CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE TREATY OF BUCHAREST WAS DRAFTED - Part 05

The 2006 census recorded 252,216. The 1991 census recorded 274,974 Australians who said that they spoke Greek at home. Not by Ancestry. The 2006 census recorded 365,145. The 1986 census, when this question was first asked, recorded 311,942. If there are indeed 700,000 Greek Australians then that suggests that most Greek Australians were not born in Greece, do not have Greek born parents, do not speak Greek at home and do not see themselves as people of Greek Ancestry. According to various Greek Community sources however, which continuously convey information to the Australian authorities, there are still 700,000 Greeks in Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the real figure for the Greek Australian population lies in the 365,000 range. Information relating to the three census questions all point to this figure. Another misconception portrayed in the Australian Greek media is that Melbourne is the third largest Greek City outside of Greece. But is it? In Canada the Greek media portrays Toronto as the third largest Greek City in the world. In the USA the Greek media portrays New York as the third largest Greek City in the world. The Australian Bureau of Statistic has shown that Victoria has a population of 5.3 million of which 3.9 million live in Melbourne and 128,164 Melbournians are of Greek ancestry. Despite the census being conducted by government bodies, the Greek media has still managed to convince various authorities in Australia, Canada and the USA that the third largest Greek city in the world is situated in Melbourne, Toronto and New York respectively! How can that be?” (Zoran C.) We know very well that “Greek” as an ethnic entity does not exist but to maintain the impression that it does, Greeks will resort to anything and everything possible from claiming that people of the Christian Orthodox religion are in reality Greeks to anyone who has a “Greek sounding name” is Greek. Just pick up a Greek community telephone book in Toronto and you will find Macedonians, Spaniards and even Latvians represented as Greeks. As long as it sounds Greek, it must be Greek! But then if you think about it, it all makes sense. If Slavs, Macedonians, Albanians, Christian Turks and Vlachs can be “instant modern Greeks” then why not other people with “Greek sounding” names? After all “Greek sounding” is almost Greek; isn’t it? How more fake is a Greek-sounding name of a Latvian than a “Hellenized” Greek sounding name of a Macedonian? I would say they are about equal! “Hellenizing” other ethnic groups, to most Greeks, is

equivalent to subjecting them to a “civilizing” process! And what is wrong with that? There is nothing wrong with it except “fake Greeks” have no heritage and cannot be the descendents of the so-called ancient Greeks. Unfortunately being upright and honest has never been a Greek forte so to cover up their artificiality they resort to not only changing people’s name but erasing timeless place names and replacing them with alien ones to suit their purposes.

“But how were the names changed?

One method was by the direct replacement of the existing names by their ancient predecessors. The usual source was Pausanias’ description of Greece, written in the second century AD. When the names stemmed from (ancient) Greek toponyms but had been adopted to the local dialect (i.e. they had been ‘altered’), they should be reformed in accordance with the phonetic and morphological rules of Katharevousa. (Marousi, derived from the ancient Amarynthos became amarousion). Sometimes toponyms were replaced by names that really existed; other times they were changed randomly and hastily. When non-Greek toponyms were adopted, this was done in a total arbitrary fashion, sometimes on the basis of misunderstood morphology (for example, a wooded village might be called ‘tree-less’ (adendron). In other cases, the result was the unsuccessful translation of the non-Greek name. Names that had acquired a commemorative value, particularly since the Revolution of 1821, were often replaced by obscure, antiquated denominations (Tripoly in place of Tripolitza, Aigion in place of Vostitsa, Kalamai in place of Kalamata, Amphissa in place of Salona, Lamia in place of Zitouni, Agrinion in place of Vachori). Even national heroes had to change their names. For example, Rigas Valestinlis had to change to Rigas Pheraios because his village of Valestino was near the site of ancient Pherai. Still, despite apparent chaos, frequently comic results, and general incoherence, the process followed an internal logic: the creation of a ‘Hellenized’ toponymic environment.

Who decided to change the toponyms?

