FACTS AND ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE MACEDONIAN WARRIORS IN DAG - Part 01

FACTS AND ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE MACEDONIAN WARRIORS IN DAG

4.0 CHRONOLOGY OF IMPORTANT EVENTS - GREEK CIVIL WAR (1945-1949)

4.1 Official diary of the Diversionary Brigade General Headquarters in which I served.

4.2 Sources: CPG and the Macedonian National Question (August 19, 1974)

4.3 Macedonia archives and attached bibliography.

Here is how and why our blood was spilled in support of the false ideological activism conducted by the CPG, CPY and CPM and assisted by NOF and AFZH...

February 12, 1945: The Varkiza Agreement was signed in a resort located near Athens. The Agreement was signed by the leadership of the resistance movement, i.e. the CPG and EAM on one side and the Plastiras government and British General Scobey on the other. With that Agreement EAM and ELAS practically handed power to the Right.

Note: Only one person, Aris Velouhiots, from the CPG leadership did not accept the Agreement because he saw it as capitulation of the resistance movement. On June 25, 1945 he was found dead on Mount Pind. It was later confirmed in Greece that he was assassinated on orders from someone in the top CPG leadership.

April 23, 1945: The Macedonian Organization “National Liberation Front” or NOF, responsible for the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia, was formed in Skopje in the CPM Central Committee premises. As part of this organization AFZH and NOMS were also formed. From the day it was formed to the day it was handed over to the CPG as part of the so-called “brotherhood and unity” formation, NOF acted under CPM/CPY directives. After that it was placed under CPG command until it was disbanded.

April 26, 1945: Speaking to the New York Times, Tito said: “If the Macedonians from the Greek regions express desire to unite with the other Macedonians, Yugoslavia will respect their wishes.”

June 20, 1945: NOF for Voden Region held a regional conference at a place near the city Voden. The conference was attended by 125 city and countryside delegates. Pavle Rakovski, member of the top NOF leadership, presented a report outlining the ideological content and form of the struggle. Vangel Ainovski – Oche, NOF Trustee and District Secretary reported on the organization’s financial status. The delegates, among other things, called for the liquidation of the rural guards causing terror in the countryside. (Nova Makedonija, /94.)

June 28, 1945: The CPG Central Committee, during its 10th Plenum, made the following decision: “NOF with its rapid promotion of its military formations is dangerously threatening the Greek character of Macedonia. It is threatening Greek interests and the territorial integrity of the Greek state.”

June 29, 1945: A Decree denouncing NOF was issued by members of the CPG District Committee for Voden Region and by the people of Voden Region.

1945: Law 543/45 was passed by the Greek legislature against the organization NOF, AFZH and NOMS. I.e. “Against NOF and all persons working for the secession of Greek territories.”

July 7, 1945: Law number 453 and Law TOD:/45 “For order, peace and justice” were passed to ensure public safety.

July 18, 1945: Law KZ 43: “Against autonomist activities” was passed with which the organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS were declared autonomist, placed outside of the law and their members were declared criminals to be caught and tried for high treason.

July 20, 1945: Law (KZ) 4124: “Prosecution of suspected persons” was passed.

July 20, 1945: Decree “G” and other laws: PZ 433/45 “For illegal possession of weapons”, PZ 753/45 “For illegal possession and use of arms”, “For extraordinary measures for public safety” were passed.

December 16, 1945: The trial to prosecute 106 Macedonians, accused of collaborating with the occupiers from the town Rupishcha in Kostur Region, began in Kostur. This was done in spite of the fact that these people were ELAS fighters and fought against the occupiers. Many were sentenced to life in prison the rest were given shorter sentences.

January 13, 1946: The newspaper “Rizospastis”, in defense of the Macedonians who were terribly persecuted, harassed and mistreated, said: “…this is the greatest and most dreadful persecution ever heard of in modern Greek history...”

February 12, 1946: The CPG Central Committee held a Plenum in Athens during which a decision was made not to take part in the parliamentary elections and to start the uprising (which later became known as the Greek Civil War).

March 31, 1946: The uprising was started by one of the most characteristic acts performed by the partisans, which was to attack the village Litohoro, in which 23 government soldiers were killed. This, as one of the first major acts performed in the Greek history of DAG, was accepted as the beginning of the Greek Civil War.

April 2, 1946: CPG General Secretary Zahariadis, after returning from Moscow, went to Belgrade where he met with Marshal Tito and discussed his decision to initiate an armed struggle against the Right in Greece. Tito gave Zahariadis his full support and promised to supply him with moral and material aid. This meeting was arranged to also accomplish the following:

1. Place the Macedonian national liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia led by NOF, which as of April 1945 was under the leadership of the CPY-CPM, under the CPG.

