On December 10 1992 Michail Papadakis - 17 years old, was arrested in downtown Athens, because he was giving away leaflets with the following content: ,,Do not let yourselves be poisoned by nationalism. Macedonia belongs to its own people. There is no pure race. We are all of combined origin".
Because he tried to ,,incite people to divide between themselves" he was sentenced to one year in jail. The conviction of Papadakis is one of the last displays of suppression towards the citizens that oppose the chauvinistic policy of the Greek leaders against Macedonia /source Amnesty International - EUR 25/01/93/.
Six people - Teodorus Pagomenos, Dionisis Gurnas, Rula Adamopulu, Stergios Giumakis, Anna Stal and Kostas Kutlos were convicted on January 27 1992 because they attached posters on walls with the text: ,,Recognize Slavic Macedonia."
In both cases mentioned the international organization reckons it is a breach of the freedom of expressing personal view, which contradicts Art. 10 of the European Convention for Protecting Human Rights, signed by Greece.
,,There is a Macedonian national minority" - insists H. Florakis.
On 26.. 1960 in Athens there was a trial against 42 members of the Greek Communist Party. The accused Harilao Florakis, Secretary General of GCP, in his defending speech said according to ,,Avgi" newspaper from 10.5.1960: ,,The accusation act states that we want to separate Macedonia from the Greek State and to split Greece. There is no such thing. The word is about a minority and the rights it lacks. Terrorizing it should be stopped, persecuting this minority and its members because they speak their mother tongue... "
WHAT THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION ESTABLISHED
,,Human Rights Watch" was founded in 1978 in order to determine the state of human rights and their observance according to the Helsinki agreement from 1975. As it is well-known with that agreement the final borders of the European countries and their inviolability were acknowledged. In exchange for this acknowledgment the countries that signed the agreement were obliged to observe the human rights on their territory, including the rights of the persons representing an ethnic minority in the country. In April 1994 the organization published its report on the situation of the Slav population in Northern Greece under the title "Denying ethnic identity". By using the assistance of three fact determining commissions the organization studied the state of the human rights in Northern Greece and collected data, which helped it to reach the respective conclusions.
As it is well-known the definition ,,macedonian" is a geographic definition, used for all Greek citizens living in the Macedonian region of Northern Greece. The government denied the existence of ethnic Macedonians in Greece as a minority group and calls them officially ,,Slav Greeks" or ,,bi-lingual Greeks". The Greek government admitted that only one minority group existed in Greece and this was the Muslims in Western Thrace. Their existence was adopted with the Lozana agreement in 1923, which determined the rights of the Muslim minority in Greece, and the Greek minority in Turkey.
The ethnic Macedonians use the word ,,macedonian" for persons of Slav origin, whose ancestors have spoken a Slav Macedonian dialect and who have different culture and habits from the Greek community. According to the Greek court sentence on Hristo Siderov and Tasko Bulev (above mentioned) case, they were sentenced because they had claimed to the ,,Ena" magazine the existence of 1 000 000 Macedonians in Greece According to the Greek Law the number of the minority is a state secret. When the commission asked the local citizens they claimed themselves to be Macedonians, saying that their parents were Bulgarian.
It was the first time when an officially accepted international organization succeeded to collect the needed proofs, used in the above mentioned report. The organization reached the followine conclusions:
1. A Macedonian minority with own language and culture exists in Northern Greece.
2. The Greek government denies the ethnic identity of the Macedonian minority and abuses the international laws and agreements for the protection of human rights. That was proved by the official governmental acts... by the existence of Macedonian language, by the denial of the Greek government to permit the establishing of a ,,Macedonian Culture Center" as well as by the prohibition for performing of the Macedonian songs and folk dances.
3. The right of expression is limited for the ethnic Macedonians in violation of the international humanitarian agreements. The active members are pursued and sentenced for peacefully expressed opinions.
4. The ethnic mcedonian political immigrants (refugees), that fled Northern Greece after the Greek Civil War as well as their descendants, calling themselves Macedonians are discriminated against and are not permitted to visit Northern Greece in contrast to the political immigrants calling themselves „ Greeks" that could return to their home towns.
5. The education in the Macedonian language is prohibited.
6. The ethnic Macedonians are discriminated again when participating in public services.
7. The ethnic Macedonians and the human rights activists in particular are harassed by the government, pursued and threatened by the security forces and are subject to economic and social aggression.
At the end Human Rights Watch recommends to the ,,government of the USA to acknowledge and to confirm that the Greek Republic violates human rights. The organization recommends needed measures to be taken and in particular the Supreme Commissioner for the minority issues of. CCCE to be asked to study the issue and to take measures to stop all discrimination against the Macedonian ethnic minority in Greece. "
The report was published in April 1994 in the USA - USA Congress Library, catalogue number 4-75891 - J.S.B.N. 1-564432-132-0.
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,,Human Rights Watch" was founded in 1978 in order to determine the state of human rights and their observance according to the Helsinki agreement from 1975. As it is well-known with that agreement the final borders of the European countries and their inviolability were acknowledged. In exchange for this acknowledgment the countries that signed the agreement were obliged to observe the human rights on their territory, including the rights of the persons representing an ethnic minority in the country. In April 1994 the organization published its report on the situation of the Slav population in Northern Greece under the title "Denying ethnic identity". By using the assistance of three fact determining commissions the organization studied the state of the human rights in Northern Greece and collected data, which helped it to reach the respective conclusions.
As it is well-known the definition ,,macedonian" is a geographic definition, used for all Greek citizens living in the Macedonian region of Northern Greece. The government denied the existence of ethnic Macedonians in Greece as a minority group and calls them officially ,,Slav Greeks" or ,,bi-lingual Greeks". The Greek government admitted that only one minority group existed in Greece and this was the Muslims in Western Thrace. Their existence was adopted with the Lozana agreement in 1923, which determined the rights of the Muslim minority in Greece, and the Greek minority in Turkey.
The ethnic Macedonians use the word ,,macedonian" for persons of Slav origin, whose ancestors have spoken a Slav Macedonian dialect and who have different culture and habits from the Greek community. According to the Greek court sentence on Hristo Siderov and Tasko Bulev (above mentioned) case, they were sentenced because they had claimed to the ,,Ena" magazine the existence of 1 000 000 Macedonians in Greece According to the Greek Law the number of the minority is a state secret. When the commission asked the local citizens they claimed themselves to be Macedonians, saying that their parents were Bulgarian.
It was the first time when an officially accepted international organization succeeded to collect the needed proofs, used in the above mentioned report. The organization reached the followine conclusions:
1. A Macedonian minority with own language and culture exists in Northern Greece.
2. The Greek government denies the ethnic identity of the Macedonian minority and abuses the international laws and agreements for the protection of human rights. That was proved by the official governmental acts... by the existence of Macedonian language, by the denial of the Greek government to permit the establishing of a ,,Macedonian Culture Center" as well as by the prohibition for performing of the Macedonian songs and folk dances.
3. The right of expression is limited for the ethnic Macedonians in violation of the international humanitarian agreements. The active members are pursued and sentenced for peacefully expressed opinions.
4. The ethnic mcedonian political immigrants (refugees), that fled Northern Greece after the Greek Civil War as well as their descendants, calling themselves Macedonians are discriminated against and are not permitted to visit Northern Greece in contrast to the political immigrants calling themselves „ Greeks" that could return to their home towns.
5. The education in the Macedonian language is prohibited.
6. The ethnic Macedonians are discriminated again when participating in public services.
7. The ethnic Macedonians and the human rights activists in particular are harassed by the government, pursued and threatened by the security forces and are subject to economic and social aggression.
At the end Human Rights Watch recommends to the ,,government of the USA to acknowledge and to confirm that the Greek Republic violates human rights. The organization recommends needed measures to be taken and in particular the Supreme Commissioner for the minority issues of. CCCE to be asked to study the issue and to take measures to stop all discrimination against the Macedonian ethnic minority in Greece. "
The report was published in April 1994 in the USA - USA Congress Library, catalogue number 4-75891 - J.S.B.N. 1-564432-132-0.
[Index]
[Previous]
[Next]