From: michael.polymenakos@factory.com (Michael Polymenakos) 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.europe,talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.theory
Subject: Re: THE NEW BULLY OF THE BALKANS
Date: 4 Sep 92 21:59:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-1243v.32bis
Reply-To: michael.polymenakos@factory.com (Michael Polymenakos) 


EC>From: errol@leland.Stanford.EDU (errol craig)
EC>How about Argentina & the Falklans?
EC>Entering Argentina from Chile I saw a huge billboard with the words
EC>"Las Malvinas son Argentinos".  Leaving, we saw another one.

  I mentioned some much more obvious examples here in the USA during
desert storm. Have you ever seen a 35-story tower wrapped with a 12-foot
wide yellow ribbon? You would have if you lived in NYC during 1991.
I'm sure that were-ever you live you saw similar displays of yellow ribbons,
which serve the same purpose as the "Macedonia=Greece" signs.

EC>Actually I would be interested in hearing the argument w/ regard to
EC>the recognition of "Macedonia" from the Greek point of view.  If
EC>someone would send me a short explanation I'd appreciate it.

  First, we do not object to the recognition of Vardar as a state. We
  only object to the use of the name "Macedonia". We do not try to
  dictate what the Vardaris call themselves, but we did bring our case
  to all other nations. After all, it is not uncommon for countries known
  by one name internally to be known by another one internationally.
  Ellas=Greece, Squoperia=Albania, Deutchland(sp?)=Germany, etc etc.
  The "Rebublic of China" was forced to change its name to "Taiwan
  Rebublic of China" due to the objections of the People's R. of China.

  Our objections to the name "Macedonia" are:
  Cultural. The Macedonians were an ancient Greek tribe. 2 Million
  Greeks today call themselves Macedonians, and object to the
  misuse of the name by other countries. The name "Macedonian" was not used
  for the Bulgarian population of Vardar before Serbia took over Vardar
  and named it's inhabitants "Macedonians" to distance them from Bulgaria
  and Albania. Before 1913, the region was part of what was called Macedonia
  but as the (Greek)Macedonian people left during the population exchanges,
  the name no longer applies. (This is similar to western Poland, which was
  once called Prussia, but is not being called that any more now that the
  Germans have left. Imagine now if the Poles decided to call themselves
  Prussians and make claims to parts of Germany and claim Prussian cultural
  treasures as theirs. Don't you think that the Germans would be upset?).

  Economic. One of the most valuable assets for each nation is its good
  image abroad. Greek Macedonians are very concerned that the existance of
  a self-isolated, economically bankrupt country, run by remnants of
  Tito's communist regime, and named "Macedonia", will create an unfavorable
  confusion for the (Greek)Macedonian people. Every one who has taken a
  college history course associates Macedonia with Greece. Most Americans,
  IMHO, often get the idea wrong, assuming that the (vardar)"Macedonian
  nation" is a branch of the Greek nation. When I told one of my co-workers,
  (who holds a degree in history of all things) that I went to Washington
  to protest against "Macedonia", his first reaction was "Why are you
  protesting against Greeks, I thought you were Greek".

  Next time you are at a party, ask your friends what they know about
  Macedonia and Alexander the Great. I'll bet you you'll hear the word
  "Greek" a few times.

  Now imagine that an unstable little nation called "Macedonia" becomes the
  site of a civil war or a horrible dictatorship. How is this going to affect
  (Greek)Macedonian trade and tourism? One think about people, (and you
  must admit that Americans are especilly guilty): If there is a hurricane
  in Australia, they are afraid to go to Austria.

  Are we going to have to go door-to-door telling people "No it's those
  Macedonians, we are different Macedonians"?

  Greece did a lot of damage to it's image with that stupid dictatorship
  in the '60s. We don't need other nations creating more bad images while
  using our name.

  Just to mention a similar example: I am sure you know what "Greek" means
  in American college society. When I was a treasurer of my college's
  Greek society, we had multiple instances where our club would be confused
  with the "Greek Association" which was the umbrella org. for fraternities
  in the campus. We even had instances where we were refused services or
  approached for money from businesses that had bad experiances with the
  "other" Greeks. In our case, it was more practical for us to change our
  name to "Hellenic", even though we clearly had every right to the
  name Greek.

  Peace concerns. Bulgaria has in the past used "Unification of Macedonia"
  as an excuse for agressiveness: During WWI, Bulgaria joined the Central
  Empires and occupied Vardar. During WWII, Bulgaria joined Hitler's Axis
  and occupied Vardar and much of (Greek)Macedonia. While Bulgaria has scaled
  back on its claims, and there is every hope that Bulgarias first democratic
  government will not pursue those claim, it is clearly the best interest
  of Greece to shut the door to this "Macedonian" historical fraud.

  Obviously there must be some validity in the Greek point of view, if
  97% of the world's countries have refused to recognise the use of the
  name "Macedonia". Currently only 4 countries recognise or plan to recognise
  "M", and 2 of them do not recognise the existence of a "Macedonian Nation".

  Finally, even if there was a (slavic)"Macedonian nation", the name
  "Macedonia" would still be innapropriate for a people that is 40% Albanian.

EC>Errol

  Michael.

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