Pakistani Hunza delegation departs the FYR Macedonia |
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| Sunday, 20 July 2008 | |
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A bizzare visit of Pakistani Hunza peoples claiming to be descendents of Alexander the Great to Skopje after being invited and recieved by state officials in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) came to a close yesterday.
Ghazanfar Ali Khan, his wife Rani Atiqa and their entourage claim descent from Alexander the Great’s conquering army, which reached their Hunza tribal homeland in northern Pakistan 23 centuries ago. They spent last week visiting the landlocked Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) where they met with government officials, including Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and other Slav Macedonian cultural and nationalist organisations.
12 years ago a Slav Macedonian linguist brought the alleged connection between the Hunza and the ancient Macedonian soliders of Alexander the Great to the attention of the Balkan republic and the Hunza themselves. Marina Dojcinovska, a Skopje-based journalist made a film in 2005 presenting the Hunza as "Macedonians" and implying a relationship between the predominately Slavic population of FYROM and the Pakistani ethnic group. This is despite the fact that the Slavic migrations to the Balkans occured in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, almost a millenium after Alexander and his army passed through Pakistan. It's for this reason the visit of the Hunza to FYROM has been ridiculed in the Greece where the visit is considered to be yet another provocation by their northern Slav neighbours in that attempts to establish links with Alexander the Great and ancient Macedonia constitutes an appopriation of Greek cultural heritage. Despite the visit having an official status and being recieved by the Prime Minister, it has also been ridiculed by some circles in FYROM and criticised as "shallow populism" on the part of the ruling nationalist government. Ana Petruseva, country director for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, said of the Hunza visit: “Everyone who’s a bit more educated is laughing at this.” The Greek government neglected to make comment on the delegations visit while the Greek press has called it yet another instance of the Former Yugoslav Republic provocing Greece by making historio-cultural claims to ancient Macedonia. in 2007 Skopje airport was renamed 'Alexander the Great Airport' , several statues of Alexander the Great and Phillip of Macedon have been erected under the current government and outside the national parliament is even found a bust of Aristotle. (SOURCES: Financial Times, Kathimerini, Makfax)
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