Recognition of Macedonia: How the State Dept. gave Communism one last victory

Recognition of Macedonia: How the State Dept. gave Communism one last victory

"Macedonia" is a false state created by Communists and where history was distorted for a Communist agenda. The State Dept. recognized this Communist created state as "Macedonia" as a bribe to the nationalists in power so they won't vote against granting the Albanians their own autonomous state this Sunday.

In so doing not only did the State Dept. help create a new Muslim dominated statelet in the Balkans but it has betrayed its own anti-Communist principles (if Foggy Bottom does indeed have them) and made possible the dream of the Communists and has made the situation worse with Greece whose is "Macedonia's" main employer/foreign investor and was trying to solve the issue via negotiations. Who can trust the American State Dept. if it builds a history on one positionand then changes it without even consulting anyone?

U.S STATE DEPARTMENT
Foreign Relations Vol. VIII
Washington D.C.
Circular Airgram
(868.014/26 Dec. 1944)

The following is for your information and general guidance, but not for any positive action at this time.

The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. "This Government considers talk of Macedonian "nation", Macedonian "Fatherland", or Macedonia "national consiousness" to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece".

The approved policy of this Government is to oppose any revival of the Macedonian issue as related to Greece. The Greek section of Macedonia is largery inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek people are almost unanimously opposed to the creation of a Macodonian state. Allegations of serious Greek participation in any such agitation can be assumed to be false. This Government would regard as responsible any Government or group of Governments tolerating or encouraging menacing or aggressive acts of "Macedonian Forces" against Greece.

The Department would appreciate any information pertiment to this subject which may come to your attention.

"The (State) Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-oficcial statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia... with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. This Government considers talk of Macedonian "nation," Macedonian "Fatherland," or Macedonian national "consiousness" to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece."

"According to most reliable information, a secret meeting was held yesterday at Comi in southern bulgaria...to draw up plans for a general rising in Greek Macedonia, with the ultimate object of incorporating that region with Salonica in an automonous Macedonia under Yugoslav hegemony."

"Though once the heart of the empire of Alexander the Great, (Macedonia) has been for centuries a geographical expression rather than a political entity, and is today inhabited by an inextricable medley of people, among whom the Serbs, now Yugoslavs, are certainly the least numerous. But a "Federal Macedonia" has been projected as an integral part of Tito's plan for a federated Balkans...taking Greek Macedonia for an outlet to the Aegean Sea through Salonica."

"During the occupation...a combined effort was made to wrest Macedonia from Greece --- an effort that allegedly continues, although in altered form... The main conspirational activity in Macedonia today appears to be directed from Skopje."

"For three weeks the Partisan National Liberation Committee had been busy creating, on paper, the new Yugoslavia. Twice Tito had flown to Moscow, conferred with Stalin and the Peoples' Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vlacheslav M. Molotov... The new power at once began to expand. Yugoslav Macedonians insisted that Yugoslavia's new Macedonian district should include not only Bulgarian Macedonia but Greek Macedonia."

The Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito separated Yugoslav Macedonia from Serbia after the war. It became a republic of the new federal Yugoslavia (as the Socialist Republic of Macedonia) in 1946, with its capital at Skopje. Tito had a number of reasons for doing this. First, he wanted to reduce Serbia's dominance in Yugoslavia; establishing Macedonia as an equal to Serbia within Yugoslavia achieved this effect. Second, he sought to reunify "all parts of Macedonia, divided in 1915 and 1918 by Balkan imperialists" (according to a proclamation of 2 August 1944). To this end, he opened negotiations with Bulgaria for a new federal state, which would also probably have included Albania, and supported the Greek Communists in their civil war.

When the Greek Communists lost and Tito fell out with the Soviet Union and pro-Soviet Bulgaria in 1948, the Yugoslav leader abandoned his attempts to reunify Macedonia under Communist rule and adopted a new goal: promoting the concept of a Macedonian nation as a means of severing the close ties of the Slav population of Yugoslav Macedonia with Bulgaria. Although the Macedonian language is very close to Bulgarian, the differences were deliberately emphasized and the region's historical figures were promoted as being uniquely Macedonian (rather than Serbian or Bulgarian). A separate Macedonian Orthodox Church was established, splitting off from the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Communist Party sought to deter pro-Bulgarian sentiment, which was punished severely; convictions were still being handed down as late as 1991.

