10.0 AFTER THE WAR ENDED - Part 04

* Loring M. Danforth’s book “The Macedonian Conflict”. Loring Danforth is an anthropologist and professor working in the United States who has analyzed the “Macedonian conflict” in this voluminous and comprehensive work, and has placed special pencil marks on the history of the conflict. He has also provided relevant evidence and clarification regarding the dark spots in the Macedonian national crisis. In his book he has exposed a number of topics, especially those relevant to events that took place in Greek (occupied) Macedonia after the war ended.

There are many other historical documents available that go as far back as the invasion, occupation, partition and annexation of Macedonia by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. There are also war diaries and biographies published in the Greek historiography by senior DAG officials who speak about the Macedonian identity.

So, Mr. Kofos, you and the Greek state can deny us our identity and you can claim as much as you want that Macedonians don’t exist, but the fact of the matter is that we do exist and there is plenty of evidence to prove it… it is now a matter of time.

That is why Macedonians must no longer keep silent about this horror!

Mr. Kofos, why don’t we look at this whole thing from a human point of view? Are we, who are living in the Balkans, forbidden to feel and speak to each other as we feel? Is our Macedonian existence that much of a taboo to you Greeks? Let me ask you, how would you feel if some strangers invaded your country, occupied your lands, forced you to speak an alien language, took away your home and permanently exiled you from your homeland? It is we who are victims here Mr. Kofos, and you are the perpetrators of criminal acts bordering on genocide; not the other way around! But then you act as if we have done you wrong and you can’t seem to face us; you say we don’t exist when in fact we do exist! So, why don’t we sit down like human beings and talk about it, sort out our differences, face to face! Let us know what we have done to offend you and we will let you know what you have done to offend us; face to face, not as Macedonians and Greeks but as human beings!

Let me remind you: on August 10, 2003, after 55 years of being exiled, the Greek government finally did allow some of us to visit our place of birth under what was termed a “humanitarian passport” on which we were required to write only “Greece” as our place of birth. After 55 years of being exiled we ran into great difficulties attempting to locate our place of birth, the graves of our parents and grandparents, because we did not know the Greek names of our places and our people. When we did find them they were not what we had left behind. Instead of the homes and graves we were expecting to find, we found ruins and bulldozed fields and devastation… Each one of us felt like strangers in our own birthplace, on the lands of our ancestors… we were absolutely devastated at the neglect… We were horrified, Mr. Kofos, at what you Greeks had done to our homes and the graves of our ancestors… That too I had to live through…

Show some humanity Mr. Kofos and tell the truth about what you have done. Find the courage to inform the Greek people and tell them that Macedonians do exist and have existed since before ancient times. Do it before it’s too late, do it before you have to do it under oath in the international court of justice!

Where did Droutsas and Karadzhaferis get their Macedonian blood?

(New ideological winds are blowing from the south: Droutsas with his own thesis against Karavangelis, the Bishop of Kostur).

I decided to reply to Mr. Dimitris Droutsas and wish him well for having the courage to address the Greek Legislature and the entire world and say that “the Macedonian identity is part of the identity of every Greek and every Greek is born and dies with a Macedonian identity…” Bravo Mr. Droutsas! Until yesterday you swore up and down and said that Macedonians did not exist and today you say every Greek is Macedonian and every Macedonian is Greek! So, Mr. Droutsas, where does that leave the “real” Macedonians? Is this not another twist to the century old distorted thesis?

Strange Alchemy?

I am not surprised, but I am amazed at Droutsas’s audacity, of how he and others like him can so easily change their identity to suit their political agenda. Karavangelis made it his mission to “make” Greeks out of Macedonians by every means possible, even by threat of death and now we have Droutsas voluntarily making Macedonians out of Greeks. It is this kind of stupidity that makes the Balkans look like a lunatic asylum, a label which we all have to carry! No wonder the entire world is confused about us!

Why do these politicians want to be Macedonians?

So, this is Mr. Droutsas’s cure for his nationalist disease. But you don’t have to tell me, or any other Macedonian for that matter, we know that type of Greek very well; he will sell his own soul to the highest bidder if it serves his interest! But would a proud and dignified Greek accept Droutsas’s alchemy?!

The propaganda to turn Macedonians into Greeks began to flourish a little over a century ago, when the Macedonian people lost their bid to free themselves from the Ottoman occupation in 1903. The concept of making Greeks out of Macedonians was managed through the Patriarchate church headed by Germanos Karavangelis, Bishop of Kostur. Karavangelis did not spare us any details regarding the tactics he used to “make” Greeks out of Macedonians, as recorded in his memoirs. Karavangelis used extreme force and terror to accomplish his objectives, which in the long run proved to be very effective. He was one of the first practitioners with instinct to kill the term “Macedonian”. His model and experience proved useful to the Greek cause.

