ORDERS FROM THE FOREIGN GODS - Part 02

During the same period of time, Captain Evans and his men (of whom 18 were English) moved to Aegean Macedonia and analyzed the overall situation among the Macedonians who received him and his man and showed him trust and respect. Evans obtained first hand information during the period from March to October 1944 while stationed in the villages Bapchor, Turie and Drbishta near Mala Prespa. Some people he met proposed to create VMRO organizations and movements for establishing a so called Autonomous Macedonia under the patronage of England and America. These proposals, deemed propaganda, were based on and referred to information provided from the large number of migrant workers in America, Australia and Canada. All these actions were managed by the experienced Evans, who was an Intelligence Service agent. So, everything became clear to him and to England about what the mood was like among the Macedonians living in that region of Greece. Unfortunately his findings were used in the Greek Civil War to get rid of us Macedonians from Greece. And as it turned out it seems that NOF and AFZH supported that idea either knowingly or unknowingly.

4. According to historical facts, in 1945 and after the end of the Second World War, as many as 35, 000 ethnic Albanians – Chams from the Muslim religion, who placed themselves under Italy’s protection, were expelled from Greece because the Greeks claim the Chams cooperated with the occupying German authorities. Greece declared that that chapter of its history and in Albanian-Greek relations was closed with the excuse that: “They (the Chams) collaborated with the Italian-German occupiers during the Second

World War and, being war criminals, were punished according to Greek law.”

CPY’s position and that of the People’s Republic of Macedonia

WHY SREM AND NOT SOLUN?

People who are not entirely familiar with the situation surrounding World War II often raise the question “why did the Macedonian units have to go to the Srem front and not to Solun to liberate and unite Macedonia?” There was also the Artillery Brigade rebellion at Skopje Kale (Fort) on January 7, 1945, when officers and soldiers began to yell “to Solun, to Solun, to Solun!!!” Those rebelling were immediately turned back and some were charged with disobedience, convicted and sent to prison. Historians, who have researched this period, say the decision to send the Macedonians to Srem was not decided by one person, but by the ASNOM presidium, the highest body of the newly formed Macedonian government, after it received a direct order from Supreme Commander Josip Broz Tito.

There were several reasons why the army could not be sent to Solun. At that time there was a British presence in Greece. Stationed in Greece were around 200,000 British troops, 400 British planes and 3,000 British tanks. Besides the British there were about 100,000 Greek troops belonging to the Greek coalition and Solun was also protected by 10,000 Royal Yugoslav troops. All of them were under British command led by General Scobey. If the Macedonian army took the road to Solun, it would have had to fight against the British and their anti-fascist allies, too great a force to defeat. A collision such as this would have also jeopardized Macedonia’s chances of becoming a Yugoslav Republic and no Macedonian state would exist today. But because they avoided such a collision, the allied missions and their representatives attended the first ASNOM session.

Much has been written about this subject (See: Vlado Ivanovski: "Nova Makedonija" from October 11-12, 1997. no. 3: “Why not to Solun”. Transferred from Macedonian Times, especially number 3: “Why not to Solun” which provides an overview of events, especially in the sub-headings: “Desires stronger than

circumstances” and “Attitudes of the Great Powers”), that deserve special attention. Other authors too have tackled this subject and all of them have handled it with great ease. But no one has tackled it better or more in-depth than historian Vlado Ivanovski, who also reveals all the actions taken by the CPM/CPY.

Very competently and with irrefutable facts! Here is what Ivanovski says:

1. Conduct of the three great powers of the anti-fascist coalition: the USSR, the U.S. and the UK;

2. It is an undeniable fact that the “unification of Macedonia” was a problem for the CPY during the time of NOV and PC;

3. We cite the document from August 16, 1944, entitled “Macedonia – Memorandum”, by the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, which said: “We are ready to give consent to the formation of a Macedonian state within federal Yugoslavia. But we have to insist that this country must not attempt to annex, or seek any other territories, regardless of whether those territories belong to Bulgaria or Greece.”