2. Transfer part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo composition, headed by Ianis Ioanidis, to Belgrade with the task of managing supplies for the armed struggle and representing the CPG abroad. I.e. to take care of supplying the partisans with weapons, clothing, food and other materials.

3. To organize recruitment of fighters from the Republic of Macedonia, more specifically from the so-called Greek political emigrants who fled Yugoslavia. To organize hospitals for the wounded and sick DAG fighters and for Yugoslavia to take on the role of organizer and coordinator of assistance for DAG from other countries.

April 4, 1946 – The Solun right wing newspaper “Nea Alithia” (New Truth) published an article entitled “Our Sudetenland, speaking about the Macedonians who qualify as Sudetenland-ers and as such” writes the newspaper “in the interest of peace and security in Greece, they should be liquidated…”

May 4, 1946: The First Macedonian Detachment was formed at the “Trsie-Turie” mountains in Lerin Region. The detachment was led by Petre Markov from the village Neret, Lerin Region.

May 21, 1946: The newspaper “Ethnikos Kirikas” wrote: “Greece should soon expel 80,000 Slavo-Macedonians.” The same was said in the weekly Republican newspaper “Eleftheros Typos” 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 military court sentenced to death and executed Mirka (Irina) Ginova, a school teacher from the village Rosilovo, Voden Region. She was secretary of AFZH for Voden District.

August 24, 1946: Based on prior agreements between Tito and Zahariadis, one part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo composition, headed by Ioannidis, was moved from Athens to Belgrade. General Markos Vafiadis, who was appointed organizer and leader of the partisan groups, in June 1946 by Zahariadis, left Greece and moved to Belgrade. Here he received specific directives and promises of support from the CPG Politburo. In September 1946

Vafiadis returned to Greek occupied Macedonia where, on October 28, 1946, he established DAG Partisan Headquarters. On November 10, 1946 Zahariadis received a directive from Stalin to NOT expand the armed movement during the winter of 1946-1947 because it was allegedly causing an international situation and that the CPG should focus more or less on its political struggle.

November 21, 1946: Based on decisions made by Tito and Zahariadis on October 14, 1946, the CPY, represented by Karaivanov, and the CPG, represented by Ioannidis, soon after announced the following joint agreement: “The Macedonian organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS and their leaderships will now fall under CPG leadership and the Macedonian armed units will join DAG and fall under the leadership of General Markos.”

A short time after this CPY and CPG agreement, members of the NOF Board, headed by Paskal Mitrevski, were received by Lazar Kolishevski, CPM Central Committee Secretary, who told them: “You now go down (to Aegean Macedonia) there. Your leader of the struggle will be the CPG. The CPG Line is clear. Have confidence in the CPG. Struggle with all your might against chauvinism, separatism and local tendencies…”

December 27, 1946: An order, order number EP 13, from General Markos read: “As of today, all NOF Partisan Units are to be placed in the composition of DAG.”

February 12, 1947: The UK government informed the U.S. government that, for economic reasons, as of March 31, 1947 it would stop helping Greece. The U.S. government agreed that it must inherit Great Britain’s role in Greece because otherwise Greece would inevitably fall under Russian influence.

February 20, 1947: The U.S. and Greek governments signed an agreement in Athens. The U.S. government pledged to help Greece and as a result began to exercise American dominance over Greece, pushing the UK to the side.

DAG was receiving military equipment and assistance from Yugoslavia up until January 1, 1948. For the list of equipment

provided see Risto Kiriazovski’s book entitled “The Macedonians and relations between the CPY and the CPG, 1945-1949” page 263. See “Review of military equipment other assistance received by DAG”.

February 24, 1947: The King of Greece and the Greek government publicly called on DAG fighters to surrender. They were given a deadline up to March 15, 1947. If they were to surrender before the March 15th deadline their offenses committed against the State and against the people would be absolved and they could return to their homes.

March 1, 1947: U.S. President Harry Truman announced the decision to proclaim the “Truman Doctrine” for engaging the U.S. in Greece. Greece was granted credit and advanced military equipment to equip its government army. At the same time Van Fleet, an American General anti-guerrilla specialist, was made available to the Greek government.

With Van Fleet’s strategy and tactics applied in the last battles fought in the Vicho and Gramos battlefields, DAG was defeated and ejected outside of Greece.

