Truth Bearer
07-19-2007, 10:01 PM
Bakoyannis denies existence of Macedonian minority in Greece
Skopje, 27.10.2006 13:58
There is no Macedonian minority in Greece, said Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis in an interview with Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik.
Bakoyannis appears skeptical on eventual shift in Athens' position over the issue, regardless of the fact that a number of relevant European institutions, as well as the Americans, recognize the existence of Macedonian minority.
Asked whether there has been any progress in Greek position over the Macedonian minority, in particular now "when Macedonians in Greece became a fact for the Council of Europe, for the European Parliament, for the US Department of State..." Greek foreign minister said "she is very proud with the quality of Greek democracy", adding that Muslims in Western Thrace are the only minority in Greece.
"There is no so-called Macedonian minority. Whenever a political form of the name of the so-quoted or unquoted 'minority' comes up, it always failed to muster nationwide support," Bakoyannis said.
Makfax news agency underscores that over the past few years the Council of Europe, the US Department of State, and the OSCE have called on Greece to respect the rights of Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish minority including the human rights of Roma.
Greece is among a few countries in Europe which have not yet ratified the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities although they had signed it.
Macedonian minority in Greece has been subjected to permanent assimilation since 1913, when Greeks, in the course of the then Balkan wars, had conquered almost half of Macedonia's territory upon treaties with Serbia and Bulgaria.
Macedonian minority and the violence it has been subjected to, was on the agenda of many debates in the League of Nations since the beginning of the past century, as well as in debates in the UN Security Council, the legal successor of the League of Nations, some 10 years after the World War II.
The issue of Macedonian minority in Greece was later hushed up through bilateral public and secret collusions between the Former Yugoslavia and Greece, through silent consent of vast majority of communist leadership in Macedonia in the period of early 70s in the past century till 1990. /end/
Skopje, 27.10.2006 13:58
There is no Macedonian minority in Greece, said Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis in an interview with Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik.
Bakoyannis appears skeptical on eventual shift in Athens' position over the issue, regardless of the fact that a number of relevant European institutions, as well as the Americans, recognize the existence of Macedonian minority.
Asked whether there has been any progress in Greek position over the Macedonian minority, in particular now "when Macedonians in Greece became a fact for the Council of Europe, for the European Parliament, for the US Department of State..." Greek foreign minister said "she is very proud with the quality of Greek democracy", adding that Muslims in Western Thrace are the only minority in Greece.
"There is no so-called Macedonian minority. Whenever a political form of the name of the so-quoted or unquoted 'minority' comes up, it always failed to muster nationwide support," Bakoyannis said.
Makfax news agency underscores that over the past few years the Council of Europe, the US Department of State, and the OSCE have called on Greece to respect the rights of Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish minority including the human rights of Roma.
Greece is among a few countries in Europe which have not yet ratified the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities although they had signed it.
Macedonian minority in Greece has been subjected to permanent assimilation since 1913, when Greeks, in the course of the then Balkan wars, had conquered almost half of Macedonia's territory upon treaties with Serbia and Bulgaria.
Macedonian minority and the violence it has been subjected to, was on the agenda of many debates in the League of Nations since the beginning of the past century, as well as in debates in the UN Security Council, the legal successor of the League of Nations, some 10 years after the World War II.
The issue of Macedonian minority in Greece was later hushed up through bilateral public and secret collusions between the Former Yugoslavia and Greece, through silent consent of vast majority of communist leadership in Macedonia in the period of early 70s in the past century till 1990. /end/