Page 2

Do the Skopjans have desires on Macedonia, Greece?

Greece claims that Skopjans, who are evidently non-Greeks, by using to identify themselves a hellenic (greek) name that still identifies a region in modern Greece, the people living in that region, and their thousands year old heritage, implies territorial claims on behalf of Skopje. Such opinions were shared by US officials when the late Marshall Tito, in 1944, created a (now former) Yugoslav Socialist Republic of "Macedonia".

There are many Skopjan provocations supporting Greece's position.

1) The use of Slavic names for Greek cities instead of the Greek ones (they prefer to call Thessaloniki, Solun, to call Kastoria, Kostur, to call Florina, Lerin, to call Edessa, Voden etc), beyond the usual changes that the translation of various names
from one language to another requires. The use of Slavic toponyms is intended to cast a doubt on the greekness of the various places in Macedonia. This is also confirmed by the fact that the Skopjans never use the term say "Greek Macedonia" but speak of
the "Aegean Macedonia" (see discussion below).

2) The use of the term "Aegean Macedonia" (a term invented and used by Skopjans and by people of similar desires) instead of say the more acceptable and less suspicious "Greek Macedonia" to identify Macedonia, Greece (that is the region called Macedonia in Greece). This can be interpreted as an attempt to present this part as a member of a whole (usually called "Greater Macedonia") yet "unliberated". The Bulgarian oriented (terrorist) organization called IMRO (founded in the beginning of the 20th century) and the current political party VMRO of the Republic of Skopje expressed and express such claims quite often.

3) [From [7]]: A calendar for the year 1981 was published in Skopje and circulated around the world that had on its cover the word "macedonija" written in the Slavic script. Under this word a warrior appeared, like the old Commitadjis [Bulgar terrorists
who in the late 19th and early 20th century intended to include Macedonia and Thrace of Greece, Rep of Skopje as well as areas of nowadays Bulgaria to then Bulgaria], with the bayonet fastened on his rifle. Under him the well known Statue of Liberty (yes! the
one in New York!) was depicted. This statue is supported on a map of the Balkan Peninsula and largely on Macedonia, Greece.
Under this picture it is written in english "Independent and Free Macedonia" (implying that Macedonia, Greece was not free at that time!!!).
Maps depicting Macedonia, Greece, as part of the Republic of Skopje have been published recently (November 1992) in Skopje according to various reports.

4)[From [7]]: In 1973 a large size picture book was circulated in many languages which shows "the immigrants" from the other two sectors of "Macedonia" (supposedly the "Aegean Macedonia" of Greece, as Macedonia is euphemistically called by the Skopjans, and the "Pirin Macedonia" as the southwestern part of Bulgaria is also called by the Skopjans) "who have not been liberated yet", to "nostalgically" visit the "free" "Macedonia" of Skopje. This book, entitled MACEDONIAN VISTAS is still under circulation (at the time of the writing of reference [7], i.e. 1984) in the book-
stores of Belgrade and Skopje.'

5) More recently maps found in various Skopjan cultural centers around the world include various areas of Greece in their Skopjan state (Thessaly is included in some cases).

6) In early 1992 a currency was printed in skopje depicting the White Tower a landmark of Thessaloniki, the capital of Macedonia, Greece.
This fall it was decided in Rep. of Skopje that the coat of arms of the Republic of Skopje would be the coats of arms of the royal family of Philippos II, father of Alexander the Great. The coat of arms, a sun, was depicted in a gold larnax found in the grave
of Philippos II, in Vergina, Macedonia, Greece, by the late Professor Manolis Andronikos. There have been announcements recently in Greek newspapers by Greek archaelogists that the so-called Vergina-Star has also been found elsewhere in Greece (Attica) and these occurrences are dated around the early 5th century BC (~470BC).
It is open to the reader to decide what the Slavs of Skopje, who descended in the Balkans in the late 7AD century that is 1000 years after the death of Philippos II, have to do with a greek tribe, the coat of arms of their Greek Kings, and their greek heritage. It seems that the Skopjans will never stop claiming other people's heritage.

[The following are take from reference [8]].
7) June 1951: A book is published entitled '"Slavomacedonian" fighters'. The hero of the Greek war of independence Markos Botsaris is referred to as "Marc Botsar" allegedly a "Macedonian" of the Skopjan type.

8) September 2, 1951
The Interior Ministry (of Yugoslavia) gives a certificate to a person born in Agia Paraskevi, Macedonia, Greece. Macedonia is referred to as "People's Republic of Aegean Macedonia"
(For your own information, Greece has never been a People's Republic, as this term is used by Communists).

9)November 1951. The Geography book for the third grade of High School for the students of the then Socialist Republic that is now Rep. of Skopje allegedly mentioned that "our borders with Greece are just physical and not national ones, since the Aegean
Macedonia remains under the rule of Greece".

