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Nikolaos Martis
Former Gov. Minister
President of the “Macedonian Hestia”
Caesarias 8 T.K. 115 27 Athens
Tel. +30 210 7778800, +30 210 6204826
Athens, 22 September 2005
To his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the United Kingdom, Mr. John Straw
C.C. To the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs of the European Union
Dear Mr. Minister,
Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a
Macedonian who served for twelve and a half years as Minister in the
governments of the late President of the Hellenic Republic, the Macedonian
Konstantinos Karamanlis, as well as of Prime Minister George Rallis.
I am a veteran of the Second World War, an
artillery reserve officer for seven years, having participated, alongside my
British comrades-in-arms in:
a)
The Battle of the front barracks in
Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece against the German invaders in April
1941, which took place concurrently with the struggle of the British,
Australian and New Zealand troops in Central and Western Macedonia.
b)
The Battle of El Alamein in North Africa
under the Supreme command of Marshal Montgomery
c)
The Battle of Rimini in Italy under the supreme command of Marshal
Alexander
d)
The Battle for Athens of December 1944
under the supreme command of General Scoby
I am addressing this letter to you due to your
Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Union and with
reference to the upcoming discussion of the application of Skopje for
admission into the European Union.
The Republic of Skopje, which under the name
“Republic of Macedonia” was cunningly created by Tito and Moscow with the
aim of detaching Macedonia from Greece in order to establish control of the
Aegean, constitutes an affront to every person with common sense and a basic
knowledge of history (doc. 2, letter of the late President of the Hellenic
Republic, dated 3 January 1992 addressed to the leaders of the EU).
The above positions and opinions are confirmed
solely by the fact, as will be set out further on, that the issue of Skopje
would not have arisen if the German invasion of Greece in April 1941 had not
taken place or if, as a consequence of this invasion the communist regime of
Tito had not taken power in Yugoslavia.
At the same time, the United Kingdom, which holds
the rotating Presidency at this critical juncture for the issue under
consideration, is under the obligation to inform all the governments of the
EU that in 1941 (since the 8th century B.C. and since 1912) there
existed in the Balkans one and only Macedonia, Greek Macedonia given that:
Firstly,
the German invasion, which was crucial for the creation of the problem was
not sustained only by the Greek armed units of the Metaxas line in which I
served as a reserve officer but also by British, Australian and New Zealand
units in Central and Western Macedonia and,
Secondly, as was shown in articles, books and
speeches by the late Professor George Hammond, widely known as a British
officer with extensive action in Northern Greece, who served also as a
liaison officer between the British Headquarters in Cairo and the Greek
partisan groups, the creation of the “Republic of Macedonia” was a fraud
perpetrated by Tito.
Historical Background
The dramatic withdrawal of British forces from
Dunkirk in 1940 and the successful resistance to the terrible aerial
campaign of the German air force, achieved through the great heroism and
sacrifices of the British people, averted the triumph of the Axis forces in
the War.
In October 1940 most of Europe had succumbed to
Hitler – the Soviet Union was still an ally of the Reich – and all the
Balkan countries had ties with the Nazi regime and only Greece, due to her
refusal to cooperate with the Axis, suffered an attack by fascist Italy
which she repelled.
If Greece had been defeated or surrendered, the
Axis would have won the war as was recognized by British political and
military leaders. This Greek victory, the first victory against the Axis
powers obliged Hitler to come to Mussolini’s aid, with Stalin’ s consent, he
attacked Greece on the 6th of April 1941 as I show in detail in
pages 22-27 of my book “The USA and the Case of Macedonia”, a copy of which
I attach with a personal address to you.
In February 1941 the British Foreign Secretary
Eden came to Greece and said to the Greek Prime Minister that Yugoslavia and
Turkey refused to act with Greece and to fight against Germany. The Greek
Prime Minister replied that Greece would fight by herself despite the fact
that she was already engaged in Albania and a telegram from Churchill
arrived with instructions that Greece should not be pressured into engaging
in a hopeless struggle.
After this reply British, Australian and New
Zealand troops began to arrive which fought in Central and Western
Macedonia.
