1June 14, 2015

Hon. Alannah MacTiernan953A Beaufort Street,Inglewood WA 6052,Australia

Dear Hon. MacTiernan,

Subject: Your Statement on Greek and Balkan history*

I am writing this letter in opposition to your views and comments you made regardingseveral aspects of Macedonian history.

Please be informed that the disagreement between Greece and the Former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia (FYROM) is not an issue of history. It is an issue of irredentism andexpansionism of Skopje at the expense of all its neighbors, but in particular Greece. Yourconstituents of Skopjan descent live in a euphoric recall and use distorted historical facts as thebasis for an eventual claim on the Greek region of Macedonia and especially the city ofThessaloniki.

The ancient Macedonians were not Hellenized, as they were already of Greek origin.Since, you believe that the Macedonians were Hellenized, I think it is only fair for you toannounce to historians of the world what the Macedonians were before they were Hellenized.As you apparently know what they changed their culture to, you must also acknowledge theorigin of that culture.

In the Battle of Chaeronea, the Macedonians had not defeated the Greeks; they haddefeated the Athenians, Thebans and their very few allies such as Achaeans, Corinthians,Chalcians, Epidaurians, Megarians and Troezenians. Eight tribes out of 204 are a little short ofthe Greeks.

Philip II did not occupy the area of the FYROM. Somehow, you have missed the fact thatabout one quarter of the FYROM was part of the Dardanians, and that included the regions ofDebar, Tetovo, Skopje and Kumanovo. It is the area that the Albanians call Ilirida, at present.Prof. Fanula Papazoglu a member of the Academy of Skopje wrote in one of her books, It isoften forgotten that ancient Macedonia occupied only a relatively small part of the YugoslavMacedonia of today!"

It was not Basilios I, but Basilios II of the Macedonian dynasty. It is interesting that thisBasilios II fought and eliminated the kingdom of another king, the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil, whomSkopje claims as Macedonian as well. Based on such a thought, should we assume that it was aMacedonian civil war that took place in 1014? Such claim would be news to all historians.

The Slavic awakening in the south Balkans did not include any Macedonians since at thattime they identified themselves with Bulgarians living in Macedonia. All inhabitants ofMacedonia used the term in a geographic context, Misirkov says so. People such as MonkPaisios, Rakovski, Kunchev aka Levski, Delchev (by his own admission) Gruev, Karev, Blagoevet.al were all Bulgarians. Blagoev was the founder of the Bulgarian Social Democratic LabourParty, i.e. Communist Party. He was the instigator of the establishment of the Balkan Federationunder communist rule that was supported by Lenin and espoused by Stalin. On January 11, 1934,

2Stalin fabricated the Macedonian ethnicity, i.e. he gave a regional name to a group as its ownethnic. Tito gave land to the FYROM about 10 years later.

We do not deny that ethno-genesis can occur, after all Australia and Canada are but a fewsuch examples where nations and ethnicities can be borne and multicultural societies can liveharmoniously together. Such nations have been built on their own merits and not by usurpingothers history and culture. Australia and Canada for example have no need to re-label theirEnglish language in order to justify the creation of their nation

Maam,

For the sake of argument, if we assume that the ancient Macedonians were not Greeks, itdoes not automatically mean that the Slav inhabitants of the country, which wants to be calledMacedonia, have anything to do with the ancient Macedonians. Such a conclusion is a result of afallacious syllogism and an argument from ignorance.

The FYROM since its independence never seized to provoke its neighbors, especiallyGreece. The dream of its Slav inhabitants is to use distorted historical facts in order to set claimson Greek lands for its own expansionist agenda, and you, Maam, are supporting such effortbecoming part of a future problem - the regional instability in the Balkans.

Regardless of what your constituents say, Greece is right. Unless your Slav constituentsstop branding the red flags with the golden Sun of Vergina and unless they stop brandishingmaps of a united Macedonia, the FYROM is not going to become a member of the EU orNATO.

I am suggesting that you should ask your voters about the meaning of the map of a unitedMacedonia (see below) that circulates under your nose. By thoughtlessly supporting the views ofthe Skopje Slav diaspora, you sponsor regional instability in the Balkans and perhaps you fosterthe basis for a future war.

You have been caught in a web and now you are helping the Skopjan diaspora to use theharpoon with which they would impale the region of Macedonia from Greece.

I am attaching a more detailed response supported by references so that you learn a fewthings that your constituency obviously has not told you about.

