Risto Stefov - Articles, Translations & Collaborations

[TrueMacedonian]

This particular paragraph sticks out for me in Risto's article;

You see Europe has historically wronged the Macedonian people many times for various reasons. Most recently Europe wronged us in 1878 when we were liberated and then given back to the Ottomans without any assurances or safeguards that we would not be further abused. Then they wronged us in 1912, 1913 and 1919 when they signed various Treaties allowing our neighbours to occupy us, partition our country and annex it for themselves; again without any safeguards that we would not be harmed. What happened to us in 1878 and is happening to us to this day is not an accident but rather well planned by the Western Europeans. But worse than that, and bordering on the insane, is for "whom" did the Western Europeans do all this?

[Daskalot]

I found that paragraph striking as well.

[Dimko-piperkata]

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage - – Part 25 – Reacting to Rumours

June 20, 2009
Risto Stefov


Ever since this so-called "name dispute" was invented by Greece there has been no rest or peace for the Macedonian people. The "name dispute", believe it or not, is not a dispute about "The Name" but a dispute that threatens to destroy the very existence of the Macedonian identity. Every Macedonian, particularly those from Greece, knows this and feels it´s their duty as Macedonians to protect their name. They believe, and rightfully so, that if the name is changed in any way everything that is Macedonian will cease to exist and Greece will make sure of that. No wonder every time there is mention of a "solution" found or a rumour spread about the "name dispute" Macedonians freak out and become terrified half to death. Greece and the Greeks know this, which is why they waste no opportunity to spread rumours every chance they get! I know this because I get frantic calls from people wanting to know – if this time the rumours are true. This has happened over a hundred times in the last four years alone. So I would like to offer my two cents worth.

First and foremost Macedonians must stop reacting to rumours. As the saying goes "fool me once shame on you; fool me twice shame on me!" We can´t help how Greeks conduct their business but we can sure help how we conduct ours. Which means, as a rule, we should never "overreact" to "stories" that are not verified. And how can we "verify" stories? Well here is where I am going to make my second suggestion! Given how rumours are generated and circulated by those who benefit from them and given how Macedonians react to rumours, especially rumours about the name of their country and their identity, it´s time that the Macedonian Government "does something" to "manage" rumours. Given that most of these rumours "implicate" the Macedonian Government of "wrong doing" and given how Macedonians react to them, it´s time for the Macedonian Government to open some communication channels with its people and openly respond to its citizen´s concerns, particularly to those citizens who work for the media. Rumours and all other concerns that "drive Macedonians insane" can be put to rest simply by creating an e-mail address to take questions and a blog to post responses. Then those who have concerns can contact the government directly and get straight answers directly from the government and not from rumours circulated by our enemies.

People have certain expectations from their government and if those expectations are not managed properly, or not at all, misunderstanding can arise and lead to speculation and wrong conclusions. Like I said above, we can´t help how our "enemies" conduct their business but we certainly can help how we conduct ours.

Regarding the "name issue"; if the Government wants to be at peace with the people who elected it then it must follow what the people want and, from what I know so far to this day, the vast majority of Macedonians who feel and identify as Macedonians do not want the name touched and want the Macedonian government to break off talks with the Greeks and all other parties concerned. The name of this country is not negotiable. The name is not only historical and biblical but it is closely linked to the Macedonian people´s identity and history. A change in the name will lead Macedonia down the slippery slope of permanent extinction not only of the name but of the Macedonian identity itself. Just look at what happened in 1912 and 1913. We have living examples of what happened then and this was done "without" the Macedonian people´s participation. Imagine now what devastating effects it will have if we "voluntarily" change our name! How can history, past generations who gave their lives for Macedonia and future generations who will never be born Macedonian, ever forgive us if we rob them of their true identity? And what exactly will we be doing this for? What possible gains could we expect to receive for selling out our identity and our children´s future? And how would history and those who died for Macedonia label us for doing this?

In all seriousness we should not even joke about changing our country´s name. In fact we shouldn´t even be thinking about it because such an act is unthinkable. We all by now must understand that Greece and Europe have been planning our demise since 1878 and want us nothing less than extinct. The very same people who designed Nazism and launched Germany to dominate the world created Hellenism and launched the neo-Greeks to destroy Macedonia and erase it from the face of the earth. So far they have destroyed Aegean Macedonia, don´t give them the chance to destroy the rest!

The very name "Macedonia" is a threat to Europe for many reasons, which I will not get into at this time, but most importantly everyone must understand that if we "give in", even a tiny little bit on the name, it means that we can be pushed to "give in" more, to acquiesce, to capitulate, to surrender on other things and they will push us to do this again and again until there is nothing more to "give" and there will be nothing left of Macedonia or the Macedonian people as identities. And who will we be then? And most importantly with what we will be laying claim to our fatherland, to our heritage for which our recent ancestors spilled their blood to protect and preserve for us?

In the past they encouraged us to "become" Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians and we joked and laughed about it, we even made expressions like "I am a Greek as much as a donkey is a horse". But in 1913 after they occupied and partitioned our country, made our identity "extinct" and forced us to accept their artificial identities we were no longer laughing; not even smiling. That was then and what was done to us then was done without our consent, but today the very same people are asking us to voluntarily "wipe ourselves out of existence". Are we that naďve and gullible and expected to commit ethnic genocide voluntarily? And for what? To satisfy the wishes of a people who pretend to be Greeks? As I have said a dozen times before, the modern Greeks are a fabricated identity artificially created by the Philhellenes to serve the needs of the Western Europeans. They are not even real! Are we going to let them push us around? Are we going to voluntarily "kill" our own real ethnic identity just for the sake of satisfying the Greek lust for falsehood and racism? Our cause here is not just noble and about saving our own identity, it has a greater meaning. It is about truth and justice and rising above the falsehoods that have been laid down over us for centuries. Every Macedonian I know wants nothing but justice and the truth to prevail, that is the only way our world can truly become just and democratic, and to live by the very same principles our ancestors in 1903 and in the 1940´s died for. Many Macedonians died in their struggle to pass on to us a decent, united, independent, democratic and free Macedonia. Are we going to let them down? Who among us is prepared to go against the wishes of our ancestors, the very same ones who gave their lives in blood-stained struggles to give us a future? Are we prepared to forget what happened to them and wipe their sacrifices off the face of the earth, and for what? What could be more valuable than freedom, a value for which so many Macedonians over the centuries gave their lives?

Have we already forgotten the meaning of the words "Freedom of death?"

If the Macedonian government wants to "tinker" with "issues" and does not want to get into trouble with the people who put it in power, then it had best learn how to inform the people and make its intentions known without committing itself to something that it will later regret. Westerners have learned from experience not to tempt fate and before officially introducing something controversial they make sure it is "leaked" to the media. If there is a positive reaction from the people (a rare occurrence) then the government can "take credit" for the idea, but heaven forbid if the idea turns out to be a "political hot potato". The government can then immediately disown it and attribute it to "rumours created by the opposition". It is a sure method of keeping the government "popular" and ensuring re-election and at the same time "de-popularizes" the opposition. I never said "politics" was decent or honest, but just a way of life in our Western modern world.

Following are the opinions of other Macedonians regarding recent events that are associated with the "name" issue:

Justice Seeker wrote:

What comes to mind immediately about the "name" is the internationally accepted principles of the right to self determination and self-identification. I don´t buy for one minute any arguments that a name change won´t affect your identity. If that is the case, why the need for a name change? I'd still call myself a Macedonian but I would go to my grave with nightmares of Greeks reminding me unfairly and constantly that I don't exist.

If there was really a need for a "reasonable compromise", the only legitimate name that could be used is "The Republic of Macedonia" which is completely distinguishable and shouldn´t be confused with other parts of Macedonia.

Regarding the "negotiations"! First and foremost one´s own identity is not negotiable!

Second, there have been comments on this forum that in negotiations both parties have to give up something. What has Greece given up to this day?

Let me see how the negotiations have gone thus far. The Republic of Macedonia changed its constitution, changed its flag, incurred massive economic losses because of the Greek blockades without compensation, agreed to an interim name that is insulting and contrary to UN rules, the Macedonian people waste their valuable time and emotions on protecting their identity because of brainwashed Greek racists, and all this whilst Greece usurps Macedonian lands, history, heritage, etc. And what exactly had Greece given up? Nothing! It now solidly makes the preposterous claim that Macedonia is Greek. Does that mean the Republic of Macedonia is also Greek? If we give up our name and identity what will we be?



The biggest mistake the Macedonian side has made this far is getting into negotiations with Greece on things that cannot possibly be negotiated; Greece has proven its greater experience. When you negotiate you negotiate an entire package not one thing at a time. Instead, we have seen negotiations progressing on one thing at a time and the Macedonians have been eaten alive. With such farcical negotiating, if we look at the name in isolation we are not playing in the spirit of bargaining, no matter how absurd such a proposition. And what makes you think that the Greeks will stop asking for more and more things to be "negotiated" after we give in on the name? What will be next, our identity? And what after that?

As an example, the Macedonian side should have put forward something along the following on the table; Our name is the Republic of Macedonia and our ethnic identity is Macedonian which are not negotiable! We have the right to self determination and we decide what to call ourselves. You have ethnic Macedonians living on your soil who you need to immediately recognize. If you do all this we will not sue you for the acts of genocide which you committed against us in the last 100 years. We will also forgive you for forcing us to change our constitution and flag and we won´t seek compensation for the illegal economic blockades you imposed on us. Also we will allow you to use the word Macedonia. However as a goodwill gesture you will have to pay us 50 billion EUs for years of obstructing our progress.

I believe this is only fair. But instead of putting something forward like the above, we have allowed Greece to coerce us by tactics which are not genuine or in good faith;

Greece imposes block on UN entry, Macedonia agrees to interim agreement, now can join UN under interim name FYRoMacedonia.

Greece imposes economic blockage, Macedonia gives up flag and changes constitution, Greece lifts blockade.

Greece vetoes Macedonian entry to EU and NATO, Macedonia must change its name, no way, ok no entry for you.

What comes next? And when will Greece cease to extort more concessions from Macedonia?

About the Albanians living in Macedonia! The Albanians in Macedonia can do a lot more for Macedonia than they have up to this point. But instead they have chosen to act as pawns for Greece. Macedonia cannot enter NATO because of Greece and its high time the Albanians recognize and admit to that. Why not do something useful and pressure Albania and Kosovo to put pressure on Greece or the EU to end this Greek fiasco.

The Albanian minority should be screaming at its western friends to put pressure on Greece who is in breach of all human rights principles and international laws.

In conclusion, the issue is not simply about a "name" but part of Greece´s long term strategy to annihilate the Macedonian national identity. They did it in Aegean Macedonia and they want to do it in the Republic of Macedonia and the rest of it.

It´s simple, Greece does not want an independent people called Macedonians in NATO, in the EU or anywhere else for that matter, because the open border policy will effectively prove to those living in Aegean Macedonia, that they are real, decent people live in the Republic of Macedonia, people like us, not monsters as depicted by the Greek propaganda machine. That is the essence of all this.

It is with quiet displeasure I read that the Albanian minority is threatening the Macedonian government (and effectively the Macedonian people) that their patience is wearing thin about the name issue and that they will take some sort of action if this is not resolved soon. If this is true, this is not only repulsive but is blatantly an indication of the true nature of this minority and their lack of engagement with the country they live in.

