SPHERES OF INFLUENCE (OCTOBER 9, 1944)

SPHERES OF INFLUENCE (OCTOBER 9, 1944)

Let us review some facts: Of the total ethnic Macedonian territory amounting to 67,422 square kilometres, 51% of it was awarded to Greece. This is the area known as “Aegean Macedonia”, which in reality is Greek occupied Macedonia. The Kingdom of Serbia was awarded 39% of Macedonia, known as Vardar Macedonia, which in reality was Serbian occupied Macedonia in 1913. Today this is now known as the Republic of Macedonia, a sovereign and independent Macedonian state. Bulgaria was awarded 9.5% of Macedonian territory known as Pirin Macedonia. Later Albania was awarded 0.5% of Macedonia’s territory known as Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo.

In terms of area, Greece was awarded 34,385 square kilometres, Serbia was awarded 26,995 square kilometres, Bulgaria was awarded 6,405 square kilometres and Albania was awarded 332 square kilometres.

1.3 THE MACEDONIAN FREEDOM FIGHTING REBELS

The Macedonian freedom fighting rebels were fighters who initially fought for Macedonia’s liberation from Turkish rule and forty years later their descendents fought against Greek slavery. These were the sons and grandsons of the prominent Ilinden fighters who also fought against the Greek Andartes and their sponsor Greek Bishop Karavangelis, who had committed unprecedented crimes in the name of Hellenism according to his own boasting and claims he made in his own autobiography.

The freedom fighting rebels had an oath: “Macedonia - we fight you – and for you we will die.”

Why did the Macedonian freedom fighting rebels appear on March 5, 1943 in Kostur Region, why did they form the first Macedonian military units and why did events take a different course? Why and for what reason did they appear in lawless Greece? (On May 20, 1941 in accordance with Hitler’s May 17, 1941 order, Greece was officially divided into occupation zones: German, Italian and Bulgarian.)

Where was the Macedonian factor to take the fate of the Macedonian people into its hands? Why did the Macedonians follow the Greek and Bulgarian propaganda machine, which acted since the Exarchate and the Patriarchate? Where were our national leaders? They had joined CPG, of course! Why? To fight for cosmopolitanism and to join the class struggle as recommended by Stalin - naturally...

Now let us see how the Communists acted on this issue and for what purpose did they proposed to form SNOF? Especially since it was well known that the communists cared very little to none for the Macedonians, even as minorities with the right to form independent military formations. Why did the CPG still pretend to care for us

Macedonians when ELAS, in the summer of 1943, was negotiating to join the English who, behind the scenes, were asking for our demise?

CONCERNS OR PURE MANIPULATION?!

The CPG, EAM and ELAS leaderships, concerned about the situation that existed in Greek occupied Macedonia, especially in Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions, found themselves forced to form a separate Macedonian organization; SNOF (Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front). So, on October 20, 1943 they established SNOF but only in Kostur Region and later in Lerin and Voden Regions. This was done by Greeks from the CPG District Committee for Western Macedonia, namely Hristos Kalfas-Andreas, Antonis Andonopoulos-Pericles, CPG District Committee Secretary for Kostur Region and Thanassis Kartsounis, CPG District Committee Secretary for Kozheni Region. (See: “Paskal Mitrevski and his time (1921-1978)” by Tashko Mamurovski.) This is how and under what kind of conditions SNOF was born.

According to Dr. Kiriazovski, “a lot a credit must be given to SNOF because more than 500 Macedonians joined ELAS from the villages where SNOF acted…” (But, at this point, it is unclear why the Macedonians were pushed to join ELAS?) Kiriazovski continued: “Of course SNOF’s and SNOB’s (Slavo-Macedonian Liberation Army) most important contribution was the disarming of most of the counter-revolutionaries (referring to the Macedonian freedom fighting rebels because history was written based on the Yugoslav model, and we Macedonians who fought for Macedonia were referred to as ‘counter-revolutionaries’. S.K.), and thus allowing a smooth development of the People’s Liberation Movement in that region.” (See “Macedonian national institutions in the Aegean part of Macedonia, (1941-1961)”, by Dr. Risto Kiriazovski, p. 29.)

