Introduction - Part 09

Was it not Markos Vafiadis, one of Zahariadis’s own generals, who at his own trial confessed that the communists in Greece of whom Zahariadis was in charge, succeeded in exterminating the Macedonians in a matter of a few short years, a task the entire Greek state could not do for decades? This should speak volumes to those who are willing to listen. Was Zahariadis a double agent working for both Stalin and Churchill? Some people seem to think so. In retrospect certainly certain behaviour seem to point in that direction but the truth is obviously hidden somewhere in the British archives. Thanks to Zahariadis, while the entire world was taking steps forward providing human rights and freedom to minorities, Greece took a step backwards by taking those rights away. As I mentioned earlier, members of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) as well as members of the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF) were not happy with the appearance of the new MNLF. It seems that the CPG leadership was unsure of what had happened at Varkiza and afterwards, while experiencing denial of its capitulation to the British, Zahariadis showed his true hypocritical colours by offering the Macedonians equal rights and self determination and so soon after accusing them of being separatists. Knowing full well what the British had planned for the communists and what the rightist Greeks had planned for the Macedonians, Zahariadis had to be completely incompetent or a brazen traitor to again compel Macedonians to join him in a losing fight. Knowing full well that the “new Greece” would never recognize the Macedonians, Zahariadis enticed them to join his staged fight with promises of equality, human rights and ethnic recognition. This was indeed Greek hypocrisy at its best because, by their own involvement in the Second World War, the Macedonian people had already earned the right to self determination and did not need to spill more blood. But Zaharidis’s real aims it appears were hidden and all he wanted to do was destroy the Macedonians by pitting them against the Greek army. But looking at the problem another way “what choice did the Macedonians really have?” Surrender to the rightists and be exterminated was not really a practical choice. The choice obviously was to stand up and fight and hope for a better outcome! Passive resistance was not an option so the Macedonians chose to fight but now more than ever had no illusions about their future with the Greeks. Even Captain Evans was aware that the Macedonians did not trust the Greeks and would have opted for separating from Greece if given a choice. “Captain P. H. Evans – an agent of Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), who spent eight months of 1943-44 in western Aegean Macedonia as a British liaison officer (BLO) and station commander-described the attitude ‘even of educated Greeks towards the Slav [speaking Macedonian] minority’ as ‘usually stupid, uninformed and brutal to a degree that makes one despair of any understanding ever being created between the two people’.” (p. 145, Andrew Rossos, “Macedonia and the Macedonians A History”. “As Captain Evans emphasized: ‘[Western Aegean Macedonia] ..is predominantly a Slav region, not a Greek one. The language of the home, and usually also the fields, the village street, and the market is Macedonian, a Slav language… The place names as given on the map are Greek,…but the names which are mostly used …are…all Slavic names. The Greek ones are merely a bit of varnish put on by Metaxas…Greek is regarded as almost a foreign language and the Greeks are distrusted as something alien, even if not, in the full sense of the word, as foreigners. The obvious fact, almost too obvious to be stated, that the region is Slav by nature and not Greek cannot be overemphasized’”. (p. 147, Andrew Rossos, “Macedonia and the Macedonians A History”. Fully or perhaps not at all aware of their predicament the Macedonian people, lead by the MNLF, were compelled to fight on two fronts; (1) against the unruly nationalists supported by the Greek government and (2) against those leftists that were prejudiced against them.