I ask one simple and obvious question, why is their issue not with Greece who is the real cause of all the problems? A country that does not respect or acknowledge its minorities, a country that openly is committing genocide, a country which usurps other peoples´ history, heritage and livelihoods. Why have I not seen or heard any attack upon Greece from these ethnic Albanians who are citizens of the Republic of Macedonia?

As citizens of the Republic of Macedonia they should openly be damning Greece and not the Macedonian Government or the Macedonian people. What they are doing is nothing short of treason!

Posted by Justice Seeker on www.maknews.com/forum

Maknews wrote:

How is pressuring Macedonia to appease Greek racism a legitimate Albanian concern?

Posted by maknews on www.maknews.com/forum

Rogi wrote:

For those who contemplate a name change; Do you believe the Greeks have legitimate claims against us and accept or even support their position, agreeing that we should change our name?

Tell me, why must Macedonia change its name? What defeatist reasoning would you have to justify that?

I'm completely disappointed in people who think this way, I can only hope that those who share these treasonous and naďve views are but a small minority.

Any acceptance of any name for internal or international use, because of a dispute with Greece, is against the very principles of sovereignty and against the sovereign right of the Republic of Macedonia in its assertion of its historic name and national identity.

There is a historic dimension to this also and you seem to ignore that. You look at a name change from a purely technical view, where the name can be detached from its meaning. Any name change for Macedonia will be acceptance of the end of the Macedonian people.

That everyone naively accepts the baseless fear-mongering is indicative of their incapacity to realize the full implications and consequences of a name change and this is because those people cannot look at things from a historical perspective and in a historical context.

This is why such people are prepared to accept a name change basing their idea that 'we will still be known as Macedonians' on nothing but hope. You are playing a dangerous and risky game with absolutely nothing based on certainty - your politics stink, it is flawed and there is no reasoning, logic, plan or strategy to justify it.

Posted by Rogi on www.maknews.com/forum

Phoenix wrote:

Beware of 'Greeks' bearing gifts...It´s no coincidence that the 'Greeks' are pushing for a geographical identifier, it has the vile ability to diminish our history, culture and language, our identity is at stake here...adopting such foolishness is akin to turning over a new leaf, to start from scratch and to abandon our past.

A geographical identifier, if adopted, will be bound by water tight legal mumbo jumbo within the straight-jacket confines of international law and will dramatically alter the way each and every one of us identifies in the Diaspora, how we name our language, our church, our cultural organizations, our social clubs, our sports clubs and every association that exists today...

For any of you thinking that a geographic identifier is the course of least resistance, you're kidding yourselves...

Posted by Phoenix on www.maknews.com/forum

Prolet wrote:

Some of you might see the "name change" as an olive branch however its more like a Trojan horse if you ask me, because the Greeks expect this "new name" to be used everywhere and our name and identity has to be changed in our constitution, our passports, our citizenship papers and a whole lot of other places.

Some say "Northern Macedonia" is better than FYROM however when you look at it the problem is deeper and there is much more to it than that, there are many hidden catches to this name which will hurt us badly in the long run.

Posted by Prolet on www.maknews.com/forum

"The modern Greeks, as we know, have no relationship to the Latins, nor for that matter with the ancient Greeks. Modern anthropology has shown that they are brachycephalous Slavs, while the ancient Greeks were dolichocephalous, which fact is sufficient to establish an absolutely fundamental separation between the modern Greeks and their pretended ancestors." ("The Psychology of Socialism" by Gustave Le Bon, page 206)

Everyone who has read this series of articles must know by now that "Greeks" are not real but an artificial fabrication designed to serve some "Western European" purpose which by now is no longer valid or required. Hellenism was a Nazi experiment to test the idea of creating a "superior race" by convincing a variety of people into believing that they are "superior", something which they are not. Obviously the existence of Greece today is proof that the experiment was a success. But that´s just it, Greece is not real only a racist experiment, so why should we be expected to sacrifice our own real and vibrant culture for the sake of propagating and keeping alive a lie and a "Frankenstein´s monster"? Food for thought!

For those who are still not convinced that the Modern Greek identity is an artificial creation, please continue to read this series of articles.

Author´s note:

Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.

To be continued.

Many thanks to TrueMacedonian from www.maknews.com for his contribution to this article.

You can contact the author at [email protected]

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/106847

[Daskalot]

Another fine article by Risto Stefov, the poor Greeks who are trying to answer to his articles over at the American Chronicle look like village idiots trying to pass as academics.....

[Daskalot]

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 28 – Twenty-five more authors

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/109828

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 28 – Twenty-five more authors

Risto Stefov

July 12, 2009


If God himself came to earth and spoke to the Greeks and said "these people here are Macedonians" the Greeks would not believe him. If Greeks start believing that Macedonians exist in Greece then they will also have to believe that Slavs, Albanians and Vlachs also exist in Greece. If Macedonians, Slavs, Albanians and Vlachs exist in Greece then Greeks will be asking "who then are the Greeks?" And as I have found out in my quest for "searching for the Greeks", ethnically speaking, there are no Greeks.

But how can that be? The entire world knows that there is a country called Greece populated by 10 million Greeks who are 98% pure Greeks and 2% Muslim Greeks!

Well there are people who identify as "Greeks", unfortunately, ethnically speaking they are not "ethnic Greeks"; they are "politically" Greeks. Did I just say "politically Greeks"? Yes politically Greeks. They identify as Greeks not because "they are" ethnic Greeks but because they "want to be" Greeks! It´s a matter of choice. How else can one explain Slavs, Albanians, Vlachs, Macedonians, Christian Turks, Armenians, Russians and a whole group of other ethnicities ALL identifying as "Greeks"?

In other words, anyone can be Greek provided they agree with the "Philhellenic indoctrination" of what a Greek is. Anyone who speaks Greek, claims to be a descendent of the so-called Ancient Greeks, pretends to be superior to other people, claims minorities don´t exist in Greece, is arrogant and insensitive to non-Greeks and hurls slogans like "Macedonia is Greek" can be a Greek. Can an Asia Minor Christian Turk settler who was deposited in Macedonia in the 1920´s be a Greek? Yes they can! They can even be a Macedonian, descendent of the Ancient Macedonians! Can a Macedonian whose family identified as Macedonian before Greece annexed Macedonia in 1913 identify as a Greek? Yes they can, provided they accept and swear by the "Philhellene Indoctrination". Can any of my relatives, like myself who were born in Greece, with whom I share great grandparents be Greeks even though I identify as a Macedonian? Yes they can! They can in fact also be "full fledged" Macedonians, direct descendents of the Ancient Macedonians! Can I be a Greek, and I did ask this question, on account of some of my family members identifying as Greeks? The answer was a flat NO! And according to the same "Greek authorities" who said I could never be a Greek, I don´t even qualify to call myself Macedonian. According to them I am a "Slav" and a "Skopjan" from some "other" country called "Skopje", which I have yet to find on any "world" map except on maps made in Greece!

If you are still not convinced that the Greek identity is a 19th century Philhellene fabrication; an identity "created" purely for political purposes, then you had best read the following twenty-five excerpts;

1. "There were, however, several magnificent specimens of Greek palicars, who added to the advantage of soldier like, but rather swaggering carriage, all the accessories of their picturesque costume. Nine or ten of them performed the Albanian national dance, to the sound of a bad fiddle and a jingling guitar played with a quill for the amusement of her majesty, who did not seem enchanted with this exhibition.

And these men, who were exposing themselves in this absurd manner, were the far-famed Colocotroni, Nikitas, surnamed the Turkofagos, or Turk eater, Makryani, Vasso of Montinegro, Nota Botsaris, and other equally celebrated." ("Blackwood´s Edinburgh Magazine", Vol. XLIII, January – June 1838)

2. "When Athens was chosen as the site for the modern capital of the new nation, and its (re)construction was planned along lines of Hellenic purity, the unsettling evidence of Greece´s Ottoman heritage along with local vernacular forms had to be confronted, all the more so when situated in the immediate vicinity of remains of classical antiquity. Early nineteenth-century Athens was viewed as a ´disgraceful site´ (Boyer 1996: 163) full of imperfections, ranging from the city´s physical aspect to the spoken language that called for, ´filtering-out´ interventions." ("Contested Landscapes Movement, Exile and Place", Edited by Barbara Bender and Margot Winer, page 23)

3. "In 1851, at the time of her enfranchisement, Greece possessed about one million inhabitants, of whom a quarter were Albanians or Walachians. The population was a residue of invaders of all peoples, and notable of Slavs. For centuries the Greeks properly so called had disappeared from Greece. From the time of the Roman conquest, Greece was regarded by every adventurer as a nursery of slaves, which everyone might have recourse to with impunity." ("The Psychology of Socialism", by Gustav Lo Bon, page 206)

4. "The Greek influence which has partially Hellenized the Vlachs of Macedonia to-day can hardly date from before the Turkish conquest. It is the work not of the Byzantine Empire but of the modern Church, and seems to have reached its height during the eighteenth century." ("Macedonia its races and the future", by H. N. Brailsford , page 181)

5. "Greek statesman said Albanian was not a language – it had no literature, not even an alphabet - it is a mere patois, and would die out in a generation, and the children of the Albanian soldiers and sailors would all be good Greeks." ("The Catholic Presbyterian an International Journal Ecclesiastical and Religious", vol. II, July – December 1879, edited by Professor W. G. Blaikie D.D., L.L.D., F.R.S.E., page 319).

6. " We have many instances of the daring of these Greek robbers, one of which I shall here relate, as received from their chief, no less a personage than Colocotroni, who was in our service, and has since, as may be remembered, made himself conspicuous in Greece. He is an Albanian, and, as he acknowledges, a kleftis (robber)." ("Selections from my Journal during a residence in the Mediterranean", pages 110 and 111)

7. "…the historical absurdity of declaring Hellenic civilization the expression of a culture uncontaminated by foreign elements can be explained by a simple fact that tends to be disregarded – namely, that Hellenic civilization that we know it was in effect the invention of the ´Science of Antiquity´, of Classics. As such, it could have been (and was) endowed with whatever signification the discipline found useful." ("Dream Nation Enlightenment, Colonization and the Institution of Modern Greece", by Stathis Gourgouris, page 134)

8. "After successive treaties, (London 1913, Bucharest 1913), Greece acquired much of Macedonia, Epirus, Crete and the north-eastern islands of the Aegean. Greek land increased by 70 percent and the population almost doubled from 2,800,000 to 4,800,000 some of whom were Slavs and Turks." ("Entangled Identities Nations and Europe", Edited by Atsuko Ichijo and Willfried Sohn, page 112)

9. "Yet so much of the Sclavonian element had been infused into the latter that the modern Greeks are found to differ widely from their remote ancestors." ("Foreign Quarterly Review", Vol. XXVI, 1841, page 73)

10. "…the question of Greece´s political and ethnic status generated a considerable amount of debate in western Europe. As Michael Herzfeld argues in ´Ours once more: Folklore, Ideology and the Making of Modern Greece´: ´to be a European, was in ideological terms, to be a Hellene´ (1982: 15). Many Europeans of the time, however, believed the contemporary Greeks to be an adulterated version of the Classical Greeks – ´Byzantine Slavs…" ("Grafting Helen The Abduction of the Classical Past", Matthew Gumpert, pages 239 and 240)