It might have been expected that this would have been done at the initiative of the state: An instruction came from above, from the center to the region. But it did not happen exactly this way. The government used to appoint commissions composed of university professors of history, linguistics, folklore, and archeology. The 1920 commission, set up after the acquisition by Greece of Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus,

was constituted by the same persons who had created the ‘scientific’ study of the Greek nation – that is, the creators of the country’s history, archives, and the Museum of National History (Spyridon Lambros), of its folklore (Nikolaos Politis), and of its linguistics (Georgios Tajiadakis).” (“Hellenism Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity from Antiquity to Modernity”, edited by Katerina Zacharia, pages 232 and 233)

Essay 31 – The Need for Intelligence Gathering

We all talk about the tremendous effort and money our enemies spend in pursuit of their interests, which directly affects our ability to pursue ours, but we have no idea specifically who our enemies are. Why? Because we have absolutely no information on who is the enemy. We may not even have information on our own people who make decisions, run our organizations, raise funds, contribute funds, etc. We have little to no information particularly on those who are “influential in the Macedonian community and in Macedonian organizations” inside or outside of Macedonia. So our enemies “might” even be closer than we think. The operative word here is “might” and the question is “how do we know for sure who the enemy is and is not?” Hearing what we want to hear and assuming that all people who speak positively about our cause have our best interests at heart, nowadays, is not enough to assume that all such people are honest and our friends. Words alone are cheap and cost nothing. We may or may not have enemies in our midst; all I am saying is that we should have some way of screening our people especially in positions of responsibility, just like every corporation screens its employees, to ensure that they don’t have “bad apples”. How many Macedonian Organizations today screen their members, particularly those who serve on executive boards? Why am I asking these “uneasy” questions and possibly creating suspicion and mistrust among our people? Too many times, at critical moments, we have witnessed our enemies waltz in and take over our organizations. It has happened to dozens of Village Associations in the Diaspora in the last fifty years or so. It has happened half a dozen times during the Greek Civil War when “friendly” Greeks infiltrated Macedonian organizations and not only rendered them useless but vilified our leaders and true patriots and made them look like traitors in front of their own people. It has even happened at the most critical time in Macedonia’s history; the Ilinden Uprising. Did you know that Gotse Delchev and his supporters did not want an “early Uprising” because they knew the Macedonian people were not ready? Yet we had an early Uprising which turned into a disaster for the Macedonian people and for the Macedonian cause. And who benefited the most from the early Uprising? Our enemies of course, the very same ones who occupy Macedonia today! How many times must this happen before we realize that we need to do more to prevent these things from happening again?

This is why it is very important to have reliable information on our leaders, particularly on the Macedonian leadership outside of Macedonia where our enemies can easily infiltrate organizations and lead our people astray. This is not to accuse anyone here of anything but to suggest that we proceed with caution. The idea for gathering intelligence is not new; it has been used by every country in the world to keep an eye on its enemies. Unfortunately it has not been effectively implemented in the Macedonian communities especially outside of Macedonia; which has potentially left gaping holes for our enemies to walk through. Our enemies do not work in mysterious ways when it comes to infiltrating our organizations. They simply find ways to create contention between Macedonians and manage to stifle our progress and divide our people. Instead of sticking to issues, our enemies attack the integrity of good people and make their motives look questionable. I have seen this happen many times to good people who were falsely accused of “wrongdoing” and forced to explain themselves for something they had not done. Found in this situation, most honest Macedonians give up and quit fighting for the cause. There is nothing worse and demoralizing than being falsely accused of “wrongdoing” especially if you have voluntarily devoted your life’s energy to work hard for the benefit of every Macedonian! One of the more effective methods Macedonia’s enemies employed during the Ilinden Uprising was to infiltrate Macedonian organizations by pretend to be great patriots and by saying all the right things that every Macedonian wanted to hear. Then while having the attention of the Macedonian people, particularly in private, they would find faults, criticize, demean and generally work against the Macedonian leadership. The worst however that our enemies can do is use our own energies and resources against us. Imagine our enemies raising funds from our Macedonian communities and using those funds against the very same generous and patriotic people who donated them. What measures have we implemented to prevent this from happening? How many times have you witnessed Macedonian leaders being accused of “stealing money” without a shred of evidence and with absolutely no consequence to the accusers? In what society do people tarnish innocent people’s reputations and get away with it? What have we done to ensure that this does not happen? It is easy to see why intelligence gathering is so important. Here is a 120 year old story about a Macedonian patriot who gave up fame and fortune for the sake of helping his people.