As one fighter who happens to be a relative of mine put it, “if you fought in the Greek Civil War you best be sure your identity was kept a secret or else you never knew where the fatal bullet was going to come from; front or back.” Five months after the MNLF was formed it experienced two serious fatalities. On September 2nd, 1945 two Macedonians, members of the MNLF leadership, Atanas Koroveshovski, member of the main leadership, and Kosta Dzhina, member of the Enidzhe-Vardar Region leadership, were killed by the Greek National Guard. They were near the village Kornoshor, in Pajak Mountain when they were surrounded by the Greek National Guard and by a unit of British Soldiers. The Macedonians fought back gallantly but were decimated in this uneven battle. Two months later on November 17th, 1945 nine more Macedonians; leaders of the MNLF were killed. The men were sleeping inside a barn when they were attacked. The barn was located about two hours walk outside of the village Barovitsa on Pajak Mountain. The place was well known to former German collaborator Dujama who lead a detachment of the National Guard from the village Barovitsa right to it. The men killed were Gjorgij Giuda, Gjorgij Shasov, Gjorgij Trifunov Shasov, Trifun Ajtov, D. Parlapanov, Gjorgij Tartov – all from the village Borovitsa, Gumendzhensko Region, G. Karlov from Baltovo, Aleko Vasilev from Gumendzhe and P. Tufa or Karmata from Kriva. The Greek nationalist press tried to make a big deal of how the brave National Guardsmen fought a bloody battle against the so-called “autonomists”. Nothing however was mentioned about the National Guard’s cowardly act of shooting these men in cold blood from the waist up and not allowing an autopsy to be performed even after it was requested by the Solun leadership of the Greek National Liberation Front’s (GNLF) coalition. In spite of external pressures the MNLF continued to widen its activities among the Macedonian people in the villages and cities and fought its battles heroically. The Macedonian organization was becoming a real factor in the day to day political and economic life of the Macedonian people in Voden, Enedzh-Vardar, Gumendzhisko, Lerin and Kostur Regions. As more Macedonians joined its ranks in Kajmakchalan, Pajak and Vicho Mountains it again began to take the shape of a formidable force that even the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) could no longer ignore. Surprisingly however, instead of attacking the MNLF with the usual vitriolic anti-Macedonian propaganda, the CPG took a neutral role. It seems the CPG did not want to further discredit itself in the eyes of the Macedonian people and risk doing more damage to the democratic division in Greece. With regard to the MNLF’s activities in Greek occupied Macedonia here is what Pavle Rakovski, one of the MNLF’s main leaders had to say: “More than 70% of the young workers in Voden are active in Macedonian Youth Organizations. They are hoping to take over the worker management centers and through them organize strikes in the various factories. The CPG is uneasy about our success but as a legal party it has the authority to conduct strikes without being blocked by the government.” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, page 186) “We have on our side most of the skill workers and about half of the farming workers. The greater part of our cadres in the MNLF are Macedonians who formerly worked for the CPG. It is interesting to note that the CPG and GNLF are now coming to us, to the MNLF to ask for material support and to be welcomed in the Macedonian villages and homes. Since Varkiza most Greek villages changed sides mostly due to pressure from the nationalists.” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, pages 186 and 187) As the year 1946 rolled in, Macedonians began to notice a change in attitude in the CPG towards the Macedonians and the MNLF. This new attitude was revealed in the comments made by Provincial CPG secretary for Macedonia Leonidas Stringos when he said: “The conditions are now right for unity and understanding between Macedonians and Greeks, a unity that was damaged by Varkiza.

Let’s follow the MNLF call to unite and stand on the side of the workers and fight united against Fascism as we did during the resistance struggle. Let us smash the regime run by former quislings and elect our own representatives in government with the participation of the CPG and the GNLF. Let’s move forward united for a peoples democracy. If the MNLF is consistently disposed to follow this line then there is no obstacle why we shouldn’t cooperate and work together”. (The above quote was extracted from the document “Protoporos” (vanguard), a monthly organ of the CPG for Macedonia and Thrace, Solun February 7, 1946. entitled “Our Fight for Democracy and the Slavo-Macedonian Question” page 9) Another article, written in the same spirit, by CPG member Vasilis Bardzhotas entitled “Our Ideological Front”, states: “In the last days a trial was convened in Voden against the MNLF where three people were sentenced to death, and the rest were charged with heavy penalties. If the trial proved anything it proved that the MNLF is the GNLF of the Slavo-Macedonians which is calling for equality within the framework of the Greek peoples’ democracy, and for the protection of the sovereignty and independence of Greece…” (“Komep”, December 1946) Directed at the CPG membership Bardzhotas, among other things, made the following comments: “Our party [the CPG] must help the Slavo-Macedonians who have suffered the most by any means possible. We need to explain to the people of Northern Greece not to be afraid of the MNLF. We need to explain that the MNLF is not an autonomous organization and that the slanderous propaganda calling it autonomous is directed to dividing the population and preventing a united brotherhood between the Greek population in Macedonia and Thrace and the Slavo-Macedonian element. We need to dispel the theory of the “Slavic Threat” and of the fictitious autonomous movement created by British agents in Macedonia…” (“Komep”, December 1946) In a hypocritical sense, even Nikos Zahariadis, the CPG General Secretary spoke positively about the MNLF. During the December 28th, 1945 General Assembly of the Provincial Committee for Macedonia and Thrace, speaking about a flyer published by the Voden branch of the MNLF, Zahariadis, among other things said: “Every Greek democratic citizen, I am sure, will agree with the call of the MNLF from Voden Region, to fight together for our freedom, for political rights and social equality and for a general amnesty. We will struggle together for our bread, our freedom and for a new Greek democracy.” (Quote taken from the Newspaper “Laiki Foni”, organ of the CPG for Macedonia and Thrace, Solun, December 29th, 1945.) It seems that the change in attitude on the part of the CPG towards the MNLF is owed mainly to the CPG’s need to reorganize for a new armed struggle against the Greek right. A new armed struggle at this point was not possible without involving the Macedonians. The call for a new struggle was made during the December 28th, 1945 CPG General Assembly mentioned earlier when the slogan “We call on the people wherever they are, in the cities and in the villages, to carry out an armed struggle against the reactionaries” was first introduced. (“Laiki Foni”, December 29th, 1945) Too many mistakes had been made by the left in allowing the right, more commonly known as the Republicans and Royalists, in Greece to highjack power and abuse the innocent to no end. For the leftists more commonly known as the democrats, there was little choice left but to fight back; this time for their own survival. As shown previously, the first Greek government elected on March 31st, 1946 was a result of non-participation on the part of some democratic organizations and as a result of the right extremists applying pressure, coercion and terrorizing the democratic population. But no sooner had Tsaldaris’s government gained power than the Republicans and Royalists resumed and even stepped up their terror activities against the democratic population.

