By Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com
January 28, 2007

I have often heard references to the Macedonian question without understanding what it really means. Why is the Macedonian question so elusive and mysterious and why has it been thrown around for so long?

The Macedonian question was not a question that Macedonians have asked but rather a question the Great Powers were asking during late nineteenth century when Macedonia was still occupied by the last remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Simply put the Macedonian question was, “What will happen to the Macedonian territories and the people living on those territories when theOttoman Empire ceases to exist?”

Obviously the Macedonian question was answered in 1912, 1913 when Macedonia was occupied, partitioned and annexed byGreece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Or was it?

If the Macedonian question was answered then, why does it still linger on? And better still, why has it evolved? In view of what is happening today with regards to the Greek-Macedonian name dispute and the Bulgarian refusal to recognize the Macedonian ethnicity and language, it’s time once again to ask, “What is the Macedonian question of today?”

If the Macedonian question was satisfactorily answered by the division of Macedonia and by declaring that only Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians live in the geographic territories of Macedonia, why then do we today have a sovereign and independent Macedonian State with no less than 1.8 million people declaring themselves to be ethnic Macedonians? Likewise if all those people living in the Macedonian territories that Greece annexed in 1913 were Greeks then why do we today have Macedonians living inGreece? Similarly, if everyone in Bulgarian annexed Macedonia were Bulgarians, why then today do we have Macedonians living in Bulgaria?

We can all bury our heads in the sand and keep on believing “no Macedonians exist” to the satisfaction of Greece and Bulgaria, or we can wake up to the reality that ethnic Macedonians do exist not only in the Republic of Macedonia but in all of geographic Macedonia, including the Greek and Bulgarian annexed territories.

Being made aware of that reality, then what will the “new Macedonian question” be that the new Great Powers should be asking?

Before answering this question, we should take a look at what was done to “answer” the original “Macedonian question” and what has changed to lead to the “new Macedonian question”.

Before the breakup of the Ottoman Empire the Great Powers were preoccupied with how to maintain political stability in the region. Being itself a Great Power, as the Ottoman Empire began to break up, the other Great Powers struggled to maintain a balance of power without themselves losing influence and at the same time looking for ways to expand their own influence. There was agreement between the Powers that should the Ottoman Empire collapse they would not allow its replacement to be a single state or another Great Power. Thus the “Eastern Question” was born which simply put stated, “What will happen to the lands and people when the Ottoman Empire ceases to exist?” The only acceptable solution was to replace the Ottoman lands with smaller states that could not possibly unite. In other words “create a number of smaller, equal sized, politically diverse” states that would oppose one another and remain loyal to the Great Powers that created them.

As the Ottoman Empire began to wear down at its fringes, Greece and Serbia were born. As it continued to collapse greaterBulgaria was born but it was a short lived birth. The Powers could not agree on San Stefano Bulgaria because for one, it was much larger than the other two newly created states and being created by Russia, Bulgaria would show loyalty to Russia and would allow Russia, a rival Great Power, greater influence in the Balkans as well as access to the Mediterranean waters, something the Western Powers did not want. Instead, a smaller Bulgaria was created and the Ottoman collapse was somewhat stabilized and its territory in the Balkans reduced to present day geographical Macedonia, Albania, Thrace and European Turkey (the Dardanelles).

By now no one had any doubts that the remainder of the Ottoman Empire was going to collapse, it was a matter of time. This created new worries for the Great Powers, “What to do with the remainder of the lands, especially with Macedonia.” This gave birth to the “Macedonian Question”. Simply put “what will happen to Macedonia and the Macedonian people” when the Ottoman Empire disappears? Of course, as I mention earlier, the problem was solved by allowing Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria to annex parts of Macedonia and its people. Since Macedonia was an existing entity with defined borders, a long and illustrious history, and with ethnic Macedonians living on it, it was difficult to find dividing lines. So Macedonia’s eventuality was decided by conflict. The three states were allowed to simultaneously invade Macedonia and whichever parts they liberated by evicting the Turks they would get to keep for themselves. The invasion took place in 1912 and resulted in the successful eviction of the last remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Unfortunately none of the three states were happy with the territories they gained so once again they renewed the conflict in 1913 resulting in the current partition and annexation of Macedonia which exists to this day.

