειψη επαγγελματισμού από τον οργανισμό σας σε αυτό το θέμα. Τι θα γινόταν εάν κανείς δεν πρόσεχε το λάθος; Η Γενική Γραμματεία Ενημέρωσης για την Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, είναι υπεύθυνη για τη διάδοση των πληροφοριών σχετικά με την Ελλάδα σε ολόκληρο τον κόσμο. Πόσο ειρωνικό είναι το γεγονός ότι στη συνέχεια συνδέεστε με ιστοσελίδα με βάση τη διάδοση της ψευδοεπιστήμης, του ρατσισμού, και αναθεώρησης της ιστορίας; Η προχειρότητα είναι διάφανη. Κάποιος έψαχνε για πληροφορίες περί Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου στο Διαδίκτυο και επέλεξε την πρώτη ιστοσελίδα που εμφανίστηκε στο Google με τον τίτλο «Η Βιογραφία του Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου (Ο Αλέξανδρος της Μακεδονίας)». Αυτό όμως θέτει το ερώτημα: «Δεν υπάρχουν επίσημες ελληνικές ιστοσελίδες που παρέχουν τη βιογραφία του μεγάλου Έλληνα ηγέτη»; Εμείς γνωρίζουμε πολλές ανεπίσημες, εσείς δεν τις γνωρίζετε; Αυτό είναι απαράδεκτο εκ μέρους της Ελληνικής κυβέρνησης, ιδιαίτερα τώρα την εποχή που καταβάλλονται πάμπολλες προσπάθειες αναθεώρησης της ιστορίας μας για πολιτικά κέρδη στα Βαλκάνια από το βόρειο γείτονά μας.
Η Παμμακεδονική Ένωση είναι στην υπηρεσία της Μακεδονίας και του Ελληνισμού για πάνω από εξήντα χρόνια τώρα. Συνεχίζουμε να είμαστε οι φύλακες της Μακεδονικής μας ιστορίας και κληρονομιάς. Πραγματικά ελπίζουμε ότι λάθη, όπως αυτό στην ιστοσελίδα σας δεν θα προκύψουν στο μέλλον.
Με εκτίμηση,
Νίνα ΓκατζούληΧαράλαμπος Μουτουσίδης
Ύπατη Πρόεδρος Παμμακεδονικής ΗΠΑΠρόεδρος ΠαμμακεδονικήςΚαναδά