Across the border in Greece, Macedonian Slavs were seen as a potentially disloyal "fifth column" within the Greek state. The existence of a Slav minority was officially denied, with Macedonian Slavs referred to in official censuses as being merely "Slavophone" Greeks. Slavonic names were forbidden, and a strip along the border (where most of the Greece's Macedonian Slavs still live) was subjected to security restrictions. Greeks were resettled in the region to dilute the Slav population, many of whom emigrated (especially to Australia) in the face of official pressure. Although there was some liberalization between 1959 and 1967, the Greek military dictatorship re-imposed harsh restrictions. The situation gradually eased after Greece's return to democracy, although even as recently as the 1990s Greece has been criticised by international human rights activists for "harassing" Macedonian Slav political activists. Elsewhere in Greek Macedonia, economic development after the war was brisk and the area rapidly became the most prosperous part of the region. The coast was heavily developed for tourism, particularly on the Khalkidhiki peninsula.

Bulgaria initially accepted the existence of a distinctive Macedonian identity, but it was under official pressure and designed to faciliate the union of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. It had been agreed that Pirin Macedonia would join Yugoslavian Macedonia and for this reason the population was forced to declare itself Macedonian in the 1948 census. This caused resentment and many people were imprisoned or interned in rural areas outside Macedonia. After Tito's split from the Soviet bloc this position was abandoned and the existence of a Macedonian nation or language was denied.

Attempts of Macedonian historians after the 1940s to claim a number of prominent figures of the 19-century Bulgarian cultural revival and armed resistance movement as Macedonian Slavs has caused ever since a bitter resentment in Sofia. Bulgaria has repeatedly accused the Republic of Macedonia of appropriating Bulgarian national heroes and symbols and of editing works of literature and historical documents so as to prove the existence of a Slav Macedonian consciousness before the 1940s. The publication in the Republic of Macedonia of the folk song collections 'Bulgarian Folk Songs' by the Miladinov Brothers and 'Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians' by Serbian archaelogist Verkovic under the "politically correct" titles 'Collection' and 'Macedonian Folk Songs' are some of the examples quoted by the Bulgarians. The issue has soured the relations of Bulgaria with former Yugoslavia and later with the Republic of Macedonia for decennia.

Kiro Gligorov, the president of Yugoslav Macedonia, sought to keep his republic outside the fray of the Yugoslav wars in the early 1990s. Yugoslav Macedonia's very existence had depended on the active support of the Yugoslav state and Communist Party. As both began to collapse, the Macedonian authorities allowed and encouraged a stronger assertion of Macedonian national identity than before. This included toleration of demands from Macedonian nationalists for the reunification of Macedonia.

In 1991, Yugoslav Macedonia held a referendum on independence which produced an overwhelming majority in favour, although it was boycotted by the Macedonian Albanians. The republic seceded peacefully from the Yugoslav federation, declaring its independence as the Republic of Macedonia. This move was not welcomed by most of its neighbours or even some of its national minorities and received the support of only Bulgaria. The Bulgarians were hoping that the independence of the Republic of Macedonia would reduce Serbian influence in the country and would eventually lead to the "re-Bulgarisation" of its population. Bulgaria was consequently the first country to officially recognise Macedonian independence - as early as February 1992. Fearing separatist tendencies in its own part of Macedonia, however, the Bulgarians refused and have refused so far to recognise the existence of a separate Macedonian language and a separate Macedonian nation.

The Macedonian Albanians were unhappy about an erosion of their national rights in the face of a more assertive Macedonian Slav nationalism. Some nationalist Serbs called for the republic's reincorporation into Serbia, although in practice this was never a likely prospect, given Serbia's preoccupation with Bosnia and Croatia. The strongest reaction by far, however, was in Greece.

