Front Matter - Part 02

Then in 1913 when our village, along with that part of Macedonia, was given to the Greeks, your family being loyal to the Greeks became a favoured family… a prominent family. In the 1920’s, when the Greek authorities came to the villages and changed people’s names, your grandfather was renamed from Stefo to Stefanos. I don’t think your family name at that time was Georgievski but because your family was loyal to the Greeks they gave you a prominent Greek name – Georgopoulos. Georgos means farmer, a prominent occupation at that time. The extension ‘poulos’ was only given to special people, people who were truly loyal to the Greek state. This was done so that these ‘loyal Greeks’ could easily be identified. So when a Greek official who wasn’t familiar with the village, for example, arrived in the village, all the official had to do was ask around for names that had the ‘poulos’ extension. They knew they could trust them. You see, anyone could have pretended to be a Greek and could have given these officials false and misleading information. So the Greeks were clever and gave their most loyal subjects last names ending with “poulos”. Later, your grandfather was what we call a “Grkoman”, loyal to the Greek side. And, as you already know, a sworn enemy of the Macedonians… This is how it all started… Your family served the Greeks instead of its own people… sometimes in the worst possible ways… I don’t want to discourage you too much right now so we’ll talk about the ‘wrongs’ done another time… And that is why, my friend, we could not have been great friends in Oshchima…”

He was silent and looked disappointed. I was sure he didn’t like what I’d said, especially about his family serving the Greeks… instead of the Macedonians…. Also, I’m sure he would ask me what I meant by “in the worst possible ways…” I didn’t know how he would take all this…! Everyone thinks they are “good” people… That’s what their value system tells them… justifies for them… Why shouldn’t he believe what he’d always believed? What his parents, who’d brought him up, had told him… Why should he believe me… a stranger… who had just turned his life upside down…?

“Why did you say that Greeks didn’t exist in Macedonia? As I recall, I was told much of the population living in Macedonia in those days was Greek. If there were no Greeks living there at the time, where did the Greeks come from?” he asked in a serious tone of voice.

“Stefche it’s true, there were no Greeks living in Macedonia because the Greek identity didn’t exist… it was created… by the Great Powers, to serve their purpose. The entire Greek state was created… after the 1821 so-called Greek uprising against the Ottomans… for just that purpose… to serve the interests of the Great Powers.

Up until a few months ago, you were sure you were Greek. Your entire family claimed to be Greek and you believed that. But are you Greeks? No! There are many families in Macedonia that claim to be Greek but, as you’re finding out… they aren’t Greeks. This is how it was throughout all of Macedonia. Before the Greeks came to Macedonia and turned us into artificial Greeks, there were no Greeks… we were Macedonian… The majority… anyway… There were also other ethnicities, if I can call them that… that also lived there, including Vlachs, Turks, Albanians, Jews, Latins and so on… But no Greeks! The people who the outside world often called Greeks were a class of people… the middle class, the merchants and civil servants serving the Ottoman Empire. You see, Muslim law didn’t allow Muslims to leave their country and venture out… to handle money… as in banks… to speak foreign languages… and so on. So the Ottomans used Christians and Jews to do all that for them… to be their ship captains, sailors, bankers, translators and so on. The so-called ‘Greeks’ were an educated class of people… In other words, a ‘class of people’ and not a nationality or ethnicity! These people came from all over the empire and from all kinds of ethnicities. They were educated in the ‘Koine’ language, Alexander the Greats’ language, spoken throughout the Byzantine Empire. And as the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire, they used its already established infrastructure, institutions, networks and connections. By using this ‘class’ of people the Ottomans not only filled a void with bankers, captains and translators, the Ottomans took advantage of existing business connections and practices which this Christian class had established. In time, as these people came into contact with people outside the Ottoman Empire, they became known as ‘Greeks’. Inside the Ottoman Empire they were known as Phanariots, named after their base located in the Phanar district in Tsari Grad… Istanbul… Constantinople… the Ottoman capital…”

“Okay, maybe there were no Greeks in Macedonia, surely there must have been Greeks in Greece proper, or old Greece… you know… the southern part of Greece… the Peloponnesus,” he said, looking at me frustrated.

“No, there were no Greeks there either…” I replied. “How can you say that? You mean to tell me that an entire country was created based on lies?” he asked looking like he was about to explode.

