From: filippou@cs.mcgill.ca (Dimitrios FILIPPOU)
Subject: Re: Anti-"Macedonian" Legal Acts by .... Greek Gvmnts 
Followup-To: soc.culture.greek
Summary: Almost all of these laws were targeting ethnic Greek communists
Keywords: Greece, legislation, Civil War, Skopje
Organization: SOCS - McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 23:26:27 GMT

In article <1993Jan6.000559.19032@mont.cs.missouri.edu> 
sachz@montebello.ecom.unimelb.EDU.AU (SAS) writes:

>I have recently been informed that last time I posted this article,
>it didn't reach some sites. It aparently was killed illegally by a user
>midstream faking ownership or something, which I am not familiar with
>the details of. Eitherway, this is a repost. 

     Some more *detailed evidence* would have been more convincing :-)
     Which sites didn't your message reach?
     Where/how do you think your posting got killed?

>
>>From the Macedonians in Poland, we have extracted two pages below.
>
>
>		II. Anti-Macedonian Legal Acts [in Greece]
>		=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>
>
>   In order to justify their shameful and inhumane practices, the
>Greek authorities have issued a number of legal Acts infringing the
>identity of the Macedonian nation. It should be noticed that all the
>Acts run counter to the decisions of the agreement of August 10,
>1920 and to the international legal Acts binding in this respect.
>Despite this, they are still in force.

    [lots of Greek laws cited deleted]

First of all, almost all these laws that you cite are not still in force.
On the other hand, almost all of the laws that you cite were directed,
or affected, mostly ethnic Greeks and not Skopjans (Slavic Macedonians).
For example, the following Legal Act was directed against the Greek
Communists, or their sympathisers:

>  * 1929: during the rule of Eleatarios Venizelos a legal Act was
>    issued "On the protection of public order". 

Contrary to what you say, SAS, this law in *not* in force. (This was -- 
if I remember well -- the famous "idionymon" of Venizelos.)

>  * On December 18, 1936 Metaksas' dictatorial government issued a
>    legal Act "On the activity against state security" on the strength
>    of which thousands of Macedonians were arrested, imprisoned or
>    expelled.

The thousands you are talking about were not Skopjans, but ethnic
Greeks that were members of the Greek Communist Party ("KKE"). These
thousands include members of my own family, so, please, SAS, stop the
crap!  BTW, also Metaxas' Legal Act is *not* in force, thanks God!

>  * In 1947, during the Greek Civil War, the legal Act L-2 was issued
>    on the strength of which all who left Greece without consent of
>    the Greek government were stripped of Greek citizenship and
>    banned from returning to the country (see enclosure 10). This
>    included Greeks and Macedonians. In its modernized version the
>    Act is still binding for Macedonians.

>  * On January 20, 1948 the legal Act called M was issued on the
>    strength of which the property of those who were stripped of
>    their citizenship was confiscated. The law was updated in 1985,
>    but it is still binding on Macedonians.

>  * On August 23, 1953 the legal Act No. 2536 was issued, on the
>    strength of which all those who left Greece and who did not
>    return within three years time could be deprived of their
>    property.

These were the times of the great division among Greeks: the Right and
the Left; the Royalists (called themselves: "Nationalists") vs. the 
Communists (called themselves: "Democrats"). 

The above Legal Acts (all of which are *not* in force!) were the product
of the *winners* (Royalists) against the *losers* (Communists) of the
Greek Civil War (1946-49).  The target of that legislation was not the
Skopjans, but the Greek Leftists.  If many Slavic Macedonians (inhabitants
of the Greek province of Macedonia) also fell victims of that legislation, 
it was because they had sided with the Communists during the Greek Civil 
War.

>  * 1969: a legal Act was issued on the strength of which the
>    settlement of the unoccupied Macedonian farms by Greeks by
>    origin was permitted.

This Legal Act was the product of a non-elected parliament, the product
of the notorious Greek junta (1967-74).  However, for the sake of truth,
even this Act was directed against Greek Communists who had fled the 
country by the end of the Greek Civil War (1949).

I'm not going to discuss any further the Greek legislation that you cite
as being directed against your fellow Skopjans. To my opinion, yes, some
of the rest of the legislation (change of geographic names, restoration
of the Greek political refugees, etc.) that you cite, may look a bit 
inappropriate in a modern democratic society.  Nonetheless, I don't 
think that there is a single European country (that includes Skopje) 
which:

    (i) has not altered geographic names for political or, in general,
        "social" purposes; and

   (ii) has not introduced legislation to "protect" its own nationals,
        to strengthen unifying nationalistic feelings among its people.

That's the plain and, if you like, deplorable reality.  All the rest
that you tell us, dear SAS, is just straight anti-Greek propaganda.  
Don't you think that it's about time you should have an opinion of your 
own and stop bombarding us with all this crap?

Enough said...

Dimitrios Filippou
-oo-

Those opinions are my very own.  My employer and my colleagues
do not necessarily share them.
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human,soc.culture.greek