First website about Greeks in FYROM, from FYROM itself

[Vasiliye]

It is going to be finished very soon.Right now I need your cooperation on these fields:

1.Providing online and scanned materials about Greeks in FYROM: Texts, pictures, other multimedia.

2.Providing contacts with websites, organizations and individuals dealing with this issue.

3.Contributing articles.

The "Godaddy" hosting is only temporary, for about two weeks while the site is still in a beta phase.I'll move it to my server as soon as its configured and the content produced.

The link is: vindex

[Vasiliye]

Greeks in FYROM :: Index

The URL of the forum...........

[PhiliptheUniterchaeronea]

Vasiliye, you are truly an academic and a good person.

[Vasiliye]

Thanks.There is some hard work ahead.First and foremost the site is going to be devoted to the events from the Berlin Congress onwards, then to the modern-day Vlach issue and the question of Communist Refugees of Greek ethnicity,but which are half-assimilated by now.Next priority: establishing a platform for creation of Greek NGO.Once that happens, I will "hand the keys" to a local Greek.

[Truth Bearer]

Bravo Vasilyie well done this will be a ground breaker.....

[admin]

Excellent stuff Vasilyie!!

[terastios]

Congr. and thanks from all the Greeks Vasili!
I wish we could help you more!

[Vasiliye]

Thank you all.This initial site will have 3 elements:

-Manifesto (Essay on the rights of FYROMian Greeks)
-Pseudomacedonians vs. Macedonians (historical review of the problem)
-Forum, whose purpose is to serve as a gathering point for information which will, among other things, serve as a material for the second, more elaborate phase.

This is NOT much for now.The idea is to create a "Community Website" which will serve as a focal point for Greeks scattered throughout FYROM.In that phase, usage of Vlach and Greek language will be more prominent.

Until then, I count on your support.

[Vasiliye]

Forget about the earlier concept, its changed.Using CMS will save me a time which I would normally use to create and upload static HTML pages.Also, I deleted the forum (it was buggy, just like few of us have warned me).For the primary mission, to became a focal database about the murky and unpopular subject, the present form is just perfect.

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Welcome to the “Greeks in FYROM” weblog
August 3rd, 2007

Hello!

This weblog unifies effort of several Philhellenes and Greeks, working in order to provide information about historical and living Hellenism in Northern Macedonia (Pelagonia with Monastiri and Krushovo) as well as to provide news from the life of Greek communities scattered throughout FYROM.We are single-minded in our dedication to uphold the following principles:

-Concise, referenced and accurate information most closely related to Hellenism in the area of FYROM.

-Unbiased, plural and transparent collaboration with all individuals and organization interested in promotion and consequent protection of Hellenic interest in Northern Macedonia.

-Truth as a fundamental value, and truth-seeking as modus vivendi of activities tied with development of this weblog

Having this principles in mind, we are forced to recognize that this is very under-reported issue, a state of affairs which together with the Hellenophobia that emanates from the political and cultural elites of FYROM constututed a serious obstacle toward formation of a broader picture regarding the current state of affairs.The “Greeks in FYROM” is here to contradict such status quo, elevating its mission all over the World Wide Web in a manner that insure productivity and promises results.

Northern Macedonia, which in antiquity was culturally transitional area that exported Hellenism in Paeonia, in Thrace, among various Illyrian tribes, has preserved its embryonic Hellenic nature, which reflected itself into a Civilization of highest order, whose interplay of progressive, constant and fluid formed the tissue of region’s history.

Hellenism survived the medieval arrival of Slavs and other peoples and groups, and consolidated itself into the radically new circumstances.In whole of its existence in the Byzantine chronological framework, the being of Macedonism was ontologically identical and integral with the Hellenic world of medieval times, homogenized on ancient heritage, Christian culture, and high urban culture which was idiosyncratic and complex.

Having shifted in space and social morphology, the Greek Macedonian world roughly coincided with the Jirecek Line, which categorized some 80% of todays FYROM as a Hellenic area.This situation was preserved during advancements of the Serbian medieval state to the south to the extent that the brief Serbian Empire had recognized the essentially Greek character of Macedonia.

Turkocracy brought havoc to the Balkans, destruction of old values and modes of civilization which put an end of liberty for the peoples of the peninsula.But many document show unmistakably Hellenic character of Northern Macedonia, located in the contact zone with Bulgarians and Serbs.Greeks lived on in the area of what latter become FYROM: there is great number of historical sources testifying to this.

Greek element in Northern Macedonia, with its collateral Aromanian element constituted a class of townsmen, with rich cultural expression and great energy displayed in commercial affairs and other forms of practical productivity.The influence of these Greeks materialized in the great number of artifacts, buildings, Churches which show Greek character and the evolved legacy of the Byzantine.The impression that the Greek left on their more feral contemporaries, the Bulgarians of present day FYROM, was evident via their well-documented infiltration of towns, where they tried to elevate themselves by adopting and mimicking the manners and appearance of Hellenism as an anthropological quintessence.

Greek people in FYROM, with all the traumatic events, including shifts in space and forced assimilation have , indeed, survived throughout that area.It is an imperative that the public in FYROM recognizes this reality and constitute itself in accordance with it.Old stereotypes about Greeks that have flourished in the era of Communist slavery haven’t diminished but on the contrary evolved in a grotesque way.There will be no peace of mind for all concerned parties, including the international public until the issue of Greeks in FYROM as a living, thinking, acting, productive community constituted by individuals who aspire for higher freedom, is properly studied and properly handled by the governments of Skopje and Athens as well as local and international academic elites.

The Greek Question in FYROM will be solved when the aspirations for liberty of every individual are secured.With that fact in mind, we are obliged to conclude that this Question shall evolve from the present state of near-ignorance only by combined efforts of all factors mentioned.

This weblog is part of these efforts.If you think and fill about yourself as being fit for this mission, if you are a Greek or a Philhellene, you are welcome to join us in our work for promotion and advancement of knowledge about Northern Macedonia.Only creativity and endurance will lead us to our victory.

[Mygdonia]

Vasiliye, get in touch with Lyngos....George Tsopanos
He and couple others have compiled alot of information on this subject.