This attack was preceded by:
1) In 1912, after five centuries of slavery under
the Ottoman Turks, during the first Balkan War when Greece recaptured
Thessaloniki, «A Central Administration of Macedonia» was created without
anyone disputing it because all were aware that Macedonia was Greek. It is
relevant to mention that during the conference leading to the Treaty of
Berlin of 1878 the head of the British representation Lord Salisbury
supported Greek participation because as he said: “Macedonia and Thrace are
Greek as is Crete”. His proposal was rejected by the majority of the Great
Powers, because this would have meant participation of the other Balkan
states.
In 1912 Serbia and Bulgaria conquered a small
strip of Ancient Macedonia but they annexed it as Serbian and Bulgarian
territory respectively.
2) In 1919 after the end of the First World War
the existing then nations of the region of Yugoslavia created the Kingdom of
Serbs Croats and Slovenians. If a separate Slavic nation of Macedonians then
existed the kingdom would also have included a reference to them.
The German invasion passed through these same
frontiers in 1941. But, historically, Macedonia has existed since the 8th
century B.C. and since, 1912, only in Greece as one can see in the Cambridge
Modern History (doc. 4 pages 72-74) but also from the military archives of
the countries involved.
The Germans entered Skopje on the same day from Bulgaria
where they were hailed as liberators. At the time Skopje was the
capital not of “Macedonia” but of Vardaska (doc. 5 pages 75-76).
Consequences of the German attack against Greece
Firstly,
Germany suffered heavy losses in Greece and because of this operation she
was obliged to delay her attack against the USSR resulting in her eventual
defeat on the Eastern front which was the beginning of Germany’s defeat in
Europe and led, after the US entry into the war in December 1941 to the
final defeat of the Axis (as was the case in the First World War).
Beyond the memoirs of German military leaders,
confirmation of the above can be found in Hitler’s statement to his friend,
the well known film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, that: “The attack of Italy
against Greece was a catastrophe for Germany. If the Italians had not
invaded Greece and did not need our help, the war would have taken a
different turn. We would have taken Leningrad and Moscow in time before the
onset of winter” (from Riefenstahl’s book). Further proof is afforded by his
political testament, which he dictated before his death, wherein he
categorically attributes his failure to Mussolini’s catastrophic for the
Axis invasion of Greece. Similar positions were taken by Field Marshal
Keitel at the Nuremberg Trials (page 26), by General Alexander (page 27) and
Moscow Radio.
Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Secretary
underlined on 24 September 1942:
“Whatever the historians of the future may
eventually conclude, we can already say as of today that Greece first gave
Mussolini an unforgettable lesson, that this was the cause of the national
revolution against the Axis in Yugoslavia, that this, along with the small
help we could then give, kept the Germans occupied for six weeks on mainland
Greece and Crete, that this overturned the time frame set by the German high
command and had a radical effect on ensuing campaigns and perhaps on the
entire course of the war.”
Secondly,
the German attack against Greece had as a consequence the destruction of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the rise of Tito’s communist
regime. As is known, on 25 March 1941 the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with Hitler but on
the 28th the army overthrew the government and Hitler, who had
programmed his attack for the end of March delayed it for the 6th
of April 1941 and also attacked Yugoslavia which he overran in 24 hours.
In 1944, when the Communist take over of the
Balkans was considered likely if not inevitable, Bulgarian expansionist
ambitions against Macedonia, which dated from the Treaty of Saint Stephano
of 1877 were suppressed by the Soviets and passed to Tito who had been their
ally. Tito, having neutralized the nationalist Mihajlovic with the assent of
Stalin on August 2, 1944 announced from Serbian territory the creation of
the “Socialist Republic of Macedonia”. In so doing he put into practice the
relevant decision of the COMINTERN of 1921 with the participation of all
Balkan Communist Parties (including the Greek Communist Party) concerning
the detachment of Macedonia from Greece after having achieved as a first
step, the achievement of autonomous status.
On September 9, 1944 Bulgaria shifted from the
Nazi to the Communist camp and without firing a shot declared war on the
Axis. The Germans chased Bulgaria from Skopje which they had held from 1941
as a concession from Hitler and when the Germans in their turn were force
out of the Balkans Tito entered Skopje.
