The claims put forward by Greece that the ancient Macedonians were Greeks, that their native language was Greek, and that Macedonia was region of Greece, are all false. The historical truth is that Greece was inhabited by ancient Greeks, Macedonia by ancient Macedonians.
Today, it is the modern Greeks and the modern Macedonians to occupy those lands. The presence of Greek settlements along the coast of Macedonia which Philip II destroyed anyway did not change Macedonia's ethnic character. Likewise, a very much stronger and longer Greek presence in Egypt did not transform that African land into a region of Greece. It is a total absurdity to hear the Greeks of today to claim they are the Macedonians, the Greek Macedonians, the only and true Macedonians. How can they be "the only and true Macedonians", when today's Greek population of Aegean Macedonia immigrated there just 80 years ago joining that small Greek minority of 10%? How can they overlook the atrocities they committed on the people who than, as centuries before, proudly called themselves Macedonians? |