10) End of 1960: The Government in Belgrade adopted a law that officially recognised as time served to the Yugoslavian Armed Forces the time served by Greek Communist guerillas in Greek-communist organizations, other than EAM-ELAS, fighting against
the Greek government during the greek civil war 1944-1949. Participation in EAM-ELAS (1941-1949) has been recognised since 1954.

11) February 1961: The filming of a movie entitled something like "Revolutionaries in Thessaloniki" began at that time in Skopje. The topic of the movie was a Bulgarian terrorist act in Thessaloniki in April 1903, when the city was under Ottoman rule. The
Bulgars are depicted in the film as "Macedonians" (of the skopjan type), and the terrorist event is depicted as part of the "fight of Macedonians for independence".
This is just a small sample of the Skopjan provocations.

When did 'Macedonians' of the Skopjan type first appear?

Tito by the end of the WWII created a Yugoslav Socialist Republic that he called "Macedonia". The inhabitants of this new Republic were called "Macedonians". The following figures of Yugoslavian censuses show this.
According to preliminary results of the 1921 Yugoslavian census [Yugoslavia was called then "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes"], as these can be found in [8], the ethnic composition of Yugoslavia at that time was:

The final results of this census, classified according to language spoken by these people where as follows:

According to their religion:

As one can see, in 1921 there were no "Macedonians" and no "macedonian" language.

After the 1948 census the following figures were released. We have:

It is interesting that a new nationality of "Macedonians" appeared in this census with a population of 809,000 while 27 years ago no such nationality existed. It is also interesting to note that according to this census no Albanians lived in Yugoslavia in
1948 while the 1921 census indicated the existence of ~441,000 Albanians. This albanian population is hidden under such terms (nationalities?) as "Macedonians", Mavrovounians, and Muslims.

One can thus conclude that this 1948 census not only created new imaginary nationalities, like "Macedonians", but also erased existing ones. It seems creation and eradication of nationalities was a major hobby of the late Marshall Tito.

According to the religion of the people living in Yugoslavia one gets the following:

* This is the translation of this term into English from Greek.

It is surprising that the Greek minority in Yugoslavia is only 1,800. We simply note that during the Greek civil of 1944-1949 Yugoslavia fully supported the Greek Communists and around 28,000 children were abducted and sent to Yugoslavia. Most of these
children never returned to their parents. It is believed that the majority of them remained in Yugoslavia.

What was the population distribution of Macedonia, the Republic of Skopje, and parts of Bulgaria in the years of Ottoman rule?

In 1912 Greeks and Bulgars living in the Ottoman Empire agreed on the number of members to the Ottoman Parliament each group would select. It was agreed that in each Vilaet (Regions of the Ottoman Empire) the number of Greek and Bulgarian representatives would be as follows.

No references to other Slavs, nor any protests of any kind, were filed after the elections. It can thus be assumed that the Greek:Bulgar as well as Greek:Slav proportion of the population in these vilaets was reflected in this arrangement.

Other (mainly of non-greek origin) sources from which one can draw conclusions on the population of various ottoman ruled areas are:
An Italian, Amadore Virgili, in "La questiona roma rumeliota" (1907, page 107) gave the following statistics for the population of the two vilaets of Thessaloniki and Monastirion.
Thess:Greeks 362,000, Turks 423,500, Bulgars 198,000, Serbs 1400
Monast:Greeks 280,000, Turks 223,000, Bulgars 143,000, Serbs 6070

A German General [Von Der Golt in "Balkanwirren und ihre grunde" (1904)] who served in Turkey and organised the Turkish Army claimed the following statistics for the two vilaets:
Muslims 730,000, Greeks 580,000, Bulgars 266,000, Serbs 19,000,
Jews 60,000

Therefore a statement that Macedonia was predominantly "slavic" (with slavs like the ones residing in nowadays Skopje) seems to be incorrect. Nowadays Macedonia in Greece included parts of the two vilaets of Thessaloniki and Monasterio. Parts of the
Monasterio vilaet today belong to Albania and Republic of SKopje. Parts of the Thessaloniki vilaet to Rep. of Skopje and Bulgaria.
There was a third vilaet, that of Skopje extending north in today's southern Serbia.
There are various other statistics that more or less agree with these figures.
There are also figures given by 4 writers that are quite strange.
According to the following author:There were:

It is not very difficult to guess the nationalities of the 4 writers. Other figures on the population of these two vialets (also extrapolated from the number of schools and pupilsa attending these schools) are the following ones (some of the authors counted only specific groups of people such as Bulgars and/or Greeks).

(figures are in thousands)
Gr: Greeks Bu:Bulgars Se:Serbs

* Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
** Hilmi Pasa, Turkish Governor(??).