Respectfully,Marcus A. Templar

__________* "In all my discussion on the Macedonian question I have always acknowledged that the Slavscame to the area around 1,300 years ago and that Macedonia was a political and cultural entitylong before then. I just do not think that is particularly relevant fact. It is not clear the originalMacedonians can be described as Greek. In classical accounts, they conquered the Greeks andunified them into the Macedonian kingdom, which was then Hellenised. Indeed, the Battle ofChaeronea where the Macedonians defeated the Greeks in 338 BC was said to mark the end ofGreek history and the beginning of the Macedonian era. The cultural victory of the vanquished isnot unusual the Vikings invaded Ireland but quickly embraced Celtic culture. You may becorrect that the original Macedonia occupied a small area which is now entirely within modernGreece. However, I do note the area of the Republic was conquered by Philip II about the sametime he subdued the Greek states. So it has been part of Macedonia for over two thousand years.

3When the Romans came to ascendancy, they included the area that now forms the Republic intheir province of Macedonia. Even after the Slavonic invasion, the area was still known asMacedonia in the early Middle Ages. The Byzantine Emperor Basil I was acknowledged to be aMacedonian. Macedonian nationalism was evident through the 19th century. So, in my view,your case that the selection of the name of Macedonia for the Republic is random is not provenand that clearly the area has historic connections to an evolving political entity known asMacedonia. I would be interested to know why you would think the gene pools of the areas wouldline up with accidents of modern geo-political boundaries. Invading groups have alwaysinterbred with native populations. Indeed, Alexander the Great used to encourage his soldiers todo precisely that. Likewise, the Goths and the Slavs intermixed with Macedonians and Greeksalike. Hence, in my view, the gene pools of Greek Macedonians and those from the Republic arelikely to be very similar. I do not see myself as choosing between Australian Greeks andAustralian Macedonians. I agree that the Greeks have brought so much to this country andindeed I remember with great fondness the Greek Branch of the Australian Labor Party. I alsoprofoundly respect the political and intellectual contribution of Greece to westerncivilisation. But I do feel an obligation to stand up for a small nation which I believe is beingunfairly treated." (MacTiernan to the Greek politicians from her Labor Party on June 8th 2015)

* please, continue to read on the next page *

4A Contribution to Historical Truth

By Marcus A. Templar

Anything and everything we have on ancient Macedonia from its inception as a stateduring the eighth century BC on to its demise under the Romans is Greek and represent theGreek culture. (Papazoglu 1957, 4 & 333). The Greco-Bactrian kingdom is a testimony of theGreekness of the ancient Macedonians which lasted till the first century AD (Justin XLI, para 1,4, 6; Justin XXXVI, 1,1; Polybius 10.49; Polybius 11.34; Strabo XI.XI.I; Strabo II.II.2; Strabo11-8-1; Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV).

Ancient Macedonians were Greeks; they were not Hellenized. Herodotus has identifiedMacedonians with the Dorians (Herodotus book I, 56). Borza, agreeing with Hammond states,First, the matter of the Hellenic origins of the Macedonians: Nicholas Hammond's generalconclusion that the origin of the Macedonians lies in the pool of proto-Hellenic speakers whomigrated out of the Pindus mountains during the Iron Age is acceptable." (Borza 1995, 149).

In addition,

The "highlanders" or "Makedones" of the mountainous regions of western Macedonia arederived from northwest Greek stock; they were akin both to those who at an earlier timemay have migrated south to become the historical "Dorians", and to other Pindus tribeswho were the ancestors of the Epirotes or Molossians. That is, we may suggest thatnorthwest Greece provided a pool of Indo-European speakers of proto-Greek from whichwere drawn the tribes who later were known by different names as they established theirregional identities in separate parts of the country (Eugene N. Borza 1982, 7).

But here is the issue. You are very definite that the Macedonians were Hellenized.What kind of culture, language, and religion did they then have before they adopted Greekculture, language and religion? Since you know what the Macedonians had changed to, youshould know what it is they changed from. What where they before? If you dont know, how doyou know that they have changed at all?

In the Battle of Chaeronea the Macedonians did not defeat the Greeks; they had defeatedthe Athenians, the Thebans and their very few allies (Achaeans, Corinthians, Chalcians,Epidaurians, Megarians and Troezenians). These few tribes can hardly qualify to represent allGreek tribes that incidentally the Macedonian tribes belonged to. For your information there arequite a few more of the Greek tribes that did not participate starting with the Spartans,Amathousioi, Amphilochioi, Aones, Aperandoi, Arcadioi, Argioi, Arktanes, Aspendioi,Athamanes Atindanes, Atintanes, Avandes, Caucones, Cassiopaioi, Cercyraioi, Chalkaioi,Chaones, Chioi, Cooi, Eurytanes, Gephyraeoi, Gortynioi, Heraklioi, Idonoi, Ikadotoi, Knidioi,Laconians, Leucadians, Lindioi, Locrians, Lycones, Pergians, Perraeboi, Phaselitai, Phocians,Polyrrhenioi, Rhodians, et. al. The list can go on to include all 233 Greek tribes, that spoke 204dialects. They do contain the three Macedonian tribes of Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanes.