Mr. Droutsas, allow me to elaborate. I am a Macedonian from one of the Lerin Region villages and 60 years after the Greek Civil War, I, along with thousands of my compatriots from Lerin, Kostur, Voden, etc., Regions, have lived in exile around the world. We can’t go home to our ancestral lands where we were born because of the laws enacted by politicians such as yourself. It is so easy for you to make decisions about my life and to proudly mock me by calling yourself a “proud Macedonian” when in fact you are not. While you can do this without any consequences to yourself, I have to live with the consequences of your actions every day. Yes, Mr. Droutsas, all those laws enacted were not a joke, they were specifically designed to extinguish my identity, rob me of my heritage, of my home, of my future… We could have turned our backs on you during the Greek-Turkish war, the Greek-Italian war, the Greek Civil War on both sides, and all other times you needed us but we didn’t, we fought and died alongside of you… so why are we treated like this? Why these laws?

Now that we are on the subject of laws Mr. Droutsas, allow me to remind you about a law from earlier days, a very damaging law, enacted by the most senior parliamentarians of the Greek Parliament.

After World War I was over and things settled in Greek occupied Macedonia, the Greek government initiated a program to change every Macedonian personal and family name and make them Greek sounding. Simultaneous with the name changes, Greek authorities also carried out a campaign to change the name of every village, town, city, river, lake, mountain, road, street and every other Macedonian place name from Macedonian to Greek. News of these changes and the laws to enact them, Mr. Kofos, appeared in the Greek newspaper “Tis Efimeris Kiverniseos” no. 332 on November 21, 1926, you can check for yourself.

Now Mr. Droutsas, allow me to remind you what happened after August 4, 1936 when the dictator General Ioannis Metaxas came to power in Greece. When this Fascist regime came to power it took strong measures against everything Macedonian. It first banned the Macedonian language and made it illegal to be spoken in public and private. It then cracked down on those speaking it. Hefty fines were imposed on the old who could speak no other language. The younger generations received beatings, fines, castor oil and jail time on the Greek islands when caught speaking Macedonian, even to their own parents or grandparents who could not speak Greek.

Now that I have familiarized you with these “famous” laws Mr. Droutsas, that apply to Macedonians only, and now that you have proclaimed yourself a proud Macedonian, do they also apply to you?

Mr. Droutsas, you will do us all, and yourself (now that you claim to be Macedonian), great justice if you go before the Greek Parliament and demand that these racist and inhumane laws be repealed because they are not only dehumanizing to people, but they are an embracement for Greece and for the European Union!

Mr. Droutsas, you and many others like yourself, including Mr. Karadzhaferis, are saying that you have a Macedonian identity and that you are proud Macedonians. So please explain to me how you came by this Macedonian identity? Were you, Mr. Droutsas, not born in Cyprus and was Mr. Karadzhaferis not born in Asia Minor? Both of you are not even from Macedonia and yet you both claim to be Macedonians? Is this a joke or what?

Why not tell the truth Mr. Droutsas, there were no “Greeks” before the Greek state was created for the first time in 1829, only Turks, Albanians, Vlachs, Macedonians and a number of other minorities. The so-called “Greek identity” was created later and was based on something that had died thousands of years ago. That is the truth Mr. Droutsas, like it or not! Yet, today, ten million people declare themselves “Greeks” because they have a right to and no one is objecting; because it is their legal right to do so by international law. And yet, when a single Macedonian stands up and says “I am Macedonian” the whole of Greece, or a good part of it, jumps up and down in a fit of hysteria! That too is the truth Mr. Droutsas!

Europe disagrees with Europe

Brussels, in its latest report wrote, “Because there are no Macedonians we pulled out all references to the ‘Macedonian language’ in our documents”. Was this done by a Greek prankster or does Europe support Greece and its racist Greek laws?

So, tell me how can we sit silently when things like this happen in modern institutions (outside of Greece) in countries that claim to be democratic and fair! This of course tramples on our human rights, our human dignity, history, culture, language and puts the Macedonian identity in a crisis situation.

Dear Europeans, after allowing Greece to enact the various laws to rob us of everything, ethnically cleanse us and turn us into permanent refugees, you now mock us on top of that by pretending to have amnesia and claiming that we don’t exist? You have been witness to every single atrocity perpetrated against us from the day our country was portioned in

1913. In fact you were the architects of that partition. Now you dare say we don’t exist and our language does not exist?

