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UMD VOICE INTERVIEW – YOU DON’T EXIST: Part 2 – Macedonian Activists of Greece

The first part of the ‘YOU DON’T EXIST’ series focused on the experiences of young Macedonians living in Greece. The second part of this series will focus on the activism of Macedonians living in Greece. Activists pursuing the recognition of Macedonian minority rights in Greece continue to be subjected to discrimination and xenophobic rhetoric by the media, state, Greek Orthodox Church and the broader society.

In the second part of ‘YOU DON’T EXIST’, a Macedonian activist from Greece will be interviewed by Generation M’s Melbourne Representative, Elena Sekulovska, on issues concerning the Macedonian minority in Greece. In order to protect the identity of this individual, and the possibility of them being targets of further xenophobic rhetoric, their identity has been disclosed as Anonymous C.

Anonymous C, Negush

1. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview. According to you, how many people have Macedonian origins in northern Greece?

Since the annexation of about half of the territory of Macedonia in 1912-13, there have been no censuses of ethnic groups in Greece. Thus, the data on the Macedonian population in Greece can only be approximate and based on old records of the Ottoman Empire administration and some non-official sources. For instance, according to the Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha census of the Ottoman lands of Europe in 1904, conducted in the Macedonian vilayets (districts) of Salonica and Bitola, it was found that, in the Vilayet of Salonica, 373,227 people belonged to the Greek Patriarchate and 207,317 people belonged to the Bulgarian Exarchate. In the Vilayet of Bitola, 261,283 people belonged to the Greek Patriarchate and 178,412 people belonged to the Bulgarian Exarchate. The above numbers give a total of 634,510 Greek Orthodox Patriarchate followers, of whom almost 250,000 declared themselves as ‘Bulgarian speakers’.* If we add these 250,000 Greek Patriarchate followers with the Slavic mother tongue to the 385,729 faithfuls of the Exarchate, we will see in this Ottoman census that approximately 635,729 Macedonians were living in a roughly larger area of what is now the Aegean part of Macedonia.

However, after 100 years of ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide conducted by the Greek authorities against the Macedonian population, we can only suppose that roughly 100,000 Macedonians are left in Greece. Most of these Macedonians keep some memory of their ethnic identity and speak in Macedonian dialects, although they do not have a separate consciousness than that of the Greek nation. But as we can notice, in the last 10 years, some thousands of Macedonians, even ones very young in age, are definitely becoming more aware of their Macedonian ethnic identity. It will take a lot of work and good organization to protect and promote this revival of the Macedonian national identity in Greece in many fields, like language teaching, local history recording, safeguarding of Macedonian cultural heritage, etc.

The National Liberation Front of Aegean Macedonia in the late 1940s.

2. How are Macedonian activists trying to push for the recognition of the Macedonian minority and their ability to express themselves politically, linguistically and culturally? 

Macedonian activists should not push for the ‘recognition’ of the Macedonian minority specifically, they should push for the ratification and implementation of a framework of laws and treaties that gives the minorities — all minorities, being ethnic/national, linguistic and/or religious — the right to freely develop and promote their own identity, without any repression or discrimination by the state. We, the Macedonians in Greece, do not need to be recognized for what we are and declare we are. What we really need is the protection of our rights by laws that Greece needs to ratify and implement, like, for instance, the European Charter for the Protection of National Minorities which our country had signed in 1997 but never ratified to become a Greek law. All our efforts should be focused on this issue, nationally and internationally, and in collaboration with other minority groups in other countries.

3. What is the response of the Greek state and the Greek society more broadly, to Macedonian activists who try to push for the recognition of the Macedonian minority, and for them to be able to express themselves?

The new policy of the Greek state now is to simply ignore all of the formal requests of the Macedonian activists. While in the past, any of our formal requests were rejected immediately, by not even accepting any of our applications, with the excuse that “a Macedonian identity except the Greek one does not exist”. Now that the Prespa Agreement was ratified by Greece, this excuse cannot be used anymore. As a result, we can now formally apply to the Greek state institutions as Macedonians, yet still, we never get an answer to our requests. We will need to find a solution to this problem by filing a legal case to the Greek courts of Justice for each case, but this is an expensive way to claim our rights and the procedure takes a very long time. As for the Greek society, the larger part of it ignores our situation, because the Greek media is manipulating the public opinion by presenting any activity of minority groups in Greece as a danger to the public security. If the Greek people had the possibility to know our real situation, the majority would have a positive attitude toward us, for sure.

4. In your opinion, why doesn’t the Greek state, a democratic country and a member of the European Union, recognise the Macedonian minority and grant them the right to express themselves? 