The invasion of the Peloponnese by the Dorians took place at two different times andfrom two different geographic areas. The story about the leadership of the first invasion is afollows: Aegymios (), the king of the Dorians, had two sons, Pamphylos ()and Dymas (), but after Heracles death, Aegymios adopted Hercules' son Hyllus ().Hercules, by the way, aka Heracles. The above story is collaborated by Strabo who Strabo

5divides the Makednian tribe, previously known as Makednoi, into three tribes: Hylleis,Pamphyloi, and Dymanes (Herodotus V, 68, 2; Stephanus Byzantius s. v.)

The Macedonians, continuing their wandering over Pindus and then east to the north partof Thessaly behind Pieria, delayed their development into a solid urban and military force untilthe reign of Philip II, as Alexander the Great put it in his speech in Opis:

He (Philip) found you (Macedonians) vagabonds and destitute of means, most of you cladin hides, feeding a few sheep up the mountain sides, for the protection of which you hadto fight with small success against Illyrians, Triballians, and the border Thracians. Insteadof the hides he gave you cloaks to wear, and from the mountains he led you down into theplains, and made you capable of fighting the neighboring barbarians, so that you were nolonger compelled to preserve yourselves by trusting rather to the inaccessible strongholdsthan to your own valor.

The Triballians or Triballi lived deep in the interior of the Balkan Peninsula, between thelower course of the Southern Morava and the Isker, i.e. Danube. (Herodotus IV, 49; ThucydidesII, 96. Papazoglu 1978, 9-86). They were one of Thracian tribes. Three civilizations existed inthe ancient south Balkan world, the Thracian, the Illyrian and the Hellenic. Characteristic of theabove part of Alexanders speech is that he calls Illyrians and Thracians neighboring barbarians.Deductively, it means that Macedonians were Greeks.

The statement that the area of the Republic was conquered by Philip II belied by Dr.Papazoglu who stated the above because Philip II had occupied only the area just north of theMountain Vorras as Macedonians used to call the Mt. Kaymakalan of the Turks. Dr. FanulaPapazoglu, a member of Skopjes Academy of Sciences and Arts wrote about the ancientMacedonian subjugation of regions around it, which does not include the whole region of theFYROM. Only the narrow area between Bitola and Ohrid was part of Upper Macedonia, the landof Lyngistes, a Molossian Greek speaking tribe.

In this case it is not very important whether it is correct to apply the term "Illyrian" (inthe narrower sense) to the cultural area of Bosnia and Dalmatia, since the earliest literarysources give the name of Illyrian to tribes living much further south, in the immediatevicinity of Macedonia (ancient Macedonia, of course; it is often forgotten that ancientMacedonia occupied only a relatively small part of the Yugoslav Macedonia oftoday!)" (Fanula Papazoglu, 1978, 268). Emphasis is mine.

It is true that the Romans named the region of Skopje Macedonia Secunda or Salutaris,but they kept the name of the true Macedonia as Macedonia Prima. Rome gave all kinds ofnames to areas of conquest without the consent of the inhabitants. They actually had Senatorialand Imperial Provinces and these provinces had not only changed names, but also their territorialboundaries depending on the whim of the emperor and the power of the Roman Senate. Forinstance, the late Roman provinces although had kept some of the names of the early Romanprovinces, they had different territorial shapes and they often included nations that had nothingto do with the name of the province. Designations such as Secundus / -a, Salutaris, Superior,Inferior denoted an area that Romans did not know what to call and so gave the name of aneighboring province after attaching the above designation, e.g. Macedonia Secunda, GermaniaInferior, Moesia Inferior, etc.

6After all, they were the conquerors. Nevertheless, under Byzantine rule, Macedoniawhenever the name had appeared was not even near the present day Greek Macedonia. And no,the name Macedonia did not last 2000 years.

In the first century AD, St. Paul spread Christianity to Europe starting with Macedonia.He did not visit Strumica, or Bitola although the Hellenic population was rather wide spread.Like Alexander the Great, St. Paul did not visit Veles or Skopje; they were not withinMacedonian territory. Both, Alexander the Great and St. Paul probably did not know those twotowns existed. St. Paul visited the cultural centers of Macedonia (Neapolis, Philippi, Apollonia,Thessaloniki, and Veria, which were purely Greek), teaching the Gospel in Greek to theMacedonian Greeks. Apostle Pauls journeys to Greece (Macedonia and Achaia) sparked theflame of Christianity in Greece and from there to Europe and from there to the World. ApostlePaul also sent pastoral letters directed to the Macedonian Greeks through the Thessalonians andthe Philippians. All letters were written in Greek, of course. Moreover, he visited Athens andCorinth, two very important cultural centers of South Greece. St. Pauls visits to these Greekcultural centers in Macedonia and Achaia ascertain that the Hellenic world was the crux of hisMinistry to Christianize Europe, as Jesus Christ said a few years before in Palestine.