“Look Stefche, you don’t have to believe me, just listen to me… hear what I have to say and then decide for yourself. Believe me my friend I also went through this… I wrestled with it and came to the conclusion that many things, not just Greece, are fake and lies in this world… And believe me… many of us are ignorant of the truth and die ignorant. What is worse is that sometimes we sacrifice our lives believing these lies… I’ll tell you plenty about that later but for now let me tell you how I found out ‘Greeks don’t exist’ as an ethnicity and were created by the destruction of other ethnicities. You know that the old Greeks created new Greeks by assimilating Macedonians from Macedonia. In other words, Macedonians were ‘made’ into Greeks. Their Greek history begins when they were ‘turned’ into Greeks… Before that they were Macedonians. Well, travel back in time… about 200 years back and you’ll find the same thing happened in the Peloponnesus. The people that lived there… Albanians, Vlachs, Christian Turks, Latins, Macedonians… all were turned into Greeks… instant Greeks. So the old Greeks you are referring to weren’t Greeks either. Those who refused to become Greek were kicked out. Have you ever looked at the first Greek Constitution? It said that anyone who is a Christian, spoke Greek and was willing to fight for the Greek cause was a Greek. Albanians who spoke Greek were instant Greeks and so were Macedonians, Serbians, Bulgarians, Romanians… and especially Vlachs… The Vlachs were the ‘best’ Greeks. Ask any old Vlach and see what they have to say. The Vlachs were the backbone in building Greece.

The Greek language? There was no such thing as a ‘Greek language’. At first, the newly established Greek state pondered with the idea of using the Albanian language as the language of its new nation. This was because the majority of the Greek population then spoke Albanian. Like I said earlier, the so-called Greek language that the Greek state adopted and made the language of the Greek nation is the Koine language… The new Greeks were convinced by their patrons, the Great Powers, to reject the Albanian language and adopt the Koine language, Alexander the Greats’ language of trade and commerce and call it ‘Greek’. This language was taken out of the boondocks by Alexander the Great and made into a worldly language… by Alexander’s successors... especially by the Ptolemais in Egypt. The Koine language gained its prominence, not in Athens or Greece but in Alexandria in Egypt, when it was adopted as the language of science and education and used in the Alexandrian library, museum and schools. Even the first bible was translated from Hebrew to Koine. The Macedonians were responsible for that… Anyway, I’m getting off topic here… In other words, the Greeks in the southern part of Greece were created exactly the same way the Greeks in Macedonia were created… through assimilation.

But there is a difference between the Macedonians and the other ethnic groups that live in Greece today who were assimilated. While the Albanians, Vlachs and other ethnicities were willing to accept their new identity… because it offered them much more that what they could have otherwise achieved, the Macedonians already had a long history, a prominent language and a richer culture and many were unwilling to give them up… and wanted to remain Macedonian. This, unfortunately, posed a problem for those wanting to get rid of them. That problem has persisted to this day and has been dividing us as a people. The process that was started in the late 18th and 19th centuries… i.e. the destruction of the Macedonian identity, has never stopped and is continuing to this day. The Great Powers, even today, don’t want a Macedonia and are doing everything possible to erase us. Why do you think the Republic of Macedonia is having all these problems today? Most people say it’s Greece that’s behind all this… but they are wrong. It’s not just Greece, the Great Powers, mainly the United States, Britain, France and Germany, are also behind it. They are allowing Greece to do their dirty work for them. They stand behind Greece and encourage it to abuse us… Again, I’m getting off topic here… I’m sorry… I’ll talk about this later…” I concluded and looked at Stefche. He was looking at his watch.

“It’s getting awfully late. I’d better get home before my wife sends the police to look for me… What do you say we pick it up next Friday, same time, same place?” he asked and smiled.

“That’s fine by me… I’ll see you next Friday… Thanks for the dinner…” and looked at my watch. It was 1:10 a.m. Saturday morning. By the time I looked up, he was halfway to the other side of the cafeteria waving goodbye. Part 4 - General overview of events

I got home late that night and didn’t get any sleep. I thought about what I’d said. What I could have said and what I shouldn’t have said… But, as is always the case, most people want to hear what they want to hear and interpret things the way they want to interpret them. All I was doing, thinking about it after the fact, analyzing what I had said just showed my own insecurities. What was most important is that we ended our first planned encounter on a good note… and there was next Friday…

The next Friday I arrived first and sat in the usual spot. He arrived on time, in a uniform and said he had something to finish and would join me in a few minutes. He left and was back ten minutes later. After greeting me and shaking my hand he sat in his old spot.

“So, what are we going to talk about today?” I asked.

“Last time you told me the Greek identity was artificially created for some greater purpose to serve the Great Powers. You also made it sound like we Macedonians are something ‘special’. I’d really like to know why that is?” he replied.

I thought about it for a moment. Is this what I sound like when I talk about Macedonia and the Macedonians? Do I give the impression that we are something special? Greeks talk like that. In fact these ‘fake’ Greeks believe the world owes them because the so-called “ancient Greeks” gave the world “everything”. How delusional is that?

“Stefche, I never meant to give you the impression that we Macedonians are something special… All I meant to say is that we are true to who we are because we come from a rich culture… a real culture… and not something that was made up for the greater purpose of some Great Power … I’m sorry about that…”

“So, if Macedonians aren’t ‘special’ then why would you want to be Macedonian?” “That’s a good question… In fact many Greeks have asked me exactly that question. I told them honestly that I don’t want to be Macedonian but that’s what I am. If you want to be true to others then you must first be true to yourself and if you can’t do that then you’re no different than the Greeks. I’ve seen and experienced misery because of that… because I am Macedonian… but like it or not… that’s what I am… that’s what I was born. It just happens that Macedonia was a prominent place with a rich history and culture just as it happened that I was born Macedonian. In the past they used to say there was no greater glory than being a soldier of Macedonia and today they say Macedonians are so worthless they need not be mentioned. And you know from your own parents that that is true. Even they say ‘Macedonians don’t exist’… ”

“Yes that’s true. What a screwed up situation…” he said and looked at me.

“Yes, there’s a lot to unpack here and I just don’t know where to begin…” I said and looked down.

“How about you tell me why Greeks think Macedonians don’t exist?” he asked with a serious look on his face.

“They have many reasons; the first and most important is to cover up the myth that all people living in Greece are Greeks. If the Greeks admitted that Macedonians exist in Greece then how could they explain the Greek occupation of Macedonia? The Greeks say they ‘liberated’ Macedonian territories from the Ottomans in order to unite them with the rest of Greece. And why did they do that? Because, according to the Greeks, Macedonia has always been Greek and the people living in it are Greeks. For more than a century now the Greeks have been telling the world ‘Macedonia is Greek’ because Greeks and only Greeks live in Macedonia, which is a lie.

To now admit that indeed Macedonians live in Greece they would not only have to admit that the Greeks lied but they would also have to give Macedonia back to the Macedonians; the rightful owners of those lands. But they don’t want to do that. So to avoid problems the Greeks say Macedonians don’t exist. It’s easy to say that. This was the plan from the start… since 1878, when the Great Powers decided there would be no Macedonia and left it to the Greeks and the other inheritors of Macedonian lands to erase the Macedonian people…”

“Hmm, I see… Didn’t anyone point out to the Greeks that these people weren’t Greek and didn’t want to be Greek?”

“Yes they have…”

“And?”

“Well, the Greeks just brush it off and say ‘these people were under Ottoman occupation for so long they just forgot what they were’…”

“Hmm…”

“Yes and there’s more… When the Republic of Macedonia broke away from Yugoslavia and became an independent country, the Greeks started panicking… afraid that the Republic of Macedonia might demand that Greece recognize the Macedonian people living in Greece. As you may know the Greeks exiled many Macedonians from Greece since 1912, since the time the Greeks occupied Macedonian lands and many of these exiled Macedonians over the years have demanded that Greece reinstate their Greek citizenship and give them back their lands. Many now live in the Republic of Macedonia and are complaining to the Macedonian government that Greece illegally confiscated their lands and property and are demanding that the Macedonian government ‘do something’ so that they can get their lands back. So to avoid problems, Greece has made many attempts to ‘silence’ the Republic of Macedonia…”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, you must have heard of the so-called ‘name dispute’ between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece?”

“Yes, I know all about it. Those Slavs… Skopjans… or whatever they call themselves, who live on Greece’s northern border want to take Macedonia by pretending to be Macedonians… But they are not!” “That’s what you were told… right? But do you believe that?”

“Well, that’s what I know. I suppose you will tell me something different?”

“Stefche, you must know that Macedonia is a lot bigger than the part that is occupied by Greece?”