It seems that the population was given no choice but to stand up and fight back. This very same democratic population which fought and ousted the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupiers found a similar enemy in the home grown pro-government Greek National Guard and Gendarmes which not long ago collaborated with the occupiers. Terrorist activities against the population peaked on July 7th, 1946 when the Greek government voted to take “extraordinary measures” to further deprive the people of their rights by prohibiting political and professional organizational activities and by openly moving towards reinstating a military dictatorship. In view of the MNLF and its activities, these “extraordinary measures” were particularly brutal against the Macedonians who were now being treated more harshly than the citizens of southern Greece. By treating the Macedonians differently and by accusing them of having “separatist tendencies” the regime was promoting division between the democratic people. Here is a quote of “article one” from the “extraordinary measures” adopted on July 7th, 1946: “Those who aim to partition a section of the national territory or create opportunities to conspire inside this country or take part in them will be sentenced to death…” (Quote taken from the newspaper “Makedhonia”, July 7th, 1946) Ironically these measures were only a pretext to attack the innocent Macedonians and not the real conspirators; the British consulate in Lerin, Vice-Consul Hill, Captain Evans and the Greek Colonel Bafas who started this conspiracy in the first place. The “extraordinary measures” were immediately put into effect and the courts were transformed into death factories in which tens of real patriots, the ones who spilled blood and freed Greece from the occupiers, were sentenced to death on a daily basis. All one had to do was accuse someone of “committing subversive activities against the state” and the military did the rest. “Article ten” of the “extraordinary measures” allowed for the searching of premises at all times. This part of the law was utilized to justify the brutal measures taken against innocent people in response to press allegations of conspiracies. Names of so-called “autonomists” were printed and people were pursued by state organs without the slightest proof of wrong doing. While the Greek parliament was voting to pass the “extraordinary measures” the newspaper “Makedhonia”, published the following: “Our competent government officials have uncovered concrete information that proves that in the first 15 days of June disorder of a revolutionary character was taking place, which spread throughout the entire region of Macedonia, both inside and outside of cities. According to government sources, bandits who entered the villages and are concentrating their forces have been advised to act on a moment’s notice. We have information that these orders came directly from the MNLF whose long term objectives are to free Macedonia from the Greek yoke and proclaim it a “Peoples’ Republic” and then join it with Tito’s federation of Peoples’ Republics.” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, pages 190 and 191). This well planted Greek propaganda, by the way, today serves as the “Greek side” of the story. With this well fabricated, well planned and well executed program along with the use of well paid “professional witnesses” the Greek government managed to send thousands of Macedonians, sometimes entire families, to the Greek concentration prison camps in the waterless and parched Greek islands not to mention the many that Greece senselessly sentenced to death and executed. Among the many executed were six high ranking Macedonian MNLF cadres one of them Mirka Ginova sentenced to death by the military court in Enidzhe-Vardar. The campaign against the MNLF was becoming fiercer by the day especially in the spring of 1946 after the appearance of the Macedonian detachment in Kajmakchalan. The detachment’s rapid growth was seen as a threat to the Republican and Royalist control of Greek occupied Macedonia and they took immediate action to liquidate it.

