PERSONALITIES - Part 10

1949 – October 2. With agreement from Mehmet Shehu, Albanian government President, and in the presence of Petrov, a representative from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Albania, ten of the top executives from NOF, NOMS and AFZH were arrested. Included among those arrested were Paskal Mitrevski, NOF Central Council President, Evdokia Baleva-Vera, NOF Central Council Vice-President and AFZH Central Committee Secretary, Mihail Maliov, KOEM Secretary and NOF Central Council Secretary, Mincho Fotev, member of the NOF Central Council Executive Committee and NOMS Main Board President, Urania Iurukova, member of the NOF Central Council Executive Committee, Lazar Poplazarov, member of the NOF Central Council, Risto Kolentsev, member of the NOF Central Council and President of the Lerin District Board of the People’s government, Tashko

Hadzhiianev, member of the NOF Central Council, Lambro Cholakov, President of the NOF District Board for Kostur District and candidate member of the NOF Central Council Executive Committee, and Pavle Rakovski, former member of NOF Central Council Presidency.

1949 – October 7. Paskal Mitrevski, Evdokia Baleva-Vera, Mihail Maliov, Mincho Fotev, Urania Iurukova, Lazar Poplazarov, Risto Kolentsev, Tashko Hadzhiianev, Lambro Cholakov, and Pavle Rakovski, were imprisoned in the “Bureli” prison camp jail. Their arrest was publicly announced at a gathering of DAG officers and soldiers in the camp where they were all stationed. The gathering was attended by all members of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, members of the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece with its president, Petrov the representative of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Albania, and representatives of the Albanian Labour Party. Some of the arrested NOF leaders were paraded in front of those attending the meeting.

1949 – October 9. The 6th CPG Central Committee Plenum was held. Vasilis Bardzhotas, member of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, submitted a paper which presented the Party’s position on the Macedonian Question announced a change. The CPG changed its position by abandoning the slogan “self-determination for the Slavo-Macedonian nation” and returned back to its previous position of “national equality”. It did this, it said, because the overall situation had changed. It was no longer possible for the People’s Republic of Macedonia to be “the centre of national unification”, and because of that there was need to introduce the “Slav-Macedonian nation” and because of that the CPG Central Committee Politburo had to decide what to do with the organizations NOF and KOEM and clean up those who were “traitors to the Party” and “Tito’s agents”. Bardzhotas said: “The Party’s 5th Plenum introduced the slogan ‘self-determination’ over establishing a ‘Slavo-Macedonian nation’. That slogan was chosen during an unsuitable moment. We chose the slogan ‘self-determination’ so that we could oppose the actions of Tito’s agents and attract the Slavo-Macedonian people into the armed struggle. Today the situation has changed and we needed to re-examine the slogan. Stalin has taught us that a national question must be

subordinated to the general interests of the revolution and then changed again to serve the general interests of the Party. This too needs to happen today in our country. We need to embrace the slogan of ‘national equality’, which we chose during the CPG Sixth Congress…” Full equality was extended for the “Slavo-Macedonians” in October 1949. This was the period when people started returning to their homes. But in reality nearly all Greek officers, who had returned after the Greek Civil War, were promoted by the Greek government to three ranks higher than those who suffered during World War II. There were no Macedonian officers but those Macedonians who did try to return were told that “only Greeks by birth can return” and that “there is no place in Greece for the likes of you…” Yes, the CPG did grant the Macedonians rights; the right to be ethnically cleansed and exiled from their homes…”

1949 – October 9. The CPG, during its Central Committee 6th Plenum held on October 9, 1949, decided to disband all Macedonian organizations: NOF, AFZH, NOMS and KOEM and on February 19, 1951 proposed to form a new organization called “Ilinden”. The reason given for dissolving NOF, AFZH and NOMS was because these organizations were managed by Tito’s agents and by traitors. The new “Ilinden” organization was created in order to combat “Tito’s agents”. Vasilis Bardzhotas, member of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, submitted a paper which presented the Party’s position on the Macedonian Question announced a change. The CPG changed its position by abandoning the slogan “self-determination for the Slavo-Macedonian nation” and returned back to its previous position of “national equality”. It did this, it said, because the overall situation had changed. It was no longer possible for the People’s Republic of Macedonia to be “the centre of national unification”, and because of that there was need to introduce the “Slav-Macedonian nation” and because of that the CPG Central Committee Politburo had to decide what to do with the organizations NOF and KOEM and clean up those who were “traitors to the Party” and “Tito’s agents”.

