From: gd8f@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Gregory  Dandulakis)
Subject: Re: Why Macedonia - Part I - 1), 2) and 3)
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 05:15:18 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.092323.23824@donau.et.tudelft.nl> ivan@marvin.et.tudelft.nl (Ivan Sadinski) writes:
>
>But greek friends, imagine for a moment that we got our fair share and you did
>not. And me telling you: hey guys, take it easy, we all suffered... A good test
>for our tolerance (or oblivion), isn't it. I don't know of any place within 
>present days bulgarian borders that has paralleled the fate of Kukush/Kilkis 
>for instance.


 Let me give you the total picture. Greece doesn't feel that it
 got a fair deal from the final Ottoman dissolution arrangement.

 For every 1 muslim who left Greece, 4 christians were piled up from
 Turkey to Greece. And the total numbers were not in the order of
 magnitude of hundreds of thousands but of the million,
 (350,000 muslims for 1,300,000 christians). And this imbalance
 increased with the time: the 100,000 muslims left in Greek Thrace
 have become today 120,000; while the 200,000 christians left in
 Costantinople (in 1932 become Istambul) they are left 3,000 today).

 The exchange with Bulgaria (and unoficially with Serbia) was:
 about 200,000 Bulgarians against 100,000 Greeks.

 A proper account would consider the people who emigrated from
 Ottoman lands for immigration places (US etc), in the period
 1850-1920 when the extreme Ottoman persecutions started.
 Again the greek element was by far the most "expalsed".

 Add and the 200,000 greeks massacred by the Ottomans in 1915,
 along with the Armenians. 

 Add the vast pontian areas with solid greek populations, which
 were taken from the Ottomans by the Russians (which Stalin
 expelled them internally), and who pontians (slavic speaking
 today) are immigrating to Greece today.

 Finally, consider the very populous ex-Ottoman lands in Egypt
 and Libanon with big greek communities, which were exterminated
 during the "nationalistic" revolutions in those countries.
 (Luben talks about famous Bulgarians from Macedonia; You cann't
 imagine how many famous greek writers, poets, political leaders
 etc came from Alexandria (Egypt) and Cairo.

 If you add up to these figures you will see that Greece accepted
 much, much more people than what pushed out (or in land terms: lost
 huge greek properties in Asia Minor and the Balkans, and gained
 significantly less in Macedonia, Epirus, Crete etc).

 Practically greeks were reduced within 2 centuries, from the
 "everywhere" people in the Balkans and Middle east to the
 insignificant numbers of today.

 What are today greeks asking for? *NOTHING*! If Turkey didn't deny
 the greekness for Cyprus (82% greeks), the full rights of the
 greek islands in the Aegean sea, and the unfair deal of Istambul(Greeks)-
 -Greek Thrace (Turks), then practically we wouldn't have any conflict
 against any neighbor.

 Regards,


 Gr

PS: I can make a very-very reasonable parallel here. For someone
    who has studied the terrible fate of the greek consciousness
    people in the Balkans, Minor Asia and Middle east for the last
    150 so years, and had studied the similar situation for the Jews
    in western Europe, would come to the easy conclusion that if the
    greek extermination is not named "Holocaust" is because today
    Turkey doesn't play the same dangerous political role as Germany
    plays for the "North Atlantic" interests.