Further down, on page 33, Kiriazovski wrote: “Exactly when SNOF achieved these results and had real prospects for achieving even greater results and even greater involvement of the Macedonians in the armed struggle, the CPG leadership, in April 1944, decided to dissolve SNOF and SNOB. This very unhappy and damaging move by the CPG leadership was done because of the CPG’s agreement

with Right for gaining illicit concessions...” And thus six months after being born, SNOF was killed by the same people that gave it birth! Was this spontaneous or pre-planned? Let us look at the facts. Fact: The Macedonian freedom fighting rebels were a reality, they existed, were armed and were ready to fight and die for Macedonia! Fact: The rebels were an obstacle to the Greeks no matter which political party they belonged to or ideological side they held! Fact: For the CPG and the Greek government in exile, the rebels had to go; no matter what! But how? The Greeks were well aware of the rebel fighting potential and brute force alone was not going to dislodge them that easily without much bloodshed! So, the Greeks and their patrons came up with a clever plan to convince the Macedonians to do this dirty deed for them… and so they concocted SNOF. Then when SNOF did its job and the rebels were not only disarmed but were now fighting for the Greeks in ELAS, SNOF was dissolved. This is the gist of the story, the rest is smoke and fog to cover tracks… The Macedonian people, on all sides, were lied to and deceived to sacrifice themselves for a cause that served foreign interests… And sacrifice themselves they did to a point of experiencing genocide…

People have the right to know that, in the absence of a “Macedonian factor” Bulgarian propaganda twice reached the Macedonian people even before the Macedonian freedom fighting rebels appeared. The first time this happened was during the Greek - Italian War in 1940 when Macedonian soldiers in the Greek army were captured by the Italians and sent to Italy as prisoners. Bulgaria asked the Italian government to surrender these Macedonians to Bulgaria because all these captured Macedonians were, according to Bulgarian authorities, “Bulgarians”. Even though these Macedonians never claimed to be Bulgarians, the Greek government blacklisted them and had them and their families persecuted. They were labeled traitors to the motherland Greece and eventually exterminated.

The second and more dramatic time Bulgarian propaganda reached the Macedonian people was during the Second World War when a group of 27 Macedonian and Greek communists were released from “Akronavplion” prison on June 28, 1941, with the help of Julia Schneider. Julia, who spoke German, informed the German authorities that the Macedonians in the prison were not jailed

because they were communists but the Greeks had jailed them because they were “Bulgarians”. The Bulgarian authorities demanded that they be released under the condition that they agree to receive Bulgarian citizenship. Naturally this was used by the Greek nationalist press and by some Greek politicians to vilify the CPG, charging it with allegedly working for the services of the occupier and for surrendering Macedonia to the Bulgarians.

The fate of these people is well known and so is the faction which was responsible for turning them into victims. Here is what Dr. Tanas Trpovski had to say: “If Mr. Kochov wanted to be objective he could have very easily done so, because there exists documentation that proves that his (Lazo Trpovski’s) death was a result of the Greek communists seeing him as a Macedonian patriot fighting for the liberation of his people.” (“Nova Makedonija”, 07.04.1994.) It is true, I did not know this. Up until now I had not found anything in our historiography that pointed to Lazo Trpovski being liquidated by the communists. I knew about the manipulation, but I had no idea that the communists killed him… one of their own.

But, before we have a look at who the Macedonian freedom fighting rebels were, it is interesting and important to understand the thesis “one state – one party” and how it was applied in the newly created circumstances during the occupation of Macedonia in 1941. Here is what Dr. Vanche Stoichev had to say:

“The Bulgarian occupation of most of Vardar Macedonia (which is certainly also valid for Aegean Macedonia) motivated the CPB to perform new annexations of Macedonia through the communist movement in compliance with the Comintern thesis. After the annexation of the Macedonian Communist Party in Pirin Macedonia, the CPB attempted to annex the Communist Party in Vardar Macedonia. So the question is: did the CPB, through various forms, attempt to do the same in Aegean Macedonia? And is there proof that the CPB was not involved in the whole process in creating the rebel movement?” (“Nova Makedonija” published on July 16, 1994.)