Through the centuries many new nations have been
created by peoples that established themselves or conquered territories
occupied by other peoples (Australia, New Zealand etc.). The peoples of the
new nation acquired the name of the new territory they seized and
subsequently created the distinctive history and culture of the new nation.
Despite the fact that the Slavs came to the
Balkans in the 6th century A.D. Tito in 1944 changed the name of
the region known since 1912 as Vardaska by the Greek name of Macedonia and
he baptized the residents of the regions with the Greek name of Macedonians.
Skopje during antiquity was the capital of
Dardania, during Ottoman rule the capital of Kossovo and in the period
1912-1944 was the capital of Vardaska. Despite this, it was designated as
the capital of Macedonia.
The capital of Macedonia however is Thessaloniki
which was founded in 315 B.C. and was described by the historian Strabo as
the “Metropolis of Macedonia” and was elected in 1997 capital of Europe with
the longest and richest historical presence.
Maps and schoolbooks issued by the Republic of
Skopje designate Thessaloniki as Solun (doc.10 pages 87-89) with the borders
of Greece reaching only to Mount Olympus, and Thessaloniki does not seem to
constitute a city of Greece. The result is that those with little knowledge
of history to confuse the Thessalonians to whom the Apostle Paul addressed
his letters and the country to which they belong.
A characteristic example is that of the US
company Southern Bell which in its telephone catalogues, as a result of the
propaganda of Skopje, did not include Thessaloniki as a city of Greece and
only changed them afterwards correctly listing Thessaloniki as a Greek city
(doc. 9 page 64-66).
With the above the dictatorial regime of Tito
created the “Macedonian nation”. However, the “Macedonian nation” has never
existed simply because the Macedonians both Ancient and Modern were always
Greeks (pages 132-155).
The nonexistent constituent parts of the nonexistent
“Macedonian nation” were then created by the forgers of Macedonian history
as follows:
a)
In 1945 the Government and Parliament.
b)
In 1944 the Bulgarian dialect spoken in
Skopje was called «Macedonian language» and only in 1945 after certain
procedure became the 6th official language of Yugoslavia as the
“Macedonian language”.
c)
The atheist communist regime of Tito
created only in Skopje the Autocephalous Church of Skopje which was
denounced some weeks ago by the Patriarchate of Serbia.
d)
The self-declared Macedonians gathered
documents from archives around the world and only in 1969 did they publish
the history of their fabricated nation, which constitutes one of the
greatest political and historical frauds in history.
This fabricated “Macedonian Nation” was imposed
by the single party regime on the youth of Skopje and of the other communist
countries and utilizing an inconceivable for democratic countries propaganda
mechanism they have deceived the historically ignorant and naïve across the
world.
Lies and deceit
On the basis of the false assertion that the
Ancient Macedonians were not Greeks they discovered after 1950 that the Slav
invaders of the sixth century united with the non Greek Macedonians and
became themselves Macedonians.
It was then inevitable that the positions they
support on the basis of the above lie should also be lies and deceit. Some
examples are:
1)
The Association Agreement with the
European Union of 2001 was presented on the government website as Agreement
between the Republic of Macedonia and the 15 members of the EU not the EU
itself and they presented Greece as having signed an agreement with the
Republic of Macedonia (doc. 21). The responsible authorities of the EU did
not decry this fraud as they should have with the result that Israel signed
an agreement with the “Republic of Macedonia” because according to the
statement of the General Secretary of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, this country will enter the EU.
2)
In 1986 they deceived the Vatican and they
presented Greek Byzantine icons as Macedonian. Because of the protests of
the Archbishop of Athens, the Vatican expressed regret and that “we were
deceived by the authorities of Skopje”.
3)
Iliden is considered a national day in
Skopje, that is to say the revolt of the Bulgarians of 1903 against the
Turks is presented as a revolt of the “Macedonians”. The consular reports of
US, British, French, Austrian, Consulates in Monastir (Bitola) in 1903
however refute this since events are clearly referred to as a Bulgarian
revolution (doc.17 pages 101-106. A similar report was made by the Turkish
Ambassador to France to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
4)
They falsely presented the medieval king
Samuel as one of their own although he was a Bulgarian. (doc.28)
5)
They lie that Macedonia was partitioned.
The Treaties of Bucharest nowhere refer to the word “Macedonia”.
