KING CONSTANTINE’S TELEGRAM - Part 02

achieved. The only political elements that sympathized with the Macedonian revolutionary organization’s objectives, at the time, were the Communist Parties of the respective Balkan States. The Macedonian revolutionary organization called on the Macedonian people to join the class struggle and support those sympathetic to the Macedonian cause. Many Macedonians did rise to the task but found they had very little in common with the exploited working class in their respective new countries. Macedonians felt they were exploited first because they were Macedonians and second because they were a working class. To win them over, the Communist International (Comintern) was obliged to consider concessions like offering Macedonians autonomy and the right to self-determination or at least recognize the Macedonian nation with full rights and privileges.

Unlike the Great Powers and the European monarchies of the past, the Comintern saw the Macedonian people as a potentially strong ally that could be persuaded to rally for its cause. Unfortunately there were problems, many problems. First, there were disagreements between the various Balkan State Communist Parties regarding the degree of concessions to be awarded. Then there were fears of losing Macedonian territory if autonomy was considered. Moscow, the leading Comintern figure, favoured a Balkan Federation with the whole of Macedonia as one of its republics. Unfortunately Bulgaria, still dreaming the San Stefano dream, backed out.

Without a way of breaking the “impenetrable, artificial barriers” imposed on Macedonia by the Balkan States, the Macedonian revolutionary organization was never again able to rise to the glory days of the Ilinden Rebellion. As a consequence, its role slowly diminished and it became extinct after the German occupation of the Balkans in 1941.

After the Great War (WW I) there was peace in Europe. Unfortunately, Macedonians continued to endure denationalization, forced assimilation, forced emigration and economic neglect at the hands of their new masters.

One of the worst Greek masters to face the Macedonian people was Metaxas. Metaxas and his Fascist supporters were extremely anti-Macedonian and wanted everything that was Macedonian erased, including the Macedonian language that the Macedonian people spoke both publicly and in private. This was the only language the vast majority of Macedonian people spoke at that time.

While there were some prospects for basic human rights for the Macedonian people in the Greek State in the early 1920’s, those prospects died as Greece tightened its grip on Macedonia by implementing more racist assimilation policies.

In 1938 Australian author Bert Birtles in his book “Exiles in the Aegean” wrote, “In the name of ‘Hellenization’ these people (Macedonians) are being persecuted continually and arrested for the most fantastic reasons. Metaxas’s way of inculcating the proper nationalist spirit among them has been to change all the native place-names into Greek and to forbid use of the native language. For displaying the slightest resistance to the edict - for this too is a danger to the security of the State - peasants and villagers have been exiled without trial.” (Page 112, John Shea, Macedonia and Greece The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation)

We Macedonians often joke about this because it is so bizarre, but people were also fined for giving commands to their animals or calling out to their pets in their native language.

Sometimes when I think about this I am amazed at the cruelty perpetrated against the Macedonian people… not allowing them to speak the only language they know in their own ancestral homes... This is beyond understanding for a westerner yet it was westerners who allowed it to take place by being complacent. First let me say that there is no way in the world that the Western Great Powers did not know that this was happening in Greece, and second, no one did anything to stop it. This tells me that, without a doubt, Hellenization in Greece was taking place with Western Great Power consent. Imagine walking around in your own home, on your ancestral lands and not being allowed to speak your mother tongue. This is how it was and still is for the Macedonian people living in Greek occupied Macedonia.

Another place to stalk unsuspecting victims was at their home. Greek policemen often stood outside people’s windows just to hear what language they were speaking and fined the entire family if they were caught speaking Macedonian.

“The Metaxas regime, haunted by the specter of Slavism and communism, initiated a policy of accelerated assimilation. Applied by incompetent and short-sighted civil servants, it antagonized even Slavophones of the Greek faction. To peasants of Bulgarian [ethnic Macedonian] orientation it served as proof that the Greek state could not offer them a national shelter. In 1941, the occupation of Greece by the Germans and the entrance of Bulgarian troops in eastern Macedonia and Thrace offered the opportunity for accumulated bitterness to reach maturity.” (Kofos. “Nationalism and Communism in Macedonia”. Page 255) I don’t agree with Kofos on many things but I do agree with him on this point.