11. "…since the Greeks are a composite people among whom the descendents of the veritable Greek of old are in a great minority. The majority are of Albanian and Solute blood, races which even the Romans found untamable." ("In Greek Waters: a Story of the Grecian War of Independence (1821-1827)", By G.A. Henty, 1893, page 40)

12. "General interest was first aroused by a controversy as to the racial derivation of modern Greeks. The War of Independence had won the sympathy of Europe; and it was a rude shock both to Greece and her champions when Fallmerayer announced that her inhabitants were virtually Slavs. The race of the Hellenes, he declared in his ´History of Morea´, was routed out and Athens was unoccupied from the sixth to the tenth century. Only its literature and a few ruins survived to tell that the Greek people ever existed. What the Slavs had begun the Albanians had completed." ("History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century", by G.P. Gooch, pages 490 and 491)

13. "Old Corinth passed through its various stages, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish. After the War of Independence it was again Greek, and, being a considerable town, was suggested as the capital of the new Kingdom of Greece. The earthquake of 1858 leveled it to the ground with the exception of about a dozen houses. A mere handful of the old inhabitants remained on the site. But fertile fields and running water made it attractive; and outsiders gradually came in. At present, it is an untidy poverty-stricken village of about 1,000 inhabitants, mostly of Albanian Blood." ("The Encyclopedia Britannica" Eleventh edition, Vol. VII, 1910, page 148)

14. "The modern Greeks possess none of the qualities which make nations great. Their existence is due to the battle of Navarino, for in the autumn of 1827 Greece was unquestionably conquered by the arms of the Grand Vizier Reshid Mehmed and by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, and again the ´untoward event´ of Navarino could only occur at a time when Phil-Hellenism was a sort of social disease, caused by hallucinations and by the illusion of finding in the present a mongrel inhabitants of the Morea and Attica the descendents of the ancient Hellenes." ("The Syrian War and the decline of the Ottoman Empire (1840-1848)", by Byron Augustus Jochmus, page 100)

15. "The notion of a ´Greek´ identity in the modern sense is itself in large part the creation of the movement towards statehood. It was not until the nineteenth century that the term came to describe a homogenous ethnic group in the modern sense. Instead, the people of the Peloponnesos, including Argolida, made up an intricate mosaic of ethnicities and languages. In Argolida dialects of Albanian, Greek, Turkish and other local languages were spoken (Andromedas 1976)." ("Blood and Oranges Immigrant Labour and European Markets in Rural Greece", by Christopher M. Lawrence, page 12)

16. "…Greek national feeling was already quite strong at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Even the Albanian-speaking Orthodox did not regard themselves only as Rum (members of the religious community or Orthodox Christian millet) but also as real Greeks." ("From Geopolitics to Global Politics", editor Jacques Levy, page 174)



17. "…he devoted his personal attention exclusively to the latter, assigning Joannina to his son-in-law, Thomas Preliubovich, in 1367, and Aetolia and Akarnania to two Albanian chiefs, belonging to the clan Boua and Liosa – a name still to be found in the plans of Attica. Thus, about 1362, all north-west Greece was Albanian…" ("The Latins in the Lavant a History of Frankish Greece (1204-1566), by William Miller M.A., 1908, page 294)

18. "Overrun by the Goths and Vandals, it became a pay, by the second half of the 8th c., to bands of Slavic invaders, who found it wasted by war and pestilence. Gradually however, these barbarians were subdued and Grecianized by the Byzantine Emperors. Nevertheless the numerous names of places, Rivers, etc., in the Morea of Slavic origin, prove how firmly they had routed themselves, and that the Moreotes are anything but pure Greeks." ("The International Encyclopedia a Compendium of Human Knowledge", edited by Richard Gleeson Green, 1890, page 204)

19. "…between a cheer and a whine, and presently their Imperial Majesties of Greece, cantered up the hill attended by four dignitaries, and as many equerries. The queen was dressed in a dark green riding-habit, black beaver with drooping feather, and veil. King Otho wore the Albanian costume of crimson, gold embroidered jacket and legs, white fustanela, with a richly chased saber belted over his shoulder." ("Scampavians from Gibil Tarek to Stamboul", by Harry Gringo, 1857)

20. "There was little interest as to the nationality of the Rayahs while Turkish rule was strong. They were nearly all Christians of the Byzantine type, those in Europe at least, and were hence regarded as one people, for oriental theocracy cannot conceive nationality apart from religion. They themselves know the difference in their origins and in such traditions as they had: some were Slavs, some Vlachs and some Albanians…; they were all non-Muslims, all Rayahs, and in a sense all Greeks." ("Political Science Quarterly", Columbia University, 1908, page 307)

21. "The revolution of 1821 has restored the ancient appellation ´Elines´, but as it is used chiefly by the inhabitants of Bavarian Greece, who perhaps don´t constitute more than one fourth of the Greek nation, it may safely be said that the mass of the people still call themselves ´Romaii´ and their language ´Romaiki´." ("A Romaik Grammar", by E.A. Sophocles, 1842, page iv)

22. "From their manners, their features and their names of many of their neighbouring places, I should be tempted to regard them [Mainiotes] proceeding of Sclavonian blood: many travelers pretend, however, to have discovered in these barbarous hordes traces of a Spartan origin." ("Recollections of a Classical Tour through various parts of Greece, Turkey and Italy made in the years 1818 and 1819", by Peter Edmund Laurent, 1821, page 182)

23. "The Greeks have not taken much interest in their past until Europeans became enthusiastic discoverers and diggers of their ruins. And why should they have cared? The Greeks were not Greek but rather the illiterate descendents of Slavs and Albanian fishermen who spoke a debased Greek dialect and had little interest in the broken columns and temples except as places to graze their sheep. The true philhellenists were the English – of whom Byron was the epitome – and the French, who were passionate to link themselves to the Greek ideal." ("The Pillars of Hercules" by Paul Thereoux, page 316)

24. "…Neohellenic Enlightenment sanctioned a selective tradition, with particular emphasis upon an imaginary classical antiquity, and sought to suppress what was deemed to be a ´non-significant tradition´, mainly the Byzantine and Ottoman legacy. Through this ideological management of the past, it achieved the displacement of a substance part of the history, memory and experience of those it sought to shape into modern Greeks." ("Tormented by History Nationalism in Greece and Turkey", by Umut Oskirimu and Spiros A. Sofos, page 24)

25. "There are two other difficulties involved in the history of the Turkish period. In tracing the movements of merchandise and men in the Balkan peninsula it is extremely difficult to differentiate the various races involved. Western travelers knew little, Turkish authorities cared less. Even the polyglot Vlachs themselves knew nor cared a great deal and until the rise of national conciousness at the end of the eighteenth century were probably quite happy with the label of Greek, which was good enough for outside observers." ("The Vlachs the History of a Balkan People", by T.J. Winnifrith, pages 124 and 125)

So, what have we learned from the 75 authors I have presented so far? Fifty at this link: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/101938 and 25 more in this article?

Well, we have learned that the Greek identity is not an "ethnic identity" at all but rather a "politically motivated artificial identity" created by the 19th century Philhellenes to serve some greater political purpose. We have learned that the 19th century Greeks, recent ancestors to today´s Greeks, were not "ethnic Greeks" at all. The majority belonged to the Slav, Albanian, Vlach and later Macedonian ethnic groups. In other words they became "Greek" either by force or by choice. This cannot be disputed!

What can be disputed however is the ownership of a heritage that does not belong to the Modern Greeks. For example Modern Greeks cannot claim the heritage of the so-called "ancient Greeks" as their own just because they call themselves "Greeks" and learned to behave like the Ancient Greeks. This is like saying that I can claim my neighbour´s father´s house if I changed my last name to match his and pretend to be my neighbour´s brother. Can I legally do that? Can I one day show up at my neighbour´s house and say "I am your brother and this house is mine"? Wouldn´t I have to prove my descent from the man I claim to be my father?

Well this is exactly what the Greeks are doing! With the help of a bunch of Westerners, they usurped the Ancient Greek heritage, which does not belong to them, and now they think they are the owners of Greece. Ah, but that´s not all! Since they annexed a large chunk of Macedonian land in 1913 by war, they also usurped the Macedonian heritage, that is, until they were challenged by the real Macedonians. They usurped the Macedonian heritage the same way they usurped the Greek heritage by "pretending" to be Macedonians, descendents of the Ancient Macedonians and by pushing the real Macedonians out into extinction. How clever is that?

I don´t think any Macedonian cares what the Greeks call themselves, who they are and who they "pretend" to be but they sure care when these "pretenders" try to lay claim to the Macedonian heritage especially at the expense of the real Macedonians! Sharing the ancient heritage is one thing but claiming it to be exclusively theirs, especially since it can be proven that they are imposters, is another.

We are faced with two problems when dealing with this issue. First, the Modern Greeks are not Greeks at all. They call themselves Greeks not because they are Greeks but because they want to be Greeks. There are benefits to being Greek. There is a country "Greece" to call their own, which should never have been created in the first place because such a country never existed before. Then there is that illustrious past with all its glory which should never have been "assigned" to a people who had nothing to do with it. Second, these same people were not only allowed to annex 51% of Macedonia but were given full rights to "assimilate" the Macedonian people, turning them into Greeks, and usurping the Macedonian heritage as their own. Hence the slogan "the Ancient Macedonians were Greek" therefore "the Modern Macedonians must also be Greek".

But wanting to be Greeks is not the same as "being" Greeks. Just because one "wants to be a Greek" does not mean one has the right to lay claim to the Ancient Greek heritage just as I have no right to lay claim to my neighbour´s house just because I "want" to be his brother!

This leads to the very important legal question; if these people are Greek because they want to be Greek and they are Macedonian because they want to be Macedonian, then legally what right do they have to either the Ancient Greek heritage or to the Ancient Macedonian heritage? Given that we have proven that the Modern Greeks are "not Greek at all" what moral and legal right do they have to interfere in the affairs of the Macedonian people? More importantly, as Macedonians and rightful heirs to the Macedonian heritage, why are we allowing these imposters to interfere in our affairs? Isn´t it about time to tell them to "hit the road and mind their own business"?

On the so-called "name dispute" Osiris wrote:

The only name that is logical and natural for Macedonia is Macedonia!

We as people are of Macedonia, which has been called Macedonia for at least two millennia, and that is beyond dispute. All other names are politically inspired propaganda coming from our Balkan neighbours which are debatable and will never be resolved because they are based on conflicting historical myths.

The fact that all our neighbours covet the remaining piece of Macedonia tells us that they all want it for themselves, and would do and say anything to get it even destroy an independent Macedonia. They incorporated it into their own nation.

It seems like its 1900´s all over again; a political Balkan ground hog day.

By Osiris from www.maknews.com/forum/

For those who are still not convinced that the Modern Greek identity is an artificial creation, please continue to read this series of articles.

Author´s note:

Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.

To be continued.

Many thanks to TrueMacedonian from www.maknews.com for his contribution to this article.

You can contact the author at [email protected]

Thank you so much Risto for summerizing all of these authors into one article!

[Daskalot]

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 29 – My fascination with Greeks?

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/110694

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 29 – My fascination with Greeks?

Risto Stefov

July 19, 2009


A lot of you have written to me over the last six months asking "what is my fascination with the ´Greeks´, why do I write ´denigrating´ things about them and am I jealous of them or something?"

Let´s say that I know more about the "real" Modern Greeks than the average person and I can tell you that if writing about them is "denigrating" then so be it! As far as being jealous, how can one be jealous of a "fictitious" identity such as the Modern Greek one?

Being fascinated with the Greeks? Is that a "Greek wish" to have "outsiders" even your opponents, be fascinated with your "fictitiousness"?

"It was never my intention to delve into the modern history of Greece, but the Greeks kept on and on with their bull-crap about who I am and who I have the right to be so I felt it was time to discover who these fanatics were, and lo and behold I found they were not who they pretended to be, but I still don´t care, I am happy for them to claim they are Greek all I expect in return is they afford me and my people the same rights they claim for themselves." (Osiris from http://www.maknews.com/forum)

What can I say; Osiris beat me to the punch! He expressed exactly how I feel! There is no fascination, only the necessity to fight back and defend our Macedonian identity the only way Greeks can understand; by attacking theirs!

Greeks, your identity is not as solid as you think; it is not a solid sphere made of stainless steel as you portray it to be; your identity is more like a fruit, a polished "dark-red" apple with an amazing tantalizing shiny red skin and all rotten inside. When you bite into it you think you are going to get a sweet juicy alluring apple-taste but instead you get a brown rot filled with bitterness! No thank you. I´d rather be "real" and take my chances at being who I am; Macedonian, no matter how difficult it has proven to be!

Here is another excerpt from yet another "Westerner" and "impartial" observer on the formation of your "artificial" Greek identity;

"Within the context of romanticism, the term ´Philhellenism´ refers generally to a love of Greece, foundational to which were the beliefs that Greece had a direct cultural link to Western Civilization as a whole, and that, concomitantly, the ´modern Greeks´ (that is the Greeks of the Ottoman and modern periods) were the direct descendents, biologically and culturally, of the ancient Greeks. In its most specific sense, philhellenism refers to the nineteenth-century historical phenomenon of western Europeans (largely British, French and German) rallying behind the Greek struggle of independence from Ottoman rule (1821-30). The link between philhellenic sentiment and the Greek War of Independence was evident in the numerous cases of western Europeans contributing money, materials, and in some cases manpower to the Greek effort. In the specifically Romantic context, it was evident in the turn-of-the century efflorescence, of paintings, works of literature, and musical compositions with a central Hellenic theme.

A famous visual instance of this Romanticist artistic fascination with Greece is the frontispiece to Marie Gabriel, Comte de Choiseul-Goufier´s 1782 voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, an engraving entitled ´Greece in chains´, in which Greece, allegedly as a beautiful but manacled woman, reclines upon a tomb in a cemetery dotted with monuments to such great men of antiquity as Lycurgus, Miltiades, and Themistocles. The image captures perfectly the Romantic vision of Greece as noble but faded, glorious yet much reduced, enslaved but poised to be free once more. Also quintessential of Romantic Philhellenism is the explicit link the image draws between the modern Greeks of the late Ottoman period and the Hellenic greats of antiquity.

In the years just prior to and during the Greek War of Independence, countless such images were in wide circulation in Western Europe – the most famous perhaps, being, those of Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), the consummate representative of French Romantic philhellenism.

This cultural trend worked hand in hand with the political development in the Ottoman Empire to fuel growing interests within Europe for Greece and the modern Greeks. While the travel accounts penned by ´grand tourists´ were hugely popular, the apparent military and economic decline of the Ottoman Empire commanded huge attention, particularly in Britain, which felt that British imperial fortunes were tied to the political status quo. While the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), which concluded the Napoleonic Wars, emphasized the need to keep the Ottoman Empire intact, growing numbers of Philhellenes felt that the special cultural link between Greece and the West demanded intervention on behalf of the Greeks under Ottoman rule. In this debate, philhellenic position would ultimately dominate, with Britain ending up a major backer of the Greek struggle and the subsequently formed Greek state.

The wide circulation of a number of Western works which had as their central theme the exoticisms and depravities of the Ottomans (and the plight of the noble Greeks who suffered beneath their rule) furthered the scope of philhellenism, to the extent that general sentiment in Europe gradually overcame the initial political position of European governments regarding the Greek War of Independence. Lord Byron, Francois August Rene de Chateaubriand and Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe are the best known creators of such works, but a veritable plethora of lesser-known, musical, literary and artistic figures followed the themes popularized by them.

Philhellenism is properly understood as a reflection not of any reality concerning Greece and the Greeks, but rather as the manifestation of a purely European, and not entirely magnanimous, impulse. That is to say, the passionate response with which the Greek War of Independence was met in the West was less a reflection of European love of the modern Greeks than of European love of the idea that Western Civilization as a whole could be traced back to Pericles-era Athens." ("Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era 1760 – 1850", edited by Christopher John Murray, Volume 2 L-Z index, page 872).

It is not common to create "ethnic identities" for "political reasons" in order to have a modern civilization mimicking a dead and long gone culture. Ethnic identities are living and vibrant entities that grow and evolve over time and are naturally bound together without "politically motivated" pressures. One cannot create an instant "ethnic identity" just as one cannot create an instant family by putting a bunch of strangers together and calling them grandparents, parents and children. A fake "ethnic identity" is like a fake family which has no real relationships, no real family tree and no real history. It´s made up, like the Brady Bunch on television, to serve a specific purpose! But behind the scenes each individual person belongs to a "real" family, has a "real" mother and father and a "real" family tree and history. Sort of like the various ethnic groups, the Slavs, Albanians, Macedonians, Asia Minor Christian Turks and other ethnicities constituting the fictional "Greek" family.

If there was a purpose for Europeans to "feel Greek" at one time, as per the quote above, that "feeling" is no longer there so then I ask you, "What is the purpose of Greece today?" Does it serve as a "model of Civilization for the New Europe?" Or is Greece a "remnant" of something "old and embracing" whose time has long passed and should have, like the dinosaurs, died a long time ago?

The world is evolving like it should and in more cases than not, taking steps forward, but not Greece. The more Greece moves forward the more it falls behind.

Greeks, the need to pretend to be "ethnically homogeneous" is no longer there. There is no need to pretend to be superior, arrogant, or "better" than your neighbour. Frankly nobody cares about your obsessions. Like all things in life, everything has its time and the time for "pretending" is over. It´s time to face reality and take your place with the rest of the world!

You realize that your "fake" identity would have never been revealed had you done the right thing and accepted the Macedonian identity for what it is. Through the stubbornness of your political leaders you not only "wiped out" the image of your "Greek-ness" that you spent two centuries building but you have revealed to the world your true "racist" selves which you had managed to hide for over two centuries now. But, this is only the beginning, next will come the "revelation" of the atrocities that you have committed against the Macedonian and other people who lived and died in agony in Greece since those lands became a country for the first time in 1829. After all that is revealed, how many people in the world do you think will see Greece as the "cradle of democracy" or as the birthplace of the "European Civilization" as opposed to "the cradle of oppression and racism"?



Greece was built as a country and the modern Greeks were paraded as "the cradle of European Civilization" for a single purpose; to show the world that "Western Europe" was not only "civilized" but far superior to the rest. Europeans found a model in the "Ancient City States" that not only "explained" their "imperialistic war like behaviour" but venerated it and made it "okay" to "enslave" people and "colonize" their lands.

Politically Greece, the way it is today, is an "ancient relic" whose time has expired and belongs in a museum together with "Mussolini´s Italy and Hitler´s Germany"! But it is never too late to "evolve" peacefully and bring positive change with "amends" to past mistakes!

And now I leave you with this;

Dear All,

I am drawing on my 'Macedonian experience' here to guide both my aim to end the "Name" negotiations between Greece and Macedonia immediately, and to bring to light a movement for change in Macedonia, and elsewhere.

There are issues of human rights at stake, our Macedonian nationality happens to be at stake, and issues of power at play.

It is a simple point, but one that needs to be made. The fact is that as Macedonians we are a legal entity, we have our Republic of Macedonia, and we are certainly legitimate. We are recognized by over 125 countries, and with time that number will rise. Our institutions will in time receive the due recognition they deserve, and have coming to them.

It is simply a matter of time. Both this government and UMD in Washington have over reached. The value and weight they place on "membership" is not justified. A far more sensible look at the situation suggests that the Macedonian economy and nationality can gain as much, and far more, by pursuing bilateral relations. Good economic relations will have positive political outcomes for the Macedonian Republic, but the shortsightedness of the government suggests it has panicked, or failed to consider alternative workable strategies with real long term benefits.

The current line of thinking that we cannot claim to be complete as a legal and legitimate nationality, until we have attained EU and/or NATO membership, is also a dangerous, and irresponsible train of thought. It needs to be justified, or put to rest immediately, both in the government, and at the lunatic fringe of the Diaspora. What recent experience demonstrates is that we can have most of the benefits offered by these organizations, and 'not' be an official member of them, or irresponsibly risk our Macedonian nationality to get there.

I believe the time has come for another change in our approach to the "problem". The fact is that the Macedonians do not pose a military threat to Greece, and they do not pose an economic threat to Greece. The "threat" if one is to be identified here, is perhaps political, or ideological.

It is worth recalling another fact. The Macedonians respect and recognize unreservedly the sovereignty of the Greek State, and its right to self determination. Is it too much to ask the Greeks to in turn do the same? What can we glean from this fact about the nature of the current "dispute"? The "problem" if we need to identify one (and I believe we do), is an issue internal to Greece. The long standing issues Greece has with its landscape, is the issue. It is simply exporting its policies that have subjugated various communities in Greece, for 150 years over the border. But this is not intended to be a backward looking historical exercise. My point is this. For there to be peace Greece must change, not the Macedonians.

There is another key point to be made here. For Greece to change, the EU must change. That is unlikely to happen in the short term.

This last point raises the question of who or what are we up against here - Greece, or the EU, or both? There is the "system" of negation to consider here. My advice would be that it is not "smart" to engage an entire system at one point on the surface of it, believing that one can change the whole system, beneath and behind it. The political will and the power, the amount of resources Greece has mobilized to turn our "non-existence" into a metaphoric and transformative reality is vast, and old. It is a system rooted in the policies and practice of Europe, against the Macedonians going back a hundred years. Consider for example, the recent statement by an EU official, who referred to us as "Northern Macedonia". We cannot, and should not try to take on these old social structures. As long as Greece stays the way it is, we will always have problems. It would be far more sensible and logical to bring the faults of Greece to the attention of the EU (and highlight the faults of the EU in that way). But for that to happen, we need to be principled. We need to ask that our sovereignty and our rights, be respected.

I want to add another aspect in this survey for political change. Macedonian democracy respects the cultural rights of its various communities. Greece does not. The attitude in Macedonia is that these communities enrich its society, rather than threaten it. In Greece, everyone and everything is a threat. Now, given this fact - why does the EU insist on "blocking" Macedonia? If we were to measure the quality of a State by how it treats its minorities, and based EU membership on those criteria, Macedonia would be at the top of the list. The point to be made here is that the EU is not a functional organization. Its uneven-handedness, and even ridicule of Macedonia and its institutions, is about favoring Greece - not about diligence or compliance. Shouldn't there be a protocol in the EU that states that members, whose human rights practices are not up to standard, have their privileges 'suspended'? There are many possibilities we could pursue here. The EU, and the UN, have both taken positions that are contrary to their Charters, and have shown to favor aggressive, irrational member states, over obedient, compliant ones. Why would we want to be a 'member' in principle - of that?