The emperor Basilios II, not Basilios I was born in the city of Charioupolis (present dayHayrabolu, Eastern Thrace, Turkey) located in the middle of the Byzantine Province ofMacedonia between the River Evros (Maritsa) and the line atalca - Yeilky. That wasMacedonia at the time of Basilios II, the Bulgar Slayer. The name Macedonia appeared on andoff in that area, but also in the area of Eastern Rumelia until the Ottoman conquest. The area ofthe Greek Macedonia was constantly the Thema of Thessaloniki.

According to the Slavs from the FYROM, Tsar Samuil was a Macedonian king of theBereziti tribe. But since Basil II was a Macedonian, as well, doesnt it suggest that the battle atKleidion (Belaica) was part of a civil war? If such is the answer, it would be news to allhistorians specializing in Byzantium.

I want to add some information in order to clarify a few more things. Basilios II wascalled Bulgar-Slayer, for a good reason. After the Battle of Kleidion (Belaica), Basiliosgathered about 14,000 prisoners, divided the prisoners into groups of 100 men, blinded 99 menin each group and left one man in each with one eye so that he could lead the others home.

When Samuel beheld 14,000 Bulgarians blinded by Basil II and sent back to theirhomeland, he died of shock received from this horrible sight. After his death in 1014,Bulgaria was too weak to resist the Greeks, and was soon conquered by the ByzantineEmpire. In 1018 the first Bulgarian kingdom ceased to exist, for it was transformed into aByzantine province ruled by an imperial governor (A. A. Vasiliev 1935, 262).

The Bulgarian king Samuel died of a heart attack on October 6, 1014, reportedly due toseeing his soldiers blinded. Tsar Samuils stele commemorating his parents (AD 993) was foundin the Monastery of St. Achilius on an island at Lake Prespa, Greece in 1888. The column waswritten in Bulgarian. He was succeeded by his son Gavril (murdered in 1015) and a nephew Ivan(killed in battle in 1018), after which Bulgaria became a Byzantine province.

What makes the claims of those from Skopje invalidated is the Bitola Inscription. TheBitola Inscription was engraved by order of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Vladislav in 1015 inconnection with the fortification of the Bitola (Monastiri) fortress. The inscription was found in

71956 in the village German near Bitola, The FYROM, and it is stored at the Bitola HistoricalMuseum. The inscription states,

In the year 6523 [1015] since the creation of the world, this fortress, built and made byIvan, Tsar of Bulgaria, was renewed with the help and the prayers of Our Most HolyLady and through the intercession of her twelve supreme Apostles. The fortress was builtas a haven and for the salvation of the lives of the Bulgarians. The work on the fortress ofBitola commenced on the twentieth day of October and ended on the [...] This monarchwas Bulgarian by birth, grandson of the pious Nikola and Ripsimia, son of Aaron, whowas brother of Samuil, Tsar of Bulgaria, the two who routed the Greek army of EmperorBasil II at Stipone where gold was taken [...] and in [...] this Tsar was defeated byEmperor Basil in 6522 [1014] since the creation of the world in Klyutch [Kleidion] anddied at the end of the summer. (Thomas Lysaght 1982).

From this inscription it becomes crystal clear that Samuils family considered themselvesto be Bulgarian. But there is something that the people of the FYROM and its diaspora shouldthink about.

Stefan Uro IV Duan crowned himself Emperor of Serbs and Romans, i.e. Greeks (April16, 1346) in Skopje. This title was soon enlarged into "Emperor and Autocrat of the Serbs andGreeks, the Bulgarians and Albanians" (Hupchick 1995, p. 141; Clissold 1968, p. 98; White2000, p. 246). If the Macedonian-Slav people existed, how was it possible that the man whoafter he crowned himself emperor of the whole south Balkan region running out of titles, missedthem?

During the Ottoman rule, the name Macedonia did not exist. Instead the ottoman Statehad three provinces, Thessaloniki, Monastiri (Bitola), and Kosovo which included the town ofSkopje.