Lastly the Greek government in 1985 enacted Law no. 1540 making provision for the return of confiscated properties to political emigrants, read political refugees. The wording used in the legislation was again unjustly circumspect. It defines political emigrants for whom the law shall have application limited to those who are “Greeks by genus”. The term ‘Greek by genus’ is a term used by Greek authorities for all those who identify themselves as being ‘ethnic Greek’ (even though such a thing does not exist). Hence ethnic Macedonians who are also political refugees and have had their Greek citizenship rescinded and/or properties confiscated are excluded from enjoying the rights granted under these laws, therefore severely questioning the very standing of the laws based on grounds of equity and fairness. Moreover, the construction of the wording as relating to these laws is not benign, it has the clear intent to discriminate against all those who belong to the category of people classified as political refugees and who are not “Greeks by genus”. Given that ethnic Macedonians predominantly make up this category of people, it is indisputable that they have been the ones targeted by this exclusivist definition and the ones to have suffered the most.

I simply could not believe Mrs. Alexandra Kas Granie’s words when she compassionately said: “Your heart knows which is ‘your country’, that is what is important for your identity…” Yes Mrs. Granie, we Macedonians know with certainty to which country we belong but at the same time, our feelings are hurt when people like you talk about us in that manner. What I don’t understand is why Europeans “fear” and are unwilling to say “Macedonia” and “Macedonians”, especially when they are guests in our beautiful Macedonia? Why do they refer to Macedonia as “your country” and not simply Macedonia? It is okay to offend Macedonians to their face in their own country but not okay to offend Greece even from far away! Or is there a more sinister motive in their innocent gestures?

Everyone will think we came from another planet

I am curious, Mrs. Granie, if you don’t have the courage to call us Macedonians to our face inside Macedonia, how exactly do you refer to us when you speak about us to your European colleagues? Just curious…!

The thought that you may “bow” to Greece’s racist ideals and care less for the injustices perpetrated against the Macedonian people, frankly scares me!

11.0 Attachments

Facts and arguments that will shed more light and explain the tragedy and genocide experienced by the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia and the CPG’s attitude towards them during and after the Greek Civil War.

On February 6, 2007 a television interview was conducted by Vasko Eftov on channel 5, which dealt with “Greek Civil War testimonies” given by Iovo Kalichich, Yugoslav UDBA (66) general and Yugoslav Deputy Federal Minister of Internal Affairs. Also present was Petre Nakovski.

V.E: General, according to my sources you have been to Macedonia several times as an UDBA representative and responsible for coordinating of the revolution taking place in Greece or in Aegean Macedonia.

General: Yes, I have. I was here on behalf of Yugoslavia, on behalf of the State, as an assistant to Alexander Rankovich, Minister of the Interior; this was his job. I ran the entire Yugoslav operation associated with Greece. And that included Macedonia. Some things I did from Macedonia and other things I did from outside Macedonia. This included sending weapons, food, clothing, medical care, a few experts (67), etc., to help the organization fight the war, create fighting units, organize hospitals in Katlanovo, etc. In addition to that we also drew out more than 10,000 children and sent them to Eastern European countries.

V.E: Did Tito, at some point in time, want to help the Macedonian people in Greece join Aegean Macedonia to Yugoslavia?

General: No, Tito did not think of joining Aegean Macedonia... Look... that struggle with the Greeks in Greece, it was the work of the Macedonians, it was your work, and you requested it to be done because you thought that it was a Macedonian minority. What does Serbia and Montenegro have to do with Solun?

V.E: Are you saying that it was Lazo Kolishevski who wanted it done?

General: Well, Lazo and others too, they thought it was possible, that the situation in Greece was favourable and you could make a breakthrough on Greek Macedonia.

V.E: Did Kolishevski want this from Josip B. Tito?

General: Wanting it or not wanting it in Yugoslavia, the government approved it, but Yugoslavia had no interest in going to Solun.

V.E: And Macedonia did?

General: Macedonia was interested. And there was a centre in Macedonia which politically dealt with that issue.

The entire East-European world was involved, considering that Greece was weak and figuring that the West had quite a lot to deal with. They thought that it was possible to put the communists in power in Greece but there never was a plan to separate that part down to Solun. The idea was to create a new Greece, similar to Yugoslavia.

V.E: Was it possible that it could have happened to Aegean Macedonia?

General: Not a chance.

