Greek Lie: "Macedonians are Slavs" by Risto Stefov

[NOTE: Our apologies to the Greek people if they find these articles offensive. Our objective here is NOT to create tension between the Macedonian and Greek people but rather to highlight the problem that exists within the Greek State and its institutions. As long as the Greek State denies our existence as Macedonians with rights and privileges, we will continue to publish these types of articles.]

Even before a typical Greek opens his or her mouth, I can tell you exactly what they are going to say when it comes to the Macedonians. To this day, I have received thousands of e-mails from Greeks and they all basically say the same things. "Macedonians don't exist", "Macedonians are Greek", "Tito created the Macedonian identity", "Macedonians are cultural and historical thieves", and of course the subject of this BIG Greek lie, "Macedonians are Slavs who came to the Balkans during the 6th century AD".

To prove my point I have included quotes from a number of these e-mails I received. Last names were removed to protect the authors;

George G. wrote: "If you cannot accept simple historical fact and evidence that Ancient Macedonia was Greek then I suggest you visit a mental institution. Linguistics, artifacts, historical sources (like Herodotus etc.) all prove the Hellenic identity of the Ancient Macedonians. It is accepted common historical knowledge that you Slavs came into the Balkan area along with the Bulgarians 6-10th century AD."

Pauk K. wrote: "I am Macedonian; therefore I can not accept you being Macedonian unless you have the same culture, religion and even anthropology as I do. I do see you as a Slav left over after the Russians failed to gain a warm water port. Stalin's words at the time of your creation (by the comintern, 1945), says all you ever need to know read it and face the facts."

Nenad D. wrote: "Macedonia is South Serbia!!!! This was Macedonia's former name and the only reason it is called Macedonia today is because Tito a Croat communist, brainwashed your people (and you) into thinking they weren't Slavs but that they were descendants of the Hellenic peoples that lived in the Balkan Peninsula about 4000 years ago."

Hessemo@aol.com wrote: "Keep writing retard your rubber room is waiting for you??? Hey you learn to speak Albanian yet???? Your knees sore yet from bowing before them??? monon lave etan e epitas

skopje born poor, cowardly void of history and culture, remains poor, cowardly void of history and culture and will die poor, cowardly void of history and culture never Macedonian !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

DNT73@aol.com wrote: "Macedonians combined with their fellow Greeks long ago and were mixed up and spread all over the Roman and Byzantine empires. They are part of the Greek cultural legacy. The Slavs and Albanians who live in that small piece of geographic Macedonia have nothing to do with it. Real Macedonians already absorbed into the broader Greek world long before the Slavs arrived in the 600's. There was no separate Macedonian identity by then, just a geographic designation.

Get your facts straight and stop spreading idiotic propaganda for a half Albanian, half-Bulgarian state. Also show some respect for the country that keeps your economy alive."

Nick V. wrote: "Because you now leave in an area that is called Macedonia you think you are Macedonians and descendants of the Hellenic Makedonians? No, you are Slavs, Bulgarians and God knows what else that came well after the era of Macedonia and Alexander and resided in the north part of Macedonia. I mean what language to do talk? Greek? No, you talk some Slavic dialect with a mix of Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian and in the south of your country with some Greek in there too. You wouldn't even know how to write and read if it wasn't for those two Saints that liberated you from the dark ages. In one of your sites someone says that you saved us from the Ottomans, are you serious?? You are only handful. I feel sorry for you guys coz obviously you had your identity brainwashed into you to believe that you are someone that you are not. I feel sorry that you had to steal another nation's history to feel that you belong somewhere You are Slavs or maybe Bulgarians with probably some villages that still speak a mix of Slavic and some Greek too, you are a mix of everything, Albanians, Bulgarians and with some Greek in there too, left behind from the communist wars. Wake up my friend and seek your true identity You can't use the name Macedonia as Macedonia is Greek and will always belong to Greece. You are saying that you have no intentions for claiming the south Makedonia, are you serious?? You are brainwashing your kids to believe otherwise, doesn't that create hate between us? You sites do as the same. We have never taught our kids that the north Makedonia belongs to Greece, it once did like many other places but not today, we don't want it, its all yours and you can leave peacefully with your fellow Slavs and the Albanian (one day they will take all your country if your not careful) but you can't and never will use the name of Makedonia, you put shame on the name! We are talking about 1000s of years of history and you come along from the north, barbarian tribes and now you think you can take our history from us? Not so."

Nick V. wrote: "I wish to know where you get all your fantasies/facts from? You should be ashamed for brainwashing your people with all these lies! Yes you are Slavs and you came from the north. The Macedonians are were and will be Greeks. People you need to wake up and stop stealing other people's history. You were brainwashed in to being so called Macedonians by Tito and communism. Wake up!"

