REASONS WHY SKOPJE, THE SOUTHERNMOST FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC (FYROM) SHOULD NOT USE THE NAMES "MACEDONIA" AND MACEDONIAN TO DEFINE ITSELF AS AN INDEPENDENT STATE AND AS NATIONALITY
INTRODUCTION
It is common knowledge the persistent attempts of Skopje, the Southernmost Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to impose on the international community, particularly on Greece, the historic Greek names "Macedonia" and "Macedonian", for their state and national identification.
This insolent usurpation of the identity of Macedonians, which is also identity of Greeks, besides the Greek character of the Name, the Language, History and Civilization of Macedonia does not surprise us since it has been a conflicting one for 61 years. However what has taken us by surprise is the recent recognition of the State of Skopje by the USA under this Greek name.
This recognition is unwise and offensive, at the expense of the Greek interests, and in any case inconsistent with the USA policy in the past.
Undeniable facts prove that the renaming of Southern Serbia to Macedonia by TITO, in concert with STALIN, served two objectives: the first one was the weakening of Serbia and the second and most important one the segregation of the northern Greek province of Macedonia in order to have access to the Aegean Sea by gaining control over the port of Thessalonici; further to the creation of the Aegean Pseudomacedonia.
It seems that the USA diversified from the position they held in the past. Specifically the USA made a stand against this action taken by Tito and responded promptly by circular No 868014/26-12-44, issued by Roosvelt's Secretary of State, Edward R. Stetinius Jr, who declared the following:
"This government considers that any mention to "Macedonian Nation", "Macedonian Fatherland" or "Macedonian Identity" is unjustified and demagogic; it does not represent national of political reality perceiving it, in its present resurgence, as a probable cover for offensive actions against Greece. The official policy of this government is to take the necessary steps against those who will aid Yugoslavia or Bulgaria to raise the "Macedonian Question" at the exprense of Greece".
This policy was reinforced by the subsequent USA Presidents as well as the legislative bodies (the Congress and the Senate).
The above mentioned declaration was proved prophetic granted that Tito and Stalin attempted an attack upon Greece to which the USA reacted in 1947 by adopting the Truman Doctrine and aid programs to Greece in order to protect its territorial integrity from communist rule. The above mentioned attitude/stand was supported among other by United Nations, the Pope John Paul and Stalin and Dimitrof's confessions.
Further down we will repeat, briefly, the most significant reasons that do not permit the use of the names "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" by this new State :
* No state, which is part of a geographical region, has the right to define itself arbitrarily, in an official manner as representing the whole region.
* Since there is no Macedonian race no ethnic or political reality can be represented as these names are clearly Greek in origin. The use of these names in ancient time for definions such as the Kingdom of Macedonia of Philip II or Alexander the Great, or the Macedonians denoted a region not a nationality. Macedonians, such as Athenians, Spartans, Cypriots, were all Greeks.
* It might initiate territorial claims against neighboring countries as it has happened many times up to now. A clear proof of their intentions is the provocative action in 1992, to adopt the Greek Star of Vergina in their flag. In the following map, which was published by the Skopje Officials in 1992, recerculated several times and included in schoolbooks, recently, their intentions are obvious.
* There is no homogeneity in the population of the new State. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, on October 28, 1992, page 19, by Mr C.M. Woodhouse, a remarkable historian and former member of Parliament, who served Britain in Greece during and after W.W.II, the population is composed of 40-45 Slavs, 30% Albanians, 10% Greeks and 10% Gypsies and others.
* Anyone can realize the falsification of the history of Macedonia in the following false arguments, originated by the Skopje officials in order to defend their attempts to impose the use of the names Macedonia and Macedonian, which support the view that:
o The Macedonians are not Greeks but form a separate nation.
o Their language is not the Greek one, but the idiom spoken around the Skopje area.
o Macedonia extends much farther towards the north than the borders of historical Macedonia, in such a way as to include actual slavic regions that have never been parts of Macedonia in antiquity which were actually parts of ancient Derdania.
o The ancient Macedonians were not Greeks but a separate nation related to the Illyrians and Thracians.
o The Slavs descending to the Balkans and Macedonia, during the 6th and 7th centuries A.D. were amalgated with the "non Greek" ancient Macedonians and thus created a new nation the Slavo-Macedonians.
o The descendants of these Slavo-Macedonians of the Middle ages are today's Macedonians of Skopje.
o In Bulgaria and Greece there are inhabitants who belong to the "Macedonian nation" forming oppressed minorities whose rights must be recognized.
o Everything called "Macedonian" - manners, customs, culture etc - is not Greek, but a creation of the so called Macedonians of Skopje.
All these arguments cannot stand up to criticism as they are highly questionable in terms of historical, ethnological, cultural and sociological criteria.
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