“Yes but those parts are Slavic and not Greek…”

“So, in your understanding what do you think the difference is between Greeks, Macedonians and Slavs?”

“All I know is that Greeks are an ancient people. Macedonians are Greeks and the Slavs came to the Balkans during the sixth century A.D.”

“Stefche, the Macedonians living in Greece and the Macedonians living in the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria are the same people. When Macedonia was ‘liberated’, I call it ‘occupied’ by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, the Macedonian people were ethnically one people before they were divided by the borders imposed on them. They were living without borders for a thousand years, if not more, so how can the Macedonians living in Greece be Macedonians of the Greek kind and those living in the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria be Slavs? Wouldn’t they be the same people – either Greeks or Slavs?”

“I suppose… But all I know is that they are called Macedonian because they live in geographic Macedonia.”

“They are all the same people… They are ethnic Macedonians who speak a Slavic language that is different from Greek, Bulgarian, or Serbian, which we today call Macedonian. We are a unique people… Macedonians…”

“You have a point… I’m just telling you what I know from what the Greeks told me.”

“Now let’s go back to the ‘name dispute’. The name dispute isn’t about the name and I can prove that to you. It’s about erasing the Macedonian identity. Greece doesn’t want the world to know that Macedonian people live in Greece and that the Macedonians in Greece are the same people as those living in the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria. So, by not allowing the Republic of Macedonia to use ‘Macedonia’ in its name, Greece hopes to prove to the world that the Macedonians living in Greece are ‘different’ from the Macedonians living in the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria… But, as I said, in reality we are one people. The borders between us were placed there in 1913. They are artificial borders…”

“Listen… it’s getting late. Let’s get going and next Friday you can tell me more. Especially the part about proving that the name dispute isn’t about the name…”

And with those words Stefche left in a hurry. Part 5 – The ‘name dispute’ explained - Briefly

I had plenty of time to think about what I was going to say but if I had to tell him everything I knew it would take days, so I decided to be selective and give Stefche a brief overview.

I began by saying, “What is going on between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia today is not a ‘dispute’. The Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian people in general have no problem calling themselves Macedonian and their little country, one third of the whole of Macedonia, the Republic of Macedonia. And like I said, it’s Greece who is objecting to using the word ‘Macedonia’ in the Republic of Macedonia’s name. So this isn’t a dispute but rather an objection coming from Greece.”

“Okay, okay… But isn’t it the same thing? Isn’t it just semantics?”

“No! Because Macedonia is not disputing anything, it’s only reacting to the Greek objection. In fact it’s not even disputing Greece’s usurpation of the name ‘Macedonia’. How can Greece have exclusive rights to the name ‘Macedonia’ when there are other parts of historic and geographic Macedonia where Macedonian people live?”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. As far as I know Macedonia is Greek from ancient times, so why wouldn’t Greece object to someone else using that name?”

“Stefche, Macedonia is not and never was Greek in ancient times, today, or in any other period in its history. It always belonged to the Macedonians. I should know that. I wrote a book about it called ‘History of the Macedonian People From Ancient times to the Present’ which can be found at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/History-of-the-Macedonian-People-from-Ancient-Times-to-the-Present.pdf

While you’re at it, you should also read my book ‘Macedonian Struggle For Independence’ which can be found at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/Macedonian-Struggle-for-Independence.pdf. I wrote this book in response to those Greeks who wrote me and told me that if Macedonians existed how come they never made a single attempt to liberate themselves. These Greeks hardly know their own fake history, never mind the Macedonian people’s history.

And here is another shocker for you. There was never a Greece, not until 1832, when the Greek Kingdom became a country for the first time. In ancient times there were City States, like Athens, Sparta, Thebes, etc. Besides, the word ‘Greece” is a Latin word. There were no Latins when the City States were independent and functioned like independent countries. They were never a single country. It was Philip II, a Macedonian, who defeated them in battle and, except for Sparta, made them Macedonian vassals. In fact if I use Greek logic I can claim that the ancient City States belong to Macedonia and, in modern terms, Greece belongs to the Macedonians. But I’ve never said that and I’ve never heard a single Macedonian making any such claims. The Macedonian people only want what is theirs.

On top of that the modern Greeks have nothing to do with the so-called ancient Greeks; we’ve already discussed that… Like I said, the modern Greeks are a modern creation… a fabrication… The people that lived on the lands where Greece is today were Albanians, Vlachs, Turks, Macedonians, Latins, etc. They lived there before Greece was created. So how can Macedonia belong to those people? And if you don’t believe me then read my book: ‘Who are the Modern Greeks?’ which can be found at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/Who-are-the-Modern-Greeks.pdf” and my book: ‘A Glorious place called Greece’ which can be found at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/A-Glorious-Place-Called-Greece.pdf. Most of the information about the modern Greeks in those books comes from pro-Greek western sources.”

“Well, you’re right. Many of the books I have read seem to agree with you. I mean the books written by western authors… Life would be so much easier for me if Greece admitted to all this so that we can get on with life.” “As you can see Greece has no rights to the name ‘Macedonia’, neither from ancient times nor modern times. So why is Greece behaving this way? There must be another reason.”

“Well, what is this reason? Surely there has to be more than you just told me!”

“Greece wants to hide the fact that modern Greece is a modern fabrication and the fact that modern Greeks aren’t really Greeks and have nothing to do with the ancients… But most importantly, Greece wants to hide all the atrocities it committed against the Macedonian population and all the other people who refused to become Greeks.”

“Like what…?”

“Well, where do we begin?”

“Begin at the beginning…”

“I’ve already told you what the Greeks did in Macedonia before Macedonia was invaded, occupied and partitioned during the Balkan Wars of 1912, 1913. I haven’t told you what happened after that.

During the Balkan Wars many Macedonians were killed for no reason at all, especially civilians. The Greek soldiers were told that Greeks lived in Macedonia and spoke Greek. All others who didn’t speak Greek were the enemy and you know what that means… So when the Greek army rolled into Macedonia the soldiers expected to find Greeks but instead they found mostly non-Greek speakers so they slaughtered them. If you want to learn more about this you should read my book: ‘Greek Atrocities Committed against the Macedonian People’. You can find it at: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/Greek-Atrocities-Committed-against-the-Macedonian-People.pdf

Right after Greece took control of the Macedonian territories it told the Macedonian people that this is Greece now and all of you who become Greeks can stay, all others can pick up as much of your stuff as you can carry and get out. Many left and went north, most of them ended up in Bulgaria. The Ottomans left during or right after the Ottoman army withdrew. Later the Greeks exiled all Muslims. These people weren’t Ottomans; they were Macedonians who had converted to Islam. They too were gone.

After that, during the 1920’s, Greece changed the names of everything that was Macedonian. They wanted to erase everything that was Macedonian and replace it with Greek so that they could show the world that Macedonia was Greek. They even destroyed old Macedonian cemeteries and painted over the Macedonian writing on church icons. They changed the names of people, even family names that had existed for many generations. They changed the names of rivers, lakes, seas, regions, cities, towns, villages, etc. Our village that was called Oshchima for centuries was changed to Trigonon, a name that has no history. Everything that was historically associated with our Macedonian heritage was suddenly erased.

After that the Macedonian people, young and old, were forced to learn Greek. Later the Macedonian language was banned and it became illegal to speak Macedonian. The Macedonian people weren’t allowed to speak their mother tongue in their own country, on their own ancestral lands. They were actually fined, made to drink castor oil and jailed if they spoke Macedonian. Many spent years serving their prison sentences in the dry Greek island concentration camps. Just for speaking Macedonian… Imagine that… It was horrible.

And if that wasn’t enough, after the so-called Greek Civil War ended, Greece closed the border on all civilians that had fled the war. Both my grandparents on my father’s side went to Poland. They left in 1949. My grandfather died in Poland. I never met him.

Those who fled over the border to save themselves, to this day, were never allowed to return, not even for a visit. I have written extensively about the Greek Civil War and if you want to learn more about it you should read my books: “Macedonians in Greece 1939-1949” which can be found at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/Macedonians-in-Greece-1939-1949.pdf, and the book: “Macedonians and the NOT so Civil War in Greece” which can be found at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/Macedonians-and-the-NOT-so-Civil-War-in-Greece.pdf. This is only a small sample of what Greece did to the Macedonian people which, by the way, is all hidden from the international public, even from the Greek public because Greece insists that Macedonians don’t exist.

Greece wants all this to remain hidden and that’s why it has invented the so-called “name dispute” and made it about ancient history about which no one cares.”