V.E: Why?

General: Because we were not waging a military war.

V.E: Why did Yugoslavia not enter the war?

General: Because we were bordering Greece. If Greece came under attack we would have also been attacked. Yugoslavia had no other interests in Greece outside of Macedonia. Macedonia had interests, the Macedonians saw it as part of their national territory, they considered those people to be Macedonian people. That’s how it was!

V.E: As an officer of UDBA, have you been down there in some covert operation?

General: I have not been inside the territory of Greece, but I was in Bitola, Skopje, Ohrid, and to some border points where we had to drop things and people off across the border. We did not wage war there, we just opened the border.

V.E: So, your role was to simply open the border for others to across.

General: We dropped off material and closed the border. They, on the other side took care of transporting it, waging war, etc.

V.E: Did the Macedonian UDBA enter and collide with the Greek army? 352 General: That I don’t know. But if you are asking if our troops clashed with the Greeks? That never happened.

We had our own officers and instructors. We had several officers. But our military never intervened...

There was one time when a small military unit did cross the border and entered Greek territory but that’s because it got lost. Not to attack Greece, one cannot attack Greece with a small military unit. And then, the Greeks captured it and killed all our troops. It happened.

V.E: Did anyone force Tito not to participate in Aegean Macedonia?

General: No. No one forced Tito to do anything, it was his own decision. It was an illegal act outside of the UN; it was not approved by the UN or by any other international forum. It was “working against the grain” like nothing was done. In fact Yugoslavia was an important factor in this conflict. Everything went through us and I was Yugoslavia’s representative who led the entire operation with a number of people stationed in Skopje, and others stationed in Belgrade.

V.E: Who obligated you to do that?

General: Who obligated me? Aleksandar Rankovich (68).

V.E: Did he have a good relationship with Kolishevski?

General: Well, it was okay… Lazo was ... He was with Rankovich, etc. They worked together. Tsvetko Uzunov, you know, he also worked there. I know - it was my job on the Yugoslav side, not on the Macedonian side. Macedonians were separately organized.

That’s how it was. It was an internationally illegal act. We invaded an independent state called Greece, for Macedonian reasons and at the desire of the then Macedonian leadership.

V.E: How much arms and ammunition did you send down to the fronts?

General: Train car loads. It was not a few rifles or machine guns; it was car loads of weapons. There were no planes, but there were cannons. No tanks because they were too heavy for their purposes, only light weapons. Many of these weapons were concentrated in Panchevo and redistributed from there by train to different directions in Greece. My job was to open the border. Our soldiers made sure the border was safe and we dropped the weapons inside, which were then taken by the Greek partisans. Just like that.

* * *

UDBA general Iovo Kapichich, on behalf of Yugoslavia, from 1945 to 1948, was responsible for organizing the supply lines for the Greek Civil War. Unfortunately he did not tell us what Yugoslavia’s interests were in involving the Macedonian people in this war through the activities of NOF and AFZH, formed by the CPY and then passed on to the CNG.

Kapichich now, 60 years after the conclusion of that war, says that no changes were expected to be made in Greece to improve the Macedonian situation, so all that bloodshed was meaningless and for nothing!!

This is because everyone knew that the West would never abandon Greece. It was a silly and absolutely stupid idea. This issue was decided at the Conference in Tehran.

I repeat: It was decided at the Yalta Conference that Greece would remain in the Western block. It was never agreed for Greece to enter the Eastern Block!

* * *

Balkan nationalism, we are all afflicted by it, we simply need to understand:

We all carry the same disease because we are all the same - we are all human. I believe when the general was ordered to fuel the Greek Civil War, he must have known why he did it and what interests Yugoslavia had in it. Even now the general knows that this was not “strictly a Macedonian wish” because the Macedonians had very little clout in front of Tito, Kardeli, (69) Rankovich and others and couldn’t have influenced such a risky venture.

But why still keep silent? How long will this allegiance to strangers last?

The Communists (CPY and CPG) used us and then took us to the gallows. Six decades have past and we still keep silent about it. Why?

How and why the people from Kostur Region lost their homeland from 1940 to 1949 – our history has no clear answers. The people of Kostur Region, descendents of the original Macedonians, fought many battles over the centuries and survived, that is until 1940 to 1949.

The most gruesome and most disgusting methods of Hellenizing Macedonians in Kostur Region arrived in Kostur in 1903 with the Greek Church headed by bishop Karavangelis. Karavangelis’s ultimate goal was to “make” as many Greeks as possible out of the Macedonian population so that when the time came to partition Macedonia, Greece would have proof that Greeks existed in Macedonia and Greece would receive a larger share of Macedonia’s territory. Argos Orestikon or Rupishta, as we Macedonians call it today, is located in Kostur and is the original home of the Ancient Macedonian Argive Dynasty, founded around 800 BC, so the people of Kostur had special significance for Greece, even though Greece denies that Argos Orestikon was a significant place in Macedonian history. The people of Kostur were the best Macedonian sons and daughters and contributed a great deal to Macedonia’s history, so it was by no accident that Karavangelis was sent there to Hellenize them all by any means possible!

“Oh, my God! It is impossible to describe the horrors and atrocities committed against the people of Kostur without breaking down emotionally. Horrible men, monsters, armed from head to toe, were hired and paid to commit atrocities unheard of before in the history of mankind.” These were the words of a Russian diplomat stationed in Bitola, attempting to describe what Karavangelis’s goons had done in Zagorichani.

But in spite of what Karavangelis and the Greeks had done to the people of Kostur before Macedonia’s 1913 partition, it was nothing in comparison to what the Greeks did in the terrible decade from 1940 to 1949 when Kostur experienced “total genocide”.

Has our history given a clear answer to this?

Note: The books referenced in this brief review do provide some justification as to why genocide was perpetrated against the “non-existent” Macedonian factor in Greek occupied Macedonia, particularly in Kostur Region.

After nine tough decades, only our blood has remained witness to the genocide perpetrated against the people of Kostur. Kostur Region is the southernmost part of ethnic Macedonia. At the same time the Kostur Diocese was based in Kostur. And now, at the end of the century, many people are asking the question: Why were so many people who were killed during the Greek Civil War from the Kostur Region villages? But that’s precisely what happened and we should be looking for the cause of this evil.

It is frightening, however, to realize that this was purposely done to us, not because of the ideology we supported, not because of the political party we belonged to, but because of who we are, Macedonians, something we cannot escape, something we cannot change! We were meant to experience genocide; we were meant to die; we were meant to be exiled; because of who we are, “Macedonians”!!! It is frightening indeed!

In the book “Ilindenskata Epopeja, Razvojot na Makedonskoto Sloboditelno Dvizhenje” (Ilinden Epic, Advancement of the Macedonian Liberation Movement) by Angel Dinev, the author speaks with piety about the Ilinden Uprising, about the greatness of the Macedonian spirit, about the development and advancements of the Macedonian Liberation Movement from 1893 to 1903 and generally about the Macedonians’ struggle to liberate themselves from Ottoman feudal slavery.

In the chapter about Kostur, he talks about the purity of the revolutionary spirit which the people of Kostur carried in the depths of their souls. He talks about the great revolutionary leaders Kostur produced, such as Vasil Chakalarov, Lazar Pop Traikov, Manot Rozov, Pando Kliashev, Misho Nikolev, Mitre Vlaot and many others. In Kostur Region alone there were 4,170 insurgents supporting the largest bands and greatest fighters the rebellion had to offer. This shows that Macedonians not only existed, but fought to liberate themselves and create a United and Independent Macedonian state that was to involve the entire ethnic Macedonian territory. And even though history ignores this fact today, the strategic towns Neveska and Klisura, created by the Romans millenniums ago to guard the Via Egnetia route, were liberated by these bands. The author also tells the story of how the first bomb factory was built in the village Smrdesh.

Macedonian Insurgents

The new insurgents (children and grandchildren of the Ilinden 1903 era insurgents who fought against Hellenism) were deeply convinced that the Macedonian National Liberation Movement had to remain purely national and independent, outside of Communist Party ideologies and foreign influences. Their main preoccupation was to create a common national liberation movement in all three parts of Macedonia. They had no other

ideologies and the oath they had taken was “Macedonia – for you we will struggle and for you we will die!”

The Illinden era insurgents were dedicated to liberating Macedonia from Ottoman rule whereas, forty years later, the new generation of insurgents was dedicated to fight against Greek slavery. They were all sons and grandsons of prominent Ilinden fighters who had fought against the Greek terror bands, the Andartes, led by Bishop Karavangelis who had committed unprecedented crimes in Ottoman Macedonia. A lot of the crimes they committed were chronicled by Karavangelis himself in his memoires.

So, why was there a new emergence of insurgents in Greek occupied Macedonia? The first insurgency unit was formed in Kostur Region on March 5, 1943. Greece was officially divided into three occupation zones: German, Italian and Bulgarian on May 20, 1941, in accordance with Hitler’s order of May 17, 1941.

