Running head: MACEDONIA, A CASE OF IDENTITY THEFT

[demis123]

Macedonia a case of identity thefts

English 135Y Advanced Composition

Abstract


Since 1991 Greece and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia has a dispute over the name of Historic Macedonia, is mostly occupied by Greece, with Greek speaking inhabitants and with cultural relationship to the name, and history. The Slavs hijacked the name and now are trying to do the same with history and culture claiming ownership and exclusive usage. This is to show you the truth of the story, without getting, presenting the facts only.


Macedonia, a Case of Identity Theft

If the term of “identity theft” can be applied to a state and a country Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia is the thief that copies, steals, and uses names, cultural characteristics and archeological findings that are not theirs in order to be accepted in the world as having identity that is stolen from the Greek culture.

Introduction

I born in a place called “Nigrita” part of the prefecture of Serres in Macedonia, Greece. Before today Yugoslavia (now Serbia) was very popular in Greece and up to 1991 they were bordering Greece. This was the result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 and the Great War of 1914. The results of these wars divide historic Macedonia into three parts for Greece, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. History telling us, that Yugoslavia was one unity of different Slavic peoples, divided into prefectures, into one state.
Unfortunately their political unity as Federal States fell a part because of internal and external reasons. Greece is facing in a new problem with one of those so called republics, self baptized and proclaimed as Republic of Macedonia, ignoring the fact that Greece is occupying 60 % of the historical land (Bulgaria has another 10%) and also ignoring the fact that Macedonia is Greek in name, history, culture, and the main cause that the Hellenistic (Greek) culture became the main culture in the whole east up to Hindus River in Asia, because of this Macedonia. Today those people claim ties even to Alexander the Great, Philip the II and ancient Macedonia itself. They even come to say that Macedonians were even speaking their language (a Bulgarian dialect) and they excuse their reasoning with a name they gave to a dialect, with the help of Communist countries of the United Nations resolution of 1946.
How you are going to feel, if someone else copies your culture, disregarding your language and claimed your ancestry as their own? How you going to feel if “allies” like the United States, who try to capitalize everything for itself, recognize this country with their “Constitutional” name disregarding your relationship (as a nation) with this name? I would call it cooperation with the fools and the specific fool in the matter is President Bush and his secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who supposedly is a University professor of history. Shame on both of them, because they use everything in their political game, trying to appease pirates of history and culture, as I would call them today “identity thieves”.
Really what is an identity thief? According to the Federal Trade Commission “Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name without your permission”.
Is it the fact that culture holds ties to the identification of a country and our roots in it? Is it that the country’s DNA is including any reference to culture, its people, its history? And for me because those people do not have any DNA with the history, culture and place called Macedonia, they are committing this crime of identity theft.




The fake propaganda about the issue
In the past few years, in order to increase their nationalism in their relating themselves to the ancient Macedonians, they started to baptize with Greek names their main square in their capital Skopje as “Pella” (capital of ancient Macedonia, located today in Greece) and also their international airport as “Alexander the Great”. In their mind right now they are doing a psychological warfare because they do not have any relationship either to Pella or Alexander the Great. The truth may be that Egypt or Iraq they may be closer in honouring Alexander from the fact that his grave may be there. Pella is located even today in Greece and I would suggest you to visit it one day.
Now let’s see carefully how they manufacture their propaganda lies. One of their main preachers named Risto (paraphrases of the Greek Christos) Stefov writes using a typical Gaebelistic style (mixing truth with lies we can make look as truth only) ; in 1870 “The Bulgarians used the old Church Slavonic (Macedonian), familiar to Macedonians, while the Greeks used an ancient language no Macedonian could understand”(p 20). However Greeks did not have any one that was speaking Greek in 1870’s and they were talking an ancient language and they wouldn’t make contact with the other “Macedonians” in the area even they did not understand each other.
Poor Stefov continues and says that actually their language (as I already said is a Bulgarian dialect) since 1946 has been called as “Macedonian” is the mother language of Bulgarian! And then he admits that yes Macedonian language is Bulgarian by interchanging the words. Then he continues: “After 1878, for a Macedonian to be Hellenized meant that he had to give up his name, his own language, his history, his folklore, and his heritage”. The whole thing is the other way around. For what kind of history, folklore, language, and heritage is he talking about here?
I would inform him that the Ancients do not agree with his ideas. Disregarding the fact that I am Greek, I would allow the Ancient’s to defend themselves because I believe this identity theft case concerned them in particular because the Slavs “Macedonians” are claiming to be their grand-grand- grand sons and daughters.