It is not just the Greek state in the EU that is not willing to grant any minority rights to its citizens. For example, France also has the same policy, although in France minorities are not repressed like they are in Greece. There are 50 million people belonging to ethnic minorities in all the 27 EU countries, who struggle for protection rights at EU level. However, the EU Commission that takes the final decisions on laws and directives is negative on such issues, the reason being that some states will use the right of veto to such decisions. The paradox here is that issues on minority rights usually get a large majority approval in the EU parliament voting procedure, but the EU Commission blocks them due to the veto power that each EU member state has on Prime Minister level. Thus, the veto of one person representing his/her country can block the will of hundreds of EU members of EU Parliament, democratically elected by the EU citizens. The Lisbon Treaty signed and ratified by all EU member states in 2009, foresees a change of the decision-making procedure in the EU, giving more powers to the EU Parliament and limiting the veto power to very few issues. This procedure on decision-making in the EU is expected to start after 2022. Hopefully, things will improve for all minorities in the near future, but this will not be automatic in every country. Minorities must be ready and organized to claim their rights from EU institutions, if a member state is reluctant to implement EU laws on minority rights.

5. How can the Macedonian diaspora help the Macedonian activists and the Macedonian minority more broadly?

The Macedonian diaspora must be in a continuous dialogue with the Macedonian activists, trying to understand the issues the Macedonian minority faces in each one of the countries that they live in. It should have a closer look at the real problems that Macedonians as a minority face in preserving and promoting their Macedonian national identity. They should help them in their projects on education such as Macedonian language classes, sponsoring meetings of representatives of Macedonian cultural associations of all the Macedonian minorities, in order for them to exchange information on good practices to promote Macedonian culture, and many other activities that will give the possibility to the younger Macedonian generation to come together. It would also be good for the diaspora to have a fundraiser for specific cases of legal procedures that some Macedonian minority organizations or activists undertake against state abuse. Unfortunately, this occurs often, but most Macedonians don’t have the financial means to undertake such expensive legal procedures themselves.

6. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

I would like to suggest to the Macedonians to get more realistic on many issues that concern the Macedonian nation today. Our past as a nation was a dramatic and a painful one but we need to have a vision of a bright future for our people and we need to work hard on this together, having always a positive attitude for any challenge we face. We need to take the best of any situation we find ourselves in, leaving all negativity behind.


*In the Ottoman Empire, ethnicity was not considered as defining identity, religious affiliation was. In official records, Macedonians were referred to as ‘Bulgarian’ and their language as ‘Bulgarian’ due to the fact that most Macedonians were subjects of the Bulgarian Exarchate Church. [1] Similarly, Macedonians who belonged to the Greek Patriarchate were referred to as ‘Greeks’. [1] The Macedonian Church was abolished in 1767, hence why they were subject to the Bulgarian and Greek Churches.[2]

Sources:
[1] Blazhe Ristovski, Macedonia and the Macedonian People, Vienna: SIMAG Holding, 1995, 127-155.

[2] Иван Снегаров, История на Охридската архиепископия-патриаршия. От падането ѝ под турците до нейното унищожение (1294 – 1767 г.), София: Печатница П. Глушковъ, 1932, VI.

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Any opinions or views expressed in articles or other pieces appearing in UMD Voice are those of the author alone and are not necessarily those of the United Macedonian Diaspora and its young leaders’ program Generation M; the appearance of any such opinions or views in UMD Voice is not and should not be considered to be an endorsement by or approval of the same by UMD and Generation M.

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UMD VOICE INTERVIEW – YOU DON’T EXIST: Part 1 – Young Macedonians in Greece

In the discourse of the Macedonian naming dispute, a range of issues are discussed by the two conflicting sides, ranging from Alexander the Great, to medieval history, and to early modern history. Internationally and domestically within the two countries, this issue is regarded as a bilateral dispute. However, what many fail to realise is that at the centre of this issue is the ethnic Macedonian identity in northern Greece, and that this is not a bilateral dispute – it is a domestic issue within Greece. 

Historically, Greece occupied the territory of northern Greece (Aegean Macedonia) in 1913 for the first time, and this area was predominantly populated by Macedonians. Following forced Hellenisation, ethnic cleansing, and cultural genocide, the status of the Macedonians was changed from a majority to a persecuted minority. Today, Greece, a member of the EU and NATO, continues to pursue ultra-nationalistic policies rooted in 19th-century romanticism and denies basic human rights to its Macedonian minority.

In this article, Elena Sekulovska from the Australian Generation M team attempts to give a voice to the silenced Macedonian minority by conducting interviews with Macedonians that live in Aegean Macedonia. She has chosen to not disclose the identities of the interviewees, as there are serious repercussions for Macedonians living in Greece who speak out against the Greek state. 

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Thank you for agreeing to do the interview. What made you realise that your identity was Macedonian and not Greek, in a country where identifying as an ethnic Macedonian is stigmatised? 

Anonymous A, Solun:

Growing up I didn’t really feel different. I spoke Greek as a mother tongue, alongside Macedonian, at home. At school we got taught propaganda on Macedonia. For example, they teach children that Macedonia is a ‘gypsy-skopian’ and ‘Albano-Bulgarian’ nation with a ‘gypsy’ language. I openly identify as a Macedonian, and in discussions, I stand up for the truth about Macedonia, in a non-provocative and respectful manner. Some of my Greek friends have thanked me for helping them understand the truth about the Macedonian issue as they got taught propaganda at school. As a young Macedonian in Greece I believe in mutual respect and friendship, and I want the Greek public to understand the truth on Macedonia without behaving uncivilised. Through positive discussion and respectful presentation of arguments there could be a positive difference.