May 23, 1947: The newspaper “Nepokoren”, organ of NOF, edited by Pavle Rakovski, published its first issue with about 500 copies.

September 15, 1947: The CPG’s III Plenum was held from September 15 to 17 during which time military matters were discussed. The following slogan was coined: “All to arms, everything for victory!” It was also decided that a free territory be created at the Kozheni Plateau surrounded by the mountains Pind, Pieria, Karakamen, Kaimakchalan and Vicho.

September 27, 1947: DAG General Headquarters issued a mobilization order to mobilize all men ages 17 to 35. A mobilization which took from 4 to 9 months was conducted, which included mobilizing people from the Macedonian refugees who had fled Greece and had gone to Yugoslavia. Places of mobilization outside of the Greek borders included Skopje, Veles, Shtip, Bitola and various other places in the Republic of Macedonia. All these people

were shipped out of Yugoslavia and sent to join DAG. (See: F.M in INI, SK. 4-271/60, p. 73-76.)

December 23, 1947: The Provisional Government of Greece was created on December 23, 1947 in accordance with the decisions made by the CPG’s Central Committee Political Bureau. The seat of the provisional government was established in Prespa, in Asamati, located in the Peoples’ Republic of Macedonia. The seat of the government was supposed to be established in Konitsa (as claimed by Secretary-General Zahariadis when he said “… If we take Konitsa our government will probably be recognized…”). But unfortunately, it did not happen! DAG units fought tough battles and sustained heavy losses in their attempt to take Konitsa, but to no avail. The arrival of members of the Provisional Greek Government in Prespa was accommodated by UDBA’s Lieutenant Colonel Slobodan Krstich, a Yugoslav National Army officer. Originally the provisional Greek government consisted of eight members: President Markos Vafiadis, Yannis Ioannidis, Petros Rousos, Miltiadis Porfirogenis, Petros Kokalis, Vassilis Bardzhiotas, Dimitrios Leonidas and Vlandas Stringos. Then, by decree, 25 people were promoted to the rank of DAG colonels. But neither in the government nor among these officers, who represented the military and political factor of DAG, was there a single Macedonian!

The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece was a one-party government exclusively composed of Greek communists. Despite the fact that 50% to 60%, or more, of the DAG fighters were Macedonians, not a single Macedonian was in charge! But according to the “false” history of the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia, NOF was a military and political factor. How was that even possible?

Note: The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece led by Markos was not recognized by any country, which means it was conducting illegal mobilizations, especially in the Republic of Macedonia.

NOF and AFZH remained silent on this “illegal” act.

January 13, 1948: American Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet arrived in Greece in early 1948 and assumed command of IUSMARG. Van Fleet and his group began to work on a plan to liquidate DAG by a) Continuing with the population displacement from the villages close to the mountains which support DAG, b) Raising terror in the population by conducting military operations and other military actions.

January 13, 1948: NOF’s 1st Congress was held in the V’mbel village church in Kostur Region during which it was concluded that more then 20,000 of the 25-28,000 DAG fighters in the entire country were Macedonians. This means that by 1948 8,000 fighters, at most, were Greeks i.e. of non-Macedonian origin.

February 24, 1948: The American Military Advisory and Programming Group led by General Van Fleet arrived in Greece. It was announced as the “high visit” to Athens.

March 15, 1948: The newspaper “Eksormisi”, issued by DAG in Gramos Region, carried an announcement from the Provisional Greek Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated March 7, 1948 entitled “Parents and children appeal to the government”. Further down the article it said: “From mid-February to March 5, 1948 parents from 59 villages from the free territory gave 4,784 children.” The same newspaper carried an article on March 20, 1948 saying that the Interim Government decided to evacuate all the children up to age 14 to be sent to Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland and, according to their data, the total count amounted to about 28,000 children.

April 28, 1948: An AFZH Congress, led by Evdokia Foteva – Vera, was held in the free territory of Vicho.

June 1, 1948: The CPG Central Committee Political Bureau made a decision to suspend Mihailo Keramitchiev, President of NOF, and Pascal Mitrevski, NOF Board Secretary, because they were alleged to have conducted an “unprincipled factionist struggle”.