No matter what Greece and Bulgaria claim today about how they acquired their part of Macedonia, it is a well known fact that Macedonian territories were a prize from the spoils of war. The 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, and how it was achieved, is a living testament that Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria fought over Macedonia and gained its lands by conflict. No historical claims were ever made prior to or during the signing of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest.

It is a well known fact that neither Greece, Serbia, nor Bulgaria ever existed before as sovereign states. Bulgaria and Serbiaexisted as empires encompassing parts of Macedonian territories but it is well understood that these territories were occupied by force and never belonged to them. Greece on the other hand had never before occupied or owned Macedonian lands. That is whyGreece has resorted to using the ancient Macedonians from 2,300 years ago to claim “historic rights” to Macedonian territories.Greece it seems can only claim legitimacy to Macedonian territories and to the Macedonian heritage if it can prove to the world that the “Ancient Macedonians were Greek”. While ignoring the reality of how it obtained Macedonian territories, Greece has taken the argument back 2,300 years and is fighting a war of words, semantics, as to who is the real heir to the Macedonian heritage. Greeceis ignoring the facts that Macedonians lived in Macedonia for countless generations or at least 1,500 years by its own accounts.Greece knows very well that no one cares about what happened 2,300 years ago. And why does it matter? Why argue semantics while ignoring reality? Arguing semantics suits Greece and Bulgaria perfectly because while the Macedonians are arguing over semantics Greece and Bulgaria (1) continue to make them look like fools and (2) continue to benefit from Macedonia’s occupation to the detriment of its true owners the Macedonian people.

Let’s clarify some things. First and foremost Macedonians are people with legal rights and privileges no matter what Greece andBulgaria call them. Second, these people indisputably lived in Macedonia for at least 1,500 years which is more than enough to qualify them as the indigenous people of Macedonia. These people, according to international law, have the right to self identify in whatever way or means they see fit. So what is the problem with Greece and Bulgaria?

The real problem here is not whether Macedonians qualify to be called Macedonians but rather, whether Greece has the right and can prove it has the right to the Macedonian heritage. Does Greece truly have a case by claiming “Macedonia is Greek” on account that the “Ancient Macedonians may or may not have been Greek in 400 BC”? Greece only has a case as long as Macedonians believe it has a case and continue to argue with Greece over frivolous issues! Do the Macedonian people have a case against Greece for losing their lands to Greece because Greece chose to illegally occupy Macedonia by force in 1912, 1913? Yes they do! If Macedonians stop fighting with Greece about 2,400 year old issues and begin to focus their efforts on today’s real issues then they can expect to gain international attention and achieve their rights as Macedonians living on this planet!

Even though Macedonia was served on a platter to Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria by the Great Powers in 1913 by the Treaty of Bucharest and again in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles, does not change the fact that Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria gained Macedonian lands illegally by force and without the consent of the Macedonian people.

Do the Macedonian people have a strong case against Greece and Bulgaria? The answer is yes! Macedonians can prove that Macedonians have been evicted from their lands and their lands have been confiscated only because they are Macedonians. Macedonians can prove that both Greece and Bulgaria have broken treaties which Greece and Bulgaria have signed to provide Macedonians minority rights. Macedonians can prove that Greece and Bulgaria continue to disobey international law by not recognizing the ethnic Macedonians in their respective states. Case and point, the Greek State passed a law in 1988 allowing all Greeks by birth to return to Greece but not the 28,000 Macedonia refugee children, refugees from the Greek Civil War. These were children between the ages of 2 and 14. They are not criminals or agents of foreign states. Greece has yet to explain why these children, who now are all over 60 years old, are not allowed to return. Why is Greece on one hand claiming that everyone who lived in Greece since 1928 is Greek and on the other hand it passes a law that discriminates against non-Greeks who supposedly do not exist? Greece will not allow Macedonians to return to Greece because Greece has confiscated and sold or given away their lands to the colonists it imported from Asia Minor in the 1920s and is still importing to this day.