George K. wrote: "Get back in you hole and take up another hobby - hear are the facts; Macedonia has been Greek for 3,000 years. In ancient times Macedonians spoke Greek, worshipped Greek gods, expressed their creativity through Greek art and maintained a refined Greek culture ... all archaeological discoveries continue to unearth more information attesting to the indisputable Greekness of Macedonia. Out of the blue, in 1944, the Yugoslav communist leader, Tito, wishing to weaken Serbia on the one hand, and set the footing for future territorial claims against Greece on the other, schemingly gave South Serbia the Greek name 'Macedonia' and re-wrote the 'history' books to declare that ancient Macedonia was Slavic and that these people were descendants of Alexander the Great. The existence of a 'Slav' Macedonia could never be, and indeed, has never been supported either by historical data, or by ethnographic maps, or by statistics, or by some census, or by archaeological finds, or by even an obscure mention of such a nation from antiquity till today. Macedonia has been the name of Northern Greece for more than 3000 years. The Greek region ... has one of the most homogeneous populations in the world (98.5% Greek). Its population speaks Greek, feels Greek, is Greek. An independent 'Macedonia would monopolize the name at the expense of the real Macedonians who are twice the number of the Slavs. The use and abuse of the name would cause widespread confusion as is already apparent. Macedonia is an indispensable part of Greece's historical heritage it cannot identify, in an ethnic sense another nation. The Skopje 'language' is undeniably Slavic."

Helen V. wrote: "I am a Greek Macedonian, who heard about the article you wrote in your so called "Macedonian" weekly. Firstly I must stress how offended I was by the lies that you wrote in order to brainwash your people! Macedonia has and will ALWAYS be known as Hellenic Lands, incase you don't know what Hellenism means, it is Greek Land! Macedonia is an ancient kingdom of Ancient Greece, which existed well before your people of Slavonic race even existed. We are one of the oldest and most respected countries and have such a RICH history, which your people could only wish they had one hundredth of the richness our civilization has. Incase you didn't know in order to visit Alexander the Greats Kingdom you need to go to Pella, and King Phillips grave and kingdom is in Vergina. Both of these kingdoms are located in Greece (Macedonia not far from Thessaloniki), in order to visit these you would paid either a drahma (with the old currency) or Euro (today) and most importantly all of the inscriptions on the ancient ruins are in Ancient GREEK writing not Bulgarian (which is what your language is an offspring of). I pity your people as they are lost and confused and have no history or culture of their own, and for this reason have had to adapt our beautiful and rich ways in order to have some "history". I noticed that the map you put with your article, has included other parts of Greece that you claim were Slavonic Macedonian. Since when was the island of Thassos of Slavonic heritage? In fact since when was any part of our beautiful lands of Slavonic Heritage? You are an extremely SAD race, who has no real existence! Any well educated person knows that there is only ONE Macedonia and that is "GREEK MACEDONIA" which carries the names so proudly because of what it represents. Your people were quite happy to be known as Yugoslavia for a long time and then in the 90's were all the states were forced to separate you were forced to find a name for yourselves, and seeing as you don't have a real country, or flag or heritage, you poor, pathetic souls chose to try and take our name and history in order to brainwash your future generations with.

My final comments to you are, "Read any encyclopedia or history book and you will see the truth that Macedonia is Greek, you will never get the name "Macedonia" as it's not yours to have, and Greece will NEVER approve it." You should be grateful that the Greeks gave you an alphabet, as your uneducated people wouldn't even be able to write if it wasn't for the GREEKS!!!!"

Panagiotis Z. wrote: "Your deep-rooted complex is understandable, since your identity crisis as a Slav (from "slave") stems from the historical void further enhanced by the existence of the Greek nation and its overshadowing cultural and linguistic ramifications, which are now further ascertained by DNA studies that reveal a homogeneous continuity in the Greek region, not to mention southern Italy and a large chunk of Turkish speaking Asia Minor since pre-classical times. It is facile to hold that Greece is mongrelized by recurrent invasions. The fact is, though, that the Greek speaking core was always so overwhelming in Hellas that it absorbed any invaders pretty much the same way a healthy organism absorbs viruses only to become stronger in the long run. The Turks, by the way who settled in Greece were for the most part jannisaries whose lineage was of Greek parenthood, converted by force in the early days of the Ottoman empire, my ignoramus friend.

The only myth you have to wrestle with is your lack of any significant background in your Slavic predicament. What an irony that history keeps repeating itself. In antiquity your region depended on Greek culture and now it depends on Greek finances. What a wretched state to be in! My sympathies"

Athanasios F. wrote: "I am not going to unfold any detailed historical facts about Greek/Macedonia and it's glorious past, but I will remind you your Slavic past in the northern greater area of Macedonia, around 800 A.D.I do remind you the General Tito's propaganda in order to issue an identity to your citizens. History is there for you and those who are trying (hopelessly) to propagate "facts" which have nothing to do with HISTORICAL facts. You can NEVER build an identity with stolen materials, no matter if unhistorical characters (International politicians) demand this. Facts are facts and NO one can change that. For Greeks you will always be Slavs and there is nothing wrong with that, by ALL means."