6)
They lie that the language spoken by the
ancient Macedonians was not Greek. The Athens National Research Center has
collected 5000 Greek inscriptions from Macedonia and 11.000 Macedonian
names, which are all of course Greek. The authorities of Skopje and all
those who accept ttheir propaganda are incapable of presenting a sole
instance of a historical inscription or name in the so – called “ Macedonian
language”.
The confusion on the issue of Skopje, which stems
from ignorance of history and the fundamental falsehood that the ancient
Macedonians were not Greek, is confirmed by the events mentioned below:
1)
The Greek journalist Mr. Apokis published
a comment in the newspaper the VIMA of May16,2004, made by an official of
the White House who said that : “Everybody knows that classical Macedonia
was a part of the Ancient Greek world. I know it, everybody knows it and
events don’t change.”
2) Vassilis Vlassidis, in an article published in
the book he wrote with Evangelos Kofos entitled “The seven year coexistence
1995-2002” mentions that the former Mayor of Skopje, Benkofski, the editor
of the newspaper DEVNIC and the Minister of Education Olizany, in a meeting
said that: “We have a problem with our children and we are trying to
persuade them that they are not related to the ancient Macedonians but we
can’t because that’s what they were taught at school.”
Confirmation of the justified concern of the
aforementioned officials and of the lack of seriousness in the theories put
forth by the authorities of Skopje is to be found in a speech be the Skopjan
archaeologist Nante Proefska in the Town Hall of the city of Resni on
September 14, 2004 concerning “Knowledge of the Ancient Macedonians” in
which she stated that “Up until the prewar period there was the mistaken
belief that the Ancient Macedonians were Greeks” and she mentioned that a
Greek journalist asked her about the descent of Alexander the Great and she
answered “He had Chinese descent but not Greek”.
The problem concerning the above (par. 2) exists
in all former communist countries.
Revealing of the brain-washing to which were
submitted generations of people from Skopje and from former communist
countries is the recent recognition of the Republic of Skopje by Poland,
given that nobody that respects himself and especially a Pole would not
dream of insulting the memory of the late Pope John Paul who in an interview
granted to the newspaper Eleftherotypia in the presence of Vatican officials
stated: “The country of Philip, of Alexander of the monks Cyril and
Methodius is Macedonia and Macedonia is Greek (page 54)”.
The following confirm the historical truth
concerning Macedonia.
a)
Stetinius, Secretary of State of Franklin
Roosevelt, in December 1944 denounced the fact that to speak of a
“Macedonian nation and consciousness” is demagoguery and he threatened
Yugoslavia with sanctions (doc.3).all those who would help Bulgaria and
Yugoslavia to create a Macedonian issue.
b)
“It is inconceivable today that, after the
end of the Cold War that Tito and Moscow, who renamed southern Yugoslavia as
Macedonia with the aim of controlling the Aegean should be historically
justified”, wrote the late President of the Hellenic Republic, Konstantinos
Karamanlis to the other leaders of EU member-states (doc.2).
c)
President Truman with the sacrifice of the
American taxpayer and Greek blood saved in 1947-49 not only Macedonia from
falling into the hands of the communists and being integrated into Skopje
but he also saved the Eastern wing of NATO during the Cold War.
d)
President Bush senior praised the Greeks
in 1991 for having been the sole people in Europe to stop the spread of
communism in 1947 in Macedonia.
e)
Today’s President Bush twice mentioned in
2004 the help given by the USA to Greece and Berlin in 1947 thus aligning
himself with President Truman and his father. The recognition by the current
President Bush of Skopje as “Macedonia” presents two Bush Administrations
with opposite positions that are that Bush senior praised the Greeks for
having resisted Skopje as part of the communist aggression and his son
rewarding Skopje. Given the statements made in 2004 of today’s President
Bush the recognition of the Republic of “ Macedonia” is obviously due to
the long-term goals of circles within the State Department and principally
diplomats who have served in Belgrade and being historically illiterate
accepted the theories they heard there. The Us Ambassador to Yugoslavia in
1986, Scanlon, speaking at Skopje University stated: “ The US will help the
“Macedonian nation” (The photograph of another US Ambassador to Yugoslavia
is to be found an official Skopje office with the subtitle “Lawrence of
Macedonia”. Other erroneous State Department positions are mentioned in my
book pages 34-35).