Anonymous B, Lerin:

My Macedonian identity was built from an early age, I owe it to my family. My family told me the truth about Macedonia and how the Greeks had oppressed us and continue to silence us. I wish that every family spoke to their children about Macedonia, if they did, Macedonians would be organised and standing up for their rights. In my village, our school operated in the Greek language and we received a Greek education. Macedonian language schools are not allowed to exist here. After having grown up, I got involved in the Macedonian cause and many of my friendships have diminished. It is not easy to be a Macedonian in Aegean Macedonia. 

Historically, the Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia were heavily persecuted by the Greek state. Today, Greece is a democratic state and a member of both the EU and NATO. Why is it still difficult for one to publicly express themselves as an ethnic Macedonian?

Anonymous A, Solun: 

There is a heavy opposition from the deep Greek state, Church and media. During the anti-Macedonian demonstrations in Solun and Athens, discriminatory promotional material was handed out to students. In the demonstrations, they burned Macedonian flags and called for the Republic of Macedonia to be renamed to “Monkeydonia”. The three biggest football ultras groups from Solun, who usually beat each other up, united and demonstrated against Macedonia – this says a lot. This is clearly hate-speech, yet nobody pressed charges against them. The point itself that a nation demonstrates proudly not for itself, but because it wants to deny the rights of another nation on self-determination is the clearest indication that there is indeed a problem in the Greek society. We are fighting for our existence, and they are fighting for their “greatness”, as if it is a matter of survival. 

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The fascists who are openly anti-Macedonian are not the biggest threat to us, as one can easily identify them for what they are, fascists. The biggest threat is anti-Macedonianism sponsored by those on the left who claim to stand for multiculturalism, democracy, LGBT rights, liberalism and yet deny us the right to self-identification and continuously tell us we don’t exist. Anti-Macedonianism is the only legal and state sponsored type of racism in Greece. 

Anonymous B, Lerin:

This is a result of the systemic assimilatory policies of the Greek state. They have used different methods to assimilate us and give us fear. In the not so distant past, this was through imprisonments, assassinations, ethnic genocide, terror. When the monarcho-fascist system fell in 1974, Greece became democratic and the method in which they silenced us changed from physical to psychological. This means that the only way in which we can preserve our heritage is through songs. Prior to 1992, we weren’t even allowed to sing our songs. In 1992, following heavy pressure from Macedonian activists and the European Union, the Greek police stopped going after those who sang Macedonian songs. Apart from this, politically, the Macedonian cause in Aegean Macedonia, and political activism in general, is in stagnation. 

According to you, what is the number of those with Macedonian origins in Greece?

Anonymous A, Solun:

It is very difficult to estimate as under the Greek propaganda, even if we are aware of our ethnic origins, we can keep our language, culture and traditions but only if we are ‘slavophone’ Greeks. You cannot be both a ‘slavophone’ and a Greek, as language is part of ethnicity. The same people who once prohibited our language are now trying to assimilate us peacefully. The Macedonian consciousness has many layers as it is a taboo subject. There are some who are openly Macedonians and want minority rights for the Macedonians. On the other hand, some are extreme Greek loyalists and nationalists, and hate their own people and culture. Whilst others are aware of their heritage but want to leave it in the past, as to them, the ‘dopika’ (local) language is some weird language spoken by their grandparents. This is the most extreme form of assimilation. 

Anonymous B, Lerin:

It is very hard to say. There are many types of Macedonians here. A large percent of them are ‘grkomani’ – Macedonians in origin with a Greek consciousness. From a young age, Macedonians are taught in schools that they do not exist, that their ancestors were Greeks who had their identity changed to ‘Bulgarian’ and now again to Greek. There is also a great number of Macedonians who don’t believe the propaganda, they know who they are but fear to publicly declare themselves as Macedonians because they will lose their jobs and have various bureaucratic problems with the Greek state. There are also Macedonians who are not scared of anyone and openly declare themselves as Macedonians. A really small percent of the Macedonians engages in Macedonian activism. 

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Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Anonymous A, Solun: 

Things are slowly getting better. The Macedonian heritage is still present all-over Aegean Macedonia. People have started singing Macedonian songs in the village festivals. There are more associations promoting the Macedonian identity. The diaspora must help us. It needs to be an outspoken representative for the rights of our people and offer us moral, financial and especially legal support. Macedonians should not be afraid to tell the truth about Macedonia, no matter what. We need to expose the lies and propaganda. The fight for Egej is not lost, our people still live here. 

Anonymous B, Lerin:

The Macedonians need to wake up. Every Macedonian who respects his heritage and origin has a sacred obligation to never denounce his language and Macedonian origin.

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Any opinions or views expressed in articles or other pieces appearing in UMD Voice are those of the author alone and are not necessarily those of the United Macedonian Diaspora and its young leaders’ program Generation M; the appearance of any such opinions or views in UMD Voice is not and should not be considered to be an endorsement by or approval of the same by UMD and Generation M.

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Who steals whose history?