After the realization set in that people would be fined and even physically punished and force-fed castor oil for repeat offences, fear and suspicion began to set in, forcing people to keep silent. It was best to look down or to look the other way when passing your neighbours on the street because you never knew who might be listening. Keeping silent was preferable than speaking to someone you had known all your life in that despicable foreign Greek language which you so much despised.

“In the past, Macedonian life and events were preserved in the folksongs, thus enabling an articulation of feelings and grief as well as cultural self-expression. When the Macedonian language was proscribed in Northern Greece, the folksongs ceased.” (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. “Children of the Bird Goddess”. Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Page 163)

This assimilation-ist policy however was not new. It was started a long time ago and became evident around 1875 when it became clear that Macedonia would not be allowed to become a nation state and would be divided among the other Balkan nations. Metaxas tightened and accelerated the assimilation process before the communists could do damage to his Fascist Greece.

But what was really scary was not how Metaxas was going to “assimilate” the Macedonian people but how he went about “renewing” Greece.

Metaphorically speaking, in order to build a new building on the foundations of an old building you must first tear down the old building. To get rid of the undesirables inside Greece, which included the communists and the minorities, Metaxas began a hate campaign vilifying everything he did not like. He then used the Greek people to tear them down. First he vilified the communists and then he vilified the Macedonians and every other ethnic group he did not like. He convinced a lot of his followers that the real Greeks were superior, more intelligent and God’s gift to Greece… just like Hitler did with the German people. The rest of the people, he said, were not only useless, but a danger to Greece and had to be purged.

This created a lot of hatred and xenophobia in the Greek people, which apparently has survived to this day.

Let me tell you that the Fascists inside Greece were never defeated or removed from power; they are alive and well, even today. Just have a look at how Greece is behaving, especially towards the Macedonian people in exile, who Greece exiled after the Greek Civil War. Take a good look at how Greece is behaving towards the Republic of Macedonia; that should tell you what kind of country it is. And what have the Western Great Powers done to curb Greece’s behaviour? Nothing! In fact the Western Great Powers are directly responsible for this behaviour not only for looking the other way but also for setting Greece on this course in the first place.

Unfortunately, as we found out in retrospect, the communists were no better. The Macedonian people never knew where they stood with the Greek communists. First they recognized the Macedonians as an identity but as “Slavo-Macedonians”, then they refused to recognize their rights unless the Macedonians did what they were told to do and won the war against the Fascists.

The communists did take the lead in Greece when Greece was under Fascist and Nazi occupation and, with a lot of help from the Macedonians, won the war and Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Fascist Bulgaria were driven out of Greek occupied Macedonia.

After all that, you would figure the Macedonian people would be rewarded with at least recognition and some basic human rights? But no, the Macedonian people were again entangled in another foreign war, the so-called Greek Civil War, which almost exterminated them from their ancestral homes and lands. This was a very tricky war but I want to say a few things about the Macedonian people and what happened to them during World War II, before we get into the Greek Civil War.

The Macedonian involvement in World War II was not about “Communist ideologies” or about alliances or obligations to the Great Powers. It was simply the next stage in the long struggle for “liberation from oppression” and to fulfill a longing for freedom, re-unification and self-rule. The Macedonian contribution in fighting against Fascism is not only under-emphasized but also misinterpreted by historians.

I will once again say that the Macedonian people, during the Second World War, rose on the democratic side and fought against fascism for the liberation of the states in which they lived. The Macedonian people, like other people in the Balkans, fought to liberate their homeland and thus earn their place in the world. This cannot be ignored and must be recognized and recorded in the annals of history.

Word of a Macedonian Partisan movement in Greek occupied Macedonia spread like wildfire. People came out in the streets to freely speak their native Macedonian language, to sing songs and write Macedonian plays and poetry. The Partisans even set up Macedonian schools and taught children patriotic songs, poems and Macedonian history, using local Macedonian dialects. The younger generations, for the first time, saw written words in their beloved, sacred Macedonian language. The newfound freedom brought happiness to the lives of the oppressed Macedonian people who welcomed the Partisans into their villages as “our own boys and

girls”. The newfound confidence and strength projected by the Macedonians terrified the Greeks, especially the gendarmes and the collaborators.

The Germans and Italians did not care one way or another about Macedonian affairs as long as there was no trouble for them. Macedonian interest in Partisan activities continued to climb, bringing new recruits and volunteers to the cause. Youth organizations were created with young men and women recruited to be the eyes and ears of the community and to help defend the villages. Many young volunteers of military age were recruited and trained to perform policing and civic duties in the newly formed organizations.

But once the war (WWII) was over the Macedonian people were betrayed again. In their zeal to divide the world into spheres of influence, Stalin and Churchill decided to put Greece under British influence even though Greece, at the time, was in communist hands.

After this deal was made Britain asked Greece to disarm the partisans and get rid of the Macedonians. It’s not hard to believe that Churchill would want Greece out of communist hands, but it is hard for Macedonians to believe that he would want the Macedonians out of Greek occupied Macedonia.

Ideologically I would estimate that Greece during WW II was 80% pro-communist. The groups that established the resistance movements were all communist organized and so were the armed units of ELAS (the Greek resistance army) which included Macedonian fighters.

So, what exactly happened and why didn’t the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia gain their rights as Macedonians, like the people in the People’s Republic of Macedonia?

The great deceit - the Greek Civil War

As I mentioned earlier, the Communist International (Comintern) was obliged to consider concessions like offering the Macedonian people autonomy and the right to self-determination or at least recognize the Macedonian nation with full rights and privileges. The Comintern saw the Macedonian people as a potentially strong ally that could be persuaded to rally for its cause. This was opposite to earlier considerations made by the monarchist families in Europe and the Western Great Powers whose aims were to “partition” Macedonia and “assimilate” the Macedonian people into the nations which annexed Macedonian territories in an attempt to erase them. It is important to understand that the Macedonian territories and people were “divided” with the blessing of the European monarchies and the Great Powers. The annexation of territories was expected but the “total assimilation” of the Macedonian nation into three and later four different parts was not only unexpected but unprecedented. It was meant to destroy the Macedonian nation and erase it from history. So, here we have two opposing forces working against each other; one “helping” the Macedonian people for its own interests and the other “destroying” them for its own interests. Which one would you choose? The more enlightened Macedonians chose those who offered to help them!

When the issue about the “Macedonian question” and what to do with the Macedonians was raised by the Comintern, the communists and so-called progressive Greeks, who until now denied or kept quiet about the existence of the Macedonian people, did admit that “Macedonians still existed” in Greece, despite all attempts to forcibly Hellenize and assimilate them. The Greek communists made a promise to the Comintern that the Macedonian people would achieve equal rights as one of the peoples living in democratic Greece.

But when the time came for these “promises” to be implemented, the Greek communists did their best to stall and avoid the issue altogether.

There was also the Atlantic Decree which offered self-determination to anyone who fought against Fascism on the side of the Allies and

the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia did fight against the Fascists on the side of the Allies. So, if the Greeks were to “recognize” the Macedonian nation living in Greek occupied Macedonia, as a unique nation, then following the principles of the Atlantic Charter they would have to give them their freedom to choose their own destiny.

According to the five principles of the Atlantic Charter, all people who fought to liberate their lands from the Fascist occupier had the right to fight for their national freedom and create their own state. The Macedonians took up arms to do exactly that, to achieve the right to free themselves. The Macedonians were prepared to die to the last man to achieve exactly that. But even though they fulfilled the Atlantic Charter requirements for self-determination, by willfully and voluntarily fighting against the occupiers and disarming the Fascist groups inside Greece, the Macedonian Partisans in Greek occupied Macedonia received no recognition and no rewards. In fact they were treated as if they did not exist as Macedonians. To the outside world they were Greeks. Even when the Macedonians fought against the fascist Italians in the front in Albania they were presented to the world as Greeks. The vast majority of soldiers who fought against the Italian invasion of Greece were Macedonians, the first to be sent to the front, yet not a word was mentioned about them in the international press then or in western history books afterwards.

No one can dispute the fact that it was the Macedonians who disarmed and disbanded the so-called Fascist counter-bands armed by the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupiers just as no one can dispute that proportionally more Macedonian fighters joined the liberation struggle against these fascist occupiers and fought harder than the Greeks to drive them out. Yet still the Macedonians received no recognition and no reward; not even a mention in history.

The Atlantic Charter offered the Macedonian people a country of their own which could have separated from Greece. Unfortunately no Greek or Englishman was willing to see Macedonia leave Greece. No Greek, communist or not, was going to say “I am going to help give Macedonia away…”

So if no Greek or Englishman was prepared to allow an independent Macedonia then the least they could have done was create a federal Greece, just like federal Yugoslavia. But then again, we must remember that the Western Great Powers of today, with the exception of the United States, were the same Western Great Powers who wanted to erase everything that was Macedonian and went through a lot of effort to Hellenize the Macedonians and break their spirit in Greek occupied Macedonia. The United States of America later took on England’s role to drive the Macedonian people out of Greek occupied Macedonia by actively supporting the Greek government in the so-called Greek Civil War.

It is most unfortunate that the Greeks have this inherent fear, introduced to them by the Western Great Powers and magnified by the Metaxas regime, that somehow the “Slavs”, meaning the indigenous Macedonians, are going to “steal” their precious Macedonia and that they are not to be trusted. And basically everything after that took a turn for the worse for the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia.

This became apparent when representatives from the communist parties of Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia met several times and signed a number of agreements. The agreement signed on June 20, 1943, among other things, said:

“The representatives from these counties have unanimously pointed out the fact that, given the significant rise in the national liberation struggle in the Balkans, today’s conditions require the immediate establishment of mutual co-operation between the national liberation forces in all the Balkan countries in a patriotic struggle for the liberation of the oppressed Balkan peoples. The representatives agree in principle that it is necessary not only to establish mutual cooperation but to also, above all, establish unity of action involving all the national liberation forces in the Balkan countries by creating a single command under one chief general staff. All the representatives are aware of the historical significance of forming a General Balkan Headquarters, which would amplify the struggle of the Balkan peoples who are fighting for their liberation. Forming one General Staff would make it possible to stamp out chauvinistic

tendencies and will contribute to strengthening the convergence and twinning of the Balkan peoples. It will provide new forces in the struggle for a final and universal victory of true democracy in the Balkan countries. It will also eliminate all the difficulties and, after the fascist occupiers are expelled from the Balkans, will pave the way for the creation of a Balkan federation...” (The original document, written in French, can be found in the Republic of Macedonia Archives in Skopje.)

However, shortly thereafter, the first CPG Central Committee secretary denounced the document and declared it invalid..., just like he did with the other agreed and signed documents...

So, instead of looking to the north, to Russia, the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) decided to look towards England. Namely, the CPG put ELAS, its armed forces, under English control. ELAS was placed under the command of the Middle East English General Staff. According to G.D. Kiriakidis, (Civil War in Greece, p. 17), Sarafis, then ELAS Supreme Commander, signed a joint declaration with Eddie Myers, Chief of the English military mission and representative of the English general headquarters for the Middle East, on July 5, 1943. In his book “ELAS”, Sarafis wrote: “We signed a Declaration that made ELAS an allied army and placed it under the command of the Middle East General Staff. The operations it will perform will be executed on orders given by English General Headquarters...” (Stefanos Sarafis: ELAS, p. 120.)

After this all ELAS units were restricted from doing their functions and systematically prevented from growing and conducting combat engagements. According to Vasilis Bardzhotas, member of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, “large ELAS units, ELAS divisions and groups of ELAS divisions, were all placed in the hands of the British Intelligence Service…” (Vasilis Bardzhotas, “CPG staffing policy during the National Liberation War”, Neos Cosmos, no. 9, 1950.)

Another, similar, Agreement was also signed on July 18, 1943, between Eddy Myers of the Middle East General Headquarters, and Vasilis Samariniotis (A. Dzhimas), Stefanos Sarafis and Aris

Velouhitis, representatives of EAM, the Greek national liberation organization and ELAS.

Based on this Agreement, the EDES quisling forces which cooperated with the Nazis, led by Colonel Napoleon Zervas, and those of EKKA, led by Colonel Psaros, were to also be placed under English command. Originally EDES and EKKA were organized by the bourgeoisie and the English to fight against EAM and ELAS. According to Sarafis: “On June 21, 1943, EDES units accompanied by English officers entered our territory around Gotista and Kalama-Filiates, and there, especially around Filiates, liquidated our organizations, arrested and abused EAM members and even committed murder... In my opinion, by doing this, English Majors Chris and Miller, for political purposes, wanted to expand Zervas’s territory to include the whole of Epirus and, once reinforced, be used against ELAS. This English tendency and Zervas’s actions resulted in many ELAS - EDES clashes which ultimately led to their great collision in October 1943.” (Sarafis, ELAS, pp. 122-123.) Again, according to Sarafis: “These covert forces, which even cooperated with the occupiers against EAM and ELAS, were recognized by the English as forces that fought against the occupiers. And there was more to it than that. A joint headquarters was set up for all of them…” According to Sarafis: “ELAS demanded that Colonel Eddie Myers create the joint headquarters to include Sarafis, Aris, Samariniotis, Zervas, and Psaros.) (Sarafis, ELAS, p. 111.) In other words, the Greek communists “demanded” that the English include the fascists, their arch enemy, in the same headquarters as themselves. That is, communists and fascists working together under English control.

At this point one would have to ask themselves why would the Communist Party of Greece align itself with the fascists and Western capitalists, its supposed enemy, and work against the interests of the communist Balkan nations, its supposed allies...?

By doing this, almost a year before the Lebanon Agreement was signed, the CPG leadership officially and practically acknowledged the English right to lead the struggle in Greece and interfere in Greece’s internal affairs. Accordingly, to say that “an accidental error” was somehow made during the talks in Lebanon was

completely pointless, and only served to blur and conceal the historical truth. The top CPG leadership was responsible for systematically implementing “treacherous policies” right from the very beginning...

The Greek resistance leadership signed an agreement on May 20th, 1944 in Lebanon to form a coalition government with other civilian parties from Greece. The agreement however was viewed with suspicion by the Macedonians because much of its content was insulting and demeaning to the Macedonian people. The agreement called for disarming the Macedonian people and was interpreted as a means to destroy the Macedonian national liberation movement. The Lebanon agreement was the end result of the so-called “national unity” with other Greek parties, including the parties in the political right, which the CPG so desperately desired to create. Here one has to wonder why the Greek communists wanted to include their natural enemy the political right, in the so-called “unity” and not its ally the Macedonian movement. Was it because this is what England wanted? Was it because England wanted to legitimize the former quislings and vilify the Macedonians?

While the Macedonian people who once lived under Serbian occupation achieved their human rights just like the Atlantic Charter promised, the Macedonians in Greece not only lost their promised rights but, in the long run, lost their homes and became exiled and drifters in this world.

Before we continue with the story of what happened to the Macedonian people, I want to take a moment to explain why it happened and who the architects behind it were. I will provide evidence to back my claims.

Allow me to come right out and just say it:

I believe the Greek Civil War was not a Greek Civil War at all, I believe that it was a war perpetrated against the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia to get rid of them once and for all.

This is hard to believe, right?

Well, it is also hard to believe that millions of Jews were murdered in gas chambers and that two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, on a civilian population. But these atrocities did happen. So why is it so hard to believe that the Greek Civil War was a perpetrated war; a means to get rid of the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia?

Intentional and controlled wars concocted and supported by the Great Powers have been a common occurrence in our world for many years.

We have experienced several planned genocides in the last century or so alone and these have been masked by concocted wars. Acts perpetrated against the Macedonian people were no secret; look at what happened in 1912 and 1913, when Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria invaded, occupied and partitioned Macedonia and annexed its territories. Everyone knew about it, the Great Powers knew about it, but did nothing to prevent it or to punish the perpetrators. Why? Because the Great Powers themselves sanctioned everything that happened in Macedonia, including its partition and annexation.

These acts of genocide were purposely committed by Greece against the Macedonian people in an effort to eradicate them. Genocide was committed in Macedonia while the Western Great Powers looked on. What actually prevents us from seeing the truth is our own inability to see that this truly happened to us under the watchful eyes of the world. There are people today who still believe that the Great Powers who signed our death warrant are our friends. So, believe me when I tell you that Macedonia has been under the Great Power radar for a long time, perhaps stretching as far back as Roman times, with one intention in mind; to eradicate us.

Unfortunately for generations we have been programmed to believe that Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania alone are doing this to us… Even in moments when we witness atrocities for ourselves, we still believe that the Great Powers are our friends… Unfortunately it is our own value system that is keeping us from seeing the truth and as long as we allow our own blind and naïve values to guide us, we will be willing victims.

Let us face some facts: The English never wanted a Macedonian state to exist in the Balkans and did their best to stop it from becoming one. After they instigated the Greeks to take appropriate measures to “eliminate” the Macedonians, they continued to look the other way, that is, until World War II broke out and the Macedonians began to openly surface in Greece. Fearing that these Macedonians might get in the way of their future interests in the region and in the Mediterranean in general, the English decided to take “drastic measures” to remove them from Greek occupied Macedonia, in other words, to remove them from their own ancestral homeland.

Here I have an English secret diplomatic report that outlines the problem and the measures that needed to be taken to remove the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia.

Start of report: [Balkan States – Report 1 - December 11, 1944

Mr. Leeper to Mr. Eden Athens 24th November, 1944

Sir,

I HAVE the honour to submit the following comments on Research Department paper of the 26th August, 1944, on the subject of Macedonia. (1)

2. The two formidable Macedonian problems in which Greece is concerned are: (a) that of Greek relations with the Slav world as represented by Serbia and Bulgaria, both of whom must be expected in the immediate future to be under strong Russian influence and to have Russian sympathy for their aspirations; and b) that of the surviving Bulgarophone minority in Western Macedonia.

3. The former problem turns chiefly on that of Serbian and Bulgarian access to the Aegean, the subject discussed in paragraphs 35-40 and 41-43 of the paper under reference. There is clearly no case for handing over to Slav Powers any part of the North Aegean coast, which in 1940 had nowhere anything but an infinitesimal minority of Slav inhabitants. On the other hand, the strategic

position of Greece here, even with Turkish backing, is very weak, vis-à-vis the Slav world, so that even in her own interests it behooves Greece to come to terms with her northern neighbours. The only possible solution-however difficult in practice under present conditions-seems to be that referred to in paragraph 51, namely, a return to, and preferably an extension of, the system of free zones. A Serbian free zone at Salonica is not difficult, but a Bulgarian zone at Kavala, or even at the outlying Alexandrupolis, would probably be out of the question for a considerable period to come, in view of the passions aroused by the atrocious conduct of the Bulgarians in Northern Greece since 1941. It remains, nevertheless, a Greek no less than a Bulgarian interest that Bulgaria’s desire for access to an Aegean port should be satisfied so far as possible; since otherwise Bulgaria’s southward political aspiration, which are now largely artificial, will be kept alive by the real and continual irritation of an unsatisfied economic need. (How far this need might be met by the alternative of a free zone at Durazzo is a matter for separate study.) It may further be pointed out that the grant of free zones at her northern ports would, in fact, be of direct financial benefit to Greece herself through the revivifying influence of increased trade on the life of those ports in general and through the restoration of a natural degree of intercourse between these Greek ports and their Slav hinterland.

4. The problem of the Western Macedonian Bulgarophones, who are briefly mentioned in paragraph 7 of the paper, also remains serious and formidable, in spite of its limited dimensions. This minority, which extends through the region from Florina and Kastoria through Siatista to the plain of Yannitsa, has proved exceedingly unreliable during the war. Satisfactory data are not available, but it appears from events during the occupation that the dissatisfied minority must be considerably larger than is suggested by Greek census figures; and it is certain that successive Greek Governments have shirked facing the problem and have preferred to persuade even themselves that it did not exist. On the assumptions (1) that the policy of His Majesty’s Government is to treat Greece as the most important Balkan country from the point of view of British interests, and to support those elements in Greece which are most stably pro-British and (2) that Greece does not wish to belong to a Balkan Federation in which there would be a large Slav majority, it would appear to

follow that Greece had better not contain any Slav minorities at all. And since the amputation of the Slav areas in Western Macedonia and their annexation to a Slav Federation is a practical impossibility and would also be economically disastrous for Greece. It would follow that, difficult as it may be, a home must be found for perhaps 120,000 Slav Macedonians north of the Greek frontiers of 1941.

5. I have sent copies of this dispatch to the Resident Minister at Caserta, to Mr. Houstoun-Boswall at Sofia and to Mr. Broad at Bari.

I have, &c. R. A. Leeper.

(1) See “Balkan States” print section, 26th August, Section 6.] End of report.