Where was the Macedonian leadership and why did it not take action to defend its people? Why did the Macedonian leaders leave it up to the Greeks to decide what to do? Where were our national leaders, particularly those who were members of the CPG?

They were nowhere to be found. It seems that no one from the leadership cared what happened to the people, they were more interested in the ideologies of the class struggle than their own people. So one can clearly see why there was need for a new Macedonian grass roots insurgency. But there is more to it than that! One would assume that the insurgents fought strictly against the new occupiers. But they would be wrong if they assumed that! The insurgency was necessary in order to protect the Macedonian people from attacks from the fascist Greek element which cooperated with the new occupiers and colluded to do harm to the Macedonian people.

And how did the communists react to the insurgency situation? They created SNOF. SNOF, as the name implies, was a Macedonian organization called “Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front”. The insurgency units in Kostur region were an unpleasant reminder for the Greeks that Macedonians were alive and well and ready and willing to fight and die for their national cause. So they needed them destroyed and who better to destroy them than the Macedonians themselves! Why would a Greek shed his own blood when he could lie and deceive a Macedonian and get him to do it instead? The Greek communists, over time, labeled the

Kostur bands “Fascist”, “collaborating with the occupiers” and “seeking to carve out Macedonian territories to join them to Bulgaria”.

The Kostur bands refused to surrender to the CPG peacefully because they had become even more suspicious of the Greeks when, in 1943, the CPG began negotiating the transfer of ELAS to the British. They knew that if the British set foot in Greece, the status quo with regards to the Macedonian Question would be reestablished and it would be business as usual for the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia. They couldn’t have imagined the eventual outcome after the Greek Civil War or if there was going to be a civil war.

Forming SNOF within ELAS - Concern or deception?

The CPG, EAM and ELAS leadership, “concerned” about the situation that existed in Greek occupied Macedonia, especially in Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions, was forced to create a separate Macedonian organization; SNOF (Slavo-Macedonia National Liberation Front). SNOF, for Kostur and Lerin Regions, was created on October 20, 1943 and for Voden Region a little later. The people who created SNOF were Greeks who belonged to the CPG District Committee for Western Macedonia; Hristos Kalfas (Andreas), Antonis Andonopulos (Periklis), CPG District Committee Secretary for Kostur Region and Thanassis Kartsunis, CPG District Committee Secretary for Kozhani Region. (See the book: “Giorgi R. Peikov (1915-1991)” by Stoian Kochov, Skopje 1995.)

This is how and who gave birth to SNOF, but how does our history underscore this event? Let us see what historian Kiriazovski has to say:

“SNOF should be praised for what it did, because of its effort more than 500 Macedonians joined ELAS...” (It is unclear here why Macedonians were pushed to join ELAS?) “… Which prompted the development of a seamless national liberation movement in that part of the region…” (See: Dr. Risto Kriazovski’s book “Makedonski Natsionalni Institutii vo Egeiskiot del na Makedonia (1941-1961)” (Macedonian national institutions in the Aegean part of Macedonia (1941-1961)) p. 29)... Further on in his book on page 33 Kiriazovski wrote: “Just when SNOF achieved all this and had real prospects of achieving even greater results and an even greater involvement of Macedonians in battle, the CPG leadership, in April 1944, decided to dissolve SNOF and its military units. The CPG leadership did this as part of the deal it negotiated when it conceded to the right…”

So, less than 6 months after it was created by strangers and foreigners, SNOF was disbanded, again by strangers and foreigners, even after proving that it was a great asset to the CPG. And how do we view SNOF today? As a national institution that comes back to us like a boomerang. Clearly, the Greeks on both sides of the conflict had a problem with the Macedonian bands and, no doubt, so did some of the big powers, so the obvious solution was “why don’t we get the Macedonians to solve our problem for us?”! This was yet another “unfortunate” Macedonian mistake in a string of historic mistakes we made. Macedonians “must” learn not to be so trusting! Macedonians must learn that they cannot depend on foreigners and strangers to lead them and tell them what to do! Macedonians must grasp the fact that the world was built on lies and deception! If what I am saying is not true then explain to me how an island (Britain) in the Atlantic the size of a speck could dominate, enslave and colonize more than half the world?