Gendarmes from Western Meglen were dispatched in pursuit and one day in the middle of July 1946, when the detachment was taking a rest near the village Pochep, it unexpectedly came under attack from three sides. Over 500 gendarmes were involved and in view of such an overwhelming force the Macedonians decided it was wise to retreat. Unfortunately during the withdrawal a group of seven people, leaders of the MNLF, who that day were having a conference, were left behind and mistakenly took the wrong route to escape. During their retreat they ran into the enemy and were captured alive. Of the seven only Mirka Ginova was armed with a pistol. As the seven were rushed by enemy soldiers, Mirka fired all her rounds and in frustration threw the pistol at the soldiers. Among the seven was also a Greek. All seven were taken to the city of Voden. Mirka Ginova’s capture was touted as a big success for the Republicans and Royalists. To demoralize her and the Macedonian people, the gendarmes had her dressed in rags and paraded through the streets as a scarecrow. But this fiery revolutionary walked with her head up and saluted onlookers calling on them not to cry for her. “Mothers don’t cry the revolution will be victorious!” A local woman, wife of Andon Shulov, who lived near the gendarme station in Voden, afterwards reported that for three nights in a row a motorcycle was left running just outside the station under Mirka’s cell to mask Mirka’s screaming. Mirka had been severely tortured by the gendarmes using middle age inquisition methods. Several times she was lead to the city cemetery and buried in an open grave up to her neck. She was then fired at with blank shells to frighten her to disclose information on activities and on people in her organization’s network. Even after all that torture Mirka told them nothing. On July 23rd, 1946 Mirka and the other six (Gjorgij Projev, Petre Popdimitrov, Risto Stojanov – all from Voden, the Greek Alekos Mutsakis from the village N’te, Mitse Ljumbata from Vlahovo and Tomo Mihailov from Teovo), were taken to a military court in Enidzhe-Vardar where they were sentenced to death. Mirka’s words in her defense will remain a testament for the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia. To her last breath Mirka defended the MNLF and all Macedonians from the slanders of her captors. “I am a leader of the MNLF” said Mirka before the court” and during the occupation I fought against the Germans and the executioners Kalchev and Dimchev, who jumped upon us like beasts, especially against us Macedonians so that they could mislead us into the claws of ‘Ohrana’. We fought the Ohrana with fanaticism, just as we fought against the German occupier. MNLF is not a military organization; it is a political Democratic Macedonian organization, which is struggling for equal rights for our people within the framework of the Greek State. We are fighting for freedom and democracy!” Mirka Ginova was killed execution style by a firing squad early in the morning of July 26th, 1946. Mirka never lost her composure or spirit during the entire episode. The court case against the MNLF leaders was well publicized by many newspapers and news agencies worldwide. Human rights activists through the United Nations tribunal branded the Greek regime undemocratic and came to Mirka’s defense. Mirka was the first woman in Greece to be sentenced to death by a military court for her political beliefs. Her brave stand even touched her antagonists prompting a military writer to write an anonymous letter to Mirka’s father which among other things said that