“Realizing the Graecizing intentions of the Greek authorities, the young Macedonian poet became a bitter enemy of their policy, and particularly of the Greek clergy, led by the notorious Patriarch of Constantinople. Grigor Prlichev (1830-1893) was sufficiently far-sighted to realize that the cultural domination under Greek rule would have much worse consequences for the national and cultural development of the Macedonian people than the politico-social domination under Turkish rule, which, though it had lasted a long time, was bound to end sooner or later. Accordingly, following the example of his master Dimitar Miladinov, Prlichev decided to wage unremitting war on the assimilating ambitions of the Greek clergy. All this is very significant because Prlichev, this talented Greek scholar, this passionate lover of classical Greek literature, who for long believed there was no greater poet than Homer and no better doctors than those of Athens (as he himself wrote in his" Autobiography"), suddenly changed. Putting love of his own [Macedonian] nation first, he never wrote another line in Greek, although he knew very well that he could have exploited his extraordinary poetic gifts in that language with undoubted success.” (Nurigiani, Giorgio. “The Macedonian Genius Through the Centuries”. London: David Harvey Publishers, 1972. page 147) As it was done in the 1800’s it is so done today, Hellenism will stop at nothing from swallowing up ethnic groups and turning them into Modern Hellenes, a deadly disease that has not ceased since the formation of the artificial Greek state in 1829. Besides wanting to turn every Macedonian into a Greek, modern Hellenism also sees Macedonism as its mortal enemy with which it cannot co-exist and will do everything in its power to destroy it. “…as it is well known that from a fifth to perhaps nearly a fourth of the inhabitants of Greece are said to be Albanians, whose fathers played so noble a part, both by sea and land, in the war of Greek independence. We believe the following facts have to do with that antipathy. No people have a more ardent national spirit, or cling more tenaciously to their language and ancient customs, than the Albanians. Now the Greeks, to their honour be it said, among the first things they did as a nation, set up a system of National schools, with primary, secondary, and higher education, all over the country; but in these schools nothing was taught but Greek, and hence the Albanians, who did not understand that language, were put to a serious disadvantage. Greek statesmen said Albanian was no language – it had no literature, not even an alphabet – it was a patois, and would die out in a generation, and the children of the Albanian soldiers and sailors would all be good Greeks; and so neither the Government nor private individuals did anything for the Albanian population. But now, at the

distance of over half a century, things remain very much as they were when Greece, first was declared independent. Most of the Albanians are rude and ignorant, and far behind the rest of the population; while in the island of Aegina and many other places – nay, only a few miles from Athens itself; there are many families who can’t speak a word of Greek. The experiment has failed. It is the same problem that meets us in the highlands in Scotland, in Wales and in Ireland. We do not greatly blame Greece, for she probably believed that she could Hellenize these sturdy Arnauts; but it is high time now to retrace her steps, and complete her admirable schooling-system, by teaching both Albanian and Greek where the population is Albanian. Thanks to the London Tract Society, there are now school-books in both dialects of languages, while the Bible Society has provided them with the Testament and Psalms. Greek would thus remove the fear of national annihilation, with which so many regard union with her as synonymous, while she will pay a graceful tribute of gratitude to her Albanian people, and raise them from that barbarism in which so many still remain, and, still more, from their deep religious ignorance.” (“The Catholic Presbyterian”, edited by Professor W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E., Vol. II., July – December 1879, page 318) “This preoccupation with Greekness only really began after the War of Independence, when defining what it meant to be a Greek became a vital element in creating a new state. And it never ceased being a national sport. When the Greeks won their freedom from the Ottomans in 1834, their first capital was the smart little Peloponnesian port of Nafplio. It was thought to be far more suitable than the goat-infested ruins and the insignificant, predominantly Turkish-Albanian settlement which existed in nineteenth-century Athens.” (“Euridyce Street a Place in Athens”, by Sofka Zinivieff, page 38)