For quite some time, members of the Greek society have held a commonplace belief that Macedonians are constantly “stealing” the history of Ancient Macedonia, which is “rightfully Greek,” and that nobody could believe or support the opposite. Unfortunately, to some extent, this has permeated throughout parts of Western society, for example within areas of academia and politics, where philhellenism prevails. This is a sorrowful double standard, which not only accepts but embraces Greek 19th century romantic nationalism, whilst at the same time it marginalises and attempts to deconstruct its Macedonian counterpart.

History teaches us that both the modern Macedonian and the modern Greek nation are relatively modern social constructs as a result of the “Rise of Nationalism” throughout the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, that both nations gradually differentiated themselves from the Rum Patriarchist Christian “millet,” and respectively formed their own nations in the late and early-middle 19th century. It is a clear and well-established fact that since modern nations are not tribes, neither the Greek nor the Macedonian nation can claim to be the direct and only descendants of the Ancient Greeks or the Ancient Macedonians.

As much as modern Greece has the right to base part of its nation’s historiography and patriotism on the glory of Ancient Greece, on genetic and cultural grounds, so too does the modern Macedonian nation attain that same right in regards to Ancient Macedonia. Indeed, as it was the Ancient Macedonian people who gave us their land and name.

How can it thus be possible for a Macedonian not to feel at least a small amount of connection to Ancient Macedonia when K.P. Misirkov was born in Postol, ancient Pella. Or when one personally has roots from Bitola in Lynkos, from Voden-Edessa or Lychnid- modern day Ohrid, or somewhere near Bylazora?

What people believe about the past is a million times more important than the past itself, for this affects the way they perceive the world. It is therefore important to revisit what the Founders of Greece and Macedonia truly believed about the heritage of Ancient Macedonia.

Sources indicate that the Greek nation’s stance on Ancient Macedonia throughout the early stages of its development in the early to mid 1800s was “mixed.” Dozens of prominent Founding Fathers of the Greek nation considered Ancient Macedonians not only non-Greek barbarians, but conquerors of Ancient Greece as well. Professor Saripolos, for example, considered Macedonians the first enslavers of Greece after whom the Roman and the Ottoman yoke followed.[1] Yakovakis Rizos Neroulos, in the same spirit, proclaimed in 1841 that the biggest crime that Philip committed against Greeks – even bigger than defeating them at Chaeronea – was to give birth to Alexander![2]

Greeks finally started accepting Ancient Macedonians as their “ancestors” in the mid to late 1850s, the exact same time, suspiciously, when the Imperialist “Megali Idea (“great idea”) concept had rooted in the Greek society. This is roughly around the same time when Miladinov commented that “they (the Greeks) want Macedonia to become a Greek land but they cannot understand that She cannot be Greek.”[3]

Furthermore, one can find Macedonian activists mentioning ancient Macedonia and considering them as Macedonian’s ancestors throughout the entirety of Macedonia’s ethnogenesis. For example, when they fought against Greek Patriarchist supremacy, Bulgarian and Serbian assimilation, and during the armed National Liberational Struggle of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (VMRO).

The Russian Slavist V.Gligorovich, who visited many places in Macedonia in the 1840s, mentions that “in all places I’ve been I’ve not heard other names except from those of Alexander the Great and Marko Kralievich.”[4]

The Miladinov Brothers on their collection of folk songs (1861), include two folk tales; one about “Czar Alexander” and one about “Voden, the capital of the Macedonian Czars.”[5]

Kuzman Shapkarev would teach Macedonian schoolchildren in the 1870’s that “the place where we live is called Macedonia,” and “in the old times Macedonia was a strong kingdom that, under Alexander the Great conquered the whole known world.”[6]

Prominent Bulgarian national activist P.R Slaveykov, in 1871 opposed that Macedonians reject Bulgarian assimilation by clinging to Ancient Macedonia. “Many times we have heard from Macedonists that they are not Bulgarians but Macedonians, descendants of the Ancient Macedonians.”[7] Around the same time, Stefan Salgadzhiev mentions a Solun teacher who proclaimed that “I am neither Bulgarian nor Greek, nor am I Cinzar. I am a pure Macedonian as were Philip and Alexander of Macedon and the philosopher Aristotle.”[8]

Macedonia’s VMRO војводини (revolutionaries) also embraced the heritage of Ancient Macedonia and considered Her one the same, as the Ottoman Macedonia they were trying to liberate. Nikola Karev, the president of the Krusevo Republic admitted to a Greek reporter who was ironic to him that, yes, he considers himself to be a descendant of Alexander the Great.[9] Jane Sandanski believed that “the inhabitants of Macedonia are only Macedonians, descendants of the ancient Macedonians of Philip and Alexander, who were not Greeks but a special Macedonian nation that fought against the Greeks and defeated them”.[10] Furthermore, George F. Abbott in 1903 also emphasized that “in their proclamations the leaders of the Slavo-Macedonian Committee appeal to Alexander the Great as a national hero.”[11]

Of course, this list is just illustrative and not exhaustive. There remain hundreds, if not thousands, of other examples one could find.  