Mirka was a true revolutionary and very brave especially when facing the firing squad. “At six o’clock this morning, with sorrow, Irina (Mirka) lost her life. I salute you for the daughter you brought up. She met death with a smile on her face, bravely singing and bringing amazement to all present… She was marvelous, resolute and showed no discouragement not even in the face of death. It was the same with the other six but mostly with Mirka. I am not writing to you just to praise your daughter; I am writing to you to tell you the truth as I witnessed it…” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, page 194) This rare heroism could have been recognized by the enemy, but the enemy did not want to credit the MNLF or the Macedonian people for having such brave and courageous leaders. But instead an otherwise dry-announcement was made by the supreme headquarters of the regular army which among other things said: The executed seven met their execution bravely refusing blindfolds. The greatest bravery was shown by the teacher Irini Gini (Mirka Ginova), who was singing and chanting slogans before her death. Attacks against the Macedonians were not isolated or restricted to Voden Region. The Republicans and Royalists also attacked MNLF targets in Lerin Region where several MNLF cadres were killed. After the March elections a new brand of terror was engulfing Western Greek occupied Macedonia and no one was being spared. The villages Chereshnitsa, Gabresh, Biraltsi, Bukovik and others were mercilessly attacked. At six o’clock in the morning on July 12th, 1946 the army and police from the villages Dmbeni and Gabresh attacked the village Chereshnitsa, using grenade launchers and machineguns. After burning several barns they gathered the entire population in the village square and began to beat people with sticks and metal rods. Thirteen people were beaten unconscious. Among them were Hristo Markov, Vasil Palev, Hristo Andreev, Vasil Skivinov, Poptrajanov and Andon Terziev. Dimitar Anastasov was captured while working and taken to the village Gabresh where he endured prolonged beatings until he was dead. Afterwards his body was taken out of the village, doused with gasoline and burned. This was the second attack against the village Chereshnitsa. The village was also attacked three days earlier on July 9th, 1946 and the following people were abducted and sent to the island of Corfu concentration prison camps: Lambrovitsa Popfilipova, Marko Vivkov and Filip Palev. They were punished because they were relatives of people who illegally fled the country. Others who were jailed and tortured included Ivan Kizov from the village Gabresh. Unfortunately Ivan Kizov could not withstand the torture he received and died in prison the same night he was jailed. His body was taken and tossed in front of the door of his house and left there. The next day the police jailed Lena Makrieva, Nikola Rompov and Hristo Robov, no reasons were given. Seventy people, fifty women and twenty men, from the village Biraltsi were turned in by the village informer Minche Shpirov. They were detained, locked up and severely beaten by the army and gendarme. On July 28th, 1946 the army, stationed in the village Breznitsa attacked the village Besfina and jailed the following people: Dimitar Skenderov, Ristana Skenderov, Gjorgij and Yane Skenderov. The next day the army captured and violently tortured Donka Dukova, after which she was taken to Lerin and jailed. The following women from the village Rabi, Prespa Region, were tortured and also taken to the Lerin jail: Sevasti Dimitrova, Barbara Kalkova, Metoditsa Jakreva, Mitrovitsa Dimitrova, Stojantsa Dimitrova, Joshevitsa Nikolova and Sofija Bajlova. The following people were also jailed in the same prison on August 1, 1946: Vezo Karavanov, Ilija Nichov, Done Lazarov, Mitre Gogov and Ilija Srbinov. Also locked up were many residents from the villages Bukovik, Oshchima, German, Orovnik and Orovo. According to press reports, during the months of May, June, July and August 1946, 5,246 people were killed, 415 heavily wounded, 1,446 tortured, 1,246 interned and 3,290 imprisoned.

During the same period over 20,000 Macedonians fled Greece.

