Conclusion

Conclusion

Even though Macedonians are indigenous to Macedonia and are its original landowners and caretakers, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria by act of war in 1912, 1913 inavaded Macedonia and occupied, partitioned and annexed Macedonian territories for themselves. Albania was later given a small piece of Macedonia. Besides losing their lands, these Macedonians, especially those living in Greece and Bulgaria, since then have been economically deprived and culturally oppressed. They have been stripped of the right to call themselves Macedonian, to practice their Macedonian culture and speak their Macedonian language. Since 1912 many have also been evicted from their homes, stripped from their lands, forcibly assimilated into foreign nations, tortured, jailed, murdered and denied their ethnic identity, language and culture simply because they are Macedonian.

As I have shown throughout this book, through the enactment of discriminatory laws and through a climate of dislike for Macedonians in general, the Macedonian people have been denied economic opportunities like well paid jobs, positions of authority in government, positions in educational institutions, high positions in the military, etc. The reasons for this are obvious. By denying the Macedonian people their ethnic identity Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and now some Albanian people and their patrons the Great Powers have created a climate of hatred and dislike for Macedonians putting pressure on them to abandon their identity, language and culture and even leave their ancestral homes. This has been happening since 1878 and is happening to this day, even in the Republic of Macedonia, an independent and sovereign Macedonian state. Many, particularly the Greeks, claim that Macedonians don’t exist and therefore have no rights. This unfair practice unfortunately has driven many Macedonians out of their ancestral homes and lands and forced them to seek life elsewhere, mostly in western countries.

Beyond that and besides occupying Macedonian territories, both Bulgaria and Greece have usurped parts of the Macedonian historic heritage and have claimed Macedonia’s history as their own.

Yet, in spite of all this, the Macedonian people fought against Fascism and Nazism in World War II on behalf of these occupiers

and helped them preserve their sovereignty, especially Greece. Macedonians did this because they wanted to live in peace as equals, a concept these occupiers and their patrons the Great Powers cannot accept to this day.

As I have shown in this book, one of the reasons the second armed struggle was started in Greece, later termed the “Greek Civil War”, was to rid Greek occupied Macedonia of its Macedonian people. It was planned by England and executed by the Greek government and by the Communist Party of Greece with assistance from England and the United States. And as we know today, it annihilated a great part of the Macedonian population that was living in Greek occupied Macedonia.

Given that the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) was responsible for leading and guiding the struggle and given how its top leadership treated the Macedonians, we can safely say that the Greek communists did not have the Macedonian people’s best interests at heart. The CPG was responsible for the safety and security of the Macedonian people and it let them down… on purpose. In fact, given how Zahariadis and his cronies tried to blame the loss of the struggle on the Macedonian fighters is indicative of the CPG’s attitude towards the Macedonian people. The CPG was neither a good leader nor cared for the Macedonians. But this should not be a surprise to anyone given how Greeks behave towards Macedonians in general. The fact that no power or authority stepped in to end the genocidal Greek Civil War and stop the carnage of the Macedonian people, is a good indication that either no one in the world cared or the carnage was carried out with the blessing of someone very powerful. And today we know, with much certainty, that England and the United States supported those who committed the carnage.

When the CPG and its partners needed the Macedonians to spill their blood they offered them equality and human rights but as soon as that need passed the offer was slowly withdrawn. The moment the Macedonian people showed unity and strength the CPG and its partners took action to dissolve it. Every time Macedonians showed strong leadership the CPG and its partners made sure that that leadership was removed and the people behind it were vilified. This is how the CPG and its partners controlled the so called Greek Civil

War making sure the Macedonians did not win. The CPG was nothing more than another pawn in the game the Great Powers played with the lives of the Macedonian people. For that matter so was the Greek government, the CPG’s main opponent.

The CPG top leadership and its partners, for unknown reasons at that time, sold out to the Greek government at Varkiza. In other words, the CPG voluntarily capitulated to the Greek government and England, its backer. After that, knowing full well that it would be impossible for the communists to win, especially since the Greek government was backed by Great Powers England and the USA, and knowing full well that it would not be supported by the Soviet Union, the CPG initiated the Greek Civil War.