The name dispute between Macedonia and Greece is a fabricated issue, fabricated by Greece to take attention away from its dismal human rights record towards its minorities, especially its Macedonian minority which Greece has robbed of its heritage.Greece has created this issue to keep Macedonians on the defensive and away from seeking compensation for their lands or to fight for their human rights as ethnic Macedonians and as citizens of that state. There is no international law or precedence that would allow legally or morally for a state to evict people from their lands and rob them of their property and ethnic rights based on 2,400 year old “ambiguous claims”. Besides, how do we know for certain and how can we prove that the modern Greeks truly have legitimate rights to the Macedonian lands and heritage? How do we know that the Macedonians themselves who lived in Macedoniafor at least 1,500 years have no rights to Macedonian lands and the Macedonian heritage? Are we to take the word of a state who denies the Macedonian peoples’ existence? Are we to believe Greece, a state that has robbed the ethnic Macedonians of their ethnic rights? Who has evicted Macedonians from their own homes? Who has changed all the Macedonian names? Who has tried to make Macedonians into Greeks by force? I think not!

Since Macedonians are placed in a position where they have to justify their identity wouldn’t you say it is only fair that Greeks be put through the same scrutiny? How can a person by simply saying that they are “Greek” own the right to both the Greek and Macedonian heritage yet a person who says they are Macedonian has no rights at all, not even the right to call him or herself Macedonian?

How did all this start and what has changed since?

As mentioned earlier, Greece is a product of Great Power intervention. It was artificially created for the first time in 1829 from the ashes of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. I am saying “artificially created” because most states when created are modeled after something vibrant and living, like a living culture or a practicing tradition. The language a newly created state adopts for its people is usually a living language or the mother language of the people. If more than one language exists, it’s usually the language of the majority that is adopted. Some states to be fair to all people are bi-lingual or even multi-lingual. Greece, on the other hand, was modeled after a dead culture which existed 2,400 years ago. The language the Greek state adopted for its people was also a dead language which was only preserved by the Ottoman administration and the Orthodox Church. The name “Greece” itself is also a non-Greek word. It is a Latin word.

When Greece was created for the first time there was no Greek ethnicity. The 19th century ethnicities that comprised the raw material for the modern Greek state were Albanians, Vlachs, Turks, Macedonians and other Slav speakers, Christians from Asia Minor, Gypsies and other ethnic minorities. Each ethnicity that comprised the so-called “Greek ethnos” was not Greek and each spoke a unique language different from the others.

It is understandable that in order to unify these various people under one nation the Greek state had to undertake some measures in order to keep a balance between the needs of the individual against those of the state. Unfortunately, in its zeal to create a mythical nation modeled after a dead culture which only could be viewed as ideal, Greece went too far. It not only literally destroyed what was real but it also attempted to erase the peoples’ collective memory about their current culture, language and history and replace it with an ideal and fictitious one. For example in Macedonia, after Greece consolidated its control over the people, it initiated a denationalization process by eliminating the spoken and written form of the Macedonian language and replaced it with the dead language it adopted for its own people. It destroyed all records, books, monuments, religious icons, even tombstones with Macedonian writing. It changed peoples’ names and gave the people new and Greek sounding names. It changed all the names of the cities, towns, villages, lakes, rivers, mountains and roads to make them look “ancient Greek”. The prohibition of the Macedonian language and identity as well as the name changes were enforced by the passing of laws which exist and are enforced to this day.

In other words, Greece is Greek today not by birthright or any legal means but simply by enforcing an idea, the idea that everyone who lives in Greece is Greek.

Unlike Greece which created its “ethnos” by destroying the true ethnicities of its people, Macedonia has a living and vibrant Macedonian ethnicity. Ethnic Macedonians in the entire region of geographic Macedonia have a mother tongue comprising of at least 26 dialects. Macedonians have a living language which is at least 1,500 years old. In spite of Greek attempts to eradicate it, the Macedonian language has survived and is widely spoken today. The publication of the Abecedar, a Macedonian language primer, published by the Greek state itself in 1925 is a testament that Macedonians and their Macedonian language existed in Greece.

Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria have refused to join the newly created “ethnos” for various reasons. The primary reason is because they are not Bulgarians or Greeks. Remember Macedonia was occupied and partitioned by foreign forces without Macedonian consent. In other words, no one asked the Macedonians if they wanted their country to be occupied and partitioned. There are no treaties signed by Macedonians giving Greece and Bulgaria permission to annex Macedonian territories. On top of that, no one asked the Macedonians if they wanted to become Greeks or Bulgarians voluntarily. Macedonians were forced into declaring themselves what they were not under duress. They were forced to give up their own ethnic identity for the sake of joining the cult of their occupiers. Yes, “occupiers”!