Consolidation of the Democratic Forces

Even though the entire year of 1946 was spent under attack from the Royalists and Republicans and Parliament annulled the Varkiza Agreement on July 19th, 1946, Nikos Zahariadis, as a leader of the democratic movement, kept making questionable decisions. While the former resistance fighters and democratic citizens of Greece endured gangster like attacks from the police, National Guard, pro-government nationalistic elements, military organizations and former enemy collaborators, Zahariadis was still giving the impression that he could wiggle his way into power and make all those bad things go away. While Zahariadis kept inventing excuses for his party’s impotence the democratic people of Greece kept suffering to no end. Unable to trust either side, the Macedonian people again regrouped under the Macedonian National Liberation Front (MNLF) and began to fight back. Immediately after the March 31st, 1946 elections, when it was made abundantly clear to everyone that the elections in Greece were neither fair nor democratic, many Macedonian small groups re-armed and took to the mountains, Kajmakchalan, Pajak and Vicho, not only to save themselves but to fight back and provide protection for their families and villages. MNLF detachments lead successful battles in several villages including Lukovits in Voden Region and Sarakinovo in Lerin Region. Thousands of Macedonians expressed their readiness to fight for freedom in Greek occupied Macedonia and many more were prepared to leave the ranks of the regular army and join the Partisan units. The first fighters to show desire to abandon the regular army and cross over to the Partisans were a group of soldiers from a unit stationed in the village Pondokersija in Kukush Region. Similar desires were expressed by a group of men from the 5th division stationed in Kozheni. When the Greek authorities found out, the men were court-martialed by a military court which sentenced 14 soldiers and 1 officer to death, 22 soldiers received life imprisonment and 23 others were handed down lesser sentences. All the above mentioned soldiers were accused of cooperating with the Partisans. (Vradini, December 6, 1946) Despite what was happening to its membership the top leadership of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG), with Zahariadis at the helm, rejected the call to arms as a defensive reaction to the political crisis in February 1946 and instead opted for a peaceful resolution. For this Zahariadis was severely criticized by the majority during the CPG’s 7th plenum in 1957. In fact during this general assembly most of the criticism was directed at Zahariadis, who during the February 1946 2nd plenum, a critical time for the resistance movement, rejected the call to arms for defensive purposes. It appears that Zahariadis was either completely incompetent or was expecting a different outcome than the one the majority of the CPG envisioned. From what we know, it appears that Zahariadis did not want to renew the armed struggle and only wanted to use it as a bluff to make political gains. Here is what Panajotis Mavromatis, the Political Commissar for Macedonia and Thrace had to say: “After the 2nd plenum we wanted to study the situation and figure out how long it would take to mobilize our forces and how many could we mobilize. According to the report our Political Commissar gave to Zahariadis, we could mobilize 20-25,000 fighters in a month’s time. Zahariadis at that time told us that mobilization would not be necessary but those figures would be used as a political bluff against the opposition.” (“Neos Cosmos”, No. 4-5, April and May 1957) As was discussed in the 1957 plenum, many believed that if a general mobilization took place in 1946 there would have been a much higher probability of securing a victory because the government at the time had only 5 divisions of 2,000 soldiers each and was in possession of only 150 machine guns. (General Zafirpupulos “O antisimorijakos agon” page 220) Had Zahariadis at the time agreed to mobilize, the resistance would have, if not secured an outright victory, had some leverage in obtaining a more desirable political solution.

Unfortunately by not mobilizing at that point Zahariadis left the resistance weak while the government was allowed not only to mobilize its forces but to further weaken the resistance movement with its terror tactics. These questionable decisions on the part of Zahariadis and his followers not only further weakened the CPG but gave its general membership good reason to mistrust its leadership. But despite the apparent indecision on the part of the CPG and on account of the grim political situation in Greece, the resistance movement began to strengthen especially in the ranks of the MNLF, which at the time was shaping up to be the leading organization of the resistance movement in the entire country. This must have been seen as a dangerous development by the CPG top leadership and counter measures had to be taken. But how? The Greek part of the resistance movement at the time did not have the strength to attack the MNLF and outright destroy it militarily and by now the Macedonians were immune to Greek vitriolic political criticisms, so the only method left was to join it. As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them join them and by complimenting and calling the MNLF patriotic and fighters for human, social and political rights, the CPG came on board. Then about two months after the plebiscite was taken and King George Galesburg was returned to Greece, on October 28, 1946, the CPG and its partners announced the formation of the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG). Surprisingly and despite their experiences with the CPG, the MNLF leadership decided to join forces with the Democratic Greeks. This decision was made just before the announcement of the formation of DAG during a meeting between the main MNLF leadership and the Political Commissar for Macedonia and Thrace. The idea here was to resurrect the National Liberation Army of Greece (NLAG) and join forces under a new name; Democratic Army of Greece (DAG). This arrangement was made on November 16th, 1946 and called for one member of the MNLF to be appointed to the headquarters of DAG for central and western Macedonia. That appointment was given to Gjorgij Urdov – Chocho. Two other appointments of Macedonians were also promised to be made; one to Political Commissar for Macedonia and Thrace and the other to MNLF representative at the CPG. After the consolidation of the Macedonian and Democratic Greek forces the Greeks managed to keep just one promise; the appointment of Chocho to the headquarters. The rest remained empty promises. Unfortunately above that, no sooner had the CPG, the GNLF (Greek National Liberation Front) and DAG taken control of the forces, than its leadership began to use all kinds of excuses to put down the MNLF. The MNLF was a powerful symbol and a separate organization representing the Macedonian people, seen as a threat to Greece. Slowly but surely in time the MNLF was stripped of everything, of its leadership, of its decision making powers and of its voice. The only thing it seems the MNLF was good for was to mobilize the Macedonian people to swell the fighting ranks of DAG. Eager to join forces with the Democratic Greeks, many Macedonians had forgotten how they were treated in the past but those feelings quickly returned when they discovered that they were being lied to again. As the mistrust began to grow many Macedonians viewed the new “unification” with their Greek partners as absurd and eventually leading to the destruction of the MNLF. When Zahariadis was asked about “the rights of the Macedonian people” he borrowed a phrase from 1929 from Venizelos who when asked the same question by a representative of the League of Nations, replied: “Greece will abide by the rules of minorities”. Eighty years later Macedonians living inside Greece are still waiting for Greece to abide by the rules for minorities. Nevertheless and in spite of many Macedonians finding this new partnership unpalatable, some Macedonians continued to support the joint struggle even though the power to control their own destiny was slowly being diminished.