As Macedonians, we are ideological outlaws, in a very small circle of nations. There is the rest of the world at our fingertips.

We have our nation now, and we have our nationality. Are we going to let all that generations of Macedonians have accomplished, and sacrificed, end in a terrible disaster? Why are we putting our nationality at risk? There are native movements all over the world who would love to be in our position, and defend their nationality with all of their might and power. I can think of the Palestinians, for starters. Why risk it? We have seen that individuals are willing to do that. I would call them reckless, and more dangerous than anything an enemy has been able to throw at us. The only people who can take our nationality away from us, are the Macedonians (and if it comes to a second referendum, the Albanians I am certain, will have the final say in the matter). This last event is completely lost on people, but it will eventuate.

Will our fight for a Macedonian nationality end in a historical scenario where we no longer have one?

We must rethink whether "membership" is justified and right for us, when clearly we can enjoy many of the benefits of being an EU member, without actually having to negotiate our nationality and put all at risk, to get there.

By Paul from http://www.maknews.com/forum.

For those who are still not convinced that the Modern Greek identity is an artificial creation, please continue to read this series of articles.

Author´s note:

Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.

To be continued.

Many thanks to TrueMacedonian from www.maknews.com for his contribution to this article.

You can contact the author at [email protected]

[Dimko-piperkata]

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 31 – Ilinden 1903

August 01, 2009
Risto Stefov


Before the formation of the independent and sovereign state the Republic of Macedonia in 1991, before the formation of the Peoples´ Republic of Macedonia in the Yugoslav Federation of Republics in 1945 and even before Macedonia´s partition by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria in 1913, the Macedonian people came together and rose in 1903 against their oppressors the Ottoman Empire in a bid to free themselves and create a united, free and independent Macedonian state.

Termed by some as the greatest rebellion in Europe since the French Revolution, the people of Macedonia violently rose on Ilinden, August 2nd, 1903 and rebelled against the Ottoman Empire. It was a grass roots revolution like no other involving ordinary people from ordinary villages but with extraordinary courage. Their desire was to live free in their own independent state. Unfortunately it was not to be but only because of circumstances beyond their control.

Today is August 2nd, 2009, the 106th anniversary of that famous Ilinden Uprising and to celebrate it I would like to dedicate the following essay entitled "The Course of the Ilinden Uprising" written by Dr. Krste Bitovski and edited by Risto Stefov;

After visiting several of the regions in the Bitola Revolutionary District and finding out more about the situation and the preparations for the popular uprising, the General Staff, towards the end of July 1903, decided to meet near the village Smilevo for the purpose of drafting and distributing a proclamation announcing the start of the Uprising. In part the proclamation said: "Death is a thousand times better than a life of misery. The day has been decided when the people from all of Macedonia and Odrin must come together with guns in hand to meet the enemy. That day is Ilinden, August 2nd, 1903. Down with tyranny! Long live the people, long live freedom!"

The day of the uprising remained an absolute secret from the Ottoman authorities. Not a single copy of the proclamation, which couriers carried to the leaders of the six boroughs in the Bitola Revolutionary District, fell into the hands of the authorities. The enemy was caught by surprise, and this was of enormous significance for the initial success of the Uprising.

On August 1st the General Staff sent their final instructions to all the leaders which stated that the uprising was to begin on the evening of August 2nd during the Sv. Ilija (St. Elias) or Ilinden festival – which is why it was called the "Ilinden Uprising". It had been made clear that battles would have to be fought partisan style using terrorist and anarchist tactics, which meant in practice forming small military detachments to go into simultaneous action in all parts of the District. It was also recommended that the insurgents not engage in long battles with all their forces concentrated, in order to avoid offering the Ottoman troops the chance to do major damage. The longer the uprising lasted the greater the chances were – in the General Staff's opinion – that there would be European powers military intervention. The rebel detachments were instructed to only attack the small Ottoman garrisons stationed in the Christian villages and also to surprise government posts, border towers and similar buildings, but the Ottoman women and children were not to be touched.

The proclamation also stated in part that: "We are taking up arms against tyranny and inhumanity and we are fighting in the name of liberty and freedom. Those who suffer in the dark empire of the Sultan are our brothers. Today all Christian people and Ottoman peasants are unjustly treated and made to suffer. We have a common enemy and that is the Ottoman government…"

The representative body of the Organization in Sofia also took part and informed the world public that the uprising had begun through a declaration issued by the Central Committee of the Internal Organization. A justification for the Uprising was also given explaining that the Christian population had no choice but to rise up against the Sultan´s tyrannical power.

The Uprising in the Bitola Revolutionary District began on August 2nd, 1903 as was planned. The Borough of Bitola, the largest borough of the District, was divided into the following Regions: Krushevo, Gjavato, the Bitola plain, Demirhisar, Resen and Prespa (Lower Prespa). The battle for the liberation of Krushevo and the declaration of the Krushevo Republic were the most glorious events in the history of the Ilinden Uprising.

The Gjavato Region covered the area between the villages Capari, Gjavato, Smilevo and the Bigla Mountain; the centre for this Region was the village Smilevo. The start of the uprising was in fact proclaimed in Smilevo in the presence of the General Staff. On the night of August 2nd, 1903 two hundred rebels attacked a garrison of eighty Ottoman soldiers, while in other parts the rebels burned all the houses of the Ottoman Beys, cut the telephone lines and destroyed the bridges on the road between Bitola and Resen. In the Bufkol Region, which was closest to Bitola, the rebels set fire to haystacks to let the people of Bitola know that the Uprising had begun.

The Demirhisar Region was one of the best organized and provided nearly a thousand armed insurgents. These insurgents attacked the Ottoman garrisons in a number of villages and one of the most famous battles fought was that in the village Karbunitsa, near Kichevo. After the initial attacks there was a period of calm but also of intensive preparation for further battles.

Prespa was divided into two Regions: Resen (Upper Prespa) and Prespa (Lower Prespa). Prespa was well organized throughout, which made it easier to form a larger number of detachments. One of the major actions of the uprising was the attack on Resen, which was aimed at throwing the enemy into panic and confusion. Most of Resen Region and Lower Prespa were liberated by mid-August and lay in the hands of the rebels.

On the morning of August 2nd the people of Ohrid woke up to street posters, written in the Ottoman language, advising Ottoman inhabitants to remain neutral because the battle which had just begun was not directed against them but against the intolerable Ottoman regime. The Ilinden Uprising in the Ohrid Region was supported by a well-prepared plan and well-organized stocks of supplies. Arrangements were made to stockpile food, build secret bakeries and bullet-casting workshops, as well as a medical aid service and a hospital.

Ohrid Region was divided into several sub-regions and the fiercest action took place in Malesia, Upper and Lower Debar and in Ortakol.

For the first ten days after the start of the Uprising battles were fought more or less regularly around Ohrid. Ottoman troops were constantly coming in from Albania and Debar and destroying the villages which the local detachments bravely defended. The Ottoman authorities were given support by bands of Albanian professional brigands who spread terror throughout the Macedonian villages. In spite of this, however, the mountain lords stayed with the rebels.

On Ilinden about five thousand Ottoman troops attacked Kichevo, captured it and then left it to its own accord. The bloodiest battles fought that day in Kichevo Region, as mentioned earlier, were in the village Karbunitsa. Instead of guns, knives and bayonets the two sides fought hand-to-hand combat leaving thirty rebels and over one hundred Ottoman soldiers dead. After this bloody debacle the Ottoman troops no longer used their strength to attack and most of the Kichevo Region was left free until the beginning of September.

Through its revolutionary vigour, its dynamic energy and concentration of power, and through the results achieved, the Kostur Revolutionary District fought the hardest in the Ilinden Uprising. Kostur Region was divided into several military centers with their own village detachments, commands and flags.

In addition to its central detachments, the Kostur Region Revolutionary District also had two regional detachments with one hundred and fifty insurgents each and a special detachment. The detachments were commanded by Lazar Poptrajkov, Vasil Chakalarov, Pando Kliashev and others. The proclamation of the General Staff announcing the start of the Uprising was received by the people of Kostur on the very day the Ilinden Uprising began. The regional command announced this historic event as follows:

"The Uprising begins today. Macedonia has declared war on tyranny...We call on all of you who bear arms and are capable of fighting to join the ranks of our fighters. Long live Macedonia. Let us fight for freedom, liberty and autonomy..."

The Uprising began with a number of attacks all throughout Kostur Region and on August 5th, 1903 more than 600 insurgents began a concentrated attack on the Ottoman stronghold in the town of Klisura. Within a few hours the Ottoman force was annihilated and the town fell into rebel hands.

Klisura´s liberation was marked as a great occasion and its liberators were welcomed with open arms by the local inhabitants. The commanders made speeches explaining that war was waged in the interests of all the oppressed, and for the autonomy of Macedonia. Klisura remained in the hands of the insurgents until August 27th, 1903 during which time a revolutionary government was formed and people enjoyed their short lived freedom.

The Kostur Region detachments, unlike those from other Regions, were in constant movement, always pursuing and attacking the enemy.

On August 25th, 1903 the Kostur Revolutionary District joined forces with detachments from the Lerin Region Revolutionary District and attacked and liberated the town of Neveska.

The Uprising in Kostur Region was carried out on a massive scale with the entire population, particularly in the northern region, taking part and risking life and property. From the start the Kostur Region leadership kept up the offensive, acting swiftly, almost always in large units, and scoring great successes in battle.

Of all the Revolutionary Districts that took part around the Bitola Uprising only Lerin Region fought in the offensive Partisan style. While the people did not abandon their villages and stayed home, more than 500 insurgents took up arms and attacked Ottoman garrisons, cut telephone lines, destroyed rail and road bridges and took over Ottoman Bey strongholds.

The August 2nd, 1903 Uprising was not limited to Bitola and surrounding Regions but also spread throughout most of Macedonia as well. But in some Districts like the Solun Vilayet (Solun and Seres Revolutionary District) there was no mass participation mainly due to lack of arms and ammunition. The districts were poorly supplied with arms and often fiercely clashed with the pro-Bulgarian Vrhovists (Supremacists) which severely depleted their ammunition and energy. The Solun assassinations too had serious consequences for the Solun Revolutionary District.

The rebel action in the Solun Revolutionary District coincided with that of the Bitola District provoking a number of armed clashes in the Kukush, Enidzhevardar, Voden and Tikvesh Boroughs and spread the rebel force thin. In addition to battling the enemy, the insurgents also employed sabotage tactics using dynamite and blowing up various parts of the railway lines between Solun and Bitola and Solun and Skopje.

The Uprising in the Skopje Revolutionary District unfortunately was also not a mass movement and only fifteen skirmishes took place mainly in the Kratovo, Kochani, Skopje and Shtip Boroughs and in Maleshevo and Preshevo. Part of the railway line between Skopje and Solun, together with thirty-two railway trucks, was blown up and other acts of sabotage were carried out. The rebel action in the Solun and Skopje Revolutionary Districts forced the Ottoman authorities to maintain a strong military force in these parts of the country and this to some extent eased the situation in the Bitola Revolutionary District, particularly in the beginning of the Uprising.

At the beginning of September, while the Bitola District was already full of Ottoman troops spreading terror throughout the Macedonian villages in their attempt to quell the Uprising, the Seres Revolutionary District held a congress at which it was decided to begin action in this part of Macedonia. The Uprising in this District began on September 27th, 1903 on Krstovden (Holy Cross Day) without the participation of the people. At the congress a commanding body was elected and a plan of action was drawn up.