August 27, 1948: Sitting of the CPG Central Committee Politburo with an agenda:

a/ The struggle in Gramos called: “Epic of the Northern Pindus, political and military questions and decrees.”

b/ Removal of Markos Vafiadis as General and Leader of DAG due to illness and his departure for Moscow. (Note: Then, the system produced the term “ideologically crazy”, which grouped very smart and healthy people with the lunatics.)

c/ The New Military Council was to consist of:

1. Nikos Zahariadis - President and Supreme Commander of DAG. 2. Georgios Vonditsios - Head of military battles. 3. Vasilis Bardzhiotas - Political Commissar of General Headquarters. 4. Michos Vlandas - Responsible for military resources. 5. Leonidas Stringos - State Administration.

d/ Reorganization of General Headquarters by region and creating military divisions. Promotion of officers into DAG high military ranks.

Attachment: Order (August 27, 1948) - Taking into account the newly created situation on December 23, 1947 and DAG’s proposal.

Decisions:

1. Decision to reorganize the major district headquarters and to create divisions. 2. The divisions to be appointed as follows;

I - Division: Thessaly II - Division: Rumely III - Division: Peloponnesus VIII - Division: Epirus IX - Division: Macedonia X - Division: Macedonia XI - Division: Macedonia

During the sitting of the Headquarters of the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece, August 27, 1948.

President and Minister of DAG’s armed forces, General Markos.

November 15, 1948: The CPG Central Committee Political Bureau decided to suspend General Markos as Chief of DAG and member of the CPG Central Committee. By a special flight from Tirana, Markos was transferred to Moscow in March 1949.

November 23, 1948: DAG headquarters ordered the mobilization of Macedonian men and women ages 17 to 35 only in the Vicho area. Practically all Macedonians in Kostur and Lerin Regions were mobilized.

January 30-31, 1949: The CPG Central Committee held its 5th Plenum during which it coined the slogan “United and Independent Macedonia within a Balkan Federation.” And because of this the Central Committee of NOF convened its 2nd Plenum on February 3rd, 1949 and proclaimed its new principles for the future of the Macedonians in Greece.

February 9, 1949: As requested by Porfirogenis, member of the CPG Politburo, a CPG delegation was sent to Skopje to meet with NOF representatives who had deserted DAG and demanded that they recruit at least 300 new fighters from the refugees who had fled to Yugoslavia to save themselves. Those demands were not met.

February 12, 1949: DAG units attacked in an attempt to enter the city Lerin. Their actions failed. Because of the poor coordination and strategy, the DAG units endured a catastrophic defeat. Around one thousand DAG soldiers died and were wounded.

March 7, 1949: The CPG Central Committee denied coining the slogan “United and Independent Macedonia within a Balkan Federation.” The CPG also denied accepting NOF’s new program principles drafted during NOF’s 2nd Congress on February 3, 1949. In March 1949 the Interim Government in Greece was overhauled.

March 27, 1949: A founding meeting was convened during which 163 communists, delegates of the 2nd NOF congress, were invited to participate and unanimously agreed to form their own Communist Party. In other words the Communist Party of the Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia - KOEM (56). This was to be a separate organization but part of the CPG. (This event was deemed as being the “high point” of the CPG’s care for the Macedonians, but we will leave it to history to determine how true that was...)

June 16, 1949: The AFZH women’s Executive Board, led by Evdokia Foteva - Vera, passed a resolution to induct Macedonian women en masse into the fighting force in defense of the Vicho frontline.

August 10-14, 1949: A Greek government offensive was initiated against DAG. A force of 60,000 Greek government troops commanded by General Van Fleet of the U.S.A., organized in 6 divisions from all branches of the military, with 200 tanks and armoured cars and with about 100 aircraft of all types, was unleashed on Mount Vicho. Opposing this force was commander Michos Vlandas of the resistance with 9,863 fighters and 40 cannons. On August 15-16, 1949 DAG units retreated into Albania, but in the following days about 6,000 were transferred to reinforce the fighting in Mount Gramos.

At 04:30 hours a group of aircraft took off from Lerin airport, flew over Prespa and immediately began to shoot at anything that moved. They opened fierce machine-gun fire on the partisans that were fleeing towards the narrow road located between the Great and Small Prespa Lakes. One of the aircraft flew too low and crashed on the rocks in a flaming ball of fire.

The entire area was turned into a slaughterhouse with an unseen mass of civilian deaths. Both military and civilian personnel were shot at and the place was littered with bleeding, dead and wounded bodies.

DAG was defeated in the period during August 13 and 14 with 1,859 dead, wounded, missing and captured fighters. The Government side sustained only 256 dead and 1,336 wounded. DAG

units retreated into Albania but in the following days about 6,000 were transferred to reinforce the fighting on Mount Gramos. This was the time when the slogan “Gramos will become the tomb of the Monarcho-Fascist government army” was coined.