Ironically and despite Zahariadis’s vain efforts to bring understanding between the right and left in Greece by peaceful means, this new unification of forces was making military headways which could not go unnoticed, not only by Greece but by the whole world as the fighting in Pajak Mountain escalated in November 1946. Soon after the DAG headquarters was established on October 28th, 1946, new DAG units were formed and began to conduct campaigns in the mountains. One of the more memorable early battles took place on November 17th, 1946 in the villages N’te, Oshani, and Ljuminitsa (Shkra) in the north-eastern Meglen Region. Here DAG forces attacked the government units stationed in those villages delivering them serious blows, serious enough to have international significance. The attacks were carried out by a large force of DAG fighters who were in direct command of the headquarters of DAG for the Karakamen, Pajak and Kajmakchalan Mountains. The government press at the time could not help but acknowledge that this was indeed a serious attack with an overwhelming number of casualties on the side of the government forces. The newspaper “Makedonija” from Solun on November 29th, 1946 among other things wrote: “Yesterday we received new details of the November 17th attack on the village N’te, which verify the ferocity displayed by the army of resistance and the duration of the attack which left many dead including 10 of Colonel Karandzhas’s leading men.” The same newspaper reported that the situation of the government ground forces was critical and that the air force should be called in to supply them with ammunition and provisions. Another blow to the government forces, as the newspaper explained, was the loss of Captain Silemanis who was killed during a battle near the village Ljuminitsa. According to a report published by the American Agency Associated Press on November 17, 1946 two government units received devastating losses from the resistance forces at the battle of Ljumitsa. The success of this surprise attack and the devastating defeat of the government forces created an atmosphere of fear throughout the entire right and sent a chill down the spines of government officials in Athens. Prime Minister Tsaldaris could not believe that he had a Civil War on his hands and instead of facing up to the reality of the situation he started accusing his northern neighbours – Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania of “meddling in the internal affairs of Greece”. He further accused Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania of helping the Partisans and demanded that an international inquiry commission investigate the situation. Tsaldaris’s call for an investigation was opposed by Great Britain, Greece’s patron, which became obvious when Yoannis Sofianopoulos, the former Greek minister of foreign affairs, in an interview with the French newspaper “Frantirer”, on December 3, 1946 said: “Tsaldaris, in order to justify himself, talks about the beastly deeds of the Macedonian separatists, which is more convenient to place blame on our Balkan neighbours than face the facts.” Speaking along the same lines the London Times on November 23, 1946 also wrote: “The current Greek government has reported to the ambassadors of Great Britain and the United States of America that outside influences are responsible for these irregularities. These ‘external influences’ are attempts to separate Greek Macedonia and to connect it to a single federal Macedonia. This assertion, among other things, has a need for greater examination. This is the only explanation that fits in with what is happening and cannot be far from the truth.” After analyzing the battles of Skra and Oshini which took place in the Kozhuv and Pajak Mountain vicinities and those of the Mandalevo and Mavrejovo vicinities at the southern part of Pajak Mountain, both Greek and pro-Greek military experts came to the conclusion that this indeed was a prelude to invading Greece from the north. They concluded that with those battles, the Partisan aim was to take control of the roads and isolate the Meglen basin from Solun and Voden and afterwards it could easily be occupied.