“That was a good explanation… but it wasn’t enough for me to fully grasp the whole story. I need to know more… not just for myself… but to explain it to others… But it will have to wait for another time… maybe many other times… if that’s okay with you…?

“No problem. It’s okay with me.”

“It’s getting late and I must go. See you next Friday… And thanks for all this, I’ll read those books… eventually,” he said and left. Part 6 - From the beginning

The next Friday we met, I found Stefche waiting for me at the usual table. He had arrived first and looked anxious. After we greeted each other he said:

“What you told me last Friday was hard to believe… Greece is a democratic country… The world views it like a jewel… According to common knowledge, Greece gave the world democracy, mathematics, science… It’s considered the cradle of democracy. I just can’t believe what you said about Greece… It’s inconceivable that the Greeks aren’t real. I wonder how many people in the world really know that, especially the Greeks themselves… Who would have thought that the Greeks are a fraud? This is just unbelievable… I just can’t believe it.”

“Stefche, welcome to my world… And that’s not all. I haven’t even begun to tell you about all the evils these Greeks have committed against our people to satisfy their interests and to promote and propagate this lie called Hellenism.”

“Well, lay it on me. If it doesn’t kill me it will make me stronger…”

“Where do I begin…?”

“Start from the beginning…”

“Okay, I’ll do my best. Let’s start with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.

When the European Great Powers began to sense that the Ottoman Empire was slowly beginning to disintegrate, they were sure that one day it would disappear forever and the territories it occupied would be free… up for grabs. Unfortunately the Great Powers didn’t trust one another. They were afraid that if one sent their army to grab Ottoman territories the others would follow and there would be war. So they had to come up with a plan, an agreement on how those territories could be acquired by avoiding war. But one thing they seemed to agree on was that the Ottoman territories would be replaced by many small equal sized countries. They didn’t want the entire Ottoman territory to be replaced by a single large Christian country because that too in time would become a Great Power and they didn’t want more Great Powers in Europe, or anywhere else for that matter.

The ideal thing would be to have the Ottoman territories replaced by small countries that couldn’t threaten the Great Powers. They all would have to be equal sized so no one country could dominate or occupy the others. They wanted to be sure that the Ottoman territories would never recombine. They also wanted the inheriting countries to be different from one another; to hate each other so that they would never combine. They also decided each country would be ruled by a monarchy. These were some of the ideas that the Great Powers could agree on while each secretly plotted about how to influence these countries and turn them into proxies.

The first country to come out of the Ottoman Empire was Serbia, followed by Greece. The southern most part of Greece was liberated with help from the Great Powers. I think it was Russia, France and England.

Then, with help from Russia, Bulgaria was liberated next. Russia wanted to create a large Bulgaria that included most of Macedonia in order to turn it into a Russian proxy so that Russia could gain access to the Mediterranean Sea. But the other Great Powers didn’t agree. Like I said before, first they didn’t want a big country to exist in the Balkans and second they didn’t want Russia to have access to the Mediterranean Sea. England in particular didn’t want Russia to have access because it regarded the Mediterranean Sea as its own ‘back yard’.

In 1878 the Great Powers decided to create a smaller Bulgaria and give Macedonia back to the Ottomans. It was around this time that the Great Powers decided that there would be no Macedonia. They decided Macedonia would be divided up and given to Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. But first they would have to wait for the Ottoman Empire to further disintegrate.

The Macedonians tried to liberate themselves several times after 1878 but, without outside help, they were unsuccessful. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the 1903 Ilinden Uprising but this was the time when all of Macedonia rose up to liberate itself but failed. It failed because, as I said before, it received no help from the outside. On top of that the Great Powers, through Bulgaria, made sure the uprising was sabotaged from the inside. It’s a long story, I don’t want to get into it now but if you want to know more I have written about it extensively in my books.

Then when Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria became economically and militarily strong, strong enough to take on the crumbling Ottoman Empire, the Great Powers unleashed them and allowed them to attack Macedonia and drive the Ottomans out. This is what the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 were about. Even the Macedonians helped them kick out the Ottomans…”

“Why did they do that…?”

“Because the invaders told the Macedonian people that they were there to liberate them… to liberate their Christian brothers. But this was a lie; they were there to occupy and partition Macedonia for themselves.

In 1878, the Great Powers decided that Macedonia would be divided and given to Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria but they had no idea how to divide it. At some point it was decided that Macedonia would be divided along ‘national lines’ which propagated the ‘church wars’, which I mentioned earlier where the Greeks tried to convert everyone in Macedonia into a Greek. The Serbians and Bulgarians, of course did the same. And as the competition between the three intensified so did their measures. First they began by providing church services, then they opened schools and eventually resorted to using violence, forcing Macedonians to become Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians by any means possible including terror. Armed gangs were hired on all sides to terrorize the people. If a village, for example, accepted one side, say the Bulgarian side, the Greeks would then send their gangs to force the people in that village to accept the Greek side.

“And if the people refused?”

“If they refused they were punished and even killed. Their homes were robbed and burned, women and girls were raped, men were tortured and priests were killed. Sometimes entire villages were killed as was the case of Zagoricheni. See the chapter ‘The Zagoricheni massacre’ in my book entitled ‘Collective Punishment’, which you ca find at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/Collective-Punishment-Genocides-Committed-Against-the-Macedonian-People.pdf.

Then before Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria attacked the Ottomans in Macedonia, they consulted with the Russian king on how to divide Macedonia because Macedonia couldn’t be divided along national lines. Practically there wasn’t a single village in Macedonia that could be divided along national lines. The Russian king advised them to attack the Ottomans from the south, northwest and northeast and the dividing lines would be placed wherever their armies met. In other words, whatever territory they freed from the Ottomans would be theirs. And this is what they did in 1912.

From there on the situation became complicated, you’ll have to read my books to find out what happened. But one thing I can tell you, the Macedonian population paid dearly with lives and destruction of property during those wars. It was horrible.

The Balkan Wars were so traumatic and so horrifying that an investigation was initiated.

On August 2nd, 1913, shortly before the end of the second Balkan War, the Carnegie Endowment dispatched a Commission on a fact finding mission. The mission consisted of seven prominent members from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia. To learn more about this read my book: ‘Collective Punishment - Genocides committed against the Macedonian People’ you can find it at this link: http://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/Collective-Punishment-Genocides-Committed-Against-the-Macedonian-People.pdf.

Unfortunately, before the Commission’s findings could be released World War I broke out and the report never saw the light of day.

After WW I ended the Greeks resumed their policy of assimilating Macedonian territories and Macedonian people and, like I said before, those Macedonians who refused to assimilate were expelled, many through population exchanges, mostly with Bulgaria.

In all of this, not once did the Greeks ask what the Macedonian people wanted. They were treated like animals.

Things went from bad to worse during the Metaxas dictatorship in Greece right before World War II started. In 1936 the Greek Government started passing laws by which thousands of Macedonians were arrested, imprisoned and expelled from their homeland. One specific law (legal act 2366) outlawed the Macedonian language and prohibited people from speaking it by imposing heavy fines and imprisonment. Many Macedonians unfortunately didn’t speak Greek, especially the old people, and had no other way of communicating with their families and friends. People weren’t allowed to speak Macedonian anywhere, not at the market and not even at home. On top of that many policemen were hired to spy on the population and anyone caught speaking Macedonian was fined; even old ladies trying to purchase vegetables in the market.

A percentage of the fine was paid to the policemen who arrested them so the Greek police had plenty of incentive to catch people.

Imagine that happening to you?

This practice continued even after the Metaxas dictatorship ended.

One of my uncles, on my mother’s side, was beaten by a policeman for simply answering an old lady’s question. This prompted him to join the partisans and fight against this Greek injustice. He was killed during the Greek Civil War. There isn’t a single Macedonian family that hasn’t experienced a tragedy in Greek hands.

Another man whom I met in Canada told me that he too was beaten by the Greek police for speaking Macedonian. He didn’t have a father; I don’t know what happened to his father but his family was very poor. When he was a boy his mother bought him a white shirt, which he proudly wore through the village one holiday. On his way to church he met an old woman and said good morning to her in Macedonian. Unfortunately a policeman passing by overheard him and scolded him. He told the policeman that the old woman didn’t speak Greek, so he had to speak to her in Macedonian. For his ‘insolence’ the policeman hit him across the face with his baton and broke his nose, which bled all over his white shirt and ruined it.”