After the population exchanges in the 1920s, ~380,000 Turks left Greece and 538,253 Greeks came to Macedonia from Asia Minor. In 1919 in the treaty of Neuilly it was decided that the Bulgarian population residing in Greece would immigrate to Bulgaria and the Greek population living in Bulgaria would immigrate to Greece by 1924. The time limit was extended to 1932 after through an application of the Bulgarian Government which the then Greek Government accepted. Approximately 66,000 Bulgars left Greece at that time according to a report of the League of Nations (the precursor of the United Nations). About ~52,000 Bulgars left Greece.

Given that the 1928 Greek census gives for Macedonia a population of 1,412,477 this means that there were close to 850,000 Greeks in Macedonia before the arrival of the Greeks from Asia Minor.

Considering the annual population increases one can conclude that an estimate of at least 660,000 for the Greeks in the two vilaets of Monasterio and Thessaloniki (and of Macedonia) is a quite accurate one.

Was the Bulgarian King Samuel of Skopjan nationality as some Skopjans claimed he was?

Skopjans in order to by-pass the now established truths about the greekness of the ancient Macedonians and build a future for their so-called "macedonian nationality" and acquire historical rights to the Macedonian area claim that the infrastructure and population of the kingdom which Samuel established for a period of close to 18 years with the city of Achris as its capital was "Macedonian" (of the Skopjan type). They also claim that Samuel was also a "macedonian" (of the Skopjan type) even though certain
historias today believe that he was an Armenian. They also claim that Samuel as a ruler of a state that also included Macedonia was himself a Macedonian and that the state he established was the first "Macedonian state" (of the Skopjan type). Regarding Samuel, he was a Bulgarian king and not a "Macedonian" one, and the state he founded was a Bulgarian one as well. It is for this reason that the emperor Vasileios II of the Byzantine empire, who defeated Samuel, is known in history as Vasileios the Bulgar-slayer and not as Vasileios the "macedonian"-slayer.

This fact is supported by historians such as Vasiliev and Levtchenko.

There is another piece of evidence which shows that the Skopjan claims that Samuel was a "Macedonian" are ridiculous. An inscription from the city of Monastirio dated 1017 has been preserved where John, nephew of Samuel and son of his elder brother Aaron
is mentioned to be of Bulgarian descent. This inscription has been published in the book written by Gordana Tomovic "Morfologija Cirilickin Natpisa na Balkann", Belgrade, 1974, page 33.

It is worth mentioning that the area of Achris ws inhabited in the Roman and Byzantine periods by Greeks. The book "The tombs of Trebenitse" by Keramopoullos (page 490) shows inscriptions from that period referring to persons with Greek names only. On one
inscription the God of Lychnetis was Heracles Megistos.

What is the size of the Greek minority in the Republic of Skopje.

The size of the Greek minority in the Republic of Skopje is officially estimated to be close to 1,000-2,000 people. This figure is so reliable that recently a German official has asked the Skopjans to perform a new census. It would't be surprising that Skopjans hide Greeks under such names as Vlachs. It is also noted that during the Greek civil war of 1944-1949 close to 28,000 Greek children were abducted by communists (including Skopjan ones) and transferred to Southern Yugoslavia that is toaday's Republic of Skopje. It is unknown under which label this population and their descendants are counted. Some Greek estimates raise the size of the Greek minority in Skopje to around 50,000.

Macedonia and the (Greek) War of Independence.

Macedonia, while under the rule of the Ottoman empire, was mainly inhabited by Greeks, Turks and Bulgars. There was also a significant Jewish population in the city of Thessaloniki most of whom arrived there from Spain in the late 15th century.
Macedonians [to mean only the Greek-nationality population of Macedonia] expected to be liberated and join the then newly founded Greek state as a compensation for their sacrifices and contributions to the (Greek) War of Independence. They were led in this effort by the enthusiastic but inexperienced leadership of Emmanuel Pappas, a member of Phillike Etaereia. The Macedonians of Chalcidice revolted in May 1821 and for a brief moment threatened to throw the Turks out of the city of Thessaloniki. Due to their inexperience they were easily suppressed by the Turks by November 1821. The countryside was ravaged and the Greek population of Thessaloniki was massacred and forced to move out of the city.

The second round of the revolt began in February 1822 when the kleftae and armatoloi of mountains Olympos and Vermion along with the inhabitants of the city of Naoussa declared that city free (of the Ottoman rule). The Turks deployed troops brought to
Greece from Asia Minor, and by April the revolt was subdued. Naoussa was destroyed, the men were killed, and the women and children were taken as slaves. After this, many Macedonian fighters fled to Southern Greece to continue fighting the Turks alongside the Peloponnesians and the other Greeks.

The failure of the Macedonian revolt is mainly attributable to the inexperience of the rebels and the proximity of the area to Constantinople. Although the revolt failed, it provided great help to the rebels of Southern Greece because it tied a number of
Turkish forces in Macedonia. The price paid by the Macedonians was heavy. The previously flourishing greek community of Thessaloniki was destroyed and the Greek population of the city was reduced by around 70%. The Jews took over the leading role among the communities residing in the city. Once more in their long history, Macedonians sacrificed themselves for the common good of all Greeks.