Ultimately, it should considerably be acknowledged that Macedonia’s history and indeed, 19th century Macedonian romantic nationalism, has been widely appropriated by Greece. I would like to emphasize the following point; Greece’s denial in recognizing Macedonia’s ancient past, and its mistreatment of Macedonia as an alien migratory nation that came from “somewhere afar,” hides only one goal. That goal is the delegitimization of Macedonian’s connection to Macedonia, and furthermore, the moral justification for the displacement and exodus of Macedonians in the 1940s. Not to mention the ongoing political aggression deployed by Greece against the Republic of Macedonia, countlessly discriminating and denying its fundamental rights in the 21st century. 

In order to win the propaganda war that has been inflicted upon Macedonia, all possible means must be used to advance the Macedonian cause within the West. This is especially considering that the future and security of Macedonia in many ways depends on how favorable the West is towards Macedonia. Unfortunately, in the past 30 years the West has proved not be so favorable.

Whenever the so called “name issue” gained media attention, it was presented as primarily a bilateral difference between the two countries. For instance, a border dispute, where both countries stand on equal grounds with equal rights. Indeed, this issue suddenly emerged when Macedonia appeared out of inexistence in 1991 and claimed a “historically Greek” name. It is evident that this stance is fallacious on many grounds.

We, as Macedonians, need to present ourselves within the international sphere as a nation like the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, the Kurds, the Armenians, the Israelis and the Palestinians. This is considering that these nations, although mostly portrayed as small, are proud people who fight for their existence against those powers who have actively sought to wipe them off the world map. Similarly, Macedonian’s face their own David vs Goliath battle and therefore, although different from the above-mentioned peoples, nonetheless withstand similar experiences and struggles. This makes our causes for human rights and recognition more alike than different. 

What is important for the Macedonian youth now, both in the Republic of Macedonia and the Diaspora, is to cultivate a stance towards our ancient past, which is healthy and in accordance with scientific truth. Both claiming direct bloodline from Ancient Macedonians – the extravaganza Greeks are prone to – and ignoring them completely, are wrong. After all, modern Macedonia, what all Macedonians are, was formed in a complex historical process of the amalgamation of the Paleobalkan, Slavic, and Christian culture over the course of hundreds of years.

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Any opinions or views expressed in articles or other pieces appearing in UMD Voice are those of the author alone and are not necessarily those of the United Macedonian Diaspora and its young leaders’ program Generation M; the appearance of any such opinions or views in UMD Voice is not and should not be considered to be an endorsement by or approval of the same by UMD and Generation M.

[1] Roumen Daskalov and Tchavdar Marinov: Entagled Histories of the Balkans. Volume 1, page 284

[2] Lithoksoou: On the Ancient Macedonians (Λιθοξόου: Περί των Αρχαίων Μακεδόνων)  Text in Greek and Macedonian : http://www.lithoksou.net/p/peri-ton-arxaion-makedonon-2008

[3] Ibid. 

[4] Виктор Иванович Григорович: Очерк путешествия по Европейской Турции. Page 139

[5] Браќа Миладиновци: Зборник (Блгарски народни песни), Преданија, “Цар Александар” и “Воден” online version: http://macedonia.kroraina.com/bugarash/bnpesni/index.htm

* On why “Zbornik” was officially called “Bulgarian Folk Songs” watch Mario’s History Talks  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Gzk4JJL0w

[6] Кузман Шапкарев: Първоначялньi познанiя за малечкьiте дечиня по наречiе по-вразумително за Македонскьiте Българьi, page 38

[7] Blazhe Koneski; Towards the Macedonian Renaissance. https://vmacedonia.com/language/towards-the-macedonian-renaissance.html

[8] Ibid. 

[9] Newspaper Ακρόπολις: 8/5/1903 page 1 https://srv-web1.parliament.gr/display_doc.asp?item=47395&seg=67871&fbclid=IwAR24iyqJB1U-iwE1zo9Jd2j6F3M_9FUYbdLP1j6FP1iLY028la3v3YYs9bs

[10] Ελευθέριος Σταυρίδης: Τα Παρασκήνια του Κ.Κ.Ε , page 213

[11] The tale of a tour in Macedonia, by G. F. Abbott. page 278 online version: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044044484319&view=1up&seq=310

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Macedonia and the EU – Assessing Bulgaria’s Language Demands

On March 25, 2020, the Council of the European Union issued a written procedure providing updates regarding the enlargement process and potential inclusion of Macedonia and Albania within the EU.  In this brief four-page procedure, Bulgaria details several conditions required to be met before approving Macedonia’s future negotiating framework for EU accession. Among these conditions, the most notable is a peculiar implementation of the “language clause” previously utilized in both the Macedonia – Bulgaria Joint Declaration of 1999 and 2017 Friendship Treaty. More specifically, Bulgaria requested the following:

“Implementation of the “language clause” agreed between Sofia and Skopje in the agreements of the Republic of North Macedonia with the EU, including in the future Negotiating Framework. Thus, the linguistic norm spoken by the population of the Republic of North Macedonia should only be referred to as “the official language of the Republic of North Macedonia” in EU documents/positions/statements, including the future Negotiating Framework. No document/position/statement by the EU and its institutions can be interpreted as recognition of the existence of a separate so-called “Macedonian language”.[1]