After considerable negotiations the District Command decided to allow the Supremacist detachments to join the Uprising. Unfortunately the distrust between the revolutionaries of Seres, led by Yane Sandanski, and the Supremacists was so great that closer co-operation was not possible. Sandanski, as one writer put it, "received the supremacist detachments, which were entering an unfamiliar region, not only without warmth and friendliness but also without the courtesy to be expected". One of the detachments had come from Bulgaria wearing Bulgarian military uniforms and the insignia of the Bulgarian army; Sandanski ordered these men to strip off their insignia. Most of them complied but some refused which brought more tension between the two groups.



There were several battles fought in this district – in Nevrokop, in the Melnik region, in Gorna Dzhumaja, Seres, Drama and Demirhisar.

The Region actively covered by this Revolutionary Organization also included the Odrin District which did not belong to Macedonia. The uprising in Odrin began on August 19th, 1903 and was met with great success. In addition to the local inhabitants of this District, a number of Macedonians also took part in the Uprising.

The Ottoman authorities were not aware of the starting date of the Uprising, although they were already in possession of information, indicating the likelihood of an uprising in the near future. Ottoman officials in positions of responsibility did not pay sufficient heed to these warnings and did not want to believe that such an explosive situation might occur. This is why the Ilinden Uprising caught them by surprise.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Uprising the Grande Porte (the Ottoman Supreme Command) correctly concluded that the uprising in the Bitola Revolutionary District could only be stamped out with a far larger force than what was locally available at that time. But a fair amount of time would be needed to concentrate such a military force, and, until this was done, the initiative lay with the rebels who had liberated not only three towns but also great stretches of mountain territory together with many mountain settlements.

Ottoman preparations for a general offensive against the rebels were completed by August 25th, 1903. In addition to equipping the regular army, the Ottomans also armed a great number of Muslim civilians (Bashi-bazouks) in order to assist the military operations.

The primary objective of the Ottoman Command was to take Krushevo. But in spite of all efforts Krushevo still remained in rebel hands despite the fact that Rudzhi Pasha, the Ottoman Commander in Chief, employed fifty thousand Ottoman soldiers.

Dissatisfied with Rudzhi Pasha´s performance, the Ottoman government had him removed and appointed Nazir Pasha in his place. At the end of August the Ottoman troops under his command started the general offensive. The difference in strength between Ottoman forces and those of the rebels, in both men and arms, was so vast that it was incalculable. Demirhisar alone was attacked by twenty thousand Ottoman soldiers.

On August 26th, 1903, with the assistance of Karavangelis the Greek Metropolitan in Kostur, the Ottomans set out to crush the uprising in Kostur Region. Over five thousand soldiers were dispatched from inside the city and more were recruited from the surrounding areas and by the start of September the enemy force was numbering over 15,000. Fierce battles broke out everywhere and were fought with ferocity. The bloodiest battles were fought in Grmeshina, Ohrid Region, near a camp where 1,700 women, children and old people were hiding. Unfortunately the rebels were unable to withstand the pressure as the Ottoman soldiers stormed the camp and massacred many of the women and children, leaving 160 dead.

By the second half of October the uprising in the Bitola Revolutionary District, as it was in most of Macedonia, had been brutally crushed and was followed by reprisals and torture. With the Macedonian people, however, these reprisals went far beyond the "normal" bounds and turned into genocide. It is impossible to describe all the horrors that were committed both by the regular army and by the Bashi-bazouks, not just against the insurgents but also against the non-combatant population. Here is what the Serbian envoy to Bitola had to say: "Every conceivable form of torture, murder, hanging, cutting children out of their mothers' wombs and flinging them to the dogs, seizing women and girls, breaking into homes and burning them – all this, I think, is every bit as terrible as the violence and bestiality to which the Ottoman lords and governors resorted, as the book describes, before our first and Second Uprisings..."

He continues: "The facts we have at hand indicate that the plan used in pursuing is not only to crush the uprising, nor to destroy the guerilla detachments – for such as they are they cannot be put down – but to wipe out the entire population that was in hiding..."

Describing the massacre in the village Armensko, Lerin Region, the Austro-Hungarian consul to Bitola wrote: "It is quite impossible to describe in detail the acts of bestiality. Women have had their wombs ripped open, their eyes torn out or their breasts cut off, the heads and bodies of small children have been brutally stabbed with ordinary pocket-knives, infants have been torn apart and flung to the dogs, nineteen women have been hung and three girls savagely butchered."

The well-known von Gaben, then advisor to the Ottoman authorities in Macedonia, alleges that an Ottoman colonel told him: "The rebel detachments fight like the Boers and we should follow the example of the English in putting them down. We shall burn their villages and their estates, and when they no longer have anywhere to hide they will be forced to scatter or give themselves up."

Despite instructions from the insurgent Revolutionary Command to conduct the Uprising along partisan lines, in practice the Uprising took the character of a mass Uprising particularly in the Bitola Revolutionary District. It was a peoples´ uprising because the Macedonian masses took part in it, determined to make the highest sacrifices to win their freedom. The Liberation Movement was led by the Macedonian intelligentsia, who mostly belonged to the petite bourgeoisie, but it was the peasant masses that were the striking force behind the Ilinden Uprising. In essence, the Uprising was a bourgeois-democratic revolution.

At the beginning of the Uprising the tactics of the General Staff varied from those of the people who had risen in revolt. The instigators of the Uprising and the General Staff believed that the object should be to force the European states to intervene and oblige the Ottomans to grant autonomy to Macedonia. The people, however, took up arms and set out to fight in order to free themselves and their country by themselves. They liberated several towns and established their own authority, driving Ottoman troops and government organs out, acts which were unplanned and unforeseen by the High Command.

There were undoubtedly several basic reasons for the failure of the Uprising. It was not properly prepared and therefore could not have covered all of Macedonia. Even in the district of Bitola, which was somewhat better equipped, there were not enough arms and those available were extremely primitive. Also it did not take long, after the start of the Uprising, for the Ottomans to realize that the main rebel force was in the district of Bitola and that this was where the bulk of the Ottoman troops should be sent; and this they would certainly not have been able to do if the Uprising had been carried out with the same intensity throughout all of Macedonia.

On the other hand, the Macedonian people were placed in a situation in which they themselves had to fight against the Ottoman Empire. It is well known that the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians, when fighting against Ottoman rule, won their freedom largely due to the military and diplomatic aid from foreign powers, chiefly from Tsarist Russia. When the Macedonians rebelled, Tsarist Russia and the other great powers were on the side of the Ottomans and advised the Ottoman Empire to use all its strength to establish "order" in Macedonia. Morally backed by the governments of the Great European Powers, the Sultan was able to mobilize an enormous army with which it overran Macedonia, particularly the district of Bitola, and put a bloody end to the Uprising.

The attitude of the neighbouring Balkan states towards the Ilinden Uprising was also hostile. Since they were interested in partitioning Macedonia, the ruling circles in Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia regarded the Uprising as an act directed against their artificially conceived interests. Hence they were not interested in a victorious outcome for the Macedonian people.

Indeed Greece openly sided with the Sultan. No sooner had the Uprising begun than an Ottoman-Greek front was created to discredit the Uprising in the eyes of Europe. Protest meetings were organized in Greece against the Uprising and aid was offered to the Sultan to crush it. Inside Macedonia the Greek factions consisting of Greek teachers, priests, metropolitans and others began a propaganda campaign to discredit the Uprising and stood in support behind the Ottoman regime. It was precisely this kind of attitude, expounded through Greek propaganda that prompted the Serbian consul in Bitola to write to his government: "There is an aspect of the Krushevo question which stands out clearly, and I mention it with the feeling of great satisfaction which I have as a Slav. For I join the other Slav groups here in their delight that the Krushevo rebels have lasted out longer in their battles against the Ottoman troops than the Greek soldiers did in the last Ottoman-Greek war (1897). My satisfaction is all the greater since the Greeks are growing more and more despicable through their mercenary services to the Ottomans..."

The struggle to win their freedom was, of course, dearly paid for with the loss of many lives. In Macedonia alone nearly 150 villages, or 9,850 homes, were either totally or partially burnt and about 58,000 people were left homeless. Over 2,000 innocent people were killed and about 10,000 people left Macedonia altogether.

The Ilinden Uprising was the most important revolutionary event in the recent history of the Macedonian people right up to the Second World War. It was "a glorious expression of the Macedonian peoples´ desire for freedom". The Ilinden Uprising was also an epic struggle to create a free and independent Macedonian state which marked a turning-point in the historical development of the Macedonian nation. The traditions inherited from this Uprising will have a powerful influence on future Macedonian generations and on the development of future Macedonian revolutionaries.

Happy Ilinden to all Macedonians worldwide!

And now I leave you with this;

"It was during the eighth century that Slav influence became greatest in Greece. In 746 a great plague breaking out in the near East reached Monemvasia in the Peloponnese, and, from there, spread over the whole Empire. The population of Greece suffered heavily, and was then further reduced by the migration of many skilled workmen to Constantinople; whose families left both the mainland and islands. Empty districts were thus left free to be colonized by Slavs who now pressed southwards in greater numbers than ever. In the words of the imperial historian, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, ´all open country was Slavonized and became barbarous, when the plague was devouring the whole world´. According to W. Miller, this is the real explanation of the Slav colonization of Greece. Whatever be the truth, the Slavs had by now spread widely over the Greek lands. So widespread were their settlements that in the eighth century the southern Balkans lands and mainland Greece were known as ´Sclavinia´." ("A Short History of Greece" by W. A. Heurtley, page 20).

For those who are still not convinced that the Modern Greek identity is an artificial creation, please continue to read this series of articles.

Author´s note:

Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.

To be continued.

Many thanks to TrueMacedonian from http://www.maknews.com for his contribution to this article.

You can contact the author at [email protected]

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/112560

[Risto the Great]

What an epic struggle.
I have to admit that even I forget to imagine the significance of this event.

Of interest is:
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans,
- Sandanski's ordering the Bulgarians to remove their stripes (I wish I was there!)
- Serbia's little stab at the Greeks for their "slavic brothers".
- Kostur's wholehearted battle for liberation.
- Russia's collusion with the Ottomans.
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans.
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans.
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans.

[Daskalot]

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 30 – Who writes my articles?

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/111659

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 30 – Who writes my articles?

Risto Stefov

July 26, 2009


Just as I was about to end this series of articles and go on to something new, there was something else that drew me back. This is the third time I ran into this so I figured it was time I dealt with it.

There are some rumours out there circulating that I don´t write my own articles. The reasoning behind it is "how can one person write so many articles and so many books in such a short time?"

So far I have thirteen books to my credit. Eleven are published, one is on its way to the printer and should be out by the end of August and I am currently working on finishing the thirteenth. One of those books I co-authored with Dr. Michael Seraphinoff. One was translated from English to Macedonian and a thousand copies were donated to the Macedonian cause. One was specifically written for non-Macedonians and one thousand copies were donated to politicians throughout the world. One was donated to a Literary Association in Australia and they in turn published it and printed one thousand copies for educational purposes. One, a forty page pamphlet, was also written for the Macedonian cause and one thousand copies were printed to be given away. I not only write these books but I also publish them myself.

So the question is "how can one person write so many books in a span of less than ten years?"