Some people in Skopje advocate the amalgamation theory. According to this unproventheory, the present Macedonians are a mixture of the ancient Macedonians with the Slavictribes. But such an argument is flawed. The ancient Macedonians spread the Greek civilizationeverywhere they went. Nevertheless, according the theory of amalgamation they had not mixedwith Greeks, or with any invading force or conqueror waiting for the Slavic tribes so that theyamalgamate with them?

During the 9th century, the Greek region of Macedonia, or Macedonia Proper wasdestined to play a very important role in Christianity. The two Great sons of Macedonia,brothers Constantine (in schema Cyril) and Michael (in schema Methodius), provided educationto the ignorant and uncivilized Slavs through religion giving them an alphabet and codified theirlanguage, the Old Church Slavonic. The two Greek brothers from Thessaloniki, were the sons ofLeon and Maria. Leon was a descendant of the Byzantine Empress, Irene the Athenian (797-802), wife of the Emperor Leon IV and was a drougarios, a senior official of the imperialadministration equal to a General. It is clear from Methodius biography that the two brotherswere fluent Greek-speakers and educated in a Greek environment, and they grasped the Slavoniceasily. Cyril mastered a number of other languages, including Hebrew and Arabic according tohis biographer and disciple, Clement, the first Bulgarian Bishop.

There are a series of Papal affirmations regarding the birth and the nationality of the twobrothers and their family. They are:

81. The Encyclical promulgated on 20 November 1901 (On the Foundation of a Seminary inAthens Pope Leo XIII).

2. Apostolic Letter Pacis Nuntius(3) of 24 October 1964, proclaimed Saint Benedict Patronof Europe.

3. Egregiae Virtutis, by Pope John Paul II, December 31, 1980.4. Slavorum Apostoli Pope John Paul II, 2 June 1985.5. Encyclical Epistle Grande Munus (30 September 1880), in Leonis XIII Pont. Max. Acta,

II, PP. 125 137; cf. also PIUS XI, Letter Quod S. Cyrillum (13 February 1927) to theArchbishops and Bishops of the Kingdom of the Serbs-Croats-Slovenes and of theCzechoslovakian Republic: AAS 19 (1927), pp. 93-96; JOHN XXIII, Apostolic LetterMagnifici Eventus (11 May 1963) to the Prelates of the Slav Nations: AAS 55 (1963), pp.434-439. PAUL VI, Apostolic Epistle Antiquae Nobilitatis (2 February 1969) for theeleventh centenary of the death of Saint Cyril: AAS 61 (1969), pp. 137-149).

6. UT UNUM SINT (That They May Be One) Pope John Paul II, 25 May 1995."

It is very well known and documented that the father of Sts. Cyril and Methodius wasGreek (Lazaroff, Pavloff, et.al. 1993, 36-38; Halecki 1952, 31: Djordic, 1990, 11)

The Slavic Awakening in the South Balkans started with a call to cultural andrevitalization of the Bulgarian ethnic identity. In the late 18th century, Bulgarian monk andscholar Paisios of the monastery Hilandar of Mount Athos wanting to revive the Old Bulgarianculture he, in old age, initiated great literary works, which were written in Old Church Slavonicstating, Of all the Slav peoples the most glorious were the Bulgarians. (R. J. Crampton 2000, 47).

The 19th century nationalism did not exist as Macedonian, but as Bulgarian. MonkPaisios, Rakovski, Levski, and a few others were professed Bulgarians. The IMRO was aBulgarian organization and the Revolt in Krushevo (1903) was a political revolt according tocredible sources the victims were Greek-Vlachs and the villains were Bulgarian communistrevolutionaries and Ottoman Turks. The Revolt did not have any ethnic character sinceMacedonian, i.e. Slavic nation did not exist. (Lazar Kolishevski 1980, 12; Keith Brown 2003,190, 209; George W. Gawrych July 1986, 307-330; Ivan Katardjiev Forum July 22, 2000,Archive # 329; Ivan Katardzhiev 1986, 376-377).

The birth of the Macedonian Slav nation took place on February 11, 1934 (Vlahov1970, 357; Bechev 2000, 98).

The geographical term Macedonia appeared on maps and literature after 1878 and onlybecause of the aspirations that Serbia and Bulgaria had on the area that at present constitutes theFYROM.

Serb politicians and ethnographers such as Stojan Novakovi, Jovan Cviji, AleksandarBeli, et al. argued that the inhabitants of present day FYROM territories spoke dialects thatbelonged to the transitional Serbian, i.e. Torlak dialects. Between 1890 and 1900, Bulgariangovernments sponsored ethnographers to draw maps of Macedonia to include the territories westof Bulgaria that fit their political and territorial aspirations. (Tihomir R. Djordjevi 191, 6).