History speaks for itself

How would those real Macedonians treat the mockery of today Slavonic fake grand children? What those real Macedonians have to say about their language? What those real Macedonians have to say their folklore? What those real Macedonians have to say about the archeological evidences that they speak for themselves? And of course what those real Macedonians have to say about their history and what is the proof and the link between the Macedonian (ancient) state and the Greek states, Philip and Alexander with the other Hellenes and how they call themselves?
Let’s start with their first capital Aegae which was the capital of the state up to the fourth century BC.
The best view of the first Macedonian capital we can discover it in Greece in a place called Vergina today but Aegae then. Michael Grand in his book the visible past is giving us this view
In the absence of written history,' writes Manolis Andronikos in “The Times” article (14/12/88) page 36 to whom these discoveries are owed, “it has taken archeology to reveal how rich the lives of the Macedonians were, even early as the fifth century B.C. (p 45),and he continues; the second tomb at Vergina, containing an unlaundered royal burial, with, along with the earliest known representation of his son, Alexander the Great) has been tentatively recognized in the Lion-Hunt painting (p 46), Furthermore, the Great Tomb contained within a golden casket (displaying the Macedonian symbol of a sun-burst on its lid) bones and ashes which are believed - despite suggestions to the contrary - to be the remains of Philip II himself” (p 47).

Now this display of Macedonian sun-burst hijacked by the Slavic government, used it in a flag with the red background until Greece through the United Nations forced them to drop it. As we can see the cultural relationship between Macedonia and Greece is there.
Also I would like to add one more observation Grand is giving us on the same book:
The acropolis of Aegae proves to have been much larger than was supposed, comprising no less than six large building units, now in the process of being excavated. Investigations of the town itself indicate that It was designed according to the symmetrical plan known as Hippodamian, after Hlppodamus of Miletus (born c.500 BC). The theatre in which Philip n was murdered was located in 1982. (p 47)

This is another link in our investigation because it proves that ancient Macedonia did have a relationship not only with southern Greece but with the Greeks of Asia Minor because Miletus is located there.

The folklore connection

One more thing that it is common in folklore is the local religion. That proves all things about people’s relationships with gods. As far as we know the Egyptians worshiped Isis and Osiris, the Babylonians had Mithra and Astarte, and the Greeks twelve of them and Grand writes that “many additional terracotta objects were discovered in a circular sanctuary of Demeter and her daughter Persephone (Kore), datable to the second century BC”. (p 47) So as far as we can see folklore does not agree with the assumptions for the main propagandist from FYROM (this is the other name of their republic and stands of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and this is the official name that is in used today).
What was the relationship between the Macedonian kingdom of 350 B.C. and Greece (Hellas)? First I would like to introduce you to the political maze that is called Greece. Almost all political systems developed and exercised in Greece. And when I speak of Greece in 350 B.C.I mean Balkan peninsula, Crimea, the out most beaches of Asia Minor (today they call it Anatolia), half if the Italian peninsula together with three fourths of Sicily that the Romans called “Magna Grecia, plus a few cities in North Africa, Marseille in France and others. Most of the times each town was a separate state and many times in order to protect themselves from enemies they were creating coalitions to stop the aggressor (s). The above is true when the Persians invited Greece in 450 BC. The Greek cities them made coalitions and in two years the Persians have been defeated. Then the star of Macedonia rose on 350 B.C. and became the hegemonic state given the authority from the Corinthian Alliance on the autumn of 337 BC and they decide the war of the whole Hellenes (Greeks) against Persia. Unfortunately for Philip the II he was murdered and his son Alexander continued his plan.

