THE TRUTH - Part 05

THE TRUTH

The Macedonians who have lived in Greece and now live in the Diaspora and have experienced real democracy can truly tell you how undemocratic Greece is. People in democratic states are not prohibited from speaking their mother tongue. Children who only know their mother tongue are not punished for speaking it in public. Old people who speak one language are not fined for speaking it in the market place. These things happen in democratic Greece.

Greece is not only a non-democratic state but far from it, Greece does not know the meaning of the word democratic.

BIG Greek Lie # 8 - “Tito created the Macedonian Nation”

(Some Modern Greeks believe Tito created the Macedonian Nation)

I for one am tired of reading e-mails and letters deliberately sent by individuals and institutions of Greek origin suggesting that Marshal Joseph Broz Tito (1892-1980), the Croatian born post World War II Yugoslav leader, created the Macedonian nation. Are these people completely misinformed, unaware of reality, or desperately trying, at any cost, to discredit the Macedonian people? How can anyone make such outrageous claims about recent and verifiable historic events and expect to maintain credibility?

FACT: The Socialist (Peoples’) Republic of Macedonia was formed in 1944 based on Tito’s recognition and acceptance of a separate and distinct Macedonian ethnicity within the Yugoslav federation. This information is not only readily available but it is verifiable because it happened only six decades ago. How could one man with the stroke of a pen convince millions of people to drop their current ethnicity and opt for one that did not exist? What did Tito offer these people for them to want to be Macedonian so badly? How did Tito manage to teach all those people the Macedonian language not only in Yugoslavia but also in Greece, Bulgaria, the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, Russia, South America, Asia, Africa and the world over? And how did he do it in less than one decade? Most importantly how did Tito, when he was just a child less than eleven years old, influence the Macedonians to rise up against the Turks in 1903? How did Tito create Macedonians even before he was born? You don’t even have to go to Macedonia to discover if Macedonians existed before Tito was born. All you have to do is visit any old cemetery in the large North American cities [6] and you will find gravestones with the inscription “Macedonian”. Go to the Ellis Island Immigration registry and look up the logs from the 19th century and you will find travelers declaring themselves Macedonian. Attend any Macedonian event anywhere in Canada, the USA, or Australia and ask how many people believe Tito created the Macedonian nation. Ask the descendents of those who immigrated to these great countries before Tito was born, if Tito created their Macedonian identity. Need I go on? Why didn’t Greece object to Tito when he allegedly created the Macedonian nation in 1944?

Why didn’t Greece object to the name “Socialist (Peoples’) Republic of Macedonia” in 1944? Most Greeks believe Tito artificially created the Macedonian Nation in order to make claims on the so-called “Greek Macedonia” (Greek occupied Macedonia). Most Greeks also believe that the “Skopjans”, as the Greeks like to call them today, want to name their country Republic of Macedonia because they still have territorial aspirations towards “Greek Macedonia”. More specifically, most Greeks believe the Skopjans want to annex “Greek Macedonia” for themselves.

THE TRUTH

The truth is Tito did not create the Macedonian nation and as I mentioned earlier, Tito recognized and accepted the existence of a Macedonian ethnicity within his own country, Yugoslavia. The truth is Macedonians have no aspirations for anyone’s territory. Further, allow me to remind the Greeks that their State acquired Macedonian territories by conquest, against the wishes of the Macedonian people, and therefore no part of Macedonia belongs to Greece. It never did and it never will. “Greek Macedonia” in reality is Greek occupied Macedonia.[7]

BIG Greek Lie # 9 - “Macedonia is Greek”

(Many Modern Greeks believe Macedonia belongs to Greece)

Some of my readers are asking; Is Macedonia really Greek? By Macedonia they mean the Republic of Macedonia. Is Macedonia Greek or not? Before 1913 there was one Macedonia, the one and only 100% Macedonia. Now according to the Greeks there is a smaller Macedonia, 51% of the original Macedonia known as “Makedonia”. Again, according to the Greeks, there is no other Macedonia. So my readers ask; if Macedonia was 100% in 1913 and 51% of Macedonia was taken by the Greeks then what happened to the other 49% of Macedonia? Did it vanish? What my clear thinking and logical readers are saying is that if you cut Macedonia into three pieces, the pieces are still Macedonia, just as if you cut an apple into three pieces it is still an apple, three pieces of the same apple! In other words, three pieces of Macedonia is still Macedonia! Now if you wish to identify each piece individually then you can call them A, B and C. If A is called Macedonia what should B and C be called? According to the Greeks however, if A is called Macedonia then B and C cannot be called Macedonia! So back to the original question! Is Macedonia Greek? My readers are having a few problems with the above: 1. If “Macedonia is Greek” then all of the original Macedonia must also be Greek. So why aren’t the Greeks making claims to all of Macedonia. (Is it because they are signatories to the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest and have agreed not to make claims to the other 49% of Macedonia? Why would Greece sign such an agreement if all of Macedonia was Greek? Why indeed! Is it because Macedonia is NOT Greek?) 2. Clearly if Macedonia is divided into three parts then all three parts would still be called Macedonia. Right? If the Greeks choose to call their part Makedonia, to identify it as “a part of Macedonia that belongs to Greece”, then shouldn’t the other partners, 1913 Treaty of Bucharest signatories, have the right to call their part of Macedonia whatever they want? Isn’t the Republic of Macedonia part of the original Macedonia? Why do the Greeks make it sound as if it isn’t? The Greeks claim the name Macedonia is historically Greek but in reality look what they have done over the years: 1. When Macedonia was first divided in 1913 and Greece annexed 51% of it, the Greeks called it the “New Territories”. 2. In 1935 they renamed their 51% to “Northern Greece”. 3. Then as Yugoslavia started to disintegrate and the REAL Macedonians were about to declare their independence, Greece again in 1988 renamed their 51% “Makedonia”, claiming it to be the ONLY Macedonia in existence and historically belonging to Greece! Didn’t Greece just annex 51% of Macedonia in 1913? What “historically” are they talking about? Greece had its chance to call its northern province “Makedonia” from 1913 to 1989 but chose not to. Why? Why did Greece choose to call it “Makedonia” only after the REAL Macedonians started calling their own state Republic of Macedonia? Worst yet, why is Greece objecting to the real Macedonians calling their State Republic of Macedonia? How can the Greeks have a Macedonia and the Macedonians can’t? Is this some sort of Greek logic that only the Greeks can understand? My readers still want to know (from the Greeks); 1. Since the Republic of Macedonia was part of the original Macedonia why are the Greeks objecting to it being called Republic of Macedonia? 2. How can Macedonia be historically Greek and not Macedonian? Didn’t the Greeks invade, partition and annex Macedonia? Didn’t they take 51% of it by force from the Macedonians? 3. When will they (the Greek State) come to their senses and stop making fools of themselves?