In simpler terms, Bulgaria is declaring that the language clause utilized in previous agreements permits an omission of the Macedonian language from future EU correspondence and records. However, this assertion does not seem well-grounded. Even when considering Macedonia’s controversial name change, the language clause itself does not imply that the country’s official language must be called “The official language of the Republic of North Macedonia” instead of the “Macedonian language”. For clarity, the language clauses from both the 1999 Joint Declaration and 2017 Friendship Treaty have been provided below:

Joint Declaration of 1999

“Done at Sofia on 22 February 1999 in two original copies, each one in the official language of both countries, the Bulgarian language, in accordance with the constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Macedonian language, in accordance with the constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, each text being equally authentic.”[2]

Friendship Treaty of 2017

“Signed in two original copies, each in the official languages ​​of the Contracting Parties – Macedonian language, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgarian language, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, with both texts equally important.”[3]

As shown by the above language clauses from 1999 and 2017, the wording states that documents will be printed in the official language of each party in accordance with its constitution – and in both cases the Macedonian and Bulgarian languages are listed. Thus, there is misapplication of the language clause on the part of Bulgaria. Many may wonder why this issue has come up, and the reality is that historical disagreements and political maneuvering have played a factor. Bulgaria has not officially recognized the Macedonian language and continues to deny basic rights to ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria, often rejecting their existence. For example, a 2019 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report on Bulgaria noted the following: “Authorities continued to deny registration of the Macedonian activist group OMO Ilinden, despite a January judgment and 10 prior decisions of the European Court of Human Rights that the denials violated the group’s freedom of association.”[4]

Stepping back to the language issue, even after contentious passage of the Prespa Name Change Agreement between Macedonia and Greece, it did not cause Macedonia to alter its official language.  Thus, Bulgaria has little substance to support an exclusion of the Macedonian language from being mentioned in EU documents. Claiming that “No document/position/statement by the EU and its institutions can be interpreted as recognition of the existence of a separate so-called “Macedonian language” is a significant provocation and goes against the concept of “good neighborly relations” often championed by the Bulgarian government. One fundamental reason the Bulgarian argument lacks merit is because the Macedonian language has been widely recognized for several decades. Additionally, a denial of the Macedonian language by one country should not diminish Macedonia’s presence within the EU. Trying to impose such censorship of the Macedonian language across the EU not only shows poor form but further strains an already delicate relationship between the two countries. Macedonia and Bulgaria have previously addressed their disagreements through the integration of the language clause within the 1999 and 2017 agreements mentioned earlier. With this clause, Bulgaria has been able to bypass official recognition of the Macedonian language, and Macedonia has been able to maintain relative stability with an important strategic partner – even if the actual agreements have been unjust in some respects (e.g. no protected minority status for ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria who do not have Macedonian citizenship). 

To presume that the language clause now changes focus to include only the new (and many would argue illegitimate) name, “The official language of the Republic of North Macedonia”, but not the language recognized by the UN and Prespa Agreement is counterintuitive. Perhaps more curious is the fact that an additional condition set forth by Bulgaria is the “Full implementation of treaties between the Republic of North Macedonia and EU Member States”. This would imply that the Prespa Agreement between Macedonia and Greece (an EU member state) must be fully implemented. If so, then the following clause within Article 1(3)(c) of the Prespa Agreement cannot be disregarded:

Article 1(3)(c)

“The official language of the Second Party shall be the “Macedonian language”, as recognised by the Third UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, held in Athens in 1977, and described in Article 7(3) and (4) of this Agreement.”[5]

As shown within Article 1(3)(c), the Prespa Agreement recognizes the Macedonian language, as previously established by the UN in 1977. This further accentuates Bulgaria’s misstep – it cannot simultaneously require implementation of the Prespa Agreement while also lobbying against the Macedonian language, a key feature within the Prespa Agreement. 

There is a clear contradiction between the Prespa Agreement and recent demands made in the EU written procedures from March 25, 2020. This situation displays the vast challenges for a smaller country like Macedonia who is simply vying to become more stable and economically secure. Macedonia has been forced to sacrifice vital national interests to unlock the doors to NATO and the EU, yet still finds itself being taken advantage of by neighboring countries. This situation poses important questions regarding what obstacles lie ahead for Macedonia and whether EU membership is ultimately worth the tradeoff. As has often been the case, the principles of self-determination and mutual respect from neighboring countries seem to be overlooked in the case of Macedonia, and this can only contribute to increased tension and instability in the Balkans.

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Any opinions or views expressed in articles or other pieces appearing in UMD Voice are those of the author alone and are not necessarily those of the United Macedonian Diaspora and its young leaders’ program Generation M; the appearance of any such opinions or views in UMD Voice is not and should not be considered to be an endorsement by or approval of the same by UMD and Generation M.