Today’s reality

Now let us take a look why the real conflict is today and how it is handled officially from Greece. According to the Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis
The term "Macedonia" defines a wider geographic region, only a part of which is in FYROM. One might wonder whether FYROM has territorial claims to the entire region. Its leaders claim they have no such plans, and we want to believe them. Yet, we wonder why official FYROM maps and other state documents depict the region of Macedonia in Greece - which they call "Aegean Macedonia" - as "occupied" territory belonging to FYROM that will one day be "liberated." And why are such maps and documents widely used? Why are these geographic and historical inaccuracies found in their school textbooks, propagating a distorted reality? At the very least, such actions - which emanate from the state - "poison" the political climate of our bilateral ties and, even worse, the ties between our peoples. Let us remember that the name resonates not only for the people of FYROM, but for the Greek people as well. Greece has taken bold steps toward a solution. In an unprecedented turn, we have come to negotiations prepared to accept a composite name, with a geographical qualifier for the term "Macedonia." All we ask of the other side is that they meet us half way. The name issue is not a game of skill. It is one of common sense, where fair is fair for all, and rules apply to all. This was made unanimously clear to both NATO members and aspirants in Bucharest. (The Washington Times (April 29, 2008)): A15.
As we can see identity thefts can be prosecuted in courts and can be jailed, but who is going to put in jail two million people that claims to be something that they are not, and they have copy everything that is copyrighted as a heritage and history of a whole nation? That can drive with them governments (U.S.A.) in recognition of their lie? Can you tell me; were justice lays, for this identity theft case? Why they let them kill history of 2000 years only for political games? Is Bush and Condoleezza so ignorant in order to make their political games recognizing a trouble sham country who in order to survive their internal strives with their Albanian minority who numbers almost 22% of the population and they mostly dreaming a union with their mother Albania, must make concessions and try to keep low their ambitions, but they not only increase their demands (recognition now) but they take any chance to provoke Greece.
So who can be behind this nano-aggressor with their unrealistic demands? Maybe Turkey, who is trying to influence again the Balkans and their Muslim cousins, or the U.S.A. who is build one of the biggest basses in the world in FYROM’s land. It seems though, their allies’ promises about NATO and European Union not to be realized. Greece blocked the first and she will be block the second if no solution comes out of the negotiations about changing their name to include something that it will separate them from the historical “Macedonia”, like New Macedonia or Slavic Macedonia and this may be the best name they should be called. It seems that their nationalism picked the 90 degrees turn and I think it is a time for their aggressiveness to go away. If they want to be members of European Union, first they have to be civilized, and they have long trip in order to accomplish this. Even in their election’s of June first ’08, people have been killed, ballot posts were stolen in more than one places and their leader, Prime Minister Miloseski of the fake Macedonia said he is ready to fight in order to protect their right to their constitutional name and national identity issue. I would advise him to stop playing the aggressiveness of Saddam Husein and Hitler because both they have a negative end for themselves. He is better to sit down, realize that he is a Slav, find his Slavic identity who personifies him and stop copy, paste and use culture, names, and folklore, was never his and cooperate in the European highway of democratic ideas that Greece belongs since 1985.
Let us remember Rep. Maloney’s words and understand how the educated and ethical politicians treat the Greek heritage in this issue:
In 1944, the name of the Skopje region was changed to Macedonia as part of Tito s imperialist campaign to gain control of the Greek province of Macedonia. I was shocked and disappointed that the White House went against prior U.S. policy to recognize the FYROM as Macedonia just two days after the 2004 U.S. presidential election. This issue is of tremendous importance to me. All historical and archaeological evidence demonstrates that the ancient Macedonians were Greek. Macedonia is a Greek name that has designated the northern area of Greece for 2,500 years. (Maloney, 2008)
I wish the ethical and unspoiled politicians, one day will find solution to solve problem, and protect Greece from the copycat wolfs’ who want to call themselves with the name Greeks so dearly upholds.





Bibliography

Andronikos, M. (1998, 12 14). N/A. The Times of London , p. 36.
Bakoyannis, D. (2008, April 29). In the name of a common future.(COMMENTARY). Retrieved June 11, 2008, from The Washington Times p A15:
Federal Trade Commision. (2008). Retrieved June 11, 2008, from Federal Trade Commision:
Grant, M. (1990). The Visible Past - Recent Archerological Discoveries of Greek and Roman History. New York, NY, USA: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Maloney, C. (2008). The Hellenic News of America. Retrieved June 16, 2008, from Hellenic News:
Stefov, R. (2002). Macedonia versus Greece, the Real Struggle Behind the Name Dispute. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from the Real Struggle Behind the Name Dispute: