MHRMC Condemns Greece's Blacklisting of Ethnic
Macedonians
as
Another Macedonian is Denied Entry
into Greece
Press Release
August 8, 2003
Press Release: Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada
The Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada (MHRMC) condemns
Greece's continued blacklisting of ethnic Macedonian human rights
activists and political refugees. Yet another Canadian citizen
of ethnic Macedonian descent has been denied entry into Greece,
their place of birth, as the Greek government continues to backtrack
on their recent pledge that non-Greek political refugees would
finally be allowed to enter the country after 55 years in exile
and in time for their Third World Reunion. See the following for
background:
Vana Niczowski and her husband Chris, both Canadian citizens of
Macedonian ethnicity, attempted to enter Greece on July 21, 2003.
Mrs. Niczowski was born in Statitsa (Melas in Greek), Kostur (Kastoria)
region and her birthplace was spelled "Kosturia" on
her passport. The Greek border official insisted that this was "not
the Greek name of the city and sounded too Slavic" and,
therefore, denied her entry.
Greece has consistently refused entry to people who use the original
Macedonian village/city names on their passports, instead of the
new Greek toponyms applied after 1926. In its press release of
August 1, 2003, the Rainbow Party, political party of the Macedonian
minority in Greece, stated:
"Greece should establish a record
of toponyms (both old and new), a practice and a policy carried
out in many democratic
countries,
especially since there is such a provision in international
texts related to the protection of the heritage of linguistic,
religious
or ethnic minorities."
Furthermore, the Rainbow Party:
"...calls upon the Greek government
to abolish this inhuman and racist decision that exempts the
repatriation of Macedonian
political refugees, to give them back their citizenship and
to apply the same procedures for them as were used in the case
of
the political refugees who declared themselves 'Greeks by genus'
and returned to Greece after 1982."
The Committee for the Reception of Refugees in Greece, consisting
of members of Rainbow, has organized a symbolic reception to be
held at the Negochani (Niki) border crossing between the Republic
of Macedonia and Greece on Sunday, August 10, 2003 at 11:00am.
The Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada calls on international
media, human rights organizations, and concerned individuals to
attend this historic event and to apply pressure on Greece to end
its racial profiling of individuals of Macedonian ethnic background
and to immediately solve the issue of the Macedonian political
refugees.
The MHRMC specifically asks that the European Union end its hypocrisy
in demanding that new member states respect human rights standards
while ignoring human rights violations within existing EU members.
Bill Nicholov
Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada
Source URL: http://www.mhrmc.ca/press/03/detsa_begaltsi_border2.html
E-mail: mail@mhrmc.ca
Website: www.mhrmc.ca
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