[1] “Council of the European Union Written Procedure”. Council conclusions on Enlargement and Stabilisation and Association Process the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania. March 25, 2020. https://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/EU/XXVII/EU/01/66/EU_16606/imfname_10969905.pdf

[2] “Review and Implementation of The Concluding Document of The Twelfth Special Session of The General Assembly Strengthening of Security And Cooperation In The Mediterranean Region Sustainable Development And International Economic Cooperation.” United Nations General Assembly 53rd Session. March 1999. https://undocs.org/pdf?symbol=en/A/53/855

[3] “The Text of the Agreement on Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria”. July 2017. 

Текстот на Договорот за пријателство, добрососедство и соработка меѓу Република Македонија и Република Бугарија

[4] “2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Bulgaria”. U.S. Department of State. 2019. https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/bulgaria/

[5] “The Prespa Agreement” Full text of the Final Agreement on Resolving the Macedonian-Greek Name Dispute and Strategic Partnership. 2018.  https://vlada.mk/node/17422

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A Brief Overview of Macedonian-Greek Relations

Macedonia has a history spanning over 4,000 years, and the region has changed hands between many powers since time immemorial and has been a bone of contention between the Great Powers and Balkan states since the turn of the 20th century. For the sake of convenience and political relevance today, this summary will focus on the past 120 years, and mostly on relations with Greece.

At the turn of the 20th century, Macedonia was still directly controlled by a rapidly declining Ottoman Empire. Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia had just gained independence and were still finding their feet as independent regional powers. As each of these newly emergent states were vying for more territory, they all had their sights set on gaining Macedonia for themselves. Macedonians were the targets of large propaganda campaigns, mostly coming from the churches in the region. Each of these states sought to win over the hearts and minds of Macedonia’s people using a variety of methods and varying degrees of persuasion and force.

To represent Macedonia before independence, a revolutionary organization was created by the name of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and was responsible for creating the resistance movement against the Ottomans. The IMRO led the Ilinden Uprising of 1903 and created the very first, but short-lived Krusevo Republic, which is considered the first independent Macedonian State. The republic was overrun and crushed by the Ottomans ten days after the republic was established, and it is still an extremely symbolic event in Macedonia’s history.

Several territories, including Macedonia, temporarily formed an alliance to drive the Ottomans from the Balkans once and for all in what would be known as the First Balkan War. At the end of the war, the Great Powers the territory of Macedonia was divided. The region known as Vardar Macedonia which is today’s Republic of Macedonia was given to Serbia. Aegean Macedonia was given to Greece, and Bulgaria took the smallest portion of Pirin Macedonia. Bulgaria was not content with the arrangement and instigated the Second Balkan War to take back the whole of Macedonia, but was defeated. The Treaty of Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War.

During each states’ tenure of holding their respective portions of Macedonia, the people of Macedonia had their ethnic identities extremely repressed. In Greece, Macedonians underwent a process of forced Hellenization, or assimilation, and were not allowed to speak their own language. All Macedonian cultural activities and organizations were suppressed by the Greek state. Many villages and towns, as well as Macedonian families also had their names forcibly changed from Macedonian to Greek names. In Vardar Macedonia, Macedonians suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Serbian government, and even the name Macedonia itself was banned. The Serbian and later Yugoslav government resorted to referring to the region as the Vardar Banovina.

Following WWI, the Macedonians were forced to accept their fate as being citizens of the respective states they were living in, and during WWII, they were split between joining resistance movements to the Nazis in Greece and Yugoslavia, and collaborating with them in Bulgaria. A large portion of the Greek Resistance Movement was comprised of roughly 12,000 Macedonians, who later became a large contributor to the KKE’s manpower in the Greek Civil War just after WWII. After WWII, Vardar Macedonia was given the status of a constituent republic of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito, and eventually became today’s Republic of Macedonia. In Aegean Macedonia, people were not so lucky. The Macedonians of Aegean Macedonia found themselves brutally oppressed during the years prior to and during WWII by dictator Ioannis Metaxas, and thousands of Macedonians were forced into prison camps on Aegean Islands. Many people were brutally beaten, tortured, and forced to drink castor oil simply for identifying as Macedonian or speaking the Macedonian Language.

During the Greek Civil War, the Macedonians sided with the KKE after being promised that they would be united with Vardar Macedonia and allowed a fully united, and independent state of all ethnicities within Macedonia. Unfortunately for the Macedonians, the KKE lost the war, and Aegean Macedonia remained in the hands of Greece. Following the war, over a hundred thousand Macedonians were forced out of Aegean Macedonia and are still no longer allowed to return by order of the Greek government. Minority status still has not been given to Macedonians, and they still are not allowed to conduct business in their own language. Assertion of Macedonian identity is still cause for extreme harassment in Greece, and human rights are still violated in Aegean Macedonia to this day.

Following the independence of the Republic of Macedonia in 1991, Greece placed an economic embargo on the country over the name of the country, as well as the use of Macedonian cultural symbols in their flag. Due to Greece’s continual veto of Macedonian accession to NATO and the European Union over the use of its name, the Macedonian government filed a lawsuit against its neighbor. Both states testified in the Hague in 2011, and fifteen of sixteen judges ruled that Greece had violated international law, as it had earlier agreed to allow Macedonia to join the European Union.

