UNDENIABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

UNDENIABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

On July 2, 1988 the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts held round table talks. The theme was the exodus of the refugee children from Aegean Macedonia. The hall in MANU, where the talks were taking place, was full to capacity and could not accommodate everyone who was interested in listening… in hearing the scientific arguments… in hearing the truth about their own exodus... The introductory paper for this topic was submitted by Dr. Petre Nakovski.

During the first world meeting a declaration was adopted which called on the international community to take action to stop the suffering of children and people everywhere in the world, who are victims of war.

Among other things, the following were highlighted in the Declaration:

“…We, who went through the hell of war, through all the traumas of forced exile, know very well what personal and collective drama means... We, who remained and grew up in various countries of the world, learned how to strive in good and evil, never losing hope even in the harshness of life, that one day we will see our mothers, our fathers and our homeland... In the name of fundamental human rights and freedoms, we, once the children from Aegean Macedonia, now citizens of several countries (Albania, Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Australia, Canada and the USA) are raising our voices against all disadvantages of mankind, against all forms of discrimination: political, religious and cultural. We appeal

to you to recognize us as Macedonians… We appeal to you that the Macedonian people living in Greece be recognized as Macedonians in accordance with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Helsinki documents and all other international documents that protect humanity in the present and in the future. On behalf of all that we, the Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia, demand that we be given the right, which we have been deprived of because we are not Greeks by birth, to return to Greece. We are denied the right to visit our parents and loved ones, our homes and everything that is dearest to us. We have been denied the right to visit our cemeteries, the graves of our ancestors, the graves of our fathers and mothers. We have been denied to visit our friends in Greece... The national minorities living in the Balkans are a wealth of their own… they are a historic opportunity which, through cultural competition between nations, can build a solid foundation of brotherly cooperation for a humane future. We are aware and are convinced that the future of the Balkans should be built through cooperation, understanding, openness, communication and democratic freedom for nations and minorities in all these countries.

Today the entire world is changing and going through a process of emancipation and versatile boom. We are committed to this world and so we ask that the Macedonian minority be recognized with dignity and with all its elementary human rights... Goodwill and effort is needed in order for humanity to triumph in the century which we are about to enter. With help from the international community and from all progressive forces, we are confident that the struggle against what separates people and nations and against all kinds of injustices can be overcome. We believe in a better and brighter future.”

MORE MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Another event that took place during the first world meeting, which was held from June 30 to July 3, 1988, was the unveiling of a monument of a woman with three children, symbolizing the exodus of the refugee children driven out from their homes, separated from their loved ones and heading to the unknown. The monument is located in downtown Skopje in “Zhena Borets” (Woman Fighter)

Park. This was the work of academic and sculptor Naso Bekiarovski and architect Danitsa Pavlovska - Tsigi.

The monument was unveiled by Tina Popovska in front of thousands of attendees. Tina Popovska was a former educator and teacher of refugee children. Another event was the naming of the newly built primary school which was just opened officially. The school was named after Lazo Angelovski, a prominent Macedonian fighter and teacher from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia.

Another event that took place was the unveiling of a memorial plaque in the Katlanovo partisan hospital where many partisans who fought in the Greek Civil War were treated. The following message was inscribed on the plaque: “The Partisan Hospital, located in this building, treated participants from the Greek Civil War - fighters of the National Liberation Movement from the Aegean part of Macedonia, and members of the Democratic Army.”

About 20,000 Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia served in the Greek Civil War from 1946 to 1949. A majority of those wounded during the fighting were treated in the Katlanovo Partisan Hospital, especially set up for that purpose.

An exhibition of photograps was opened in the “Sveti Kliment Ohridski” National and University Library. These photographs depicted various events in the refugee children’s lives at the homes where they lived and at the schools where they studied. There was also an exhibition of books authored by the refugee children. A literary meeting was also held in honour of the meeting in which 20 Macedonian authors participated. Included among the authors were former refugee children who lived in children’s homes in the various countries.

Traiche Popov, a Macedonian filmmaker who had made a documentary film about the refugee children in 1949, was also at the meeting making a new film entitled “In continuo”. Also attending the meeting was the writer Kuzman Georgievski. Producer of the film was “Vardar Films” from Skopje.

Included among those who attended the first world meeting were 239 journalists, 24 photographers and 16 cameramen. All the media outlets from the Republic of Macedonia were there as well as media outlets from several other countries.

The Macedonian Television conducted a live broadcast of the opening ceremony and then followed all the program activities by devoting special shows about them. The Radio Skopje radio program did the same. By doing so the Macedonian media defied the Yugoslav Federal Authorities which attempted to silence them. The mass media opened up this historic event for the world to see.

The world meeting ended with the holding of a picnic on Lake Treska, which was attended by thousands of guests from various different countries and a number of musicians, singers and dancers from various cultural associations. The memories of the refugee children, their lives in the homes and their scholastic achievements were celebrated with music and songs. The people at this picnic showed their true heart, of how they felt about their country when they sang the song “Makedonsko Ime Nema da Zagine” (the name Macedonia will never perish).

After the meeting the guests and former refugee children visited several cities in the Republic of Macedonia, including Prilep and Krusevo. A group laid a wreath at the “Makedonium” monument. Another group visited the village “Tri Cheshmi” where refugees from Aegean Macedonia lived. Some took a trip to Greece to visit their relatives and their homes in Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia.

Unfortunately, their effort was in vain and ended unsuccessfully because they were turned back at the Greek border by the Greek border authorities. Among the former Macedonian child refugees were also guests and participants from several western countries who witnessed all this… who saw first hand what “Greek democracy” looks like…

And finally, at the official dinner held in one of the Skopje Fair halls, where the ceremonial part of the meeting was held earlier, the song “Kade ste Makedonchinia” (Where are you young

Macedonians) was sung for the first time. Branko Georgievski from the village Drachevo, Skopje, now a resident of Perth, Australia, composed that song.

That song, in time, turned into an “anthem” for the former refugee children, which was also sung at the second world meeting. And no meeting could be imagined taking place… not even a ceremony in the Republic of Macedonia or abroad where the Macedonians and former refugee children gathered without that song being sung...