You should also know that in the absence of a strong Macedonian factor and in view of Bulgarian propaganda, two insurgencies took place in Kostur Region. The first took place in 1940 during the Greek-Italian war. Some Macedonians who fought in the Greek army against the Italians were captured and sent to Italy. While in Italy, the Bulgarian government made a request to the Italian government to send these Macedonians to Bulgaria under the pretext that these people were “really Bulgarians who had been enslaved by the Greek army”. When the Greek authorities found out about this they immediately blacklisted the families of these soldiers and treated them as traitors and enemies of the motherland Hellas. So in order to protect themselves, members of these families created and joined various village bands of insurgents.

The second insurgency was even more drastic. It was a result of a group of 27 people being freed from “akronavplion” prison. These people were imprisoned because they were suspected of being communists but some were freed on June 28, 1941 with help from a woman called Julia Schneider. Speaking German, Schneider convinced the German authorities to free all the men who understood the Slavic idiom. She told the authorities that these people, who were surrendered to the Germans by the Greeks, and who were supposedly communists, were jailed because they were “Bulgarophones” and wanted to become Bulgarian citizens. The Greek national press and some Greek politicians later used this incident to denounce the CPG, for allegedly working with the occupier and “surrendering” Macedonia to Bulgaria. After being freed, if they wanted to live, these men had no other choice but to arm themselves and flee to the mountains.

Before we examine who the insurgents were, it is interesting and important to understand how the thesis “one state, one party” was applied to the newly created circumstances during the new Macedonian occupation in 1941. Here is what Dr. Vanche Stoichev had to say for “Nova Makedonija” on August 16, 1994:

“Bulgaria, at the time, had occupied most of Vardar Macedonia and a large part of Aegean Macedonia. This occupation motivated the Communist Party of Bulgaria, in accordance with the Comintern thesis, to renew its efforts to annex Macedonia through a communist movement. After its annexation the Macedonian Communist Party in Pirin Macedonia would attempt to annex the Communist Party in Vardar Macedonia.”

So the question is, did the Communist Party of Bulgaria, through various forms, attempt to do the same in Aegean Macedonia, and is there any proof that it was not involved in the whole process of creating the insurgency?

According to Dr. Vanche Stoichev, relationships between the CPY, CPG and BPG, regarding the Macedonian question, varied from time to time in accordance with daily politics.

So, who were the insurgents in Greek occupied Macedonia? Here is what was written about them by a few historians: “... what pushed a small segment of the population to form and join the insurgency in 1943 was fear of the Greek nationalist armed gangs. Many anti-Macedonian leaflets, with various intimidating slogans, were circulated in Western Macedonia to frighten the Macedonian population. Many of those “frightened” people did not trust the communists or the CPG’s promises of equal rights for the Macedonians, and preferred to take matters into their own hands. The EAM program, on the other hand, said nothing about individual or national rights for the Macedonians, even after the first units of ELAS emerged in Western Macedonia in March 1943, so many refused to join ELAS. Also, in the beginning, ELAS was dominated by strong nationalist elements who in just one day slaughtered 17 Macedonians in the village Zagorichani”. (See: Hristo Andonovski, “Makedonija pod Grtsia vo borba protiv fashizmot (1940-1944)” (Macedonia under Greece in the anti-fascist struggle (1940-1944))”, page.108.)

One of the many factors that gave rise to the insurgency, or counter-band movement, in Greek occupied Macedonia was the “quisling” movement (Greek collaborators and spies who cooperated with the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupiers) whose members began to join the ranks of ELAS and later DAG. In other words, the fascists and evildoers who once cooperated with the Germans, Italians and Bulgarians were now joining the same ELAS units along with the celebrated fighters, commanders and commissars of partisan units. Many of these fighters gave their lives for the freedom of their people and now were disgusted to see that those who betrayed them were being allowed to join the same units as them! Could they be trusted? Would they again turn against the Macedonian people? Yes they would without giving it much thought!

Here’s what Tashko Mamurovski had to say about this: “... frequent massacres, looting, fires, rape, orgies, violence, etc., have been perpetrated against the innocent Macedonian population by Greek nationalists, placed into the ranks of ELAS as agents and collaborators. A couple of these cutthroats were Kolaras and Baskakis. People like them forced the Macedonian population to arm itself and fight for its survival.”

Many decent people were murdered by these cutthroats including Kosta (Dinev) Solev Sulio, a decent man and great Macedonian patriot.

11.1 Facts and arguments regarding the Macedonian insurgency in Kostur

The best fighters who fought for the liberation of Macedonia!