Essay 32 - The Walls are closing in

Nowadays we hear things like “Bulgarian customs officials confiscate Vinzhito material”, “Greek Fascists Disrupt Presentation of the Greek - Macedonian Dictionary in Athens”, “the European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot referred to the Republic of Macedonia as ‘Northern Macedonia’”, etc., and wonder what has gone wrong in this world? Can’t a tiny country like Macedonia be itself and feel safe in this so-called “civilized” world? If you have been oppressed like the Macedonians and have been under one or another’s thumb for a couple of millenniums you too will wonder “what have you done that was so wrong to deserve all this?” If my grandfather was still alive he would say, “Be patient my boy we have endured a lot and our time will come some day”. And I suppose it is “hope” like his that kept us “alive” for this long! But unfortunately I do not have my grandfather’s patience or humility so rather than leave my destiny completely to fate, I want some answers! Well, what have we done to deserve all this? We have done nothing! But a more appropriate question would be “why are all these people doing this to us?” Well, if you look at each individual incident separately you will find that each of these people or entities appears to have some issue with us. They don’t want us to succeed as Macedonians! For some reason or another they don’t like us and our presence is causing them discomfort. But why? We are not a threat to them. All these “countries” which have “a problem with us” are militarily more powerful so what possible threat could we be to them? Well, we are not a military threat but rather a threat of the “embarrassing kind”. You see Europe has historically wronged the Macedonian people many times for various reasons. Most recently Europe wronged us in 1878 when we were liberated and then given back to the Ottomans without any assurances or safeguards that we would not be further abused. Then they wronged us in 1912, 1913 and 1919 when they signed various Treaties allowing our neighbours to occupy us, partition our country and annex it for themselves; again without any safeguards that we would not be harmed. What happened to us in 1878 and is happening to us to this day is not an accident but rather well planned by the Western Europeans. But worse than that, and bordering on the insane, is for “whom” did the Western Europeans do all this? If you have been reading these essays by now you would know that, ethnically speaking, “there is no such thing as a Greek”. And yes you guessed it; the Europeans “sacrificed” Macedonia for the sake of

Greece, an artificially created nation of their own making. They took Macedonia from the Macedonian people and gave it to the “fake” Greeks whom they created from the ashes of the Slav, Albanian and Vlach cultures which just happened to exist on the same soil as the ancient cultures the Western Europeans wanted to imitate! How is that for a “slap on the face”? So that there is no misunderstanding I will say it again. France, Britain and Germany, and there may have been others, possibly Russia, took Macedonia away from the Macedonian people and gave it to a bunch of undeserving Greek wannabe Slavs, Albanians and Vlachs who were not only NOT Greeks and had nothing to do with the ancient people who lived on those lands, but were themselves the descendents of “recent immigrants”. They gave our Macedonia away to non-Macedonians who themselves are descendents of immigrants who came to live in the Peloponnesus from the 7th, 11th to the 15th century. Then in the 1920’s Western Europeans allowed Greece to settle another 1.1 million Christian Turkish settlers, of whom more than half were settled in Macedonia, and today Greece portrays these Turks as the “real” Macedonians, descendants of the ancient Macedonians no less, and we the indigenous Macedonians roam the world as permanent political refugees being cast out by Greece! Would you not feel “ashamed” if you were responsible for all this? And yes, Western Europeans were party to all this! So, rather than “correcting” past wrongs and apologizing to the Macedonian people for what they did, Western Europeans today look for ways to “permanently silence” the Macedonians because they are a constant reminder of a “reckless” past not only for committing atrocities but for the “insane” reasons for which they were committed. Greece was “artificially created” to lay the foundation for a Western European Civilization. This was done, in large part, at the expense of Macedonia and the Macedonian people. The name “Macedonia” is therefore a constant reminder to the Western Europeans that the very foundation that supports their modern Western European culture is a rotten, “false” foundation resting on the corpse of Macedonia. If I had my grandfather’s faith I would say “that corpse upon which the European foundation is laid is still alive and one day will rise and expose the Western Europeans for what they truly are.” But if history has anything to say, the Macedonians are not about to disappear and will continue to cause Western Europe “discomfort” until Western Europe learns to be “truly democratic”, faces its fears and gets rid of its old skeletons.