When was the first time the word ``Macedonia'' was defined to include lands of the nowadays Rep. of Skopje?

After the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 which ended with a Russian victory the two parties signed what became known as the treaty of San Stefano (1878).

The chief Russian negotiator was Count Ignatiev, the Panslavist Russian Ambassador at Constantinople between 1864-1877. The statistics used by Ignatiev during these negotiations, when he gave a new definition to the word ``Macedonia'', were provided to him by a Bosnian, Kerkovic. The San Stedano treaty provided for the creation of ``Greater Bulgaria'' that would include the then Bulgarian state, Eastern Rumelia, parts of today's Albania as far to the west as the city of Koritsa, and ``Macedonia'' which was then first defined to include what is known nowadays as Republic of Skopje, the southwestern part of nowadays.

Bulgaria, and Macedonia (of Greece). It is interesting to note that the three Turkish vilaets covering this ``Macedonia'' were the vilaets of Thessaloniki, Monastirio and parts of the vilaet of Kossovo. The city of Skopje was in the vilaet of Kossovo.
Even the most extremist Bulgarian nationalists celebrated on the good news. The other European powers objected to this settlement because they feared that it would give Russia the ability to seize easily Constantinople. One of these powers, Austria-Hungary, was displeased by the prospect of Bulgaria holding the port of Thessaloniki as this would have barred its own descent to this port through Bosnia.

In the Berlin Congress, held weeks later, in the summer of 1878, the arrangements of the San Stefan Treaty (regarding Bulgaria) were cancelled with the full agreement of Russia since Russia did not want to risk a war against the other European Powers.

The ``Macedonia'' of the San Stefano treaty thus remained under Ottoman rule divided into various vilaets and sandjaks. It is ironic that this new definition of ``Macedonia'', invented for the purpose of delivering lands of the Ottoman empire to Bulgaria on the occasion of the San Stefano Treaty, outlived that Treaty and is still used by some people to define Macedonia.

The end result of the San Stefano treaty was that it gave Bulgaria the pretext to actively interfere in ``Macedonia'', as it would become apparent from later events in the region.

What were the views of the Bulgarian Exarchate on the population composition of Macedonia.

One of the main events that helped increase the Bulgarian influence in the part of the Ottoman empire to be called 'San-Stefano ``Macedonia'' eight years later was the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870 which took over responsibility for the orthodox Bulgars living in the Ottoman empire.

The Greek War of Independence in the first half of the nineteenth century had its repercussions among the natives of Macedonia. Many Macedonians of joined their compatriots in Southern Greece in that War. Simultaneously a national awakening was observed among the Bulgars living at that time in Macedonia. It should be noted that the term ``Bulgar'' at that time was used to denote the labouring and illiterate masses living in Macedonia irrespective of ethnic origin. That awakening was mainly due to the Russian Panslavists. Russia supported the subsequent uprising of the Slavs against the Turks in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Around 1830, a scholar, Venelin explored Bulgaria and collected material but also invented other. He claimed that the Bulgars had taught the Russians the (Cyrillic) alphabet and were responsible for the conversion of Russians to christianity. One of his followers, Rakowski claimed in 1859 that Zeus (the ancient Olympian God), Demosthenes (yes, the Athenian orator), Alexander the Great, and the Souliot hero of the Greek War of Independence Markos Botsaris were all Bulgars. He also claimed that St Paul preached Christianity to Bulgars first and not to Greeks. Such claims quickly spread among the Bulgars living in Macedonia and beyond.

Verkovic who wrote an ethnography on Macedonia and became the top Russian expert on Macedonia claimed that he had `discovered' Bulgarian (ancient) songs about Alexander the Great. Krstovic claimed that Aristotle spoke Bulgarian but wrote in Greek in order to educate the southern barbarians [Note:Krstovic seemed to believe that Aristotle, a Bulgar to him, was civilized, while the southern barbarians, i.e. the Southern Greeks such as the Athenians were not during the classic period. Such claims were made despite the obvious fact that Bulgars first appeared in the Balkans sometime in the 7th century AD]. Krstovic also considered Bulgars Constantine the Great, Cyril and Methodios, the hero of the Greek War of Independence, Karaiskakes and many other
Greek and Serbian national heros. Such ideas were believed not only in Russia (among the Bulgars were a fact of life) but also in Western Europe, especially after the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1878 as it can be seen in the opinions expressed by various European politicians, scholars journalists and some scholars of that time also reflected in their belief that Macedonia was Bulgarian.

The Exarchate had the blessings of Count Ignatiev of Russia, who in 1878 would lead the Russians in their negotiations with the Turks leading to the San Stefano Treaty. The Bulgarian exarchate also became responsible for the education of the Bulgarian population and at the same time tried to strengthen the Bulgarian consciousness of those Bulgars living under the Ottoman rule. At the same time, through underground activities and the use of force, the Bulgars tried to force the Bulgar-speaking Greek population to declare themselves Bulgars and not Greeks.

In [9] the following excerpts appear from a report prepared in 1885 by the Secretary-General of the Bulgarian Exarchate describing the situation in Macedonia: [the writer of the report interprets Macedonia as the ``Macedonia'' of the San Stefano Treaty]
" It is a sad fact but we must admit that the largest part of the Bulgarian population of Macedonia does not have a Bulgarian national conscience... If Europe were to demand today that the Macedonian people decide on their fate and say to which nationality they belong, we are certain that the largest part of the Macedonian people and of Macedonia would slip away from our hands. If we exclude two or three regions of Northern Macedonia, the inhabitants of the other regions are ready to declare that they are
Greeks. If the Great Powers were to intervene and demand a plebiscite to solve the Macedonian problem the Greeks would come out as winners."
[D. Missev-Obreikov "Report on the Present Situation of Bulgarism
in Macedonia"]

The Bulgarians had thus realised that if they were to increase their influence in Macedonia they had to deal not with the Turkish or Serbian influence but with the Greeks. Many foreign travelers who journeyed Macedonia during the 19th century have
attested the existence, not only of a Greek-speaking population but also a Slav-speaking (Slavophone) one which considered themselves Greek even though they did not speak Greek, except possibly a few words.

Did all the Greeks in Macedonia speak Greek only in the late 19th century?

No. As we have mentioned in the previous question, a number of Greeks living in Macedonia as well as Bulgaria, and the lands of Rep. of Skopje (the San Stefano ``Macedonia'') were Slav-speakers (Slavophones) speaking a Bulgarian idiom. Although this may seem strange, given the circumstances of that time was not. There were also a large number of Turking-speaking muslims in Asia Minor at that time. Some of these Turkish-speaking Greeks were forced under the threat of death by the Turks to move to Russia (or better, ex-USSR) in the beginning of the 20th century.

These are nowadays Russian-speakers (i.e. Slav-speakers) living in Azerbaijan and other newly created republics. These Greeks have probably not spoken Greek for the past 5-6 centuries.

The existence of Bulgar speaking Greeks in Macedonia is attested in the book by James Baker "Die Turken in Europa", Stuttgart 1878,pp19-20, quoted by Djoko Slijepcevic in "The Macedonian Question: The struggle for Southern Serbia", Chicago, The Ameri-
can Institute for Balkan Affairs, 1958, pp87. According to Baker "I asked some Bulgarian peasants in Macedonia about their nationality, and they immediately replied 'Rum' which, indeed, is the name peculiar to the Greek population of Asia Minor. They in-
sisted that they were Greeks. 'If this is so', i told them, 'why do you speak Bulgarian at home?"' 'Because our forefathers did so', they replied. although we are Greeks'."

What were the events that followed the Berlin Congress of 1878?

In early 1890's various Bulgarian groups were organized in the Ottoman empire advocating a more revolutionary program in Macedonia that would result in the Bulgarization of the area. One such group was IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) which was organized around 1893 and whose members included Gotse Deltchev, Damjan Grujev, Pere Tochev, Petar Pop Arsov, and other Bulgarians from Bulgaria and San-Stefano ``Macedonia''. This organization aimed at uniting ``Macedonia'', by any possible means, into a single entity.

In response to this, Macedonians, with financial help from their kinship in then Greece and also from abroad, organized themselves and tried to protect the Greek-speaking and Bulgar-speaking Greek-Macedonian, and especially those living small villages,
from Bulgarian abuses. Wherever this was not possible and especially in areas where Bulgars were the majority, as it was the case in the north and central part of today's Rep of Skopje, it was common to have a member of a family declaring himself a Bulgar and another one declaring himself a Greek. Whole Greek villages, when under pressure from Bulgars, used to declare themselves Bulgarian to avoid destruction from the Bulgars.

In the beginning of the 20th century, when the situation got worse, both sides (Greek and Bulgarian) went many times to extremes although one may observe that the Bulgarian side was mainly responsible for that. At the same time the consciousness
of the few Serbs living in San-Stefano ``Macedonia'' (in today's Republic of Skopje) was also awakened and Serbia got involved into these rivalries as well.

The Balkan Wars erupted because of these rivalries. The Bulgarian atrocities towards the Macedonians of Eastern Macedonia can be summarized in the following remark of Elizabeth Barker ("Macedonia: Its place in Balkan Power Politics", London, The Royal
Institute of International Affairs, 1950,pp19-20) cited in [9]
"The Bulgarian occupation authorities in Greek eastern Macedonia has behaved towards the Greek population with brutality singularly inappropriate in supposed liberators. An Inter-Allied Commission in 1919 reported that 94 villages had been entirely demolished, that 30,000 people had died of hunger, blows, and disease
during the occupation, that 42,000 had been deported to Bulgaria, and that 16,000 had fled to [my note: then] Greece".

The Neuilly treaty of 1920.

The treaty of Neuilly brought peace to the relations of Bulgaria with her adversaries. A convention between Greece and Bulgaria, known as the Neuilly Treaty, entering force on August 9, 1920 provided for the voluntary exchange of populations between Bul-
garia and Greece in order to avoid mistreatment of the alien populations in the two countries.

IMRO, still active, objected to the implementation of the exchange of populations because this would eliminate the Bulgarian element in Greece and would eliminate Bulgaria's claim on Macedonia. A number of Slavs who had expressed their desire to mi-
grate to Bulgaria thus chose not to.

During the wars, prior to 1920, close to 16,000 Greeks and 30,000 Bulgars fled to their respective homelands and after the Neuilly Treaty the corresponding numbers were 30,000 and 53,000 [the figures were taken from [9]]. Still, some Bulgars, following IMRO's suggestions remained in Greece. Some others who, due to intermarriage, were not sure of their allegiance to either country also did not leave. Their presence was not noticed due to the chaotic situation in Greece following the Greek defeat of 1922 by the
Turks and the subsequent forced exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. The only minority (since the Bulgars were supposed to go according to the Neuilly Treaty) left in Greece was a Moslem one in Thrace.

The situation in Southern Serbia was quite complicated since a large number of Bulgars were still residing there. These were to be named in the 1940s ``Macedonians'' by Tito in order to eliminate the Bulgarian influence on this territory of then Yugoslavia.
In September 1924 a Greco-Bulgarian agreement, to be known as the Kalfov-Politis Protocol, was concluded. This protocol provided for the treatment of Bulgars/Greeks who had not yet left their alien countries under the Neuilly Treaty. The then Greek government appeared to accept the view that the Bulgar-speaking Greeks and the Bulgar-speaking Bulgarians (who had not left) still living in Greece were Bulgarians. It was soon realized that this agreement was a mistake and the Bulgar-speaking Greeks protested the agreement. Serbia also protested this agreement because these people were recognized as Bulgarians and not Serbs. Subsequent protests by both Bulgaria and Serbia, for various reasons, convinced the then Greek government not to insist on calling these people Bulgarians. The League of Nations, on March 14, 1925 relieved Greece of any obligations under the Kalfov-Politis Protocol. Since then, Greece considered them Greeks (including the Bulgars still living in Greece at that time). The Metaxas' dictatorship, who tried to force the abandonment of the Bulgarian idiom by these people, alienated some of them. The situtation was to be resolved only after World War II when the remaining Bulgars and possibly some alienated Bulgar-speaking Greeks (various sources estimated their number upwards 60,000) finally left
Greece (see also following questions).

Bulgaria and Germany in World War II.

After the Italian invasion of Greece through Albania and the subsequent war between the two countries, the Bulgarian Government began to think about joining the Axis. A member of the Bulgarian Parliament, Peter Doumanov, declared: "Two million [sic] Bulgarians are under foreign domination. Germany, with a population of 70 million shook the entire Europe for two million fellow nationals living in Czechoslovakia. We, Bulgarians, with a population of six million and with two million co-nationals as minorities,
i.e. one third of our population, we dare not openly fight for our minorities in Macedonia and Thrace. Some may say that Bulgaria is not Germany; BULGARIA SHOULD BECOME FOR THE BALKANS WHAT GERMANY IS FOR EUROPE." [Note: emphasis is mine. The term Thrace refers to the Greek Thrace. The term Macedonia probably refers
to Macedonia although it may also refer to the lands of San-Stefano ``Macedonia'' that is Macedonia and the lands of the Rep. of Skopje.]

This speech raised protests in Yugoslavia (newspaper Politika, Dec 6,1940). Until that time Bulgaria avoided open provocations although she was secretly negotiating with the Germans for an exit to the Aegean Sea, through Greece [Macedonia and Thrace].
Germany accepted these terms on January 18, 1941. On February 8, German General Liszt and Bulgarian General Boider signed an agreement allowing Bulgaria to occupy the area of Greece stretching from river Evros to river Strymon, that is Greek Thrace and Eastern Macedonia.

Following the invasion and subsequent defeat of Greece by Germany in the spring of 1941, Bulgaria occupied or as some Bulgarians claimed, 'liberated' the Greek lands mentioned in Liszt-Boider agreement. Bulgarian Premier Filov in an interview with the
German newspaper Borsen Zeitung on November 11, 1941 said: "in a few days we will begin with the colonization of the Aegean area... Thousands of Bulgarian families will be transported and settled in this area within the next weeks and months" [My Note: So much for Bulgarian claims about alleged Bulgarian minorities in neighboring countries, as far as Greece was concerned.]

At the end of WWII the feelings of the Greeks and especially of those living in the areas occupied by the Bulgarians toward their Bulgarian neighbors prompted a British to remark that " the only brotherly sentiment which Greek Macedonians felt towards
the Bulgars was a disposition to raise Cain".

Elizabeth Barker similarly wrote " Although Greeks were relieved by the belated Bulgarian withdrawal, they were left with an overpowering hatred of all Bulgars, whether pro-German or Communist. In fact the average Greek probably detested and feared
the Bulgarian communists, who represented the great Slav menace to Greece from the north, even more than he had hated their predecessors".

Among the Bulgars still living in Greece at that time, some of them sided with the pro German Bulgars who occupied parts of Greece during WWII. These, at the end of WWII, naturally left Greece. Some other (pro-communist ones) joined various communist
oriented guerilla groups. These groups were controlled by the Yugoslavs of Tito and after WWII sided with the Greek communist guerillas who turned in the meantime against the Greek Government. After the communist defeat in the subsequent greek civil
war they finally left Greece, 28-29 years after the signing of the Neuilly Treaty that first provided for their departure from Greece.

What are the intentions of the Communists still ruling Skopje towards the region of modern-day Greece called Macedonia since ancient times?

After the establishment of the People's Republic of Macedonia, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of "Macedonia" issued the following declaration "Macedonian people: In your three-year popular liberation struggle you achieved your unity and you established your own army and set the foundations of the federate Macedonian state.
With the participation of the entire Macedonian people against the fascist [My note: that is, the non-communists] occupiers in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece you will achieve
the union of all parts of Macedonia which the Balkan imperialists seized in 1913 and 1918.

As for the demand for the complete unification of the macedonian people, there are today on your side all the other peoples of Yugoslavia, the Anti-fascis People's Liberation Council of Yugoslavia and the heroic People's Liberation Army of Yugosla-
via."
[in "Ten year from the Establishment of the P.R. of Macedonia", Skopje 1954, as quoted in [9].]

Three months later Milovan Djilas in a speech at Kolarac declared that the "question of the unification is today before the Macedonian people who have the right to unite themselves wherever they may live".He further explained that the unification of "Macedonia" was not merely a theoretical question but one of vital interest to the security of Yugoslavia.

It is noted that the first 'premier' of the new republic of "Macedonia" was Dimitar Vlahov who had been an outspoken Bulgarian during the first decade of the 20th century, was an elected Bulgarian delegate to the Turkish Parliament, became leader of the "United" IMRO in 1925, and in the following years declared himself an "authentic Macedonian"...

What do some Skopjans claim that the population composition of Macedonia is?

Hristo Antonofsky an extremist Skopjan gave the following ethnological composition of Macedonia, Greece [for the period around 1941]

[source: Hristo Antonofksi: "Egejska Makedonija" (Skopje, Go na Zdruzhanieto na be Galcite od Eg. Makedonija, 1951),p50. ]

In addition to discovering new nationalities Antonofski excluded from the count the population of Thessaloniki, the Chalcidice peninsula, and the Kozani prefecture of Macedonia.

Bulgarian statements on Skopje in the late fifties [after the Tito-Stalin breakup]

After the creation of the People's Republic of "Macedonia", Yugoslavs embarked in an attempt to change the Bulgarian idiom spoken by the Skopjans. They removed Bulgarian words and replaced them with Serbo-Croatian ones. Bulgars then claimed that the purpose of the creation of a new "macedonian' language "was not to unite the Macedonian people or advance their culture but to suppress and supplant the Bulgarian language spoken and read by all Slav Macedonians" In addition, P Gevgeliev wrote in "Skopje revives macedonian spectre", Free Bulgaria,pp229-230, " it is true that we have given up the teaching of "Macedonian history", a high falutin term for the ravings of a handful of maniacs in Skopje who are so far gone in their nationalistic dementia and mental aberration as to claim that the present "Macedonian" people are descendants of Alexander the Great. These "historians" seem to overlook the fact that the Slav tribes came to this territory fully a thousand years after the death of Alexander the Macedon."

Skopjan minority claims.

How many supposedly "Macedonians" of the Skopjan type are in Greece? Well, the Skopjans and their supporters cannot agree to a reasonable figure.
Once Radio Belgrade (Dec 14, 1950) claimed this number was 250,000. On August 28, 1953 Yugopress claimed it was 120,000.

The current claim depends on the weather :-), the mood of the estimator, and the outcome of some (probably highly biased) random number generator :-) :-).

Are there any Slavs living in Greece? When the last few Slavs left Greece? Are there any Slavophone living in Greece? Where are they living? Who are they?