Though Macedonia and Greece have had tension between state leaders and politicians in the past, most Macedonians and Greeks wish to be reconciled and cooperate with each other in peace. The global Macedonian community has been extremely disappointed by the lack of accountability for Greece’s actions in the past, and continued discrimination imposed upon Macedonians today. The Macedonian Community humbly asks that the Macedonian minority of Greece gets the recognition it has long been denied and that those who were exiled be granted permission by the Greek government to return to their homes.

Source of feature photo: Painting of the Macedonian Struggle found in The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle in Skopje, Macedonia

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Any opinions or views expressed in articles or other pieces appearing in UMD Voice are those of the author alone and are not necessarily those of the United Macedonian Diaspora and its young leaders’ program Generation M; the appearance of any such opinions or views in UMD Voice is not and should not be considered to be an endorsement by or approval of the same by UMD and Generation M.

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Greece is the Hypersensitive College Student of Europe

A Tale of Two Pamperings

Update: As of 2/21/2018, in affirmation of the claims presented below,  a group of Greek Twitter spammers has taken to relentlessly harassing a 19-year old Macedonian girl online whose only affiliation to the writing of this article was her ethnicity. 

Ideological purity. Intolerance of dissent. Denial of facts. College campuses in America have been run amock by all this due to a culture of hypersensitivity. Hear ideas you disagree with? Shut them down, resort to violence if necessary. Feeling attacked by the curriculum? Destroy the professor’s reputation. Dislike another group? Exclude them entirely. The impetus for such an inane perspective rests on a three-pronged view of the world:

  1. The validity or invalidity of a statement can be judged solely by the ethnic, cultural, or political association of the claimant
  2. Anybody who disagrees with (1) is engaging in a dangerous and harmful ideology
  3. Repression, sometimes violence, is necessary to stamp out such an ideology.

What’s worse, of course, is the college authorities and campus police that cater to the whims of an otherwise coddled group. While concerning to say the least, for the time being, it is at least localized to a campus setting. No country has yet risen to this level of absurdity…or so we think.

Enter Greece, the country equivilant of a modern-day college student: terrible at saving, selective in its approach to work, and consistently given everything it wants.

While already drawing the distinction as one of the most debt-ridden countries in Europe, few dare also call Greece one of Europe’s most hypersensitive countries in existence. Disagree with a Greek historian? Threaten her life. Offended by the use of “Macedonia” in Indiana Jones? Threaten to sue Steven Spielberg. Overly traumatized by the existence of a Greek-Macedonian dictionary? Assault the academics presenting it. Of course, the problem with Greece’s hypersensitivity does not begin nor end with Macedonia. In 2016, despite previously almost bankrupting the entire European economy and still being given a bailout, many Greeks conjured up fanciful anti-Hellenic global conspiracy theories to explain their problems.

So, why has it come to this?

Greece has long been the darling of Europe and the West; not only did the Phillhellenes of 19th century Europe help resurrect a modern Greek state amidst a hodgepodge of ethnic groups, but being the one country in the Balkans to stave off the spread of communism saw the West pamper Greece with an unearned sense of moral superiority and entitlement. In other words, Greece has been a silver-spoon baby of Europe with its first steps.

Like the trophy generation of today, Greece’s sense of entitlement continues to fuel its hysteria, much to the chagrin of Europe. After all, the West created it. It was the West that first caved during Greece’s tantrums over claims that Macedonia’s flag and name threatened the entire security and integrity of Greece. Of course, back in reality, we recognize that Greece’s military budget is larger than the GDP of Macedonia. But facts do not matter here, feelings do. It only mattered that Greece felt like it was threatened for Europe to respond. Much like college professors caving to the absurd demands of trauma from students reading Shakespeare in an English class, so too did the West with Greece.

Greece can only derive a sense of purpose by feeling purely Hellenic–the cultural giants who gave us philosophy, arts, music, and the New Testament Bible. It has been force fed this continuous message from the days of Lord Byron: “You are special, no one else is like you”. Again and again, it was repeated and reinforced, much like the millennial generation of today. (Unfortunately, none of us is special) The comical “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” might have accidentally shed a truthful side of the Greek mentality when one of its characters stated that he believed there were only two types of people: “Greeks and those who wish they were Greek”. For Greece, being Greek can mean only being  a Greek-speaking Orthodox Christian, direct descendent of Pericles and Herodotus. Anything outside of that narrow chasm is a direct and dangerous threat to their identity. After all, how else can we make sense of a Greek populace that was once partially Albanian-speaking, partially imported from Turkey, and all ruled by a German king?

-Create the biggest safe space in modern Europe, free from all dissent and opposing facts.

The biggest enemy to Greece is not the Macedonians, Turks, or elite international bankers– it is their own leadership, who continue to propagate and enforce a dangerous ideological purity with a brutal intolerance of dissent and change. Greece may herald itself as the cradle of democracy, but it was within the cradle of fantasies and pampering that modern-day Greece was born. And this swaddled fantasy cannot survive, so long as the Macedonians are allowed to exist.

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The views of the author may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Macedonian Diaspora and Generation M.