4. There was mention of State Agreements on the division of interest, and that Greece was 100% under British influence, with the right, if necessary, at any time be able to intervene with all possible means;

5. That Tito, in the summer of 1944, requested of NOV units in Macedonia to secure the southern border with Greece. That meant to protect the sovereignty of the borders of these states;

6. That, at that time the United States emphasized the necessity to preserve the territorial integrity of “status quo” to prewar borders for Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece and that the United States was categorically opposed to any border revision, even though it recognized the Macedonian territory in Greece.

And at the end he concludes:

“…The political and military leadership of Macedonia realistically estimated, held and controlled the situation during the January events, not allowing emotions to prevail above reason and logic, preventing the newly formed and fragile federal Republic of Macedonia from being drawn into a war. The consequences of which would have been catastrophic.”

If we had to look into our history for the sake of our future, I would be interested to know and it is my duty as a participant in the Greek Civil War, to investigate the roots of evil, i.e. whose pushed out people into the Greek Civil War (1945 - 1949), right after the Second World War? Are we Macedonians to blame for the de-Macedonian-ization of Greek occupied Macedonia? Did we have a strategy to preserve our centuries-old hearths, or did this help Greece achieve its objectives…

I don’t want to talk about how only others are to blame for what happened to us Macedonians. Our historiography has hidden many things and, for more than half a century, no one has said: how and why did the CPM allow Yugoslavia to have a two-sided policy, public and secret - with which they encouraged the Macedonian people living in Greece to participate in an armed struggle. Wasn’t that against the will of the Macedonian people? With that, didn’t the Macedonian people allow someone else to shape their destiny? Why were the guilty actions of the CPM/CPY not explained in the Macedonian intergral historiography? Why is Vera hiding this to this day?

The problem looks complicated, but that’s the way it is at first glance. The truth can be simple if we look at it honestly and impartially with a sense of historical objectivity. So the question is: Were we the Macedonians (about 3% of the total population in Greece, after all the ethnic changes that took place) in Greek occupied Macedonia, politically and militarily capable, under the leadership of NOF and AFZH, as intimated by these organizations, to preserve the territorial integrity and compactness of the Macedonian population in Greek occupied Macedonia after World War II, after the borders between Greece and Yugoslavia became international military borders between the two camps of the cold war?!

SOUND OF WAR: Policy changing events - steps taken leading to the hellish Greek Civil War

Here are some facts and arguments which prove evil doesn’t fall from the sky but is part of our story in these conflicting Balkan states.

1. By order No. 236 issued directly by Tito on April 2, 1945, the First Aegean Brigade was disbanded;

2. This may have been as a result of Tito’s following statement made in Moscow on April 26, 1945, when he gave an interview for the “New York Times” during which he said: “If the Macedonians from the Greek regions of Macedonia express desire to unite with other Macedonians, Yugoslavia will respect their aspirations”. See: Yugoslav-Soviet treaty of friendship signed April 11, 1945 in Moscow, and FO 371/48388/7762.

3. According to official historiography: There is no doubt that the establishment of NOF, AFZH and NOMS had political aims as confirmed by historian Risto Kiriazovski’s works (1966/181) in an attempt to reveal the “truth” by leaving us clues. But on the other hand Kiriazovski pushed the thesis that we led a Revolution and not a fraud perpetrated through the creation of NOF and AFZH. And finally in his latest book, Kiriazovski gives us yet another clue by saying that NOF and AFZH were led by the CPY/CPM during the period from April 24, 1945 to October 16, 1946.

Anyone who has read our history and those who want to know what happened will easily discover how we Macedonians made mistakes and how we put ourselves in perilous situations.

It is time that Macedonian history debunks the games played by “the great leaders, by the statements and by those who led this horror show perpetrated against the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia. It is time for the Macedonian people to know: