DEVELOPMENT OF NOF, AFZH AND NOMS FORCES

DEVELOPMENT OF NOF, AFZH AND NOMS FORCES

(The following facts are key moments in NOF’s history)

On April 2, 1946, CPG secretary general Zahariadis on his return from Moscow went to Belgrade to meet with Marshal Tito during which time he discussed his decision to launch an armed struggle against the political right in Greece. Tito gave Zahariadis his full support and promised him moral and material help. The following items were agreed upon at this meeting:

1. Transfer NOF, AFZH and NOMS, the Macedonian national liberation movement organizations in Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia from CPM/CPY to CPG control.

2. Move part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, headed by Janis Ioanidis, to Belgrade with the task of leading the armed struggle from abroad, taking care of the supply of weapons, clothing, food and other materials for the partisans.

3. Allow free recruitment from the pool of Macedonian immigrants who fled to Yugoslavia from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia. Organize hospitals for wounded and sick DAG fighters inside Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia to assume the role of organizer and coordinator of assistance for DAG from other countries.

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On August 24, 1946, after the Tito – Zahariadis Agreement was made, part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, headed by Ioanis Ioanidis, along with all necessary equipment, illegally moved from Athens to Belgrade. General Markos Vafiadis, who Zahariadis appointed organizer and leader of the partisan groups in June 1946, illegally left Greece and moved to Belgrade where he received specific directives and promises from the CPG Central Committee Politburo. In September 1946, Markos moved back to Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia where on October 18, 1946, he established DAG headquarters. Then, on November 10, 1946, Zahariadis received a directive from Stalin ordering him to end the armed struggle in Greece in the winter of 1946 - 1947, because it allegedly was creating an international situation. The CPG was advised to continue the struggle in Greece but with a political agenda.

On November 21, 1946, based on the Tito - Zahariadis agreement, the CPY represented by Karaivanov, and the CPG represented by Ioanidis, reached the following agreement: “NOF, AFZH and NOMS and their entire leaderships were to be placed under CPG control. All NOF armed units were to be placed under DAG control and under the leadership of General Markos.” Can we Macedonians deny that this political maneuver was not set up by foreigners (CPY-CPG) to bring destruction to the Macedonian people?!

Some time after the CPY-CPG agreement was made, the NOF main board membership, headed by Paskal Mitrevski, was received by Lazar Kolishevski, CPM Central Committee Secretary, who said to them: “You are now to go down there (to Greek occupied Macedonia). The CPG will now be the leader of your struggle. The CPG line is the correct line. Have confidence in it. Fight with all the forces available against chauvinism, separatism and local tendencies...”

This entangled understanding of comforting illusions shows that there was a sunset (darkness) in the Macedonian leadership.

Now we authorized General Markos to shape our destiny

Order no. EP 13, dated February 27, 946, issued by General Markos, read: “From today forward all partisan units are to be included in DAG.”

So, from this date forward NOF was neither a political nor a military factor. After the so-called “Brotherhood and Unity” agreement was reached with the CPG, all its importance was taken away. After this a delicate balance emerged between NOF and the CPG, as NOF slowly became the CPG’s vanguard. Encouraged by the top CPM leadership NOF became a victim of foreign political games and fell into the hands of CPG’s unscrupulous absolutist rule.

The Macedonian leaders should have well remembered the CPG’s hatred and fatalist attitude towards the former ELAS fighters, which was later repeated against the NOF leaders and fighters.

But sadly none of this was entered in the annals of our history.

1. If NOF was truly a Macedonian political entity it should have defined what kind of concessions it could make for the CPG, while not inflicting lasting and inviolable harm on the Macedonian people. But the opposite happened. The CPM/CPY, not the Macedonian people, created NOF and therefore the CPM/CPY, handed it over to the CPG. Since NOF was not created by the Macedonian people its true political goals were never defined. In other words only the CPM/CPY knew NOF’s true aims!

And now our hopes were placed back on the CPG’s table, we were placed in DAG uniforms and our children were sent all over the world. In other words we worked hard to “ethnically cleanse” ourselves.

CHRONOLOGY OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN 1946

February 12, 1946 – The CPG Central Committee 2nd Plenum was held in Athens during which it was decided to abstain from the parliamentary elections in Greece, which led to the armed struggle.