“That’s cruel… What a cruel bastard…”

“This unfortunately was normal practice for the Greeks in those days. But that’s not all. Many times policemen were observed outside people’s windows listening to hear what language the people spoke in the privacy of their own home. If they heard them speaking Macedonian they fined them. The safest thing for Macedonians to do in those days was not to speak at all. If they spoke Macedonian they were fined and even arrested for multiple violations. If they spoke Greek they were frowned upon by Macedonians.

Because of the way the Macedonians were treated, the Macedonian people hated the Greek language and didn’t want to hear anyone speaking Greek, especially when it was spoken by their own kin or by their neighbours.”

“So, how were people expected to communicate… especially those who couldn’t speak Greek?” asked Stefche.

“Very carefully…” I said and laughed but Stefche didn’t find it funny.

“They managed to somehow survive,” I said and added. “I know of one old woman from our village who was fined. She was in the city market and tried to purchase groceries. The only language she spoke was Macedonian. Unfortunately she didn’t see the policeman standing beside her. Her fine amounted to more than she made from selling crops for an entire year. It was devastating for her. She lived alone. Her adult children were partisans who had left Greece during the war and weren’t allowed to return. And because they lived in Eastern Europe they couldn’t help her. The letters she sent and received were opened by the Greek authorities. They constantly monitored her mail. Besides, unless they could send her American or Canadian dollars, money from the Eastern European countries was illegal. The villagers made a collection to help her pay her fine. She was a very nice lady. She always had a candy for me every time I went to visit her.”

“Man, that’s terrible… I had no idea…”

“And despite what the Greeks have done to us in Greece, they now want to silence all Macedonians everywhere they live. On top of that they accuse us of cruelty and theft. They accuse us of wanting to steal ‘their’ history and heritage… These Greeks were and still are cruel people and the sad thing about it is that we can’t do anything about it. Despite what they’ve done to us, the world still supports them…”

Just as I finished talking I could see that Stefche was getting anxious about going home so I said, “Stefche, it’s getting late… We should get going… We’ll pick it up next Friday.” Part 7 - More about artificial Greece

The next Friday that we met, Stefche looked sad. When I asked him what was wrong he said, “I’m happy that I found out I’m Macedonian but I’m sad that I’ve found out this late in my life. If I had known earlier I could have saved my children from being poisoned by my parents. I just can’t believe how we’ve become beholden to the Greeks, our worst enemies. How can we look up to them and pretend to be them after what they’ve done to us. I’m happy that I’m Macedonian but I still don’t know enough about us to confront those who deny us our rights... starting with my own parents.”

“If you want to confront the Greeks you have to do it on their turf, challenge their identity the way they have challenged ours. The Greeks have convinced the world, or at least some of the world and themselves that they are a solid sphere made of steel, in other words pure Greeks; descendants of the ancient Greeks. Unfortunately they are only a shiny apple on the outside and rotten to the core inside. If you get past their shiny skin you’ll uncover rot inside.”

“You know I was a baby when my family came to Canada so I hardly know any Greek history…”

At that point I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“It’s true, I’m not joking. I don’t know any Greek history… real or fake…” he said looking at me puzzled.

“Sorry about that. I wasn’t laughing about what you said, I was laughing at the idea that the Greeks have a ‘real’ history. Today’s Greek history is as artificial as the Greek nation itself. Most of today’s Greek history is fiction… pure fiction… For example they say they liberated Macedonia… Liberated it from whom… from the Macedonians? The truth is they occupied Macedonia… They say they drove the Bulgarians out of Macedonia… What Bulgarians, the people they drove out weren’t Bulgarians, they were Macedonians. The truth is they drove the Macedonian people out of their own lands because they refused to become Greeks.

Every word in Greece’s history is twisted to fit Greece’s modern narrative and interests. Forget about Greece’s official history and learn its ‘real’ history. The Greek people of today rose out of the mud and not out of any ancient glory like they pretend they did…”

“And how do I do that? How do I learn Greece’s ‘real’ history?”

“The way I did. By asking questions, by reading books, other than Greeks books, etc., here is a sample of what I wrote in my book ‘Who are the modern Greeks’:

The best answer I can give you at this moment is that they are NOT who they say they are! I have been accused on several occasions of being a “liar” when it comes to answering such questions, so here I’ll use Mazari’s words;

“Mazari, writing in 1446, stated that the Greeks of this time were not a race but a debris of other races.”

If the Greeks of 1446 were a ‘debris’ of other races, then what are the Modern Greeks of today, 98% pure Greeks and 2% Muslim Greeks? I think not!