I think Athanasios said it; the Greeks will always call the Macedonians "Slavs" no matter what! The question is why?

From the e-mails above one gets the impression that Greece has done a wonderful job in indoctrinating its people with powerful anti-Macedonian propaganda. One also gets the impression that these Greeks are clueless about the reality of the Macedonian situation.

Greeks, at least the ones who wrote these e-mails, seem to talk in black and white clear cut terms about what happened 1,500 years ago, forgetting that from then until 1913 there were no borders between present day Greece and Macedonia. Whoever invaded Macedonia surely did not spare Greece. So if we are to believe mainstream history then it should be well known to these Greeks that the Slavs who invaded Macedonia also invaded Greece down to its deepest southern fringes. So if the modern Macedonians are Slavs, then so are the modern Greeks.

History also tells us that the present Greek-Macedonian border was erected after the Balkan Wars as a result of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest. This is simply an artificial border that never existed before 1913. So how can modern Greeks claim that what is south of this border is "Pure Greek" and what's north of it is "Slav"? If we are to accept this "Greek claim" then we must also accept the idea that "pure Greeks" and "Slavs" co-existed in a borderless region for 1,500 years side by side without any contact between them. We must also ignore history and the fact that Greece became a nation state for the first time in 1829 and on its territory lived Slavs, Albanians, Vlachs, Turks and a variety of other ethnicities.

Our internet warrior Greeks seem to have forgotten that modern Greece annexed 51% of Macedonia fully intact and loaded with "Slav" speaking Macedonians as recently as 1913 and those Macedonians whom they call Greeks today were certainly not Greeks then.

From the e-mails above one gets the impression that some Greeks want the Macedonians to go away. There is no room for Macedonians in the Balkans. Greeks see their world in black and white, "pure Greeks" and "Slavs" even though it is clear both entities are made from the same raw materials which begs the question "how do Greeks distinguish between "pure Greeks" on one hand and "Slavs" on the other? What is the criterion that distinguishes these groups from one another? More importantly, why is one group the "pure Greeks" deserving of the full Macedonian heritage with full rights and privileges while the other group the "Slavs" are deserving of NONE and have no rights or privileges whatsoever. Are they not both indigenous people of the same land?

By their own testimonies the Greeks admit that the so called "Slavs" have been living in Macedonia since the 6th century AD, that's 1,500 years or equivalent of 75 generations. How long do a people have to live on a land before it can call itself indigenous? How long must a people live on a land to have rights? More importantly, why do Greeks believe Macedonian lands belong to them and not to the people that lived on them for 75 generations? Besides how can these Greeks justify that these lands belong to them? Do they have deeds or proof that they are the true inheritors? How do we know that they are not imposters and the "REAL" swindlers of the Macedonian lands and heritage? Have these Greeks never bothered to ask themselves (a) what gives them the right to these lands and (b) why are Macedonians excluded from these rights? Have they never bothered to ask (a) what makes them "pure Greeks" and their neighbours "Slavs" and (b) why they have full rights and privileges and the so called "Slavs" have none, not even the most basic human rights?

THE TRUTH:

The truth is Macedonians are not "Slavs", they are Macedonians. They speak the Macedonian language practice Macedonian traditions, have their own folklore and enjoy their own Macedonian music. Unlike the Greeks who have an imposed language, the Macedonian language is the mother tongue of the Macedonian people which has been with them for at least 75 generations. The Greek language, on the other hand, was imposed on the Greek people after Greece became a nation state for the first time in 1829.

The reason Greeks call Macedonians "Slav" is because in their minds "Slavs" are apparently an unworthy species of human that does not deserve to grace Macedonian lands or have any human rights. This goes back to the "Aryan" haydays when it was popular to abuse people for various reasons, reminiscent of what the Nazis did to the Jews. Even though this type of practice is no longer popular and most of its practitioners fell off the "Aryan" bandwagon a long time ago, it appears no one bothered to tell Greece. So to this day some Greeks continue to practice "Macedonian bashing" like it's still in style!

If you have been reading these types of articles (BIG Greek Lies) by now you would know that the so called "Greek nation" is nothing more than a politically manufactured entity. It is a real shame that the Macedonian people who belong to a unique, rich and ancient culture are being punished for being "real" and all this is done for the sake of propagating another BIG Greek lie.

And now I will leave you with this:

From : <evagr1@comcast.net>

Sent : April 12, 2006 12:07:04 PM

To : rstefov@hotmail.com

Subject : 'maks'

"You are a confused Bulgarian mixed with Serb and probably gypsy and Albanian as well. That's what the people of FYROM are. You are a made-up country. I hope the Albanians over-run you like the little cockroaches that you are."

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You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com