According to accounts written in rebel Vasil Ianakiev’s diary (as reported by his son Dr. Risto Ivanovski in Skopje.): “A committee of five members was formed on April 18, 1942, consisting of: Vasil Ianakiev from the village Maniak, Kostur Region, member of the IMRO (United); Luka Dimanin from the village Drenoveni, Kostur Region; Bai Kolio Shestevarot member of the IMRO (United); Tanas Nizamov, translator and one more person. After forming the committee, the five requested an audience with Italian General Ravali, commander of the Italian troops in Kostur City. The five explained to the general the Macedonian situation, gave him a brief history of Macedonia’s invasion, occupation and division in 1912, 1913 and the horrors the Macedonian people were subjected to. They explained to him how Greece, back in 1900, began its systematic destruction of the Macedonian identity with the arrival of Bishop Karavangelis (70) and the armed formations guided by Pavlos Melas in an effort to conquer Macedonia.

Then with the massive colonization of the Greek part of Macedonia, with colonists from Asia Minor, the Macedonian people were further abused and terrorized by the Greeks, especially by the organization PAO (71) which represented only the Greek nationalists. PAO was responsible for organized daily raids where its members stole cattle, grain, cheese, butter, lard and other items from the Macedonian people and on top of that abused and tortured the victims and reported them to the authorities, even to the Italian authorities of being guilty of harbouring communist ideals. Many Macedonians were taken before the Italian authorities and intentionally accused of being Communists, arrested and beaten to death. Greeks on the other hand, who were accused of being communists, were arrested, imprisoned and then acquitted.

The five then explained to the General how difficult it was to procure necessities such as salt, sugar, oil, kerosene, etc., items unavailable to the Macedonian population. The final request they made was for the General to allow the Macedonians direct communication access to the Italian authorities because they explained that the Greeks put in charge of mediating did not exactly represent their interests. They told the General that the Greeks often threatened the Macedonians with harm and they were afraid for their lives and that they needed protection. Ravali told them he would seek clarification from the Italian authorities and would reply to them soon. Ravali gave them his answer on March 5, 1943 during a meeting he convened. Attending the meeting were 48 representative members of the various villages. It was decided to form a “self defense” organization called “Macedonian Committee” for Kostur Region, which was to serve about 60 villages. They were given permission to arm themselves because the Italian authorities felt they needed to protect themselves from the Greeks who meant to do them harm.

Voted at the Assembly were:

1. Pando Makriev, from the village Chetirok, Kostur Headquarters, Chief of Staff.

2. Pascal Kalimanov, from the village Dobrolishta, Commander of all armed village fighters.

3. Luka Dimanin, from the village Drenoveni, Assistant Commander of Headquarters.

4. Bai Kolio, main leader of Kostur.

5. Hristo Naskov, from the village Ezerets, Secretary and Assistant to the Commanders.

6. Vasil Ianakiev, from the village Maniak, Intelligence Officer.

7. Kuze Shestevarot, Regional Commander.

After the organization was formed, 9,742 insurgents joined and were armed, mostly with small arms. They were given special permission to bear arms by the Italian garrison commanded in Kostur. They were limited in what they could do but were allowed to defend themselves and their villages from Greek aggression.

A celebration took place on July 24, 1943 in Kostur during which various Macedonian patriotic slogans were chanted, such as “Dear people of Kostur, be brave it is part of your ancient tradition!”, “Long live Ilinden our day of liberation!”, “Long live the spirit of the people of Kostur!”, “Long live all of Macedonia!” and others.

During the celebration the leaders of the organization gathered around a table covered with a red velvet tablecloth, symbolic of the Macedonian red colour, and in the centre of the table were a dagger and a handgun in the form of a cross. Insurgents joining the organization were required to take the following oath:

“I swear to fight for a free Macedonia to the last drop of my blood. I will be faithful to the Macedonian Kostur Committee and will never betray it. If I become a traitor then I shall die by this dagger and this revolver which I am about to kiss! Freedom or death! Let there be eternal glory!”

Most of these brave Macedonian fighters from Kostur Region left their bones in the fields and mountains fighting to free and preserve their homeland. Many were buried in a mass grave in Strashilovo, located between the villages Turie and Bapchor. Many were thrown into the D’mbeni cavern. A great number were buried in the large cemetery in the village Aposkep. And even more left their skeletons scattered in the Mountains in Epirus, Vicho and Gramos.

11.2 Facts and arguments regarding Greek strategies in dealing with the Macedonians – as told by Greek history, the history of the victors!

The Greek strategy was to acquire a Macedonia without Macedonians. They came to Kostur and to Aegean Macedonia with one goal in mind; to persecute the Macedonians until they all disappeared!

1. Αθήνα, 2 Μάη 1906. Φάκελος Κ 59 Β, ΓΑΚ