August 24-29, 1949: During the night of August 29-30, government troops began a new campaign against Gramos. Again, commanded by U.S. General Van Fleet, this force was larger by three battalions than that of Vicho. Placed in charge, of the resistance side in Gramos and of Gramos DAG General headquarters, was General Georgios Vontisios-Gusias with about 12,500 fighters (6,000 were transferred from the battlefields of Vicho). The last battles took place on August 29 and the retreat for Albania began on August 30. DAG losses amounted to 922 dead, 944 captured, 650 wounded and about 400-450 voluntarily surrendered. Losses on the government side amounted to 243 dead and 1,452 wounded.

August 30, 1949: While the last battles in Gramos were still raging on, DAG General Headquarters ordered all DAG units to withdraw claiming that their intended task was now completed. What intended tasks were they completing? With this DAG was declared liquidated and its units were ordered to go to Albania.

October 7, 1949: While stationed in the “Burrelli” locality in Albania, the CPG ordered the arrest of eleven NOF, AFZH and NOMS leaders suspected of being spies and traitors. Based purely on speculation and innuendo the entire leadership was found guilty and on October 7, 1949, 11 members and one other activist were arrested and later sent to the prison camps in Siberia.The rest of the DAG fighters were sent to the Soviet Union under the CPG slogan “Με το οπλο παραποδα”.

September 16, 1950: Ioanis Sofianopulos, leader of the leftist liberals and former Foreign Minister of Greece, in a debate in the Greek Parliament, admitted that “there is a Macedonian minority in Greece but, according to international law, that minority does not exist and can not claim any protection because it did not prove itself to be loyal to the state in which it lives” on account of its mass participation in the Greek Civil War in the years 1945 to 1949. (See: “Dimokratikos Typos”, September 16, 1950)

November 5, 1988: In September 1988, almost one year after the May 1987 Congress, CPG Secretary General Harilaos Florakis held a press conference in Solun with Greek and foreign journalists to openly explain the position he took at the Congress. In his answer to a journalist working for “Mesimvrini”, among other things, Florakis said: “On this occasion I would like to say that for us, for our Party, the Macedonian minority does not exist!” (Vecher, November 5, 1988, page 9)

Withdrawal of the DAG units to Albania

On August 30, 1949, government troops attacked Western Gramos with all their military forces. The artillery and aviation alternately bombed DAG positions continuously. It was a hellish situation for DAG and its units. Unable to withstand the enormous pressure from the stronger opponent, DAG units began to leave Gramos in the evening of August 30, 1949, withdrawing to the territory of the Republic of Albania. This was literally the end of DAG’s military activity in the region.

The DAG 6th and 7th Divisions withdrew to Bulgaria during September and October 1949. The last DAG remnants, located in the southern parts of Greece, withdrew in early 1950.

At this point it is important to say something about DAG and the National Government Army’s military strengths.

In May 1949 the National Army General Staff began preparation for a military strike against DAG. The operation was code named “Pirsos”.

The National Army military structures and numbers at that time were as follows:

150,000 regular soldiers, 50,000 national defense forces, 25,000 gendarmerie forces, 7,500 police, 50,000 special units,

14,300 navy, 7,500 aviation.

Thus, the sum of the armed forces possessed by the Athens regime was more than 300,000. The military forces possessed by DAG numbered no more than 25,000 soldiers.

These are confirmed by the following sources:

1. Tassos Vurnas, p. 159-160; During the fall of 1948 the DAG military force numbered about 18,000 fighters;

2. Vassilis Bardzhiotas, as a second person of importance in DAG, wrote that by the end of 1949 the DAG force had grown to 30,000 fighters;

3. The newspaper “Neos kozmos”, 1950, p. 624, 637; wrote that the total number of DAG fighters during 1948-1949 was about 25,000;

The Athenian Regime’s large and well-equipped military formation was too much for the DAG partisans to resist during the August 28-30 offensive, so they fled to Albania.

On September 30th Ioanidis Ioannis officially asked Stalin to provide DAG and the CPG two bases, one in Bulgaria and the other in Albania. Stalin did not provide one in Albania.

For more information see the book: “ΜΕΛΕΤΕΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΝ ΕΜΦΥΛΙΟ ΠΟΛΕΜΟ (1945−1949)”;

“Before 1947, 90% of the DAG fighters were forcibly mobilized, the rest were volunteers. After that, right up to the end of the Greek Civil War, there was no confirmation of any fighters volunteering.”