Every country in the world has cleansed itself of its past “wrongs” and as you are reading this, Cambodia is going through that process right now. Every country has come clean except, of course, Greece and Bulgaria. Bulgaria and Greece have “escaped” their punishments for what they have done to their minorities and have yet to exorcise themselves of their past demons. Both Greece and Bulgaria, to this day, desperately “hang on with all their might” to old beliefs that somehow they are “special”, “homogeneous” and “superior” to the rest of us. Beliefs that should be dead and gone; beliefs that belong in the past together with “Nazism and Fascism”. Macedonians are here to stay and Greece and Bulgaria along with their “patrons and protectors” must learn to deal with it. As for Macedonia’s neighbour to the South, we are not done with you yet! As long as you deny our existence and continue to oppress our Macedonian compatriots living on Greek occupied Macedonian soil, we will continue to expose your artificiality and the atrocities you have committed against the Macedonians and other minorities. It is interesting to note that most Greeks know that their identity is artificial but go along with the majority pretending to be Greeks anyway. What puzzles me is that they, knowing that they are an artificial nation themselves, have the audacity to deny the Macedonians their identity. There is however a hidden purpose to “pretending to be Greek”, which has little to do with “ethnicity” but a lot to do with “being positioned” high up on the “ladder” of Greek society. Greece, to this day, values and employs “loyal Greeks” at its highest paid positions irrespective of competence, so it is understandable that there are so many scandals in the country. “Real Greeks” (the ones deeply committed to Hellenism) as one Greek professor put it to me, “work in Greece in businesses or in highly paid positions of power” in the Greek government. When I asked him, “who then are the Greeks behind the so-called ‘Australian Macedonian Advisory Council’?” To my surprise the professor said “they are your kind” and would not elaborate on what “your kind” means. So I assume he meant “Hellenized Macedonians”. But what surprised even the good professor is “if they were such loyal Greeks, why have they left Greece for Australia?” Like the professor said, “loyal Greeks work in Greece”. To have left their beloved Greece for Australia means that they were not “good enough Greeks” to be in “good positions” in Greece which puts them at the top of the list for not only being traitors to their own true identity but also “losers” to the Greek identity they value so much and work so hard for. Let’s face it, every “intelligent Greek” pretends to be a patriotic Greek because it is popular and has its benefits. If you play along with

the big boy Great Western European Powers, and be their loyal dog of the female gender, you not only get a country with an illustrious name and history but you also get someone else’s country with an even more illustrious history to boot. I guess “selling your identity” has a price but look at the benefits you get in return? Unfortunately we Macedonians are not “clever enough” to be someone’s loyal dog of the female kind and that is why we not only lost our country but were forced to accept three new and “false” identities.

What were we thinking?

Oh Europe you have messed up so bad it will take years of “psychological treatment” to get you un-messed. If only the world knew what you have done! Have you noticed how foreigners, particularly Western Europeans, think of the so-called “Balkan mentality” and how “irrational” the people in the Balkans are? Well whose fault is that? We lived without borders as Christians for thousands of years and had no problems among ourselves until the Western Europeans came with their “imperialist” and nationalist ideals and created Greece, the “Frankenstein child of Europe” and gave it a fake identity and instilled in it “dreams of grandeur”. After all that they have the audacity to blame us for “acting weird”? How would you act if Frankenstein’s monster lived next door to you? “The Greeks had not taken very much interest in their past until Europeans became enthusiastic discoverers and diggers of their ruins. And why should they have cared? The Greeks were not Greek, but rather the illiterate descendents of Slavs and Albanian fisherman, who spoke a debased Greek dialect and had little interest in broken columns and temples except as places to graze their sheep. The true Philhellenes were the English – of whom Byron was the epitome – and the French, who were passionate to link themselves with the Greek ideal. This rampant and irrational Phili-Hellenism, which amounted almost to a religion, was also a reaction to the confident dominance of the Ottoman Turks, who were widely regarded as savages and heathens. The contradiction persists, even today: Greek food is actually Turkish food, and many words we think of as distinctive Greek, are in reality Turkish. – kebab, doner, kofta, meze, taramsalada, dolma, yogurt, mussaka, and so forth; all Turkish.” (“The Pillars of Hercules” by Paul Thereoux”, page 316) And now I will leave you with this; “The sign of the entrance at Delphi said ‘Show proper respect’ and ‘It is forbidden to sing or make loud noises’ and ‘Do not pose in front of ancient stones’.