Vasil Knov, one of the enlisted inventive ethnographers, created a map of a newMacedonia, never before imagined, allegedly inhabited mostly by Bulgarians. (orevi(Georgevich) 1918, 6). Considering that only a few westerners visited Macedonia at that time,Bulgaria, assisted by Russia, was free to assert that the majority of the Macedonians wereBulgarians when in fact they were a medley of races and nationalities. Ottoman statistics tied to

9military taxation were unreliable since most Patriarchist households registered only one male perhousehold, while children and female residents were completely missing from the equation. Thatwas not true with the Exarchist households, which were ethnically Bulgarian. (pek K.Yosmaolu, Feb., 2006, 55-77).

The new map of Macedonia included the Vilayets of Thessaloniki, Monastiri, the southregion of the Vilayet of Kosovo and in general the Torlak speaking areas of Serbia. The solepurpose of such effort was the annexation of the territories northwest, west and south of Bulgaria,i.e. the restoration of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

The Treaty of Bucharest (1913) that set the borders between Bulgaria and its neighboringcountries does not mention Macedonia anywhere. After the Balkan Wars, Greece was the firstcountry to establish the administration of Macedonia on April 3, 1912.

There is no doubt in anyones mind that Krste Petkov Misirkov is the father ofMacedonism, yet in his book, he states that he attended the Petrograd Macedonian-Slav LiterarySociety Sveti Kliment. In addition, Misirkov states that Macedonia has other ethnicities, such asGreeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, Turks et.al. who call themselves Macedonians as a regionaldesignation. He repeats himself to an annoying degree, connecting these Macedonians withSlavic ethnicity, language, traditions, specifically in pages XXII, 9, 10, 20, 39, 59, 80, 84 (twice),85, 89, 95, 96 (. . , , , , 1946). In this manner, Misirkov had established the fact that hisMacedonians were Slavs, descendants of the Seven Slavic Tribes.

That the Macedonians, i.e. Slavs who lived in Macedonia existed in the 19th and evenin the first half of the 20th century as a nation is a myth. It was created by their diaspora inconsequence of their recognition by the Communist International in 1934 and convenientlyapplied retrospectively to those Bulgarians who lived in Macedonia.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bulgarians roamed western Europe seekingsupport for an independent Macedonia

In 1895, one of the secret societies, "The Macedo-Adrianople Committee" addressed aletter to the Great Powers. They supposedly represented all inhabitants of Macedonia, advocating"an autonomous Macedonia, with its capital at Salonika [Thessaloniki], to be placed under aGovernor-General of the predominant ethnicity". Since the dominant ethnicity was Bulgarian,they were seeking to establish the first step for their domination over Macedonia. (WilliamMiller 2009, 444).

The Great Powers were very cognizant of the fact and it is why Rostkovski, the RussianConsul in Monastiri (Bitola) often said, "The Bulgarians think they are the only people in theworld with brains, and that all others are fools. Whom do they hope to deceive with their articlesin Pravo and other papers saying that the Macedonians want Macedonia for the Macedonians?We know very well what they want! (Krste P. Misirkov 1974, 44).

Ahmet Emin Yalman was born in Thessaloniki in 1888. He was one of the mostprominent figures within Kemal Ataturks party (CUP) throughout his life. He had graduatedfrom the German School; he graduated from the Faculty of Law in Istanbul, and received hisdoctorate degree at Columbia University of New York in journalism and philosophy. He was thepublisher and editor of the Istanbul paper Vatan. He wrote a political autobiography, titledTurkey in my Time covering the Atatrk era and later.

Yet this man covering his early life in Macedonia, brings in pages 9 and 11, asinhabitants of Macedonia the Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews, Serbs, Greek-Vlachs, andAlbanians. On page 15, he lists the komitadjis as Bulgarian terrorists. He further states that,

10

officers and public servants, many of whom were also Young Turks, witnessed the bloody strifebetween Bulgarian, Serb, Greek, and even Rumanian bands who were fighting both against eachother and against the Turkish authorities (Yalman 1956, 22).

Under Yane Sandanski, a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary (i.e. communist and followerof Plekhanov), whose gang was responsible for the area of Serres, present day Greece, staged anumber of terrorist acts that affected the infamy of the IMRO. The most famous act of thesefelons, was the kidnapping of Ms. Ellen Stone. The U.S. government at that time, paidUS$66,000 ransom (the present equivalent of about US$15 million), that have become part ofSkopjes heritage by its own admission. The brigands had originally demanded 25,000 goldTurkish liras, or approximately US$110,000, which for that time, the sum was colossal. Thereason for such terrorist act, was the need for money that would finance their weapons supplies.This kidnapping was the first terrorist act ever against a U.S. citizen and to top this, Skopje haserected statues in testimony to the exaltation of these criminals. Even by standards of those times,these people were considered terrorists (Teresa Carpenter 2003, 57, 73, 157).