f)
Kissinger in 1992 (doc. 1) stated: “
Greece is right on the name and I say it because I know the history of which
the officials and ministers in Washington are ignorant.
g)
The Swedish Institute for Foreign Affairs
along with Lund University and the signature of a well known author Staffan
Stolpe, write in a study dating from 1995 write: “European Ministers are
ignorant of history. They are not aware that the history of Macedonia is not
only the history of the Greeks but of ourselves because the Macedonians
spread Greek culture in Europe and the whole world.”
h)
Another revealing fact is Stalin’s
statement, or rather confession, that while he was putting pressure on
Dimitrof to cede “Pirin Macedonia” (the strip of Ancient Macedonia that
Bulgaria annexed in 1912) to Tito’s Macedonia the latter asserted that the
residents of “Pirin Macedonia” do not have “Macedonian consciousness” (doc,
12, pages 91-93) and Stalin retorted that: “What difference does that make?
They’ll acquire it. In 1917 we created the Republic of Bielorussia and today
everybody accepts it.”
The decisive struggle of the Greeks for the
defeat of Hitler.
Mr. Minister,
I Greece like the then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats
and Slovenes, and like Turkey ahd refused to fight against Turkey:
a)
Field Marshal Keitel stated at the
Nuremberg Trial that “ The Germans would have taken Moscow before the onset
of winter as well as St Petersburg and the course of the war would have been
different and today others would be in the ranks of the accused”
b) Communism
in Yugoslavia would not have prevailed and therefore there would not have
been a Macedonian issue because the Bulgarians as Hitler’s allies would not
have dared to raise the issue. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
never raised the issue. Nor did Mihajlovic harbor such intentions in his
program (page 34).
c)
Greece which fought alone for 214 days
against the Axis while France succumbed in 45 days would not have faced the
terrible destruction which resulted from the war. The dead, combined with
those who starved in 1941 reached 620,000 whereas the UK lost approximately
400.000 as did the US.
d) The
heroism of the combatants in the battle of the Metaxas line provoked the
admiration of Hitler and the German General Staff with the result that the
German army presented arms to the Greek fighters as they surrendered and the
German flag was raised only when the last soldier was lost from sight the
sole instance during the Second World War.
e) Hitler
speaking in the Reichstag on May 4, 1941 declared : “from all the armies
which we faced the Greek soldier fought with heroism and self-sacrifice and
surrendered only when all resistance was vain.”
f) The
struggle moved to Crete which was defended by the British, Australians who
had escaped from the mainland, 300 Cadets, elements of the Greek Army and
the people of Crete. The Battle of Crete has been registered as one of the
outstanding events off the Second World War due to the heroism of both
attackers and defenders. 6.500 Germans were killed, mainly parachutists, and
350 German planes were short down. The German Parachutist Division which
could have changed things on the Russian front ceased to exist.
The Greek people, despite the triple occupation
which resulted only organized the national resistance against the invaders
resulting in heavy casualties but a continued the struggle outside Greece:
a)
with the Greek navy outside Greek seas
b)
with the Greek Air force
c)
with the participation of the first Greek
Brigade in the battle of El Alamein
d)
with the participation of the Holy
Battalion in Africa, the Mediterranean and especially in the Greek islands
e)
with the participation of the third Greek
Mountain Brigade in the battle of Rimini
Finally, the Greek merchant marine contributed to
the transportation of materiel to all fronts. Of the 500 Greek merchant
ships 374 were sunk as well as a large number of sailing ships and smaller
boats.
Consequences from the possible recognition of the “Republic of
Macedonia”
Mr. Minister,
As a Macedonian and a comrade-in arms of British
soldiers with a strong memory of the sacrifices made during the war for the
defence of democracy, which rests on the precondition off defending the
truth, I do not conceal from you :
Firstly,
that it was an unpleasant surprise to learn that British MPs requested that
Skopje be recognized as the “Republic of Macedonia”.