The question is: Under the circumstances stated above, how can we Macedonians realistically call this Civil War, a “revolution” or an extension of the famous Macedonian “Ilinden Uprising”? What part of it qualifies to be called a “Macedonian revolution”?

At the end, after we examine all the assembled facts and arguments, it should become clear to us that the final outcome of what the Macedonian warrior experienced in the history of DAG can only be described as “genocide”.

We Macedonians sacrificed a lot and gained nothing. But in all this, I would like to take the opportunity to mention a couple of names; a man and a woman who were my comrades and who bravely and heroically died in battle believing that they were fighting for the Macedonian cause and for the benefit of all Macedonians. They were Kosta Solev – Sulio, born in the village Chereshnitsa and Tina Andreevna - Tsveta born in the village Mokreni. Tina was a fearless Macedonian and a brave fighter who fought in the ranks of DAG and died in the mountains above the village Turie. Tina was the granddaughter of the Voivoda (leader) Nikola Andreev who fought in the Ilinden Uprising. Kosta Solev – Sulio was a decent man and a great Macedonian patriot.

* * *

Perhaps all of this, all of what has happened to us Macedonians, can be explained by the old Latin saying that: “At certain times, there are situations where a great deal of national resources are spent, from which the nation has very little to gain!”

5.0 Epilogue

Dark secrets of the past and the outcome of events due to the fatal appearance of the organizations NOF and AFZH.

Who and how were the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia led in the Greek Civil War? More importantly, had we Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia not entered the Greek Civil War after World War II, as organized by NOF, would we have had a historic chance to solve the Macedonian Question in Greece? Was entering the Greek Civil War a historically tragic mistake for the Macedonian people? Was the Greek Civil War merely a vehicle to just “get rid of us” or was it to also “prevent us” from achieving our human and national rights in Greece just like our compatriots did in the Republic of Macedonia? Who actually

mobilized us and with what strategic goals was NOF formed that led us to an armed struggle? Why did we reject the alternative to fight for our rights by legal and peaceful means while staying put in our homes and lands? Why were we armed and taken to the mountains even before the Greek Civil War had started? Was the option of arming ourselves and starting an armed resistance our idea or was it organized by outside “ideological activists” and we just simply carried out their strategic goals without questioning them? And why have we been silent for more than half a century now, was it, unbeknown to us, to protect the perpetrators who did this to us… who led us to genocide? Given the world circumstances, after World War II, did we as a people, ever consider if we actually had the intellectual, political and military capability to “fight for our rights” as we did and at the same time protect the Macedonian population and preserve the integrity of our homes and lands in Greek occupied Macedonia? Did we not understand that after the Great Powers divided the world into “spheres of influence” their attitude was a policy of “status quo”? Did we not realize that an international border, guarded by the opposing camps, was running between Yugoslavia and Greece and dividing the same Macedonia we wanted to unite?

We saw how, at one point in time, the British expressed a desire to “move the ethnic Macedonians out of Greek occupied Macedonia” and send them somewhere north of the Greek border. Could NOF have been created and given strategic goals to accomplish just that? Was this a means of preserving the “Iron Curtain” between the two camps? Anything that is possible must not be ruled out! We must not allow this analysis to take the old path taken by our so-called “guards of the history of the Aegean Macedonians” who declared that the Macedonians “had no other choice” and that “no other scenarios were possible”.

Another question that comes to mind is “If the Greek Civil War was truly a civil war of “Greeks fighting against Greeks” then why was this war not located in all parts of Greece! Why were the Macedonians, through NOF and AFZH, specifically targeted and coerced to pick up guns and start fighting? Why were the CPM and CPY involved in “someone else’s” war?

I have asked these kinds of questions in the past which, I must say, have struck “raw nerves” with some people. Difficult as they may be these questions not only need to be asked but they need to be answered in order for us to face our demons, unlock the secrets of our past and move on in life. Our history needs to be corrected to reflect the reality of what truly happened to us and not to protect the perpetrators of our genocide!

For the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia, memories of the Greek Civil War are murky at best and historical records are scant. Almost everything that has been written about us was written by the victors, our enemies, and is cloaked in lies, deception and politically correct propaganda. Some sources, especially western sources, go as far as saying that we do not exist, so how could we possibly have been involved in this conflict? The facts however speak differently, we do exist and our understanding of our own history is very much different than that written by the victors. Many crimes were committed against our people before, during and after the Greek Civil War, which are now cloaked in lies and deceit. Our lands in the fourth decade of the 20th century became a wasteland and we were given a one-way ticket out of our ancestral homeland. Those are the facts! So, who are we to blame for that? Again I must emphasize our primary and only contacts during this fiasco were our NOF and AFZH activists who got us involved in the war in the first place. Then we have the CPY/CPM principally led by Tito and the CPG led by Zahariadis, behind which stood Stalin. On the other side of the conflict we have the Greek government, behind which stood Britain and the United States of America, who made no secret of their hatred of us because we were involved in the insane ideological war.