But that´s not all! In addition to writing books I also write occasional articles for a couple of newspapers, one in Toronto and another in Australia, I translate articles from Macedonian to English and I publish a monthly e-magazine called the Macedonian Digest. On top of that I also write weekly articles for the American Chronicle.

But how can I do all this, after all I am a "Slav" and "incapable of amounting to anything?" So my Greek friends tell me!

So the geniuses gathering in the donut shops, with nothing better to do, "figure" it must be "someone else" who writes my articles. But the question is who?

I don´t know who started these rumours but I first heard of them from a Macedonian, the kind that hangs around "donut shops". You know who you are!

The first time I ran into this rumour was about a year ago. I heard it from a person I have known to be Macedonian but I was not quite sure which way he leaned deep in his heart, Macedonian or Grkoman? His question, which he asked me on two separate occasions, was; "Who writes your books? Come on tell me, who writes your books?" In both instances I was caught by surprise and did not even comprehend its implication. Come on, what kind of a question is that?

The second time, a statement was made to my face by a known Grkoman, whom I have known for years. He said "You are ´Slavs´ and have nothing to do with the Macedonians and as ´Slavs´ are incapable of comprehending the complexities of academics. Show me a ´Slav´ who is capable of writing books?"

Ironically he said this in full view of all my books displayed in front of him.

Again I ignored his comment because I knew where it was coming from. My only concern for him was that he was about to be lynched by a number of Macedonians who overheard him. When asked to explain himself he started babbling Greek propaganda.

The third time I heard the rumour was from a "reliable Macedonian" who hangs around a certain group of Macedonians at a certain "donut shop". I know these people and they know me so I find it surprising that they would be circulating such rumours.

The person who told me about this would not disclose any details as to who said what mainly because these guys are his friends and he did not want to embarrass them by naming them. But I know who they are and after this they too will know that I know!

Because they know that I work alone, these "clever geniuses" also know that Risto Stefov is the genuine article and not a composite made up of multiple writers. So their conclusion was that "my wife must be writing my books for me!"

No disrespect to my wife but upon hearing this I laughed m.a. off.

Guys my wife is a nurse, a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Nursing, not a graduate from the Faculty of "Macedonian History"? You all know my wife is also Canadian, a Westerner, who had never heard of Macedonia before she met me. How does that make her an accomplished historian? And where do you "geniuses" place me in the "scheme of things"? Am I in this just for the glory of putting my name on the books and articles?

When I told my wife about this I figured she would be happy to be placed so high on a pedestal. To my surprise however she was not happy at all. In fact she pointed out and rightly so, that "we are our own worst enemies!" "Instead of encouraging and praising such accomplishments we find ways to destroy them."

I know you didn´t start these rumours (at least I hope you didn´t) but why do you have the need to propagate them? And not just rumours about me but about many things Macedonian? How can we expect to move forward or surface above our own crapulence, if we can´t even get our act together? Why do we continue "business as usual" without comprehending the damage we are doing to our cause? Do you think spreading "unfounded" rumours and "unsubstantiated" allegations will make you "more patriotic" Macedonians? How does "denigrating" Macedonians "help" the Macedonian cause? I have seen so many young Macedonian patriots "quit" fighting for the Macedonian cause simply because of stupid things like this!

As for me, I choose to work alone, voluntarily and without compensation. I am not a composite and I do write my own articles and books. If you don´t believe me you can believe what you like. I have made many personal sacrifices to do this and expect nothing in return, no praise and no recognition. And thank God for that because so far I have received very little. But on the contrary I have received much abuse and not just from the Greeks, but also from Macedonians, even from some who beat their chests and call themselves "patriots".

But I have to admit I am not alone in this endeavour, there are many Macedonians out there, to whom I am thankful, who help me with my research and send me source materials for my books and articles. They encourage me to continue to write and in return I will not disappoint them. I will not allow this "small-mindedness" to stop me from what I am doing! In fact the more abuse I receive the more I am encouraged to write. It reminds me why I am doing it!



The only reward I want is to see Macedonians proudly proclaim who they truly are, Macedonians, without fear and without having to cringe and feel awkward when they are asked "what ethnicity are you?" Especially by Greeks!

It was difficult for me to write this article, since I have sworn not to take up "words" against fellow Macedonians, but I felt it was necessary because there is a need to look at ourselves and our attitudes towards one another! If we can´t manage to pull together because of our "low opinions" of ourselves how then can we expect to escape from the clutches of our oppressors? If we can´t recognize when we are lead by our noses and made to "unjustly criticize" one another how then can we speak with a single voice and justly struggle to free ourselves from our enemies?

Every Macedonian must learn and understand that our enemies, particularly the Greeks, work on many levels. Lies and rumours are not beyond them. Those Macedonians who like to repeat what they hear must learn to "weigh the evidence" and determine if it is "for" or "against" our cause and then act on it appropriately. God gave us brains, let´s use them and not just for "parroting" everything we hear. I am sorry to have to say this but some of you gave me good reasons to speak up!

It is never good to speak against Macedonians, especially about things that are not true. And it would not hurt to challenge those who do speak foul and put them in their place!

Now if you wish to know what the Greeks think of me, here is an example of the type of abusive e-mails I get every day;

"Comrade Risto and all your compatriots need to know and put it in their thick and stubborn heads that they are not the phony descendants of Alexander the Great because the Macedonians never produced bastard descendants with South Slavonian identity and the their fraudulent claim that they are is a BIG MYTH that only an insane, paranoid and schizophrenic person would say or think.

Risto, you are nothing more than a South Slavonian janissary and one of the worst the world has ever seen. You are a miserable Makedoman but very hateful and hostile to the people you came from just like the Ottoman Turk janissaries were towards the people the came from.

When I say you are not I am not taking anything away from you or denying an identity that belongs to you or your comrades because, if there was a time that you might have called yourself a you lost that right when you denied your Hellenism just like the rest of you South Slavonian janissaries.

You gambled and you lost. You cannot have both ways. The Macedonian name has only one meaning and does designate two people with two different ethnic origins. The Macedonian Greek people cannot be duplicated by any charlatan like yourself and the rest of your comrades.

Get it through your thick skull of yours that if you think you can change reality or rather the Macedonian Greek actuality. All the lies, misleading distortions, deceptions and fraud and forgery can be only good for internal consumption or for fooling the idiots who listen to you because of ignorance, lack of education and simple lack of historical and ethnic knowledge of the Greek people and their nation."

Nick H.

Perhaps Nick H. was looking at his own reflection in the mirror when he was writing this e-mail. The more fanatical these Greeks get the more they reveal themselves. Nick H. speaks of the "Macedonians being a big myth" when we know very well that it is the Modern Greeks who are the biggest myth. He calls the Macedonians "janissaries" when he knows that the Modern Greeks are the true janissaries, the little bullies of the Balkans! If he doesn´t then he should also know that the Modern Greeks are the true "adopted" children of Western Imperialism which makes them more janissaries than anyone else in Europe!

The words in Nick H´s e-mail ring truer of the "fake" Hellenes than of any Macedonians I have ever known.

"When the Macedonians became rulers of Greece, Athens had twenty-one thousand citizens, ten thousand resident aliens, and four hundred thousand slaves." ("Race of Mongrel", by Alfred P. Schultz, page 86)

"The resident aliens were mainly Aryan-Hametic-Semetic-Egyptian-Negroid mongrels.

Mongrelization was inevitable." ("Race of Mongrel", by Alfred P. Schultz, page 87)

"The truth is that Hellenic varnish was given to the East and that Hellas became Asianized, the Greek race thoroughly mongrelized and completely destroyed. The mongrelization of Hellas put an end to the true Hellenic spirit…" ("Race of Mongrel", by Alfred P. Schultz, page 88).

"Sultan Mohammed II settled Turks in the Peloponnesus…. The ´Greeks´ are the descendents of races so different that their crossing can never produce anything else than human mongrels." ("Race of Mongrel", by Alfred P. Schultz, page 92).

For those who are still not convinced that the Modern Greek identity is an artificial creation, please continue to read this series of articles.

Author´s note:

Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.

To be continued.

Many thanks to TrueMacedonian from www.maknews.com for his contribution to this article.

You can contact the author at [email protected]

Good one, that was missed, but here it is dear readers! :rmacedonia

[BulgarMAK]

What an epic struggle.
I have to admit that even I forget to imagine the significance of this event.

Of interest is:
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans,
- Sandanski's ordering the Bulgarians to remove their stripes (I wish I was there!) historical source which supports your statement.
- Serbia's little stab at the Greeks for their "slavic brothers".
- Kostur's wholehearted battle for liberation.
- Russia's collusion with the Ottomans.
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans.
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans.
- the Greek collusion with the Ottomans.

You wish it was true, I think. There is absolutely no relevant(irrelevant either ) historical source supporting such a statement.
I wonder if you have seen Sandanski's photos from WWI marching towards Adrianopole under Bulgarian flag, wearing Bulgarian uniform and surrounded by Bulgarian officers.

[makedonin]

You wish it was true, I think. There is absolutely no relevant(irrelevant either ) historical source supporting such a statement.
I wonder if you have seen Sandanski's photos from WWI marching towards Adrianopole under Bulgarian flag, wearing Bulgarian uniform and surrounded by Bulgarian officers.

Yep, I have seen that one, the Photoshop edit. Everybody looks into the Camera to the center right, Sandanski somewhere in the left corner.

Also, Sandanski learned to defy the gravity somehow

[Daskalot]

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 32 – Conclusion

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/113475

Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage – Part 32 – Conclusion

Risto Stefov

August 08, 2009


My aim in bringing you this series of articles was to show you that the Modern Greeks are not only not "pure Greeks", as they claim to be, but that they are not even "Greeks" at all. In fact, except for their proportions in various regions, the people in the entire Southern Balkans today are the same people who lived in the Balkans before the new and modern 19th century countries were created. Modern Greece, or Ellas as the Greeks like to call it, is not only not "homogenous" but the people living there are not "Hellenes" at all. The people living in the Southern Balkans today are, in modern terms, predominantly ethnic Albanians, ethnic Vlachs and ethnic Macedonians, the same kind of people (but in different proportions) that live in the Republic of Macedonia and the entire Southern Balkans for that matter. The so-called "Greek ethnic identity" is a 19th century modern phenomenon, artificially created by the 19th century Western Philhellenes.

Think about it, since Philip II conquered the City States in 338 BC there have been no borders in that entire region. The first borders were artificially erected in the 1800´s AD. This means that people for the last 2,100 years freely flowed between regions and in time of war, disease, famine and poverty moved around. In fact there is documented evidence of Byzantine Emperors, on many occasions, moving people from region to region to re-populate depleted regions, a practice that was later continued by the Ottomans.

So if anything is true about the southern Balkan people today it is that they are all of a similar stock which descended from the 19th century Albanians, Macedonians, Vlachs and all other peoples that had settled in that region over the centuries. While the Republic of Macedonia has allowed its people to self declare, Greece has opted to force a fabricated identity on its people, claiming descent from a people that disappeared a long, long time ago.

My problem here, and the Macedonian peoples´ problem in general, is not with what the Greeks do or do not claim to be but with Greek interference in Macedonian affairs! Historically Macedonia and the Macedonian people have never been Greek! In fact if we examine history we will find that the Ancient City States, the region that today constitutes the southern part of Greece, was conquered by the Macedonians. Based on that fact and the fact that those Greeks never freed themselves, we can conclude that today´s Greece belongs to the Macedonians!