Let’s face reality here. What the Greeks and Bulgarians did was not exactly pleasant for the Macedonian people. Upon their occupation of Macedonian territories, both the Greek and Bulgarian state executed Macedonians on masse, evicted Macedonians from their homes and both states forcibly attempted to denationalize, Hellenize and Bulgarize the Macedonian population. Greecewent further and changed the names of people and places and gave away Macedonian lands to foreign colonists. How can Macedonians forget that? Even those Macedonians who chose the “Greek way” were not above been systemically discriminated.Greece has a file on everyone and if a person has Macedonian roots he or she is viewed with suspicion and prohibited from achieving higher education or high positions in the military or in government. So really where is the incentive for Macedonians to turn into Greeks? The 1914 Carnegie report is a testament of what Greece and Bulgaria did upon the occupation and annexation ofMacedonia. When war broke out in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913, the Carnegie Endowment dispatched a commission on a fact finding mission. The mission consisted of seven prominent members from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia. Among them was the distinguished journalist Henry N. Brailsford, author of the book "Macedonia its Races and their Future". A report was written and testifies to the atrocities committed by these states against the Macedonian people!

What has changed since then?

Since Macedonia’s occupation and partition, Serbian occupied Macedonia saw a resurgence of the Macedonian language and culture as Serbia slowly softened its stronghold on Macedonia. With the advent of the Yugoslav federation, Macedonia took its rightful place as a republic inside Yugoslavia. The people chose to call their republic “The Peoples’ Republic of Macedonia” and their language “Macedonian” to which Greece had no objection. There are schoolbooks in Greece that attest to the fact that Greecehad no objection with Macedonia calling itself Macedonia. Greek children were taught in school that one of the republics inYugoslavia was called “Macedonia” and the people living in it spoke “Macedonian”. When Yugoslavia disintegrated, the Serbian occupied part of Macedonia became the sovereign and independent state the Republic of Macedonia.

Greece and Bulgaria in the meantime continue to illegally occupy Macedonian territories and refuse to acknowledge the existence of ethnic Macedonians.

Sadly for Greece and Bulgaria, Macedonians do exist and are re-opening the Macedonian question. The days of imperialism and treating people like raw material for Nation Building are over. Macedonians don’t want to be Greeks or Bulgarians or any other names Greece and Bulgaria feels like calling them. The Macedonians want to be called Macedonians. They want to be recognized for who they are. The new Macedonian questions should be about recognizing Macedonians as a separate ethnic identity with rights and privileges in accordance with international norms. The new Macedonian question should be about restitution and correcting past wrongs. It should be about long overdue repatriation of long forgotten citizens.

I believe it is time to re-examine the facts, re-open the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest and all associated treaties that have to do with human and minority rights as well as with land claim rights that Greece and Bulgaria have violated. It’s time to stop the pursuit of fantasy like the name dispute and face reality like how and under what conditions Macedonia was occupied, partitioned and annexed. It’s time to review the atrocities the Greek and Bulgarian states have committed against the Macedonian population in 1912 and 1913 and from 1940 to 1949. It’s time for Greece to start making plans to repatriate the Macedonian citizens it evicted for no good reason. It’s time for Greece and Bulgaria to recognize those Macedonians living in their states as Macedonians with full rights and privileges in accordance with international law.

Mr. Karamanlis, its time to stop stalling and muddying the waters by one day pretending there are no Macedonians in your country and another day saying everyone who lives in your country is Macedonian and Greek. Mr. Karamanlis it’s time for you and your Government to start facing real issues like providing human and national rights to the minorities that live in your country today not 2,400 years ago.

Since Macedonians are refusing to “go away” it’s time for you Mr. Karamanlis to deal with them in a civilized and equitable manner.

Mr. Karamanlis, the next time you feel like making statements about how the Macedonians are stealing your “Greek heritage”, please take a good look at your own Greek nation and how it was created and decide for yourself who is stealing whose heritage!