In retrospect, by initiating the Greek Civil War the CPG achieved two objectives; (1) it led the communist movement in Greece to its destruction and (2) it cleansed Greek occupied Macedonia of its Macedonian population, which had been a Greek and English aim since Greece acquired Macedonian territories and people in 1912, 1913.

So what exactly did the CPG and its partners achieve in Greece that can be considered positive for the Macedonian people? Absolutely nothing! The way the CPG top leadership and its partners handled the Greek Civil War would lead one to believe that they were either completely incompetent of were working for the English and Americans. The English and Americans wanted to root out the communists from Greece and the Greek government and England wanted to eradicate the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. Apparently the top CPG leadership and its partners succeeded in doing both.

In spite of all the promises made to reward the Macedonian people for their effort, including those for fulfilling the Atlantic Charter, the Macedonians in Greece received nothing. Ironically, for their vast sacrifices to free Greece and make it a better place to live, the Macedonians were “reduced” in numbers like never before. Entire villages were wiped out and reduced to rubble and even those that were not bombed were robbed of their population.

First it was the 28,000 refugee children ages 2 to 14, all removed from the villages supposedly for their own safety. They were removed under the premise that they would be returned as soon as the war was over, after the communists won. No mention was ever made of what would happen if the communists did not win. Anyone questioning the wisdom of the CPG was labeled a coward and a traitor. There was no “plan B”, in this CPG led war, not even guarantees for the survival of the Macedonian civilian population. After the Macedonian children were evacuated the villagers went next, the pregnant women, the very young and the very old. They were all told to flee to Albania to save themselves from the Greek bombs. But once they crossed the border they were no longer allowed to return. And finally it was the fighters who fought in the Greek Civil War who were driven out. Many were veterans of WW II who had spilled blood to free Greece from the German, Italian and Bulgarian fascists. Once they crossed the border they too were not allowed to return. Those who remained in Greece were hunted down and killed. More than half a century later these Macedonians are still not welcome in Greece, not even their children. Eradicating the Macedonian population was always Greece’s plan but no one would have guessed that it would be the communists who would succeed in doing it. I can’t say with certainty that this was a “Greek communist plan” but the results speak for themselves.

It is usually customary for a country to account for its people, even if it considers them to be criminals, but not Greece. Greece has not published any statistics to show how many people it exiled or how many it killed during the dreaded Greek Civil War. Greece did not even have the decency to bury its dead citizens, some of whose bones to this day litter the mountainside. Most societies honour their fallen, especially those who fought for change and to better their lives and those of their countrymen, but not Greece. Thousands of Macedonian partisans, young men and women cut down in their prime, rest in unmarked mass graves waiting to be forgotten. How do the Greeks honour the Macedonian fighters who gave their lives to better Greece? They honoured them by burning their villages, exiling their living relatives and by denying them their most basic human rights. There is no justice for the Macedonians in Greece, not even for the dead whose bones and skulls to this day litter the countryside waiting to be buried and not for the living who were

ejected from their homeland and are now roaming the world still unwelcome to return.

I want to mention at this point that the so-called “Greek Civil War” was a different war to different people. In the beginning the Macedonian people were told that they were fighting to reunite all of divided Macedonia. Once engaged in the war they were told they were fighting for human and social rights as equals with the Greeks. Then as the war became very hot, they were told they were fighting for their lives. The Greek people on the other hand were told that the war was about carving out Greek territories and handing them over to the “Slavs” in the north. They were told that the Macedonian people fighting alongside the Greek communists were actually foreign bandits whom the communists were helping carve out Greek territories. The rest of the world, however, was led to believe that the war in Greece was actually a “civil war” where communist Greeks were fighting against capitalist Greeks attempting to take control of the Greek state. And since, according to the Yalta Agreement, England and the west were granted influence over Greece, the communists were violating this Agreement and needed to be removed. And thus England and the United States were there for exactly that purpose, exercising their legal rights.