I would like to draw your attention to part 4 of the report, particularly the sentence “It would follow that, difficult as it may be, a home must be found for perhaps 120,000 Slav Macedonians north of the Greek frontiers of 1941”. This was a shocker for me which sent me into a tail spin. Before that I believed that the Greeks alone were doing this on their own, that they tormenting us all on their own. After that I began to look at the situation in a different light.

And why were the English planning to get rid of the Macedonians from Greece?

Well that too is in the above report. Take a look at part 2. England could not stand Greece, its protectorate, being influenced by Russia. Greece had to be under English influence to protect English interests, at any cost, even at the extinction of the Macedonians in Greece.

You see, England still did not want to allow Russia access to the Mediterranean waters and did not want it to encroach on its sphere of influence. It is clear from the report that England does not trust the Macedonian people and passionately despises Russia.

Now that we have established who was behind the idea of getting rid of the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia and why, let us have a look at how they were planning to do it.

The first step the English took was to ask the fascist government in Serbia if the Serbians would take these Macedonians and settle them in today’s Republic of Macedonia. The fascist government in Serbia agreed but Serbia fell to the communists and the move was postponed.

At this point the English were worried that Russia might intervene on behalf of these Macedonians. This would have put Greece in jeopardy as mentioned in the above report. And since it would have been a practical impossibility to include them in a Balkan Federation with Greece in it, which England was against, then the best choice for England was to have them “removed” from Greece. But how, and send them where without raising suspicions? After all it was illegal to just uproot people from their homeland because they just didn’t fit with England’s political agenda and interests.

The next step the English took was to make a deal with the Yugoslav communists when Tito was in charge. But, as the negotiations were taking place the war was winding down and by the time a deal was reached the war (WW II) had ended. To move a massive number of people (120,000), especially civilians, at peace time would have attracted a lot of attention. So a new war had to be started, a controlled war where England would have the upper hand.

The “move” had to be done legally so that there would be no legal consequences for either Greece or England. Unfortunately such a move would be legal only if the people left voluntarily. But the only way people would leave voluntarily was if they were war refugees. So, another war was needed in Greece in which the Macedonians would be involved en masse.

One way to do this was to instigate the Macedonian people to pick up arms and fight against Greece in a bid to separate themselves from Greece by carving out Greek territory. In this scenario Greece would have no choice but to “legally” fight back and defend its territorial integrity.

This had to also be a controlled war to make sure Greece won. If this war was to take place on the territory where these Macedonians

lived, it would create the right conditions for a flood of war refugees. These refugees, to save themselves, would then flee the country. All Greece had to do after that was close its borders and not let them return. Problem solved! And that is exactly what happened! About 120,000 Macedonians were uprooted from their homes, some were killed and many were exiled forever.

But how can we be sure that what I am telling you was not purely a coincidence and not part of this English plan?

First, we have the secret diplomatic dispatch, the English report that calls for 120,000 Macedonians to be uprooted from their homes and sent north beyond the Greek border. This, in itself, highlights the problem and what needed to be done. Then, we have about 120,000 Macedonians, some killed and most permanently exiled, which highlights the solution.

All we have to do now is show how this was done and prove that it was perpetrated, controlled and supported by England. For that we need to examine the architects and players of this war and analyze exactly what happened, how this war was started, how it progressed and how it ended. We need to look at the evidence, the timing and the patterns. But first let us have a look at some critical issues that support my arguments that the Greek Civil War was started on purpose to drive the Macedonians out.

1. On the surface we are told that the so-called Greek Civil War was a struggle to bring a socialist system to Greece. This was a lie because the Great Powers, Russia and Britain, had already decided that Greece would remain a capitalist country under English influence. It was agreed that Greece would remain intact with Greek occupied Macedonia in it. Russia, a Great Power and one of the biggest players in WW II, was in agreement with that. Therefore we can assume that the communists in Greece had no Great Power support to bring socialism into Greece, quite the opposite; England was totally against Greece becoming socialist. Remember: nothing can be achieved without the support of the Great Powers. The communists in Greece should have known that from the start. And I believe that they did, at least the top communist party leadership

knew. But it seems, as it turned out, gaining power in Greece was not their real objective.