The architects of post-WWII Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito charted the foundations ofthe new state of Yugoslavia, after considering all the ethnic groups within communistYugoslavia. The original name of communist Yugoslavia was the Peoples Federal Republic ofYugoslavia with each constituent republic bearing the title: Peoples Republic. In this form, thePeoples Republic of Macedonia was established by the Constitution of the Peoples FederalRepublic of Yugoslavia on August 2, 1944. The framers wanted to ensure that the ethnic Slavicgroups formed the backbone of the country. Simultaneously, they realized that the Serbs, whowere more numerous than the other Slavs, were a factor they could not ignore. Tito wanted apolitically balanced country a Slavic Yugoslavia with communist flavor.

According to the system of Nations and Nationalities, if the mother-country of an ethnicgroup of people lay outside the country of Yugoslavia, it was defined as a Narodnost or aNationality, which meant it was an ethnic minority. This was how the Albanians and theHungarians were classified. But the rest of the six constituent peoples of Yugoslavia the Serbs,Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Muslims and "Macedonians," whose mother-countries all layinside Yugoslavia were considered ethnic Slavic groups and constituted a Narod, or a Nation.They were not ethnic minorities.

Thus, this system of Nations (ethnic Slavs) and Nationalities (ethnic minorities) had littleto do with the size of an ethnic group, and only with whether the origins and mother-country of aspecific group was inside or outside Yugoslavia. For example, since only the Slav peoples wereallowed to form a Republic, the Montenegrins as Slavs, although fewer in number, formed anation that was a Republic; whereas the Albanians, despite their greater numbers, were only anationality (ethnic minority) living in a Province.

So the important question to ask is: Based upon this system of nations and nationalities aslaid down by Tito and his architects, would it have been possible for a group of people to beclassified as a Nation in a Republic, had the mother-country and origins of these people beenoutside the borders of Yugoslavia? Obviously not. And since only Slav peoples could formrepublics, and the Peoples Republic of Macedonia qualified to become a republic, can wecomfortably conclude that the Macedonians of Skopje have to be Slavs? Of course. It isobvious that Tito and the framers of Yugoslavia knew this, as did the people of the republic, aswell.

Lazar Kolievski, was the 2nd President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia, 6th President ofthe People's Assembly of PR Macedonia, 1st President of the Executive Council of PR

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Macedonia, 1st Chairman of the League of Communists of Macedonia. Before and during theWW II he was known by his real name Lazar Panev Koliev, before he Macedonized it. Hewas arrested by the Bulgarian occupying force and he was condemned to death by a militarytribunal. On December 7, 1941, he asked for pardon from the King of Bulgaria declaring hisBulgarian origin, stating, I am the son of Bulgarian parents, I felt and feel Bulgarian, despite theterrible [Serbian] bondage, I have remained in customs, language and manners, Bulgarian. In all250 pages of his book, Aspects of the Macedonian Question, he exclaimed about theachievements of the Macedonian people and yet he did not write a single sentence about theancient Macedonians, not even the Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the illuminators of the Slavs.

During the War of Insurrection, the kidnapping of Greeces 29,877 children(Papathanasiades 1951, 22) by the communists brought about the U.S. House Resolution 514 ofMarch 22, 1950. In addition, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions for thesame purpose (UNGA Res 517, dated February 2, 1952, UNGA Res 381, dated November 17,1950, UNGA Res 382, dated December 1, 1950) all calling for the speedy reparation of thesechildren to their homes and homeland. The above resolutions condemned Yugoslavia, andindirectly Skopje, for its direct involvement in the kidnapping of Greek children (Milan Ristovi2000, 20).

I want to keep for last as being the best of the worst. Normally, I would not say anythingabout it, since it is improper and silly; however, Mrs. MacTiernan has opened the door. Mrs.MacTiernans statement the gene pools of Greek Macedonians and those from the Republic arelikely to be very similar is simply ignorant.

It reminds me of a statement coming out of the mouth of Ernst Rdin, Nazi Germanyspsychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist. Boris Trajkovski, the late President of the FYROMannounced that in order to prove that his Slavs citizens of a specific village close to the Greekborder who had relatives in Greece, were of the same DNA as Philip II. His intention was to takeDNA from Philips bones and match it his DNA with that of the people of that village. If theresults were in accordance with the Skopje governments wish, then they would apply them to allSlavs of the country by association making them Macedonians descendants of the ancientMacedonians.

While some people in Skopje thought that would solve the issue once and for all,historians members of the Institute of Sciences and Arts advised the President to abstain fromsuch an idea. What if, the villagers DNA and Philips DNA had matched and then Greece tookPhilips DNA and match it to the DNA of inhabitants of Argos, the town of Philips hereditaryorigin? That would prove that not only the inhabitants of the FYROM village were actuallyGreeks and so would be Philip, but again by association all Slav inhabitants of the FYROMwould prove to be Greeks! Then what? After all, Skopje would have opened the door to such aclaim against it.

Something one finds amusing in the statements attributed to Mrs. MacTierrnan is herfinal sentence that one would not find any difference between the Slavs of Skopje and the Greekswho live in the Greek Macedonia. This lovey-dovey ending indicates the low degree ofknowledge that some politicians have on the area.

If by Greek Macedonians Mrs. MacTiernan means the Slavs who live in the Greekregion of Macedonia, according to the last European elections they are about 5,000 in all.Applying the same standards that the FYROM applies to its own minorities, the 5,000 Slavscannot be considered a minority. If on the other hand, by Greek Macedonians she means theGreeks who live in Macedonia, about 2.5 million of them, then she has a huge problem.

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The Greeks of the region of Macedonia and the Slavs who live north of it have differentculture, different language, and different values. When the train leaves Greece, the passengersknow that they are out of Greece. Greeks are Greeks, Slavs are Slavs, and that is that.

The distortion of historical facts and the crocodilian tears of self-imposed martyrdom ofthe Skopjans are about the appropriation of Greek land.

The importance of the geographic position of Thessaloniki, Macedonias Capital has beendemonstrated by actions of various powers. During the period of the Congress of Berlin, Viennaindicated that it was serious about the status of Thessaloniki not intending to lose the railroadline to the port of Thessaloniki as a direct way to push products from Central Europe to Asia andEastern Africa through the Suez Canal and back. In 1940, Nazi Germany offered the city as apresent to Yugoslavia in exchange of the latter to ally itself with Axis. Upon capture of the cityby German forces, Hitler originally planned to annex Thessaloniki directly to the Third Reich,making it part of German territory, instead of allowing the puppet government in Athens toadminister Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki, Macedonias Capital, holds the scepter of the most strategic city of Greece.Its natural port not only connects Europe with Asia and Africa, but by means of marinethoroughfare it links up the Black Sea with the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. Kavalas seaportand airport along with the modern infrastructure of auto corridors in Macedonia, and railroadlines connect this second large hub of Eastern Macedonia with the rest of Balkans.

The Greek region of Macedonia has a unique morphology, which facilitates business andcommerce, it allows the importation, exportation, and transit passage of goods not onlythroughout the Balkans, but also throughout the Central and Eastern European hinterland. Thegeostrategic significance of the Greek region of Macedonia increases when one considers thealready developed industry in conjunction with its agricultural and mineral wealth, to include,but not limited to rare earth elements. This should not sidetrack the seaport and the gold mines ofStratoniki, near Stagirus, Aristotles hometown. Notably, the only oil production in Greece todayis at the Macedonian island of Thassos and the longest route of the Trans Adriatic pipeline, inEuropean soil will be in Macedonia Greece. The convenient passageways, including thecombination of water, air, and land transportation, promote not just the above cities, but thewhole Greek Macedonian region converting it into a point of vital commercial and strategicmilitary value.

The name dispute is directly connected to geostrategic importance of Thessaloniki andindeed the region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. Skopjes plan is simple. At first comes theappropriation of the name Macedonia and its derivatives. Then, it is the connection of its Slavicpopulation to the population of the ancient Macedonians, who were a Greek stock. Once both thename of the country and the connection of the Slavs to the ancient Macedonians is legitimized,the next step arises the claim and acquisition of the inherent lands of ancient Macedonia, i.e.the region of Greek Macedonia. That is why the name dispute with Greece is a matter of nationalsecurity and territorial integrity for Greece. The point is that no matter who recognizes theFYROM as Macedonia and its Slav inhabitants, their language, and their heritage asMacedonian, for as long as Greece does not do, Skopje cannot succeed in its plans. The issue ofthe name is of vital importance to Greeces territorial integrity and as consequently a matter ofnational security.

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It is not the mark of an intelligent person to be able to prove anything he likes; but to be able tosee that truth is true and falsehood is false, and to prove that, is the mark of an intelligent person(Emmanuel Swedenborg, True Christian Religion, 334:8, 2).

I want to keep for last as being the best of the wIt reminds me of a statement coming out of the mouWhile some people in Skopje thought that would solSomething one finds amusing in the statements attrIf by Greek Macedonians Mrs. MacTiernan means thThe Greeks of the region of Macedonia and the Slav