As much as I want to agree with the Greeks and say that the Macedonians indeed fought for an independent and united Macedonia, because that would have been my wish, the facts however tell a different story. There were no battles ever registered of Macedonians fighting against the Greeks between 1939 and 1949. Outside of a number of small armed groups instigated by the Italian and Bulgarian Fascists there were no Macedonians openly calling for an uprising against the Greeks. It has always been the wish of the Macedonian people to live free and independent but never have they ever risen against any of their occupiers be it Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, or Albania. The Macedonians in Greece would have been content, as the Macedonians in Yugoslavia were, if they were granted human and national rights and the right to form a Macedonian republic as part of a Greek federation. Unfortunately that did not happen. The Greeks as well as the English did not trust the Macedonians and acted on their worst fear, fear that they may lose their precious Macedonia which by the way they acquired by

force of arms in 1912, 1913 and against the wishes of the Macedonian people. And, above all, what is wrong with wanting to be free? If the Greeks and the English were less oppressive and a little less paranoid and gave the Macedonians a bit of freedom then perhaps there would have been less anxiety and worry about losing Macedonia. The Macedonians would not have a reason to want to separate. Unfortunately with time the “Greek shackle”, with Great Power blessing has only tightened.

What did the Greek Civil War mean for the Macedonian people? Outside of losing most of the Macedonian civilian population to exile, more than 13,000 Macedonian fighters lost their lives and thousands more were executed by the military courts in Enidzhe-Vardar, Lerin, Ber, Kozheni and Solun. Thousands more were maimed in the government sponsored torture chambers and jails in Edi-Kule, in Solun, in Corfu, Aistrati, Gavdos, Folegandros and other places. Hundreds more contracted tuberculosis and died in the Makronisos and Giura concentration camps. Many more went mad from physical and physiological torture and those who did survive were further humiliated by being forced to take a “pledge of loyalty” to the very state that tortured them. This is what the Macedonians gained by helping Greece free itself from its occupiers.

Those 45,000 or so civilian Macedonians who fled Greece only to save themselves from the Greek bombs are now permanent refugees and political emigrants. The properties and homes which their families owned for centuries were confiscated and given to “Greeks with proven national feelings”.

And after all that has happened and is happening to this day, Greece still calls itself a democracy!

All that the Macedonian people wanted since 1913, since they found themselves under Greek control, was to be recognized as equal citizens of the country to which they paid their taxes and served as soldiers.

What danger will Greece face if it recognizes its minorities and awards them their ethnic and national rights as prescribed by international law? What danger will Greece face if Macedonians are

allowed to speak their mother tongue without fear of repercussion, to have their own Macedonian schools, churches and cultural organizations? Absolutely none! In fact quite the opposite may happen. By recognizing its ethnic minorities Greece will surely receive their sympathies and support. Its recognition will reassure the minorities that they are valuable citizens and that their sacrifices were not in vain and Greece will finally earn the right to call itself a democracy.

Before closing this story there are a few remaining questions that need to be asked. Did the West, particularly the USA, Canada and Australia, participate in the removal of communists from Greece after the Greek Civil War?

It is well-known that many “known communists” were expelled from the USA and Canada during the 1950’s. I have also been informed that at the same time supposed communists from Greece, who wanted to immigrate to Canada, the USA and Australia, were allowed to leave Greece. When they left they were given sealed envelopes to take with them. These sealed envelopes were to be presented to the various customs officials where these people landed. It is alleged that the envelopes contained personal information on these individuals, parts of which alleged them to be communists.

After landing in the destination country many of these individuals were required to report to their local police stations and those who inquired why were told because Greece had classified them as communists.

Some of these so-called communists, however, were not communists at all but simply Macedonians. So the questions that need to be asked here are (1) “Did Greece continue to exile Macedonians from Greece under the pretense that they were communists?” And (2) “Were the USA, Canada and Australia aware that these Macedonians were not communists at all and were exiled simply because they felt Macedonian?” Of course they knew! The plan to eradicate the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia did not end with the conclusion of the Greek Civil War but continued and is still ongoing to this day. In fact the plan to eradicate

everything Macedonian has been expanded to include the Macedonian people living in the free and independent Republic of Macedonia. Non-recognition of the Republic of Macedonia’s name is a symptom of that eradication process.

And so the war that was started against the Macedonian people in 1878 continues… The English gave Macedonia back to the Ottomans without a single guarantee for the Macedonian people then and since then we have been at the mercy of the Great Powers… The only thing that has changed since then is the passage of time.

“The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory”. (Milan Kundera)