1949 – November 27. Refugees from Greek occupied Macedonia gathered at the ‘Freedom Square’ in Skopje where they held a protest in which they vigorously protested against the wild terror perpetrated by the Greek Monarcho-Fascists against the Macedonian

people with aims at cleansing the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia. They also protested against the terror and arrests carried out by the traitor Zahariadis who arrested the Macedonian leaders and Democratic Army of Greece fighters, in order to hide his own and his Party’s role and responsibility in the disaster, and blame it on Yugoslavia and on the National Liberation Front (NOF). By putting pressure on the national liberation front leaders, Zahariadis wants to condemn Yugoslavia which allegedly betrayed the struggle of the Greek people. Among the national liberation front leaders that Zahariadis has arrested, included were Paskal Mitrevski, Pavle Rakovski, Kicha Baleva Vera, Mincho Fotevski, Urania Pirovska, Lambro Cholakov, Lazo Poplazarov, Tashko Hadzhiianov and Mihali Maliov...”

1949 – December 14. The Macedonian NOF leaders were loaded onto the Soviet freighter “Michurin” at the port of Durres in Albania, and transported to the USSR. They arrived at the port of Odessa on December 25, 1949 and were handed over to the Soviet security Services who then locked them up in a prison in Odessa. On January 1, 1950 the detainees were loaded onto a train with special prison wagons called “Stopilinskie” and transported to Moscow where they were handed over to the USSR Ministry of State Security, which then imprisoned them in the “Liublianka” prison in Moscow. A little later they were transferred to other prisons in Moscow including Lefortovo, Butirskaia and Suhanovka. The interrogations of the NOF leaders in Moscow lasted from January 1950 until May 1952. During this time the detainees were locked up in solitary confinement or in individual cells. The interrogations were conducted around the clock from 1200 to 1700 hours and from 2300 to 0500 hours (12 noon to 5pm and from 11pm to 5am) by a group of Soviet officers, led by Colonel Rubliov, head of the Second Department of the USSR Ministry of State Security. Included among the interrogators were Major Pandeleev, Colonel Viktor Petrov Firtsov, Colonel Evgeni Kostandinovich Nikitin, and Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Pogrebniak. The interrogations were done in the Greek language because the Soviet service did not have Macedonian speaking translators. The translators were Soviet officers of Greek origin. Included among the translators were Captain Hristos Dzhumiadis, Captain Ioanidis, and Lieutenant Aristotelis Papounidis.

1950 - Greek minister admits Macedonians exist. Ioanis Sofianopulos, leader of the leftist liberals and former Foreign Minister of Greece, in a debate in the Greek Parliament, admitted that “there is a Macedonian minority in Greece but, according to international law, that minority does not exist and can not claim any protection because it did not prove itself to be loyal to the state in which it lives” on account of its mass participation in the Greek Civil War in the years 1945 to 1949.

February 19, 1951. CPG proposes to form a new organization called “Ilinden”. The new “Ilinden” organization was created in order to combat “Tito’s supposed agents”.

1952 – April 2. Some Macedonian members of the CPG, the likes of Pando Vaina, Stavro Kochev, Tasho Gushevski-Maki and others, “blindly attached” themselves to Nikos Zahariadis and were used by him to create the anti-Macedonian Organization “Ilinden”. On behalf of the CPG Central Committee, while in Poland, Zahariadis petitioned the Polish Worker’s Party and received approval to hold a founding Congress for “Ilinden”. The Congress was held on April 2 and 3, 1952 in the village Krostsienko, which was attended by about 500 Macedonians. The organization was formed in order “to mobilize the Macedonian emigrants in Eastern European countries” to conduct anti-Yugoslavian propaganda on behalf of the Informburo.

1953 – March 5. Stalin dies. After his death Goergi Malenkov took on the Soviet government helm followed by Nikita Khrushchev. During the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee 20th Congress, Khrushchev strongly condemned Stalin’s personality cult. As a result, in March 1955 strained relations between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were normalized and later so were relations between the CPG and CPY.

1953 – April 19. In a Soviet court the Macedonian NOF leaders were sentenced to long prison terms ranging from 8 to 25 years to be served in hard labour concentration camps. Paskal Mitrevski was sentenced to 25 years, Mincho Fotev was sentenced to 10 years, Lambro Cholakov, Risto Kolencev and Tashko Hadzhiianev were

each sentenced to 8 years in prison. They were sent to serve their sentences in the concentration camps in Vorkuta, Komi, in the north part of the USSR, “where the temperature dips 56 degrees below zero”, to work in the coal mines. Pavle Rakovski was sentenced to 10 years. Evdokia Baleva-Vera, Urania Iupukova and Lazo Poplazarov were each sentenced to 8 years in prison. All of them were sent to the concentration camps in Siberia.

