A brief survey of the Macedonian Question

The Macedonian Question did not exist until 1877/78 - the war between Russia and Turkey for the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. According to the peace treaty, signed in San Stefano Bulgaria comprising three provinces - Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia was liberated and all the Bulgarian people united in one state. The revision of that treaty which followed at the Berlin Congress divided the new-born state and left Macedonia again under Turkish yoke.

All the foreign diplomats, missionaries and travellers crossing our land at that period were unanimous about the national character of the population of the three above mentioned provinces of Bulgaria - the inhabitants were Bulgarians.

For 30 more years Macedonia remained within the Turkish empire.

In 1912 Bulgaria entered into an alliance with Greece and Serbia against the Turks in order to liberate Macedonia.

The Bulgarian army /1912-1913/ advanced into Turkey and reached the outskirts of Constantinople defeating the Turkish ground forces. At the same time, however, the Greek and Serbian armies occupied Macedonia and divided it between themselves.

Bulgaria joined Germany in World War I in order to liberate Macedonia from the new conquerors - Greece and Serbia but was defeated in the war. Macedonia with its Bulgarian population was divided into three parts: 50% of its territory went to Greece, 40% to Serbia and only 10% to Bulgaria.

After World War I the Bulgarian population in that part of Macedonia which remained in Greece was expelled from the country and over 600 000 Macedono-Bulgarians emigrated to Bulgaria.

In the other part of Macedonia which was incorporated into the Serbian state the Macedonian Bulgarians were officially treated as ,,pure Serbs". All the Bulgarian schools were closed, Bulgarian books were burned, priests and teachers were banned from exercising their profession. The resistance of the Bulgarian population rose and the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslav in Marseille by Macedono-Bulgarian member of IMRO /Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization/ was the highest point in the struggle for preserving the Bulgarian national identity.

After World War 2 the communist Federal State of Yugoslavia was created including the People's Republic of Macedonia. But what a miracle - the population was not Bulgarian not even ,,pure Serbs" any more but hat turned into ,,Macedonians" overnight! The geographical notion had to be formed according to the plans of the communist rulers in Moscow and their puppets in Belgrade and Skopie.

Today in the Republic of Macedonia it is forbidden to possess or read Bulgarian books or to declare oneself to be of Bulgarian origin. Since World War 2 in that part of Macedonia over 20 000 people were killed and more than 100 000 were sent to concentration camps. In 1988 the number of political prisoners in Yugoslavia was higher than the number of political prisoners in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union taken together /Human Right Watch - annual Report 1988/.

Our paper on the situation of Bulgarian population in the republic of Macedonia contains facts, figures and names, documenting the constant violation of human rights in that Yugoslav Republic.

Two months ago (May 1991) representatives of Macedono-Bulgarians living in Bulgaria, Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia and the Socialist Republic of Macedonia gathered in the town of Blagoevgrad /Bulgaria/ to a Great Congress. In their political declaration adopted at the congress is written: ,,We are confident that no changes of today's national borders in the Balkans are necessary but rather their opening within the confines of a United Europe will justly solve the Macedonian Question."

The real democratization of the Yugoslav state and the breakdown of the Belgrade communist chauvinist regime will be a real guarantee for that.

GREECE HAS NO HISTORICALRIGHTS OVER THE NAME OF МACEDONIA"

All chancelleries and the editorial offices of the world leading newspapers have been piled recently with a long book, an edition de luxe, 580 pages long and amply illustrated, entitled "Macedonia - 4000 Years of Greek History and civilization". This book published by ,,Ekdoptika Athenon", 1991 Athens, claims to be the final, decisive and categorical say on the question of Macedonia and its belonging to Greece for 40 centuries. Nineteen Greek and seven foreign scholars have contributed to the book. The purpose of the book is to prove that during that long period Macedonia has been, and still is, only a Greek land owing to the kinship ties between the Greek and Macedonian tribes. The book treats of the history of the ancient Macedonian Kingdom, its progress, the Byzantine influence over it, its fall under Roman rule /preserving the Greek-Byzantine culture/ and finally the liberation of Macedonia from Turkish yoke in 1912 and its inclusion within the boundaries of the modem Greek state. The book is based on the axiom: the ancient Macedonian Kingdom was Greek. This assertion is inculcated into the minds of Greek people from their scholar circles and abroad. However, there exists ample academic literature in which the conclusions reached contradict the authors of this book.