I saw a pair of rambunctious Greek youths being reprimanded by an officious little man, for flinging their arms out and posing for pictures. The man twitched a stick at them and sent them away. Why was this? It was just what you would expect to happen if you put a pack of ignoramuses in charge of a jumble of marble artifacts they had no way of comprehending. They would in their impressionable stupidity begin to venerate the mute stones and make up a lot of silly rules. This ‘Show Proper Respect’ business and ‘No Posing’ was an absurd and desperate transfer of the orthodoxies of the Greek’s tenacious Christianity, as they applied the severe prohibitions of their church to the ruins. Understanding little of the meaning of the stones, they could only see them in terms of their present religious beliefs; and so they imposed a sort of sanctity to the ruins. This ridiculous solemnity was universal in Greece.” (“The Pillars of Hercules” by Paul Thereoux”)

Essay 33 – Reacting to Rumours

Ever since this so-called “name dispute” was invented by Greece there has been no rest or peace for the Macedonian people. The “name dispute”, believe it or not, is not a dispute about “The Name” but a dispute that threatens to destroy the very existence of the Macedonian identity. Every Macedonian, particularly those from Greece, knows this and feels it’s their duty as Macedonians to protect their name. They believe, and rightfully so, that if the name is changed in any way everything that is Macedonian will cease to exist and Greece will make sure of that. No wonder every time there is mention of a “solution” found or a rumour spread about the “name dispute” Macedonians freak out and become terrified half to death. Greece and the Greeks know this, which is why they waste no opportunity to spread rumours every chance they get! I know this because I get frantic phone calls from people wanting to know – if this time the rumours are true. This has happened over a hundred times in the last four years alone. So I would like to offer my two cents worth. First and foremost Macedonians must stop reacting to rumours. As the saying goes “fool me once shame on you; fool me twice shame on me!” We can’t help how Greeks conduct their business but we can sure help how we conduct ours. Which means, as a rule, we should never “overreact” to “stories” that are not verified. And how can we “verify” stories? Well here is where I am going to make my second suggestion! Given how rumours are generated and circulated by those who benefit from them and given how Macedonians react to rumours, especially rumours about the name of their country and their identity, it’s time that the Macedonian Government “does something” to “manage” rumours. Given that most of these rumours “implicate” the Macedonian Government of “wrong doing” and given how Macedonians react to them, it’s time for the Macedonian Government to open some communication channels with its people and openly respond to its citizen’s concerns, particularly to those citizens who work for the media. Rumours and all other concerns that “drive Macedonians insane” can be put to rest simply by creating an e-mail address to take questions and a blog to post responses. Then those who have concerns can contact the government directly and get straight answers directly from the government and not from rumours circulated by our enemies. People have certain expectations from their government and if those expectations are not managed properly, or not at all, misunderstanding can arise and lead to speculation and wrong conclusions. Like I said above, we can’t help how our “enemies” conduct their business but we certainly can help how we conduct ours.

Regarding the “name issue”; if the Government wants to be at peace with the people who elected it then it must follow what the people want and, from what I know so far to this day, the vast majority of Macedonians who feel and identify as Macedonians do not want the name touched and want the Macedonian government to break off talks with the Greeks and all other parties concerned. The name of this country is not negotiable. The name is not only historical and biblical but it is closely linked to the Macedonian people’s identity and history. A change in the name will lead Macedonia down the slippery slope of permanent extinction not only of the name but of the Macedonian identity itself. Just look at what happened in 1912 and 1913. We have living examples of what happened then and this was done “without” the Macedonian people’s participation. Imagine now what devastating effects it will have if we “voluntarily” change our name! How can history, past generations who gave their lives for Macedonia and future generations who will never be born Macedonian, ever forgive us if we rob them of their true identity? And what exactly will we be doing this for? What possible gains could we expect to receive for selling out our identity and our children’s future? And how would history and those who died for Macedonia label us for doing this? In all seriousness we should not even joke about changing our country’s name. In fact we shouldn’t even be thinking about it because such an act is unthinkable. We all by now must understand that Greece and Europe have been planning our demise since 1878 and want us nothing less than extinct. The very same people who designed Nazism and launched Germany to dominate the world created Hellenism and launched the neo-Greeks to destroy Macedonia and erase it from the face of the earth. So far they have destroyed Aegean Macedonia, don’t give them the chance to destroy the rest! The very name “Macedonia” is a threat to Europe for many reasons, which I will not get into at this time, but most importantly everyone must understand that if we “give in”, even a tiny little bit on the name, it means that we can be pushed to “give in” more, to acquiesce, to capitulate, to surrender on other things and they will push us to do this again and again until there is nothing more to “give” and there will be nothing left of Macedonia or the Macedonian people as identities. And who will we be then? And most importantly with what we will be laying claim to our fatherland, to our heritage for which our recent ancestors spilled their blood to protect and preserve for us? In the past they encouraged us to “become” Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians and we joked and laughed about it, we even made expressions like “I am a Greek as much as a donkey is a horse”. But in 1913 after they occupied and partitioned our country, made our identity