1953 - August 23. Legal Act No. 2536 was issued, on the strength of which all those who left Greece and who did not return within three years time could be deprived of their property. A decision on the resettlement of Macedonians was taken. A wide-flung campaign was launched in the mass media to induce the Macedonians to leave their native areas voluntarily and to settle in the south of the country and on the islands. The Greek authorities intended to create a 60 kilometer-wide belt along the border with Yugoslavia where “the faithful sons of the Greek nation” were to be settled. In the first point of this Act it is stated that the resettlement was necessary owing to the humanitarian aspect of the matter as the living standard of the Macedonians would improve. The actual intention was to separate Macedonians living in Greece from the Republic of Macedonia. Due to a firm reaction from Yugoslavia the realization of that shameful plan was cancelled.

1956 - June 4. A decision was made to disband “Ilinden” because the organization was regarded as sectarian, adventurous and harmful. This certainly was done to normalize relations between the SKJ and the CPG when in May 1956 the CPG Central Committee adopted a special resolution.

1957 - The CPG Central Committee held its 7th Plenum during which General Markos said: “DAG could not have been turned into a regular army by giving speeches and by writing articles about it, or by simply having a desire for it to be a regular army. By calling DAG a regular army and by removing it from its solid defensive positions, Zahariadis not only threw away its tactics of defense and permanent positions, but also began to create a terrible danger for the very existence of the democratic armed resistance movement in general.”

1958 – August. The CPG Central Committee held its 9th Plenum.

1959 - Legal Act No. 3958 was issued, on the strength of which the land of those who left Greece and did not return within five years time was confiscated. The law was amended in 1985, but it is still binding on Macedonians. Acts from the years 1948, 1953 and 1959 concerning property confiscation are a consequence of the 1947 ban on returning. Several villages in Greek occupied Macedonia were forced to swear “Language Oaths” to speak only Greek and renounce their Macedonian mother tongue.

1962 - Legal Act No. 4234 was issued, on the strength of which persons who were stripped of their Greek citizenship were banned from returning to Greece. The ban on crossing the Greek border also extends to spouses and children. It is still in force for Macedonians, even those who left Greece as children.

1967 - July 17. Ohrid Archbishopric is renewed in the Republic of Macedonia. The Macedonian Orthodox Church becomes independent on September 8, 1991 following a referendum for the independence of the Republic of Macedonia as a separate state.

1968 - ECHR accuses Greece of human rights abuses. The EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS accused Greece of human rights abuses.

1969 - Legal Act was issued on the strength of which the settlement of the unoccupied Macedonian farms by Greeks by origin was permitted. After that a plan was put together to locate over one hundred thousand immigrants of so called Greek origin from the ex-Soviet Union on this territory. In the future this will be a source of new national tensions. Council of Europe declares Greece “undemocratic, illiberal, authoritarian, and oppressive”. Greece forced to resign from Council of Europe under threat of expulsion. Military Junta continues the policy of colonizing the confiscated lands in Greek occupied Macedonia. Land handled over to persons with a “proven patriotism” for Greece. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms signed by Greece states: ARTICLE 10(1) “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and

impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers”.

1976 - DECREE 233 suspends about 150 past decrees, government decisions and laws since 1913. Regulations for the confiscation of properties belonging to Macedonian political exiles not affected.

1979 - 135 places renamed since 1940. The Greek vigil regarding names is an indicator of the Macedonian ethnic identity in Greek occupied Macedonia.

1980 - Tito dies, rise of nationalism among federation’s constituent republics.

1982 - New attempts made to erase the Macedonian language. The Greek internal security police urged an intensive campaign to wipe out any remaining Macedonian language and consciousness in Greek occupied Macedonia. LAW 106841 political exiles who fled during the Civil War and were stripped of their citizenship are allowed to return providing they are “Greek by ethnic origin”. The same rights are denied to Macedonian political exiles born in Greek occupied Macedonia. U.N. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ARTICLE 17, “No one can be deprived of their own property against their will”.

1982 – December 29. Legal Act No. 10634l was issued. While Andreas Papandreou was prime minister legal Act No. 10634l was issued. On the strength of that Act only Greeks by origin have the right to Greek citizenship and their right to return to Greece. Macedonians born in Greece and their families have been excluded. They were and are doomed to live in exile. Heads of various rungs of the state administration received the right to make free use of the property left by Macedonian refugees. The Greek authorities refer to that hostile Act whenever they reject Macedonian demands for the recovery of Greek citizenship taken away by default. They refer to that “law” even in their explanations to the Centre for Human Rights in Geneva! Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Paris, December 1948: Art. XIII, Point 2: “Everyone has the right to leave every country, including one’s own, and to return to his own country.” Art. XV, Point 1: “Each person has the right to have a

citizenship.” Art. XV, Point 2: “No one can be freely dispossessed of his or her citizenship.” U.N. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ARTICLE 13, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, as well as to return to their own country”.