Regarding this issue, Dr. Vanche Stoichev said: “Research on Comintern dealings between the CPY, the CPB and the CPG has

unearthed undeniable evidence that all three parties worked against the Macedonian Question before and during the Second World War. Up until recently their historiography traditionally depended on daily politics.”

And now let us have a look at the people whom we have identified here as the Macedonian freedom fighting rebels in Greek occupied Macedonia. Here is what several historians have written about them… and we have no reason not to believe them: “... that which made a small part of the Macedonian population to come out and join the rebel movement was fear of the armed Greek nationalist gangs. In 1943, leaflets with intimidating slogans against the Macedonian people were distributed in Western Macedonia. That was one reason; the other reason was that the majority of the Macedonian people were not convinced by CPG promises such as the ‘equality minority rights’ that they were offering if they came to power. Also, there was nothing said in the EAM programs about individual national rights for the Macedonians. After the first units of ELAS appeared in Western Macedonia in March 1943, which at the time were dominated by Greek nationalist elements, they slaughtered 17 Macedonians in Zagorichani.” (See: “Macedonia under Greece in the struggle against fascism (1940-1944)” by Hristo Andonovski, p. 108.)

“One of the numerous factors that prevented the counter-revolutionary movement (Macedonian freedom fighting rebels) in the Aegean part of Macedonia from turning into a Bulgarian quisling movement was the full participation of its members in the ranks of ELAS, and later in DAG (Democratic Army of Greece), in which were highlighted a plethora of celebrated fighters, commanders, Commissars and guerrilla units. A large number of them gave their lives for the freedom of their people.” (See: Dr. Risto Kiriazovski’s review of the book “Bulgarian propaganda in southwestern and central Aegean Macedonia (1941-1944)” by Tashko Mamurovski.)

This is what Tashko Mamurovski said at the end of his book: “… There were frequent killings, robberies, arson, rapes, orgies and other forms of violence committed by the Greek nationalists against the innocent Macedonian population. The Greek nationalists had

joined the ranks of ELAS in order to serve as agents and collaborators of the Greek Right. Included among them were Kolaras, Baskakis and others who drove the Macedonian people to defend themselves, their honour and freedom with weapons handed to them by the occupier.” (See p. 49.)

Now I would like to say something personal, something that I personally experienced along with thousands of fighters in the DAG units. I would like to mention the case of Kosta (Dinev) Solev -Sulio, who died as a hero and as a fearless DAG fighter and commander. There was no mention of this noble man in Tashko Mamurovski’s book “Bright personalities from Aegean Macedonia (1945-1949)” most likely because some people still wanted to call people like Kosta: “... fighters for Hitler and his minions in the Balkans...” And who was Kosta? He was a Macedonian, a former rebel who believed that we should be fighting for the defense of our Macedonian dignity. He and others like him were never against the left movement, but for Macedonian freedom.

Let us not forget that these people had children and their children today live in the Republic of Macedonia and are loyal Macedonians. I would like to express my great respect to Mrs. Iagnula Paskal Kunovska who, in her text “New views of history”, has expressed concise and critical views of our history, which are of utmost importance to our vital national issues. The text is well balanced and shows her high and clear patriotism. Her theme is about the movements of the Macedonian factor, not the machinations of the so-called “Aegean syndrome” of (self) destruction. With her serious review, Mrs. Kunovska has touched on a number of substantial problems and has called for a national reconciliation, a long promoted necessary act for our nation. This is what respected professor Dimitar Dimitrov wanted and because of Iagnula’s personal fate (as is the fate of thousands Macedonians) of having to live in exile without it being her fault but only because she was guilty of being born to a family where her grandfather was an Ilinden fighter, her father fought against the Greek nationalist gangs and her brothers were killed while fighting for DAG.