That being said, however, the problem we are faced with today is not "historic" but legal. "Do Macedonians have the right to their own heritage or not?" That is, do Macedonians, under international law have the right to self declare, speak their language, identify as Macedonians and call their ancestral homeland Macedonia? This is a legal problem not a historic one.

Clearly I have given enough evidence, if not to prove, at least to place doubt on the authenticity of the Modern Greek identity and again I must ask; "By what right do Modern Greeks deny the Macedonians their rightful heritage?"

What is more interesting about this is that some "mainstream" historians and academics of today have taken the Greek side knowing full well that the Modern Greek identity is not authentic. This was done to placate Greece either because of their dedication to the "Western cause" or because of indifference to the plight of the Macedonian people. Then for the sake of "political correctness" they allowed the Greeks to go "unchallenged" and to use this "false" history as a weapon against the Macedonians to a point of absurdity, causing the Macedonian people to suffer humiliation and indignity.

Macedonians exist and are alive and well and if modern history and today´s historians cannot accept that, then we must ask the question not "if Macedonians exist" but rather "is science, that prides itself on being factual, actually authentic?" I must also add that if history is truly factual, why have modern historians utilized "Greek myths" in recording the history of Modern Greece and the Modern Greeks, why have they ignored all sources that point to a different kind of Greece?

If historians rely on the Greeks to provide them with information "about the Greeks", why not offer the Macedonians the same courtesy? Why are people like Professor Miller calling themselves scientists while peddling "pseudo" science? Are there no purists and truth seekers in science any more? Is there no longer anyone in the scientific community that cares?

It is time for those who have taken the "Greek side" to really examine their position. The fact that Greeks are not who they claim to be and the fact that Macedonians exist and are not going anywhere any time soon, should be a wake up call for them. A decision to support the "Greek side" should be based on facts and not on fiction!

There is no doubt that Greeks will attack anyone who challenges their myth but are we expected to sacrifice "science" to feed someone´s dream? And in the case of the Macedonians, are they expected to sacrifice their identity, heritage, history, language, culture and dignity in order to continue to give life to a Greek lie?

Seriously ask yourselves; Who are the Modern Greeks and what gives them the right to interfere in Macedonian affairs?

When I began this series of articles I was hoping to find some Greeks who I could identify as "authentic Greeks" so I asked around: "Show me some authentic Greeks who came from Macedonia?" To my surprise I was shown my own relatives! So then I ask "if not for the ethnic Macedonians, who are the Greeks that so many Greeks claim live in Macedonia?" The more questions I asked the more I was lead to more ethnic Macedonians, more Vlachs, more Albanians and more Christian Turk settlers from Asia Minor. One can ask this question of every Macedonian that comes from Greece and most would say; "Yes I too have relatives who identify as Greeks!" This then begs the question "who are the ´authentic´ Greeks?" I haven´t found one yet! That is why I can say with confidence that "Greeks as an authentic ethnic group do not exist". Modern Greeks are a fabrication of the Philhellene imagination. So then I ask again, what gives these so-called "charlatan Greeks" the right to call themselves Greeks and, least of all, interfere in Macedonian affairs?

While discussing this subject let us not forget that our plea as Macedonians is not about who these Greeks are but rather about basic human rights for those who want to be identified as Macedonians. Let us not forget that buried beneath the rhetoric and denials are the forgotten Macedonians who today are living inside Greece without the least of basic human rights.

If there is indeed anything in this world that needs changing it is Greece´s attitude towards its ethnic minorities living inside Greece on their own native soil.

Greece, it seems, needs "conflict" to keep its people in check. It needs enemies like the Slavs, the Turks, the Bulgars, the communists and now the "Skopians" to keep its people preoccupied and afraid. Greece needs enemies to vilify its own people who stray away from the flock. Without fear Greece is afraid it will "unravel" at the seams while ironically Greece prides itself on not having any seams. This explains Greece´s constant and unwarranted irrational behaviour towards its minorities be it in war or in peace.

The so many former Slavs, Albanians, Vlachs and others who so "easily" accepted the Philhellene indoctrination and became the "willing Greeks" who today are the "leading figures of Greece" can only be explained by the fact that these people don´t care about "who" they are as long as they possess power and wealth. This begs the question; "If they don´t care about their own true identities why should they care about who the Macedonians are?" Naturally they don´t, so this entire issue cannot be about "history" or about "identities", therefore it must be about power and wealth. Isn´t it always?



Will Greece unravel at its seams if it "de-homogenizes"? Of course not! But all the lies told in the past will be exposed! Those who built influence by barking lies and Greek propaganda will be exposed and will become the fools and laughing stock in the face of their own people. Influential and prominent Greeks can´t afford to have that happen.

Again I must emphasize strongly that I, and most Macedonians in general, have no problem with these people calling themselves Greeks and claiming the ancient Greek heritage but again I do have a problem with people who deny my right and the Macedonian people´s right to be who we are, Macedonians!

Paul wrote:

The United Nations has been largely deceived by this intricate framework of negation. Briefly, because the Macedonian-Greek "talks" about the name "Macedonia" have the blessing of the UN - the Greek attack on our sovereignty and our rights - have also been given institutional legitimacy in the UN. It is up to the Macedonians to say "the Greek position constitutes an existential threat to our right to exist" – and this should have been done 19 years ago. However, it is never too late to do this. The "illusion" is that the entire UN (world) is against us, when it is actually one or two (possibly three) states. The world and our own people need to realize this.

If one can accept that the Greek position is an attack on our State and our right to exist - the rest should be easy (one would think).

Rejecting the Greek position, on that basis, is simply a matter of taking a principled stand. Of saying 'No' to Greece because Greek terms violate our sovereignty, our self determination, and right to exist, as we are.

The World knows that the Greek position violates our rights. Our rights are enshrined in every international law, charter and treaty. We only need to ASK that our rights be respected, as we respect the rights of others. We cannot be held hostage for that, and we will free ourselves. Our enemies are few - and there is of course the rest of the world, we can embrace.

The problem for us is that our Macedonian leadership right now is inexperienced, and possibly fearful of the political damage Greece could do. I have analyzed the conditions very carefully and there is nothing more Greece can do - politically, or economically, they have not already done. If they are concerned about the term F.Y.R.O.M, they should not be. The UN has violated its own charters before, only to see the error of its ways later. These cases are well known. In any case, there are many strategies the Macedonians can use to change the term F.Y.R.O.M, which is a concern to be sure, but not something to panic about.

On the issue of "name talks". This is a euphemism. It hides the fact that the Greek position constitutes an existential threat to our State, our people and our history. There are many handbooks out there, many sophisticated works that chart ways in which elites and political actors can create, manipulate, and even dismantle the identities of ethnic groups, States and nations. (Agulhon 1981, Beaune, 1991, Corse 1996, Hobsbaum 1992). The Macedonians have given the Greek attack some legitimacy, which gives our enemies the advantage over us (even though they are few). By rejecting the Greek attack, on principled legal grounds - there is nothing more Greece can do, but change its position, or stay in limbo forever, while the little Macedonian Republic prospers, exponentially. This is why we should reject the "talks".

If, and it is a big if, the Macedonian leadership is going to be discussing anything - the first rule is it should not be one on one, with the Greeks. What the Macedonian leadership should do (they have an opportunity to do this at any time), is raise a very serious issue at the UN. The Macedonians (with the help of a sponsor), should raise the issue that the Greek position constitutes a direct attack to the Macedonian sovereignty and its right to self determination - that issue should then be put to a vote and a UN resolution. You see what I am driving at here. These "talks" have the institutional backing of the UN and the European Union (thanks to the Macedonian government) - the Greek attack has institutional backing in these institutions, because of the "talks". But Macedonia is a sovereign state, and can decide on its own. The Macedonians then have an option. They can if they chose, pass a resolution on the floor of the UN that the Greek position constitutes a direct threat to the sovereignty and right of self determination of the Macedonian people. It would be a legal position, not a historical one. On a related matter, that is why I have said that for there to be peace Greece needs to change, not Macedonia. Our minorities have their human and cultural rights - ethnic groups of Greece do not. Macedonian democracy embraces diversity, Greece is still deceiving people that it is "pure". Whether the Greek position actually constitutes an attack on our sovereignty and our rights should be (in my opinion) the ONLY thing they should be discussing, and ONLY on the floor of the UN.

This business about negotiating our Macedonian Nationality, as though it were a bargaining chip in a poker game, is deadly for us. There is a way out. I have outlined it above. I just hope we see the light."

By Paul from www.maknews.com/forum

And now I leave you with this;

A few weeks ago a friend gave me some very interesting news which may prove why Greece behaves irrationally towards the Macedonians.

He said that in the Turkish archives exists secret information of a Great Power agreement that states that "if one of the parts of divided Macedonia becomes independent all of Macedonia is to be reunited". Turkey wanted to open these archives to the Republic of Macedonia but due to objections from the "Western Powers" that information is still locked up in the archives.

This information is still at the rumour stage and could be fact or fiction, but like I said if it is fact it certainly explains Greece´s erratic behaviour. It also opens new possibilities for the Macedonian people. It is definitely worth further investigation.

If anyone out there has more information, please write me.

Author´s note:

Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.

The End.

Once again I would like to thank TrueMacedonian, Paul, Osiris and others from http://www.maknews.com for their contribution to this series of articles.

You can contact the author at [email protected]

Thank you Risto for writing this article!

[NikodimMKD]

And now I leave you with this;

A few weeks ago a friend gave me some very interesting news which may prove why Greece behaves irrationally towards the Macedonians.

He said that in the Turkish archives exists secret information of a Great Power agreement that states that "if one of the parts of divided Macedonia becomes independent all of Macedonia is to be reunited". Turkey wanted to open these archives to the Republic of Macedonia but due to objections from the "Western Powers" that information is still locked up in the archives.

This information is still at the rumour stage and could be fact or fiction, but like I said if it is fact it certainly explains Greece´s erratic behaviour. It also opens new possibilities for the Macedonian people. It is definitely worth further investigation.

If anyone out there has more information, please write me.

Some questions:

1. If it's "secret information", how did your friend find out about it?
2. Which "Great Powers" are forcing Turkey to keep this a "secret"?
3. How can the Turks (ie. Ottomans) have any say to any treaties when they were crushed in the Balkan war and lost almost all European territories?

If Macedonia is to be reunited, it will only be with war against 'greece'.

[Jankovska]

Well it is secred because we haven't actually seen the contents of it and as far as I can read Risto said it could be a rumor or it could be true,which part did you find hard to understand?
There are always great powers, if it weren't for the English to give you (the Greeks ) Egej Macedonia you would not have it, because you have been born cowards and will stay cowards. Greeks always need someone else to fight their fights
History is written by everyone but it;s published by the winners. These are the same winners who try and destroy the history that is usualy the correct. Shame Turkey has always proven to be a bit much for Greece, even when they were crashed by every force on earth
Macedonia doesn't have to go to war to get the rest of the territor. Those parts are ours and Macedonians will get them back, sooner or later. No one breaks the Macedonian spirit, if you don't trust me you can ask the Greeks, they tried to destroy us in any way possible but they failed miserebly and made us stronger than ever.

[NikodimMKD]

Jankovska,

I think the 'greeks' obtained Macedonia from the wars of the 2nd balkan war against Bulgaria and not by the English.