Obviously the MPs concerned are ignorant of the
following facts :
a)
Lord Salisbury’s statement in the Berlin
conference
b)
The British forces during the Second World
War fought in Greek Macedonia, the only true Macedonia, for liberty and
democracy.
c)
They are ignorant of the fact that many
internationally known British wrote concerning the historical truth
concerning Macedonia
d)
They are ignorant of the fact that
Churchill in October 1941 said to the Greeks “We will share victory” and
that the recognition of Skopje as Macedonia, who have schoolbooks showing
Greek borders drawn at Mount Olympus would result in the “sharing” of
Greece and not of victory.
e)
A reminder to the British MPs (and others)
of the necessary respect to historical truth concerning Macedonia is the
speech made by Labor MP Phillip Noel Baker “Our task is to make certain that
nobody forgets how much we owe the Greeks who fought against the Axis with
such courage in Macedonia, Albania and Crete.”
Secondly,
that the recognition of Skopje as Macedonia is an insult to the memory of
the Greeks, Germans, British, Australians New Zealanders who died in 1941 in
Macedonia, the one true Macedonia since the 8th century B.C.
Thirdly,
the EU, if it accepts Skopje as Macedonia and the people of Skopje as
Macedonians, would put into question the fact that she respects democratic
principles which are based on the truth as a precondition. It is well known
that all dictatorships invent a historical and cultural event in order to
create a vision that distracts their peoples from the basic problem, which
is the lack of liberty.
Hitler invented the Aryan race.
After the Second World War all the states
neighboring Greece were turned into dictatorships. The northern states under
communist regimes, Turkey under a military dictatorship.
Tito in 1944 invented the so-called Macedonian
race, presenting them as descendants of Philip and Alexander. The Bulgarian
President Zhivkov likewise asserted that the Bulgarians are descendants of
the Thracians (of Hermes, Dionysus, Democritus and Protagoras).
The Turks, initially under a military regime, and
afterwards under a peculiar democracy ruled by the military, constructed the
myth that they are descendants of the Hittites.
Fourthly,
the assertion of the Skopjans that Macedonia is their constitutional name is
a cunning ploy whose aim is to legitimize themselves as descendants of
Philip and Alexander and as creators of the Hellenistic era.
They presumptuously submitted to the Library of
Alexandria 180 books in the “Macedonian language” a representation of the
headdress of Alexander the Great, of the shield of Philip and coins.
The lack of foundation of this assertion is
confirmed by the following syllogism:
If Fidel Castro in his constitution designated a
region of Cuba as Florida and tried to usurp the name, the history and
culture of the people of Florida, would the Europeans and especially the
Americans accept the assertion that use of the name is a constitutional
necessity?
The insistence of Skopje to use this name is
obviously due to the fact that many countries, amongst which Russia and
recently the US recognized this republic as “Macedonia”.
This recognition however is a consequence of a
long-term propaganda campaign on the part of a strong single-party regime
but also because as is the case of Germany it could not raise the question
of German re-unification before the collapse of th4e communist system, so
Greece could not demand respect for the historical truth concerning
Macedonia.
The officials charged with handling the issue
should not to ignore the report of the Swedish Institute of Foreign Affairs
and Lund University of the recognized author Staffon Stolpe. Namely that the
history of Macedonia is not the history only of the Greeks but of all
Europeans. In any case, History cannot be changed by any agreement as was
stated by Gorbachov and by the White House spokesman in 2004 to a Greek
journalist.
The recognition by the USA in 2004 was criticized
as contrary to previous policy and as a hasty decision (see above)
undertaken with the responsibility of State Department circles and its not
by chance that already the legislatures off 15 US States with unanimous
resolutions recognize that Macedonia is Greek that Ancient and Modern
Macedonians are Greek and that their language has always been Greek (doc.24,
pages 113-144).
With the Treaty of Maastricht, culture and
education were recognized as new fields of competence of the EU.
The basic assertions coming from Skopje are
that:
a)
Macedonia is not Greek
b)
That Greeks did not live in Macedonia and
c)
The language of the Macedonians is not
Greek
These assertions however are refuted by texts of
the New Testament and the Acts of the Apostles, which refer to the arrival
of the Apostle Paul in Macedonia in 50 B.C. More precisely:
a)
the Greek identity of Macedonia is
confirmed by the fact that the Apostle Paul (chapter16:9,10) went to the
cities of Veroia, Thessaloniki and Philippi that is cities which for
centuries beforehand had the same Greek names which they retain until today.
b)
The phrase that the Apostle Paul “met with
Greeks, men and women who believed (17:4,12)” reveals that for half a
century the authorities of Skopje have attempted to deceive people by
asserting that Greeks did not live in Macedonia. This assertion is currently
contained in the schoolbooks used by the authorities (doc. 9).
c)
The fact that the language of the
Macedonians was Greek is confirmed by the fact that the Apostle Paul spoke
Greek and wrote his letters to the people of Philippi and Thessaloniki in
Greek.
By itself alone, the above fact should oblige the
EU, if it cares about culture and education but also about its own
reputation, not to ignore the issue of the name but, based on articles 2 and
3 of the Association Agreement to take a position on the Greek identity of
Macedonia and the Macedonians which is confirmed by:
1)
Irrefutable ancient texts and events such
as the Old and New testaments, texts o Ancient Greek, Jewish and Roman
authors, participation of the Macedonians in the Olympic Games (pages
132-143). Thousands of Greek inscriptions, ancient Greek Theaters etc.
2)
Recent, important events such as the
treaties of St Stephano and Berlin, the Macedonian struggle of 1903-1908,
the Ottoman census of 1905, Turkish elections of 1912 with the participation
of minorities the first and second Balkan Wars, the First and Second World
Wars are completely devoid of any reference to Maceonians (pages 144-155).
Association Agreement EU-FYROM Articles 2
and 3
Article 2: Respect for human rights. Every person
has an inalienable right to his national identity. The denial of the
Macedonians’ identity as Greeks by the authorities of fYROM constitutes an
insult and does not respect this principle and is a flagrant violation of
the human rights of the Greek people.
Article 3: concerns international peace and
stability and the development of good neighborly relations. The false
assertion that there are “ Macedonian minorities” in Bulgaria, Albania and
Greece is an affront since the existence of such minorities is based on the
existence of such a nation but a “Macedonian nation” never existed and does
not exist today. Greece, more than any other country, wishes for the
continued survival and prosperity of this country, and has a real interest
to see this happen under the condition that she abandons the Greek name she
stole and that she acquires a different name, as was stated by the US
Undersecretary of State Thomas Niles before Congress in 1992.
Only a new name will ensure peace because,
neighboring peoples will cease to exploit their ethnic kindred for political
advantage and the Skopje authorities will cease to falsely claim that there
exist Macedonian minorities, which are oppressed by their neighbors, thus
endangering peace in the region.
It is a fact that the peoples neighboring Skopje
are aware of the historical truth:
1.
Zhelev, as President of Bulgaria in 1992,
in Sweden relied to a journalist’s question that the “Macedonian nation is a
creation of the COMINTERN and a crime of Titoism and Stalinism.”
2.
Xhaferi, leader of the Albanian Party of
Skopje some years ago denounced the fact that “Macedonianism is false and
is based on a myth”. Some months ago he said that scientists do not
recognize the false Macedonian nation.
Macedonia, since its conquest by the Romans,
ceased to exist as an independent state just as the other Greek states and
now constitutes a province of Greece.
It is inconceivable, therefore, and contrary to the
most basic historical truth to recognize another independent state with the
name Macedonia that, as Stalin confessed, was falsely acquired.
The Academy of Athens with a unanimous
decision dated January 17, 1992 decided that:
“The false “Macedonia” claims the real Macedonia
which is a part of Greece and is inhabited by Greeks. This Republic has the
right to be an independent state. It does not have the right however to
secure international recognition to the use of a name which of itself
propagandizes territorial claims against its neighbors.” (doc. 11)
Given that Skopje claims that the Macedonians are not
Greeks, it is inconceivable for you to greet the President of that Republic
and the Prime Minister as “Macedonians” because it is an insult to the
memory of the late President of the Hellenic Republic, the Macedonian
Konstantinos Karamanlis and to the current Prime Minister, the Macedonian
Kostas Karamanlis. At the same time it is an insult to all the real
Macedonians around the world because it assails their personal right to
their own ethnic identity, which they will defend by all the means at their
disposal.
Yours
Sincerely,
Nikos Martis
Former
Gov. Minister
President of the “Macedonian Hestia”
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