By securing the Meglen basin, routes from the north could be established, which would solve the supply problems. According to these same experts, the Meglen Region could then be used as a stepping stone for future campaigns in “partitioning Macedonia from the rest of Greece”. Was there really a conspiracy by the “northern neighbours” to invade Greece or was this a smoke screen to hide the atrocities being committed by the Greeks against the Macedonian people? The Greek government at the time was well aware of its own vulnerability and knew for certain it would lose the war if it had to fight on its own. So as usual it needed to involve another of its patrons to save its hide. So naturally the Greek government, in order to be given further aid, had to cry wolf. At the same time it did not want to admit to having internal problems of such magnitude and that it was incapable of handling its internal problems on its own. So crying wolf was a good alternative as opposed to admitting to the truth. Such an invasion would surely breach many agreements and would involve the Great Powers. Greece’s problem would be internationalized and it would become someone else’s problem. The successful campaigns DAG conducted in Kozhuv and Pajak Mountains were not only a wake-up call for the west but they provoked a serious uneasiness in the USA as evidenced by the various contacts made between Burns, the USA Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Diamandopoulos, the Greek Ambassador in Washington DC. The British too became involved when 30 of their conservative MP’s demanded that their government send an inquiry commission and peace keeping soldiers from neutral countries to secure Greece’s northern border as was done in 1925 by the League of Nations. The French telegraph agency, on November 26, 1946, sent a telegraph from Washington DC informing that the US government too was looking at the possibility of sending its own troops to Greece, to join a British squadron of sailors which was headed for the Solun Gulf. The government of Prime Minister Tsaldaris, under pressure from the opposition, which was criticizing it for its inability to control its the internal security, also made contact with the Security Council with an appeal for help to stop

Greece’s northern neighbours, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, from attacking Greece. In retrospect there was no real threat against Greece from the north as both the USA and Britain were well aware of the agreement signed by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin that Greece was to remain under “British influence” and that there would be no foreseeable help coming from the Soviet Union. So why the conspiracy of an “outside attack”? Further, why blame only the Macedonians for this and not all the democratic forces, most of which were Greeks from the south and from Asia Minor colonists who were dissatisfied with the way various former Greek governments had handled their affairs? Was the Greek government really afraid of its northern neighbours or was it planning something more sinister? Was the call for an external inquiry commission a stall tactic to give the Greek government more time to boost its military capabilities and at the same time internationalize its problem so that the USA too would become involved? We can only speculate. After gaining Greece back under their influence, the British had one big problem, “how to get rid of the communists”. The Greek Royalists and Republicans on the other hand had two big problems; (1) “how to get rid of the communist menaces” and (2) “how to deal with the Macedonian problem”. The British were well aware that sooner or later if the people were allowed to vote in free elections, the vast majority would vote for the CPG and the communists would come to power in Greece. The British were also well aware that their agreement with Stalin was that whoever wins at the polls will govern Greece. The Greeks on all sides on the other hand were well aware of the Atlantic Charter which expressed the post-World War II aims of the United States and Great Britain. President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain adopted the declaration in August 1941 during a conference aboard a ship off the coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and decided among other things that all people who participated in the liberation of the world from Fascism and Nazism would have the right to choose the form of government under which they would live; and to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who had been forcibly deprived of them. Naturally the Greek aim, regardless of which system or what kind of government was in power, has always been to deny the Macedonians their rights by simply claiming that Macedonians do not exist. But how could they do that when a sizable Macedonian armed force existed inside Greece? They couldn’t of course so they had to find another means of dealing with it.

It is my belief that neither Britain nor the United States had any problem specifically with the Macedonian people. Their concern was to keep Greece under western influence and out of communist hands but in order to placate Greece both powers looked the other way and allowed Greece to commit genocide against the Macedonian people. This may be a hard pill for Greece to swallow but was it not Markos Vafiadis, a General of the DAG and a loyal Greek from Asia Minor who during his trial in Athens when referring to “the Macedonian problem” said: “We [meaning the Democrats] accomplished in two short years what many Greek governments were unable to do in decades”? Why did Vafiadis volunteer this information? Was it because despite their otherwise numerous promises to the Macedonian people, the aim of the top CPG leadership was to deprive the Macedonians not only of their human rights but also of their rights to exist as people? We are well aware of how the Greek Royalists and Republicans felt about the Macedonians but what about the Democrats? How did they feel? After Vafiadis’s remarks we should have no more doubts about the “feelings” of Democrats as well! The Greeks, no matter which side, have always been against the Macedonians. It has always been their aim to deny the Macedonians their right of existence. One more question that comes to mind: “If the CPG-DAG leadership was unwilling to accept the idea of joining forces with the MNLF and with the Macedonians in 1946 why then did they accept it in October 1948? Why were the CPG and DAG willing to induct so many young Macedonians into their fighting ranks unless they had a sinister future plan for them, a plan to perhaps destroy them?

Inquiry Commission Comes to Greece