“extinct” and forced us to accept their artificial identities we were no longer laughing; not even smiling. That was then and what was done to us then was done without our consent, but today the very same people are asking us to voluntarily “wipe ourselves out of existence”. Are we that naïve and gullible and expected to commit ethnic genocide voluntarily? And for what? To satisfy the wishes of a people who pretend to be Greeks? As I have said a dozen times before, the modern Greeks are a fabricated identity artificially created by the Philhellenes to serve the needs of the Western Europeans. They are not even real! Are we going to let them push us around? Are we going to voluntarily “kill” our own real ethnic identity just for the sake of satisfying the Greek lust for falsehood and racism? Our cause here is not just noble and about saving our own identity, it has a greater meaning. It is about truth and justice and rising above the falsehoods that have been laid down over us for centuries. Every Macedonian I know wants nothing but justice and the truth to prevail, that is the only way our world can truly become just and democratic, and to live by the very same principles our ancestors in 1903 and in the 1940’s died for. Many Macedonians died in their struggle to pass on to us a decent, united, independent, democratic and free Macedonia. Are we going to let them down? Who among us is prepared to go against the wishes of our ancestors, the very same ones who gave their lives in blood-stained struggles to give us a future? Are we prepared to forget what happened to them and wipe their sacrifices off the face of the earth, and for what? What could be more valuable than freedom, a value for which so many Macedonians over the centuries gave their lives? Have we already forgotten the meaning of the words “Freedom or death?” If the Macedonian government wants to “tinker” with “issues” and does not want to get into trouble with the people who put it in power, then it had best learn how to inform the people and make its intentions known without committing itself to something that it will later regret. Westerners have learned from experience not to tempt fate and before officially introducing something controversial they make sure it is “leaked” to the media. If there is a positive reaction from the people (a rare occurrence) then the government can “take credit” for the idea, but heaven forbid if the idea turns out to be a “political hot potato”. The government can then immediately disown it and attribute it to “rumours created by the opposition”. It is a sure method of keeping the government “popular” and ensuring re-election and at the same time “de-popularizes” the opposition. I never said “politics” was decent or honest, but just a way of life in our Western modern world.

Following are the opinions of other Macedonians regarding recent events that are associated with the “name” issue:

Justice Seeker wrote:

What comes to mind immediately about the “name” is the internationally accepted principles of the right to self determination and self-identification. I don’t buy for one minute any arguments that a name change won’t affect your identity. If that is the case, why the need for a name change? I'd still call myself a Macedonian but I would go to my grave with nightmares of Greeks reminding me unfairly and constantly that I don't exist. If there was really a need for a “reasonable compromise”, the only legitimate name that could be used is “The Republic of Macedonia” which is completely distinguishable and shouldn’t be confused with other parts of Macedonia. Regarding the “negotiations”! First and foremost one’s own identity is not negotiable! Second, there have been comments on this forum that in negotiations both parties have to give up something. What has Greece given up to this day? Let me see how the negotiations have gone thus far. The Republic of Macedonia changed its constitution, changed its flag, incurred massive economic losses because of the Greek blockades without compensation, agreed to an interim name that is insulting and contrary to UN rules, the Macedonian people waste their valuable time and emotions on protecting their identity because of brainwashed Greek racists, and all this whilst Greece usurps Macedonian lands, history, heritage, etc. And what exactly had Greece given up? Nothing! It now solidly makes the preposterous claim that Macedonia is Greek. Does that mean the Republic of Macedonia is also Greek? If we give up our name and identity what will we be? The biggest mistake the Macedonian side has made this far is getting into negotiations with Greece on things that cannot possibly be negotiated; Greece has proven its greater experience. When you negotiate you negotiate an entire package not one thing at a time. Instead, we have seen negotiations progressing on one thing at a time and the Macedonians have been eaten alive. With such farcical negotiating, if we look at the name in isolation we are not playing in the spirit of bargaining, no matter how absurd such a proposition. And what makes you think that the Greeks will stop asking for more and more things to be “negotiated” after we give in on the name? What will be next, our identity? And what after that?

