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Re: Ancient Macedonians are Greeks
State of Illinois General Assembly - Resolution 92_SR0446
Metodija Koloski
July 11, 2002
Governor George H. Ryan (governor@state.il.us),
Senators, and Members of the House of Representatives of the State
of Illinois:
Regarding Resolution 92_SR0446 made by the State of Illinois General
Assembly declaring that the "Ancient
Macedonians are Greeks."
As an American citizen of Macedonian origin I am writing to convey
my disappointment over Resolution 92_SR0446 adopted by the Illinois
Senate General Assembly on June 1st, 2002.
The Macedonian identity has given rise to many controversies and
debates. Did the State of Illinois even bother to study the Macedonian
Question before making such a ludicrous resolution?
The Modern Greek claim -- that the ancient Macedonians were Greek
-- is politically motivated and is not supported by historical evidence.
This political mythology was created in the late 19th century to
advance territorial claims against Ottoman Macedonia. In its current
incarnation it is used by Greece as an excuse to discriminate against
its Macedonian minority.
Ancient Macedonians were among the peoples that lived between northern
Greece (Thessaly) and Thrace in the Balkans and were considered
by the classical Greeks as "non-Greek Barbarians" that
could not participate in the Greek Olympic Games. Herodotus wrote
that "Macedonians" were "Dorians" and were never
admitted to the Greek community. They did not speak Greek but another
language presently unknown of which only proper names remain.
There is a large gap between ancient and modern times. Macedonia
has been a kingdom, as well as a province under Rome, Byzantium
and the Ottoman Empire. It is true that the ancient Macedonian capital
of Pella has been located in northern Greece since Macedonia's partition
in 1913. However, this does not make the ancient Macedonians Hellenic
or Greek. Consider that the Modern Greek State itself was only formed
ca. 1829 and even then under a Bavarian monarchy.
But who is the State of Illinois to pass a resolution proclaiming
the ancient Macedonians to be Hellenes? Has the Senate tested the
blood of the today's Greeks and compared it with the bones of the
ancient Macedonians?
Recent genetic research, -- "HLA genes in Macedonians, and
the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks" (2001) -- has established
that Greeks exhibit a sub-Saharan origin whereas Macedonians are
related to the older Mediterranean sub-group and, more to the point,
do not show a close relationship to Greeks (1).
Allow me also to mention the struggle facing the Macedonian minority
in Greece. Following the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, Greece annexed
half the territory of Ottoman Macedonia and instigated a policy
of denationalization (ethnic cleansing) and forced assimilation
of the indigenous Macedonian population (2).
It is widely known that Greece refuses to acknowledge the existence
of any national minorities or even minority languages (2). These
difficulties still persist in Greece as highlighted by the US Helsinki
Commission hearing of June 2002 (3).
The Greek government will ultimately have to recognize that there
is a distinct Macedonian ethnic identity.
The Illinois General Assembly's recent resolution, however, is
nothing short of a hate crime denying Macedonians their ethnic identity.
With all due respect,
Metodija A. Koloski -- a first generation American of Macedonian
descent - e-mail: mkoloski@hotmail.com
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