7. MINUTES OF THE SIXTY - SECOND MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON NEW STATES

7. MINUTES OF THE SIXTY - SECOND MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON NEW STATES

November 24th, 1919

The Committee examined the revised draft of the treaty between Greece and Bulgaria for the reciprocal emigration of minorities prepared by the Drafting Committee. The Chairman reported that the Drafting Committee considered that the signature of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers to the Emigration Convention was not essential, but that provision could be made for the record in an annex of a formal decision of the Supreme Council that these clauses were approved by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers in accordance with Article 56 of the Bulgarian Treaty. The Committee was informed that the Supreme Council had on November 19 adopted its report regarding the submission of the proposed Treaty to the Bulgarian Delegation, and that the draft agreement had accordingly been communicated to that Delegation with the request that a reply be made within forty-eight hours. The Committee also had before it the reply from the Serb-Croat-Slovene Delegation, dated November 23, expressing readiness to sign the Minorities Treaty.

D. H. Miller, My Diary, pp. 535-550; Recueil, pp. 351-361.

(Pages 666-673, The University of “Cyril and Methodius”, Documents on the Struggle of the Macedonian People for Independence and a Nation-State, Volume I)

A PRIMER FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN AEGEAN MACEDONIA (78) 1925

Excerpt from Page two (79)

PAGE TWO

I, you, he We, you, they My, your, his hers its Our, your, their I read a book You go to school He went to school We are pupils You are clever boys They are naughty Our grandmother tells us stories He-re here The-re there Up, up Down, down In-side, inside Out-side, outside Ri-ght, right Le-ft, left For-ward, forward Back-ward, backward Stay here Go there I go upstairs Go downstairs Go inside Come outside Turn right Turn left

FTORA STRANA

Jas, ti, toi nie, vie, tie moi, toi, sfoi nashe vashe sfoe Jas peam va knigata Ti odis na skolia toi oide na skolia nie sme ucenici vie ste umni tie set losi deca Nasata baba ni kazva prikaski tu-ka tuka ta-mo tamo go-re, gore do-lu, dolu na-tre, natre nad-vor, nadvor des-no, desno le-vo, levo na-pret, napret na-zat, nazat sedi tuka odi tamo odam gore odi dolu odi vnatre idi nadvor svrti desno svrti levo

Abecedar. En Athina, 1925.

(78) Taken from the front page of a Primer published in Athens in 1925 to fulfill the needs of the schools in Aegean Macedonia where Macedonian children were taught. Although it was prepared upon the instructions of the Greek government, the text-book was never used due to obstructions by the same government.

(79) The Primer was written in the Latin alphabet. The dialect spoken in Lerin was used. The text given here was taken from Page Two of the same Primer.

(Page 61, The University of “Cyril and Methodius”, Documents on the Struggle of the Macedonian People for Independence and a Nation-State, Volume II)

AN ORDER BY THE GREEK TERRORIST ORGANIZATION “THE GRECO-MACEDONIAN FIST” (80)

January 27, 1926

In the name of our faith in God and fatherland, in the name of our homes and hearths, we take the oath and, as true descendants of Alexander the Great, we call upon you to join us in the holy struggle which we have begun:

WE ORDER

1. Starting today it is forbidden to speak Bulgarian (81) at public places, in the cafes and restaurants, in doing business, at meetings, assemblies, and gatherings, at parties, luncheons, weddings, etc.

2. We order the above mentioned to speak only in the Greek language.

3. We recommend to all authorities - the administrative and the military, the civil servants and private employees, neither to accept nor to give information in any other language but Greek.

4. Parents, teachers, priests and tutors of minors - we call upon you to fulfill your patriotic duties; we shall hold you responsible for the offences (82) of your subordinates.

5. Whoever violates these orders will be considered a traitor of the fatherland and shall be horribly punished by our organization which has been created following a lengthy and thorough analysis of the situation and under the slogan “The Fatherland Above All”. It has the power to punish any who does not carry out its orders.

Lerin, January 27, 1926.

“The Greco-Macedonian Fist”

Arhiv na Makedonija (Skopje) /Further: AMI – Fond. Dimitar Vlahov K. 21. A. E. 86

(80) An extremist Greater Greek chauvinist organization, a counterpart to the Greater Serbian “Association Against the Bulgarian Bandits”. Its aim was to speed up the process of denationalization and assimilation of the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia through pressure and terror.

(81) The usual name given to the Macedonian people and their language by chauvinist circles and the Balkan bourgeoisies. By using this name, not only was the Macedonian individuality discriminated against, but also a policy was implemented to justify its quickest possible denationalization and assimilation.

(82) The use of the Macedonian mother tongue in everyday communication was qualified as a crime.

(Page 62, The University of “Cyril and Methodius”, Documents on the Struggle of the Macedonian People for Independence and a Nation-State, Volume II)