As an example, the Macedonian side should have put forward something along the following on the table; Our name is the Republic of Macedonia and our ethnic identity is Macedonian which are not negotiable! We have the right to self determination and we decide what to call ourselves. You have ethnic Macedonians living on your soil who you need to immediately recognize. If you do all this we will not sue you for the acts of genocide which you committed against us in the last 100 years. We will also forgive you for forcing us to change our constitution and flag and we won’t seek compensation for the illegal economic blockades you imposed on us. Also we will allow you to use the word Macedonia. However as a goodwill gesture you will have to pay us 50 billion EUs for years of obstructing our progress. I believe this is only fair. But instead of putting something forward like the above, we have allowed Greece to coerce us by tactics which are not genuine or in good faith; - Greece imposes block on UN entry, Macedonia agrees to interim agreement, now can join UN under interim name FYRoMacedonia. - Greece imposes economic blockage, Macedonia gives up flag and changes constitution, Greece lifts blockade. - Greece vetoes Macedonian entry to EU and NATO, Macedonia must change its name, no way, ok no entry for you. What comes next? And when will Greece cease to extort more concessions from Macedonia? About the Albanians living in Macedonia! The Albanians in Macedonia can do a lot more for Macedonia than they have up to this point. But instead they have chosen to act as pawns for Greece. Macedonia cannot enter NATO because of Greece and its high time the Albanians recognize and admit to that. Why not do something useful and pressure Albania and Kosovo to put pressure on Greece or the EU to end this Greek fiasco. The Albanian minority should be screaming at its western friends to put pressure on Greece who is in breach of all human rights principles and international laws. In conclusion, the issue is not simply about a “name” but part of Greece’s long term strategy to annihilate the Macedonian national identity. They did it in Aegean Macedonia and they want to do it in the Republic of Macedonia and the rest of it. It’s simple, Greece does not want an independent people called Macedonians in NATO, in the EU or anywhere else for that matter, because the open border policy will effectively prove to those living in Aegean Macedonia, that they are real, decent people live in the Republic of Macedonia, people like us, not monsters as depicted by the Greek propaganda machine. That is the essence of all this.

It is with quiet displeasure I read that the Albanian minority is threatening the Macedonian government (and effectively the Macedonian people) that their patience is wearing thin about the name issue and that they will take some sort of action if this is not resolved soon. If this is true, this is not only repulsive but is blatantly an indication of the true nature of this minority and their lack of engagement with the country they live in. I ask one simple and obvious question, why is their issue not with Greece who is the real cause of all the problems? A country that does not respect or acknowledge its minorities, a country that openly is committing genocide, a country which usurps other peoples’ history, heritage and livelihoods. Why have I not seen or heard any attack upon Greece from these ethnic Albanians who are citizens of the Republic of Macedonia? As citizens of the Republic of Macedonia they should openly be damning Greece and not the Macedonian Government or the Macedonian people. What they are doing is nothing short of treason! Posted by Justice Seeker on www.maknews.com/forum

Maknews wrote:

How is pressuring Macedonia to appease Greek racism a legitimate Albanian concern? Posted by maknews on www.maknews.com/forum

Rogi wrote:

For those who contemplate a name change; Do you believe the Greeks have legitimate claims against us and accept or even support their position, agreeing that we should change our name? Tell me, why must Macedonia change its name? What defeatist reasoning would you have to justify that? I'm completely disappointed in people who think this way, I can only hope that those who share these treasonous and naïve views are but a small minority. Any acceptance of any name for internal or international use, because of a dispute with Greece, is against the very principles of sovereignty and against the sovereign right of the Republic of Macedonia in its assertion of its historic name and national identity. There is a historic dimension to this also and you seem to ignore that. You look at a name change from a purely technical view, where the name can be detached from its meaning. Any name change for Macedonia will be acceptance of the end of the Macedonian people.