As had happened in Bulgaria, the Macedonian Slav appropriation of symbols seen as Greek had been the cause of nationalist anger for many years. This anger was reinforced by the legacy of the Civil War and the view in many quarters that Greece's Macedonian Slavs were a "disloyal" minority. The Republic of Macedonia's status became a heated political issue in Greece, where huge demonstrations took place in Athens and Thessaloniki in 1992 against the new state, under the slogan "Macedonia is Greek." The Greek government objected formally to any use of the name Macedonia (including any derivative names), and also to the use of symbols such as the Star of Vergina.

The controversy was not just nationalist, but had much to do with internal Greek politics as well. The two leading Greek political parties, the ruling conservative New Democracy under Constantine Mitsotakis and the left-wing PASOK under Andreas Papandreou, sought to outbid each other in whipping up nationalist sentiment against the Republic of Macedonia. To complicate matters further, New Democracy itself was divided; Mitsotakis favoured a compromise solution on the Macedonian question, while his foreign minister Adonis Samaras took a hard-line approach. The two eventually fell out and Samaras was sacked, with Mitsotakis reserving the foreign ministry for himself. He failed to reach an agreement on the Macedonian issue despite United Nations mediation and fell from power in October 1993, largely as a result of his handling of the issue.

When Papandreou took power following the October 1993 elections, he restated his party's hardline position on the issue. The United Nations recommended recognition of the Republic of Macedonia under the temporary name of the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (or FYROM for short), which would be used externally while the country continued to use "Republic of Macedonia" as its constitutional name. The United States and European Union agreed to this proposal and duly recogised it, prompting huge demonstrations in Greek cities against what was termed a "betrayal" by Greece's allies. Papandreou supported and encouraged the demonstrations, boosting his own popularity by taking an increasingly hard line against the Republic of Macedonia. In February 1994, he imposed a total embargo on the country, with the exception of food and medicines. The effect on the Macedonian economy was devastating. The blockade also had a high political cost for Greece, as there was little sympathy for the country's position - and much exasperation over what was seen as Greek obstructionism - from its European Union partners. Greece was heavily criticised internationally for appearing to contribute to the rising tension in the Balkans. The European Commission took Greece to the European Court of Justice in an effort to overturn the embargo.

Political pressure from inside and outside Greece did eventually lead to a temporary settlement of the issue. An "interim agreement" was signed by the two countries in September 1995, brokered by UN special envoy Cyrus Vance. The Republic of Macedonia agreed to remove any implied territorial claims to the greater Macedonia region from its constitution and to drop the Star of Vergina from its flag. In return, Greece lifted the blockade.

Discussions continue over the Greek objection regarding the country's name, but without any resolution so far. Outside Greece and diplomatic settings, the country is usually simply called "Macedonia". About 40 countries, notably the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, have recognised it by its constitutional name, while the United Nations and the most countries recognize it as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".

Bulgarian governments throughout the period continued their policy of non-recognition of Macedonian Slavs as a distinct ethnic group. There were repeated complaints of official harassment of Macedonian Slav activists in the 1990's. Attempts of Slav Macedonian separatist organisation UMO Ilinden to commemorate the grave of revolutionary Yane Sandanski throughout the 1990's were usually hampered by the Bulgarian police. Several incidents of mobbing of UMO Ilinden members by Bulgarian IMRO activists were also reported. After the Bulgarian Electoral Committee endorsed in 2001 the registration of a wing of UMO Ilinden, which had dropped separatist demands from its Charter, the mother organisation became largely inactive. No incidents or harassment has been reported since then.

Similar cases of harassment of pro-Bulgarian organisations and activists have been reported in the Republic of Macedonia. In 2000 several teenagers threw smoke bombs at the conference of pro-Bulgarian organisation 'Radko' in Skopje causing panic and confusion among the delegates. The perpetrators were afterwards acclaimed by the Macedonian press as national heroes. 'Radko' was later banned by the Macedonian Constitutional Court as separatist. The organisation has continued its activity, though mostly in the cultural field.