March 31, 1946 – The partisans attack government forces in the village Lithohori killing 23. As one of DAG’s major actions this incident was credited with the start of the Greek Civil War.

April 2, 1946 – On his return from Moscow, CPG Secretary General Nikos Zahariadis stopped off in Belgrade to meet with Marshal Tito to discuss his decision to launch an armed struggle against the political right in Greece. Tito gave Zahariadis his full support and promised him moral and material help. The following were agreed to at this meeting:

1. Place the Macedonian People’s Liberation Movement for Greek occupied Macedonia led by NOF, AFZH and NOMS under full CPG control. NOF, AFZH and NOMS were created in April 1945 and since then were under CPM/CPY control.

2. Move part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, headed by Ianis Ioanidis, to Belgrade with the task of leading the armed struggle in Greece from abroad and providing weapons, food, clothing and other supplies for the partisans.

3. Allow the CPG to recruit fighters from the people who fled to Yugoslavia from Greece. In other words, allow the Greek communists to recruit fighters from the ranks of the Macedonian political refugees who fled Greek occupied Macedonia to save themselves. Yugoslavia was also required to assist in organizing hospitals for the wounded and sick DAG fighters as well as assume the role of organizer and coordinator of assistance provided for DAG by other countries.

April 13, 1946 – The CPG newspaper “Rizospastis” came out in defense of the “Slavo-Macedonian” people by pointing out the terrible and unbelievable abuse they endured at the hands of the Greek terrorists. The newspaper went on to say that: “The

persecution perpetrated against the Macedonians was unprecedented in modern Greek history...”

April 17, 1946 – The Solun based daily nationalist newspaper the “Nea Alithia” publishes an article entitled “Our Sudetenland”, speaking of the Macedonians and qualifying them as Sudetenlanders that should be liquidated in the interest of peace and security in Greece.

May 4, 1946 - The first partisan detachment was formed on the Trsie-Turie Mountain in Lerin Region and headed by Petre Markov from the village Neret, Lerin Region.

May 21, 1946 - The nationalist newspaper “Ethnikos Kirikas” wrote: “80,000 Slavo-Macedonians should be expelled from Greece as soon as possible”. The same was said in the weekly Republican newspaper “Eleftheros Tipos” on January 28, 1946 in an article entitled: “...Let the Slavo-Macedonians leave our Macedonia – let them go wherever they want to go…”

July 27, 1946 - A Greek military court sentenced Mirka Ginova to death. Mirka was a teacher from the village Rosilovo, Voden Region. She was also secretary of AFZH for Voden District.

August 24, 1946 - Under the Tito-Zahariadis agreement, a part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo, headed by Ioanis Ioanidis, as well as all necessary apparatus, was illegally moved from Athens to Belgrade. General Markos Vafiadis, who Zahariadis appointed organizer and leader of the partisan groups in June 1946, left Greece illegally and moved to Belgrade where he received specific directives and promises from the CPG Central Committee Politburo. In September he moved back to Greek occupied Macedonia where, on October 28, 1946, he formed DAG Headquarters. On November 10, 1946, Stalin instructed Zahariadis to end the armed struggle during the winter of 1946-1947 because it was allegedly creating an international situation, and instructed the CPG to give primacy to a political struggle and the like.

November 21, 1946 – Based on the decision made by Tito and Zahariadis on October 14, 1946, the CPY, represented by

Karaivanov, and the CPG, represented by Ioanidis, reached the following agreement: “The Macedonian organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS and their leaderships were to be placed under full CPG control. All NOF armed units were to be transferred to DAG and placed under General Markos’s command.”

Sometime after the CPY-CPG agreement was made, the NOF main board membership, headed by Paskal Mitrevski, was received by Lazar Kolishevski, CPM Central Committee Secretary, who said to them: “You are now to go down there (to Greek occupied Macedonia). The CPG will now be the leader of your struggle. The CPG line is the correct line. Have confidence in it. Fight with all the forces available against chauvinism, separatism and local tendencies...”

December 27, 1946 - Order no. EP 13 issued by General Markos read: “From today on forward all partisan units are to be included in DAG.”