It has been proved that the Macedonian Kingdom began with the reign of Perdikas in 700 BC and was politically independent until AD 148 when it became part of the Roman Empire. The question is now raised as to the ethnic identity of the people that founded the Macedonian State.

According to Toukidid, one of most prominent ancient historians, the Macedonians were people different from the Athenians and he calls them ..barbarians" /Toukidid - 2.80.82/. In a manuscript by an unknown author preserved since the end of the 5th and the beginning of 4th century BC called ..Peri Politeias" the Macedonians are treated as something quite different from the Greeks and are also called ,,barbarians". We should also mention the irrefutable proof given by Demosthenes one of the most prominent figures in antiquity. In the renowned ..Selected Speeches of Demosthenes" /Bulgarian edition 1982/ one can read the famous diatribes against Philip II, the predecessor of Alexander the Great /336 - 323 BC/. The third diatribe reads as follows: ,,But Philip and his crimes are not treated like this any more. Not only is he no Hellene and has nothing in common with the Hellenes but he also has nothing in common with the foreigners of whom we speak with respect. He is an unworthy Macedonian, a country from which one cannot buy a single industrious slave" /p. 67/. His conviction that the Macedonians have no kinship with the Greeks is expressed by Demosthenes in his speech entitled ..About the Wreath". In it the calls on the listeners to read the inscription on the gravestone of the killed Athenian soldiers. The inscription reads: ,,They fought in order to free the Greeks from the burden of slavery and from the hateful impudence of the foreigners" - so it proves in an indisputable way that the Macedonian ruler Philip and therefore the Macedonians are not Hellenes which means that the name ,,Macedonia" originating from a ..barbarian tribe" cannot be subject of any claims on the part of present-day Greece.

The ancient Macedonians were Illyrians just like the ancient Thracians. And when later in the 5th century the Slavs invaded the Balkan peninsula and settled there /including Macedonia/, the national composition of the country was completely changed and that is why the Romans called Macedonia "Slavinia terra" /Slav land/.

But even if we assume that the ancient Macedonians were Greeks, Macedonia was under Greek domination from the foundation of the Macedonian Kingdom /7th century. BC/ till it was conquered by the Romans /AD 148/ or, in other words, for nine centuries, whereas it has been irrefutably proved that Macedonia was inhabited by the Slav tribes who were completely different from the Greeks for 15 centuries. Greece laid its hands again on Macedonia as late as 1912 when in alliance with Serbia it seized 52% of the territory of Macedonia.

These brief historical notes show how groundless the Greek pretensions over the name of ,,Macedonia" are. In contrast to the statement that Macedonia was created by Tito the people who have lived there for centuries have always called their country Macedonia.

GREECE DOES NOT HONOR HER INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS

The Macedonian Bulgarians in Greece are subject to assimilation. Regardless of any prevailing laws their names and surnames have been changed as well as the names of the places where they live. Their native language is forbidden including all Macedonian songs and customs. The authorities are at present contemplating settling 1000s of refugee Greeks from USSR in the Macedonian territories, to further diminish any national consciousness among the local population. This uncompromising policy typifies the Greek intransigence towards the Macedonian population. It is also illustrated by number of examples in which Greek policy ignores its own Constitutional laws.

The first incident relates to the town of Lerin (Florina). In accordance with the principles of human rights that is the safeguard and development of national customs and traditions a meeting was held on the 18th of April 1990 for establishment of a Macedonian Cultural Centre. A committee of 7 persons was selected to draft a conclusion. The objectives of the group are stated in Article 2.

The spiritual, cultural and artistic development of the members of the association and the citizens of Lerin within a spirit of cooperation and solidarity. Cultural decentralization and protection of the traditions, cultural monuments and development of the national culture of the local population.
Protection of the nature and cultural environment of the district.

The constitution is signed by Hristo Sideropoulos (Forest Ranger), Stavros Anastasiadis (tradesman) and 15 other individuals from Lerin and the surrounding district. The petition of registration to proceed was rejected by the authorities.

Subsequently we read the following comments published in the 22/06/91 issue of ELLINIKOS VORAS.

The intention to divide the country is a case of treachery against Greece. The demand to allow a Cultural Centre is in fact an attempt to alter the Greek character of Macedonia and its inhabitants.