Russia’s position regarding Greece was very clear: Even though Stalin wanted to interfere in capitalist affairs he had already agreed with the Western Powers that: Greece in its entirety (90%), Greek occupied Macedonia included, was going under the English and American spheres of influence. This Agreement was made in Yalta which guaranteed that no socialist system would be implemented in Greece. The Yalta Agreement was guaranteed and supported by the Great Powers, which means that Greece could not be turned into a communist country, even if every Greek wanted it. So why then did the communists in Greece start the so-called Greek Civil War?

The War in Greece was not about “installing” a socialist system in Greece, it was about legally crushing the communist movement and cleansing the ethnic Macedonian population in Greek occupied Macedonia. The only way this could be done “above board” (legally) was if the communists and Macedonians picked up guns and started a war.

2. Nikos Zahariadis, leader of the Communist Party in Greece (CPG), the person who actually started the so-called Greek Civil War, was a German prisoner. He was freed by the English and sent to Athens on an English plane to take over the Communist Party of Greece. Now ask yourself why would the English send a known and influential communist to Greece, to take over the communist party, especially when Greece was in the hands of the communists already? It doesn’t make any sense. It was in England’s interest to weaken the communists in Greece, not to strengthen them. The only thing that actually makes sense is if the English sent Zahariadis to Greece to control the situation. In the end, that is exactly what happened.

3. Being in control of all of Greece already, why would the communists sign the Varkiza Agreement passing control to its arch enemy, the English supported Greek government of Athens?

The Varkiza agreement was signed on February 12, 1945 requiring all Partisan and other bands to demobilize and surrender their

weapons. The English, once again, confirmed their allegiance to the Greek Government by giving Athens full political and military support, committing their willingness to fight to prevent a Partisan (communist) victory. The biggest losers of the Varkiza agreement were the Macedonians. As soon as the agreement was signed, all anti-Macedonian laws were back in force and the Macedonian people lost all that they had gained during the German occupation, including the right to form their own state as per the Atlantic Charter. The Greek Communist Party made absolutely no effort to safeguard Macedonian rights in the agreements with England. This was not only a betrayal to the Macedonian people but it also left them vulnerable to persecution from the Greek Fascists. Here again, as was during the 1903 Ilinden Uprising, we see England doing nothing to help the Macedonian people. On top of that everything possible was done to torment them in order to instigate them to fight back.

4. Why was NOF, the Macedonian Liberation Front, created in Yugoslavia and sent to Greek occupied Macedonia to prepare for a new conflict right after World War II ended and before the Greek Civil War had started? NOF was created in Yugoslavia (People’s Republic of Macedonia) with the CPY (Communist Party of Yugoslavia) and Marshal Tito’s approval and blessing.

The ELAS fighters, the fighters who liberated Greece from the fascist German, Italian and Bulgarian occupiers, who earlier had left Greek occupied Macedonia and went to Yugoslavia, came under the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the Communist Party of Macedonia (CPY/CPM). It was from these fighters that, in Skopje on April 23, 1945, the organization NOF (People’s Liberation Front) was formed under the initiative of the CPY/CPM and sent to organize the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia in preparation for a new conflict - the Greek Civil War.

This shows that the Greek Civil War was foreseen before it happened. It was anticipated. Yugoslavia knew about it and was probably part of it. The top Yugoslav leadership knew about it. And how was that possible? Could they see into the future? The only way Yugoslavia would have known about the so-called Greek Civil War

was if Yugoslavia was part of the conspiracy to start it. And if they were part of the conspiracy to start the war then they were part of the conspiracy to get rid of the Macedonians from Greece.

And surprise, the classified document I posted earlier was dated December 11, 1944, which means that, at the diplomatic level, this plan was already in motion by 1945 when NOF was created. There was no way that England could have gotten rid of the Macedonians from Greece without Yugoslav help. The fact that Yugoslavia put together NOF to start a new war in Greece proves it.

NOF was created on April 23, 1945 before the Greek Civil War was even thought of. The Greek Civil War did not officially begin until March 31, 1946 by a decision of the CPG Second Plenum held on February 12, 1946. It did not happen by accident, it was planned.

After the Second World War, the Greek Civil War was a new test for the Macedonian people. Unbeknown to them the war had a dual purpose; one, to expel the Macedonian population, and for that reason the war was located inside Greek occupied Macedonia; and two, to liquidate the Communists who obviously were grossly misinformed and wanted to create socialism inside the English Protectorate of Greece.