The most dangerous and biggest error we Macedonians made was that we had no grasp of our obligations towards the fate of Greek occupied Macedonia and we did not refine our struggle to help us survive and protect our deep family roots which are a confirmation of our identity.

Exactly for these and many other reasons (intentionally premeditated by shady authors in the ranks of the Greek Civil War

and by official Macedonian historiography) the Greek Civil War remains a mystery and a delicate phenomenon to explain.

Six decades of searching for the truth, of interpreting military and political issues and of sifting through problematic Greek history regarding the Macedonians has made me very bitter. I don’t hate anyone, I don’t hate any nation but I will not allow others, especially foreigners, to walk over the history of the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia. It is a great injustice. We Macedonians in our long period of struggling; the Ilinden Uprising, World War I, the Greek-Turkish War, World War II and the Greek Civil War, were exploited to the max by foreigners. I especially want to emphasize what I personally witnessed; the ruthlessness, the insolence and the ideological manipulation of our people by the Greek government and by the left of both the CPY and the CPG.

My aim here is not to insult and offend the authors who wrote about that “conflict”, referring to it as “a revolution” and to the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia as “a political and military factor” in that revolution. (The same authors now shyly call that same “conflict” the “Greek Civil War”, emphasizing that it was not a “Macedonian War”, as did Academic Ivan Katardziev in the newspaper “Nezaborav” published in March 2010.)

As I have done in my previous books, my aim here is to try and conduct a serious analysis of our history. I want to uncover the flaws in the arguments presented to us in the last six decades when we were discouraged from talking about our history, our memories, our emotions and about the tragedy and genocide our people experienced.

Regardless of who said what and what was written by our historiographers, we all must admit that what happened to us Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia during the Greek Civil War was no less than a catastrophe! It was an evil catastrophic scenario where the Macedonian people were pressured to take sides. Indecision and hesitation were frowned upon as ideological activists of the popular front, more often than not, used tactics like “If you are not with us then you are against us and with the fascists!”, which forced people to commit against their will in order to avoid

problems and survive. In these unclear dim times full of ambiguity, old and new fears surfaced and made the people ripe for irrationality. This ambiguity gave rise to confusion especially about the unification of Macedonia, the Balkan Federation, Autonomy and eventually secession… which combined with the urgency to “act now before it’s too late” drove people to act irrationally and without thinking. Of course all this was not a coincidence or took place by accident; it was purposely perpetrated to motivate the people to act without thinking and to stay ignorant of the consequences of their actions. Most confusing of all were the promises made of what socialism was going to deliver in the future. Obviously what was offered was not only unrealistic but half true. The peasants were offered “better” lives but it was not explained to them “who was going to work” to make their lives better and how they would be better off working for the government instead of for themselves. The arguments offered to them were academic, pipe dreams at best… but they did not know that… none of them had any experience living in a socialist system and no one told them that they would be the ones who would have to work to support such a system. This means that all these “explanations” offered were not learned from experience. They were learned from outsiders and strangers who had told the NOF agitators what to say. But the Macedonian people had no reason to “doubt” the people of NOF because they were Macedonians and who better to look after Macedonian interests than the Macedonians themselves? Right?

The Macedonian people should have known better; that things don’t come easy to them, especially about Macedonia, and that strangers and outsiders cannot be trusted. Our history is full of examples of betrayal by strangers.

Naturally, by allowing outsiders and strangers to guide us and lead us in a dangerous game such as the Greek Civil War, we put ourselves at their mercy and, as it turned out, they led us to our genocide!

After we surrendered ourselves to their will it was easy for them to place us in this cruel scenario in which we found ourselves -engaging the Right. Opening the door for the mass media to vilify us and giving Greek prosecutors and investigative authorities the

opportunity to accuse us of being criminals, traitors, adventurers, secessionists, crypto fascists, etc. The Greek government had been looking for opportunities to destroy us for years and the appearance of NOF, AFZH and NOMS gave them the opportunity to do it legally. We gave the Greeks the opening they needed in order to degrade and destroy the Macedonians, physically and spiritually, by enacting the laws: 4124/45; 753/45; 453/45; 43/45; TOD/45; Decree G/46 and others.

These laws and decrees, however, were enacted before the beginning of the Greek Civil War! These laws and decrees were passed in 1945. The Greek Civil War did not start until March 31, 1936!

NOF and the other Macedonian organizations were formed on April 23, 1945, not in Greece by the Macedonian people but in Yugoslavia by Yugoslav politicians. This means that Belgrade was responsible for the adoption of the “future solutions” for the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia.

The tragedy about all this is that our historiography, up until recently, has been silent on the formation of NOF and has placed no responsibility on the part of the CPM/CPY regarding the greatest disaster the Macedonian people have ever experienced in recent history.

This, once again, confirms that there are still many secrets intentionally buried in the history of the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia; a people who were permanently driven out of their ancestral homeland and led to experience genocide at the hands of the Greeks and their supporters.

What I find odd about all this is why did the Macedonian leadership think that the “Macedonian Question” could be solved by an armed conflict? Human rights are usually gained by political and by legal means. A person does not just pick up a gun and shoot at people when he or she wants his or her rights recognized? They simply follow the political and legal processes available to them… If you pick up a gun and start shooting at people you can be certain that you will get yourself killed…

And of course there is NOF and the other Macedonian organizations and how they were treated. As mentioned earlier, NOF was under the influence of the CPM/CPY from April 23, 1945 until November 21, 1946. Then, on November 21, 1946, at about the same time the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece was formed, NOF was turned over to the CPG until it was disbanded on December 23, 1947. Even though NOF did everything the CPG asked of it, the Greek communists still demanded harsh laws be passed against all members of NOF. And in the end, those who served it well were labeled traitors and sent to the Siberian camps.

And let us not forget that NOF had no say in how it was shuffled from one communist hand to another and how its programs and goals were imposed on it by strangers and outsiders. For example, Ivan Karaivanov from the CPY and Ioanis Ioanidid from the CPG, on November 21, 1946, decided to change NOF’s program goals. NOF’s new program goals were to instruct the Macedonian people to fight together with the Greek people in an alliance. The Macedonian people were told that they now had to fight for their survival in order to “save themselves”.

All the examples given above show one thing: that NOF was led with a big stick, first by the CPY and then by the CPG, with very little or no room to manoeuver on its own. But after the Greek Civil War was over we are told, by our own historiographers no less, that NOF was an autonomous, strategic Macedonian factor with its own program goals.

If that were true, and if NOF was not led by the nose by foreigners and made to work for foreign interests, then I would like to know: “With what kind of assurances did NOF call on our people to join this ‘revolution’ as a continuation of our Ilinden Uprising?” What kind of ultimate effect did NOF think this “fraternal union” with the Greeks, a tactic instigated by strangers, would have on the Macedonian people both in Greece and in Yugoslavia? Did NOF foresee the problems that the Macedonian people would have if the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia followed the dictates of the CPG and the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia

followed CPY dictates while there was a verbal war raging between the two communist parties?

Did NOF consider that by following the CPG line it would infuriate the CPY and would turn Yugoslavia and all it had to offer the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia against it? Did NOF consider that by taking the side of the CPG, which was against the CPY, that it would benefit its arch enemy the Athens regime, the then legitimate authority of the Greek state? By disassociating themselves from the “supposed” protection from Yugoslavia, the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia opened themselves for Greek cruelty and persecution of the ultimate kind -genocide!

No! NOF never acted like it considered any of the above because NOF was not a creation of the Macedonian people but an elite organization created by the CPM/CPY and as such it did the CPM/CPY’s bidding! And when it was passed from the CPY to the CPG it did the CPG’s bidding! If NOF had followed its own program directives it would not have had to change them midstream during the struggle… for no apparent reason! If NOF had acted independently it would not have had to be “passed on” from one communist hand to another!

NOF was simply “the tool” needed to mobilize the Macedonian people and to later be blamed for the catastrophe it caused. “All to arms and everything for victory!”

Yes, the people of NOF had a real role in this war but it was not the role we are led to believe by our historiography! The people of NOF did their heroic part magnificently and united the Macedonians in their struggle for their common good… which the people had no reason to doubt! The Macedonian people also had no doubt that the time for action was “now” because that’s what they were led to believe! Especially when the people of NOF spoke in the name of the people! And today we wonder why so many people from the same villages lost their lives in this struggle? Some villages lost as much as 10% of their population in this war because they were led to believe that they were fighting for their own interests… And who led them to believe this? NOF of course! And who led NOF… by