From: michael.polymenakos@factory.com (Michael Polymenakos) 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia,soc.culture.greek
Subject: Re: EDUCATION SPECIAL: MA
Date: 16 Aug 92 00:02:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-1243v.32bis
Reply-To: michael.polymenakos@factory.com (Michael Polymenakos) 


(Notice send to: eunet.politics,soc.culture.australian,soc.culture.europe)

kontlm@eua.ericsson.se (Tomas Lundstrom) writes:

>Just trying to get the facts right. About this issue of "Macedonia"
>I have not enough knowledge to have an opinion.
>(However, from Swedish school history lectures I seem to have gotten the
>impression that "Macedonia" is something "greekish", rather than "slavish".

   That is right. The name "Macedonians" was given to the Bulgarian residents
   of the Vardar region by the Yugoslav government, in an effort to built
   ethnic unity and severe the cultural links between Vardar and Bulgaria.
   Marshall Tito furthered that lie by claiming that the Macedonians living
   in Greece are related to the "Macedonians" in his republic, thus creating
   a pretence for territorial claims to Northern Greece.

   The real victims of this whole mess are the residents of Vardar. Their
   cultural heritage has been taken away from them by decades of propaganda.
   They believe in a heritage that is totally fictitious.

   What is the Greek objection to the word "Macedonia"? First, it could still
   be used to advance claims to Greek territory. Let's not forget that the
   current leaders of Skopjie are the same old hard-line communists that
   ruled the place under Tito's dictatorship. They created this mess to
   begin with.

   Second, there are economic and cultural issues involved. Why am I not
   allowed to  sell the software that I write under the name "Microsoft" or
   "IBM"? Because these names are properties of the respective companies. If
   I sell substandard stuff using their name, their reputation will be hurt.
   Greece's reputation could be hurt by the confusion over the word "Macedonia"
   when most of the world knows Macedonia to be a greek name/place. Say there
   is civil strife there next week. The headline in the Times will be
   "MACEDONIAN TROOPS KILL PROTESTERS". People may just assume that these are
   the descendants of Alexander we are talking about. There goes 2,000 years of
   Macedonian history down the drain. Greece damaged it's own reputation with
   the 1967 dictatorship and it's horrors; they don't need their northern
   neighbors damaging Greek reputation further.

   Let me close by making one thing clear: GREECE HAS NO TERRITORIAL CLAIMS
   AGAINST SKOPJIE. There was a time (before 1913) when hundreds of thousands
   of Greeks lived in the Yugoslav and Bulgarian portions of Macedonia.
   There were similar numbers of Serbs, Bulgarians and others living in the
   Greek portion.

   After the Balkan League expelled Turkey from the region in 1912, and after
   a second balkan war, borders were drawn, and populations were exchanged in
   a manner agreed upon by all parties involved.

   It is absurd now, 80 years later, for either Bulgaria or Skopjie to make
   claims based on the pre-1913 presence of their nationals in northern Greece,
   when Greece makes no claims based on the presence of Greeks up north
   during the same period.

   Let's just pray for peace.

   Michael

---
 . SLMR 2.1a . My reality check just bounced.
                      
Xref: sparky soc.culture.yugoslavia:8108 soc.culture.jewish:14489