1985 – April. Hostile Act, No. 1540, was issued. While Andreas Papandreou was prime minister hostile Act, No. 1540, was issued. This amended the previously issued Acts regulating property relations so as to make it absolutely impossible for Macedonians to return. This Act permits the recovery of illegally seized property to “Greeks by origin only”. The Macedonian refugees from Greece are excluded. Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Paris, December 1948: Art. XVII, Point 2: “No one can be deprived of his or her property freely.”

1986 - PEN condemns Greece. International writers’ organization, PEN, condemns Greece’s denial of the existence of Macedonians and their language. Greece escalates climate of fear in Greek occupied Macedonia. Greece officially calls the Republic of Macedonia as the “Republic of Skopje”, after the name of its capital city; and Macedonians are called “Skopjans”. The term “Skopjans” used to label Greek citizens who declare themselves as ethnic Macedonians. “Skopjans” laced with hatred, and racism. It connotes a traitor to Hellenism.

1988 – September. CPG declares Macedonians don’t exist. Almost one years after the May 1987 Congress, CPG Secretary General Harilaos Florakis held a press conference in Solun with Greek and foreign journalists to openly explain the position he took at the Congress. In his answer to a journalist working for “Mesimvrini”, among other things, Florakis said: “On this occasion I would like to say that for us, for our Party, the Macedonian minority does not exist!”

1989 - OMO Ilinden formed. A group of Macedonians formed the United Macedonian Organization - Ilinden (OMO Ilinden) with aims at gaining cultural and national autonomy for the Macedonians in Pirin. OMO Ilinden PIRIN was a political party of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. It was registered as a political party in 1999

and participated in municipal elections in October 1999, where it elected five local officials. However, on February 29, 2000, the Constitutional Court in Bulgaria declared OMO “Ilinden” - PIRIN unconstitutional. This was in direct violation of the right to freedom of association and the right to freedom from discrimination.

1989 - August 30. Legal Act rehabilitating the participants from the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949 was issued. These participants had hitherto been recognized as bandits. The Act granted damages and disability pensions to fighters in the civil war who now have Greek citizenship. By the same token, the Macedonian fighters living in exile – who earlier had been stripped of their citizenship - were not included.

1990 - CSCE Conference on Human Dimension. CSCE COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN DIMENSION, to which Greece is a signatory, states in ARTICLE 32: “Persons belonging to national minorities have the right freely to express, preserve, and develop their ethnic, cultural, linguistic, or religious identity and to maintain and develop their culture in all its aspects, free of any attempts as assimilation against their will”. ARTICLE 33: “Participating states will protest the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of national minorities…and create conditions for the promotion of that identity”. GREEK HIGH COURT DECISION 19 refuses registration of “CENTER FOR MACEDONIAN CULTURE” in Florina (Lerin). Appeal is turned down by High Appeals Court in Solun. Further appeal dismissed by Supreme Administrative Council of Greece in Athens.

1991 - CSCE meeting on minorities held in Geneva. CSCE MEETING ON NATIONAL MINORITIES IN GENEVA, in which Greece participated states: “Issues concerning national minorities…are matters of legitimate international concern and consequently do not constitute exclusively an internal affair of the respective State…Participating States reaffirm, and will not hinder the exercise of, the right of persons belonging to national minorities to establish and maintain their own educational, cultural and religious institutions, organizations and associations”. Belligerent anti-Macedonian propaganda incites Greek population into a state of

chauvinistic hysteria. Translation from Greek: “Hang the Skopje Gypsies.”

Acronyms

AFZH - Women’s Anti-Fascist Front AKE - Agrarian party of Greece ASNOM – Anti-Fascist Assembly of National Liberation of Macedonia BRP(k) – Communist Party of Bulgaria CPG - Communist Party of Greece CPM - Communist Party of Macedonia CPY - Communist Party of Yugoslavia CVG - Greek Civil War DAG – Democratic Army of Greece EAM – National Liberation Front ELAS – National Liberation Army of Greece EON – National Youth Organization EPON – All Greek National Youth Organization KOEM – Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia KOS - Counter-intelligence Sector of JAN NKVD – People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs NOB - People’s Liberation War (WW II) NOBG - Peoples Liberation Struggle in Greece NOBM - Peoples Liberation Struggle in Macedonia NOF - Peoples’ Liberation Front NOMS - Peoples’ Liberation Youth Organization OKNE - Communist Youth Organization of Greece ONOO – Local People’s Liberation Council OZNA – People’s Defense Division PAO - Pan-Hellenic Liberation Organization PDEG – Pan-Greek Democratic Union of Women PDOG – International Federation of Democratic Women POJ - Partisan Units of Yugoslavia SID - Information Services of the Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs SNOF - Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front SKP(b) – Communist Party of the Soviet Union UDBA - Directorate of State Security USSR – United Soviet Socialist Republics