In 2001 'Radko' issued in Skopje the original version of the folk song collection 'Bulgarian Folk Songs' by the Miladinov Brothers, as well as the unedited memoirs of the Greek bishop of Kastoria, in which he talked about the Greek-Bulgarian church struggle at the beginning of the 20th century. Being the first publications to question the official Macedonian position on its history, the books triggered a reaction of shock and disbelief in Macedonian public opinion. The scandal, which followed the publications, resulted in the sacking of the Macedonian Deputy Minister of Culture.

"The Olympics in Greece were the most expensive ever but also one of the best (even got better ratings for NBC)."

That would explain why the stadiums were half empty, or worse, for many events and they were giving tickets away. I'm beginning to see you problem. Here in America we wouldn't consider that a success.

Wow, the press sure blew that one. There were plenty of stories about how they were giving tickets away. As for the sports mostly Americans watch, you must be referring to the traditional Olympic competitions.

Granted, I didn't watch the man's tag team goat rope. Were the stands crowded there?

Some won, some lost, but Greece triumphed over all

ATHENS — We owe them an apology, oh yes we do. The Greeks pulled off the Olympic Games after we said they did not have a prayer, and now there's but one way to make it right:

Give them another shot.

The Summer Games belong here, in the Olympic cradle, and just one pilgrimage to Ancient Olympia would tell you that. Zeus doesn't play Paris or Moscow, London or Times Square. This is the gods' homecourt. It shouldn't go abandoned for the next 108 years.

Again - you keep exposing your bias and that you are ignorant of the facts.

Ticket sales finally reach 3.4 million goal

Organisers happy with sales

"Olympic officials insisted today they were happy with ticket sales despite masses of empty seats at many venues.

However, they said they could not control corporate sponsors who may have bought tickets and distributed them only for recipients not to turn up.

Marton Simitsek, Olympic chief of operations, said: "We have reached our goal. We are going to have 3.5m tickets sold by the end of the Games.

"We're very happy. In many sports we have sold 100% of our capacity."

According to Simitsek, 3,285,000 tickets have been sold, eclipsing the 2.7m sold for the Games in Seoul in 1988 and the 3.21m sold for Barcelona in 1992."

Bias? Ignorance of the facts?

I guess the stands were full of invisible Greeks. Then of course there's the massive failure to pay for the games. Did the invisible Greeks use invisible Euros to pay?

You should change your name to Retsina, it's a Greek wine more people are familiar with.

Greeks sold their target tickets. They are not obligated to watch useless sports some Americans and Canadians are into just for the sake of making the seats look good on TV. All is explained in the links. Reading is fun.

it is also a dispute over claims to land, history, historial objects.

Any nation has to some claims to the neighbouring territory, especially in such old, burdened with historical arguments and generally messy regions as the Balkans.

But how a different name (not even TOO different) would fetch the real territory for a tiny and powerless statelet? It is a ridiculous assumption, like fighting a straw man.

As to the claims to history, what, Macedonian Slavs have ever proclaimed themselves Greeks?! Quite the opposite, methinks. And everybody knows that Philip and Alexander WERE Greeks, so what's the problem?

Maybe Bulgarians are the only people having some real beef against (Slav) Macedonians' history grab, judging by Destro's quotes. But even if it's true, so what? Is there any possibility that they'll go to war for that?

Someone told here that Bulgarians and Macedonians have no shared blood, only the language... how was this figured out? It looks like intermarriage and "war-time interbreeding" had made the population of these lands DNA indistinguishable very long time ago.

People have gone to war for less.

Remember the British/Argentina war over the Falklands? It started with Argentina calling the islands "Malvinas".

BTW: just for fun, a new rumor (emphasis on the word rumor) from Greek Sat. Television is that the state department made the decision to go ahead as a reward for Albanian US citizens' support for KERRY. The report ALLEGED (remember this is rumor just for fun here) that the decision was made shortly after the first exit polls were comming out.

(BTWW: This tracks with Kerry's people making phone calls to lobyists advising that $100,000.00 would forgive any political sins as a result of the early exit polls.)

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