Excluding a number of Polish and Hungarian immigrant workers as well as few Yugoslav illegal workers residing in Greece particularly during the summer months, there are no other Slavs living in Greece.

Skopjans claim that there is a sizeable Slavic minority in the region Macedonia of Greece. One can easily find out that there is not such a minority.

The answer to the second part of the question has been given in various answers to previous Questions. The Neuilly Treaty arranged for the exchange of the Greek Population living in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian (Slavic) population living in Greece.
Their departure was finally completed in the late 1940s (See questions 32 and 34 for more details).

There are various Slavophones living in Greece most of whom are of Greek nationality. These are:

a) Few Bulgar-speaking Greeks living in Western Macedonia who may still speak this language. Their presence in Macedonia as well as their Greekness have been noted by many non-greek authors. For references to this check previous questions. Many of them fought against the Bulgars in the late 19th and early 20th century, like capetan Kottas from the village of Roulia, against the Germans and the Bulgarians during WWII and the Greek communists in the ,following greek civil war. As time passes the bulgarian language is dropped from usage just as this also happened with Turkish to the Turkish speaking Greeks who came in Greece from Asia Minor in 1922-1923.

b) Russian-speaking Greeks (some known as Pontian-Greeks) who are coming to Greece following the disintegration of the former USSR.

These Greeks used to live in northern Turkey before they were expelled from there. Some of them have not been Greek-speakers for centuries, being previously Turkish-speakers (the Greeks of Azerbaidjan and Kazahktsan fall in this category).

c) The Muslim Pomaks living in Greek Thrace and who are governed by the Lausanne Peace Treaty signed (among others) by Greece and Turkey which provided for the treatment of the Greek minority in Constantinople (nowadays Istanbul) and the muslim minority in Greek Thrace (Western Thrace). Turks like to consider Pomaks as Turks, and Bulgars as Bulgarians. Pomaks were forcefully bulgarised by the Bulgars - that's why they are not so friendly to them and until some time in the 15-17th century were Christinas when they became Muslims under the threat of death by the Turks. In
the past years Turkey has been trying to convince Pomaks to abandon their language and start speaking Turkish. Due to this connection of the Pomaks and the Bulgars it is not much of a surprise that the Pomakian language looks like the one spoken by the Skopjans (sans the Serbo-Croatian words added to the Skopjan "Macedonian" idiom after 1945 to differentiate it from Bulgarian and some extra archaic greek and turkish influences found in the Pomakian idiom).

A brief history of the Bulgarian-origin terrorist group IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization ) founded one hundred years ago (1893).

[This discussion contains excerpts from previous questions so that it can become as self-contained as possible. Despite this, reading of questions Q27-Q41 is still advised.]

One of the main events that helped increase the Bulgarian influence in the part of the Ottoman empire to be called 'San-Stefano ``Macedonia'' in 1878 was the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870 which took over responsibility for the orthodox
Bulgars living in the Ottoman empire.

In early 1890's various Bulgarian groups were organized in the Ottoman empire advocating a more revolutionary program in Macedonia that would result in the Bulgarization of the area. One such group was IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) which was organized around 1893 and whose founders included Gotse Deltchev, Damjan Grujev, Pere Tochev, Petar Pop Arsov, and
other Bulgarians from Bulgaria and San-Stefano ``Macedonia''.

Since it was clear that European powers would never accept to Macedonia being part of Bulgaria, IMRO was aiming at uniting ``Macedonia'', by any possible (even violent) revolutionary means into a single entity and thus declaring a Macedonian state, which in the beginning would co-exist with Bulgaria then uniting with Bulgaria when the conditions in Europe would be favorable to such a union (although IMRO did not openly declare this intention). IMRO was theoretically open to all people living in 'San Stefano Macedonia' be them Bulgars, Serbs, Greeks, Jews etc. Except for few Bulgar-speaking Greeks who joined IMRO on the belief that they were to fight the Turks and not fight for
Bulgaria, no other non-Bulgars joined it. Even these Greeks, when it became clear to them what the intentions of IMRO really were departed and fought against it (such as capetan Kottas from the village of Roulia). Thus, after 1900 the only members of IMRO were Bulgars living in the Ottoman empire as well as others from Bulgaria.

IMRO within a year from its creation came under Bulgarian-state control and financed mainly by the Bulgars in Sofia. The creation in 1894, of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization organization was to this direction. The `Adrianople' of this definition was referring to the then turkish vilaet of Adrianople which included the whole of nowadays Greek Thrace. The Bulgars since that time had eyes not only on Macedonia but also on Thrace (as the occupation during WWII of both these areas of Greece also suggests). IMRO thus began to be under the control of the Supreme (Macedonian) Committee located in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Relations between IMRO and the Supreme Commitee and between IMRO and the Bulgarian Exarchate were not without tensions. Besides leadership ambitions between the leaders of IMRO and SC, the two organization wanted to achieve the same objectives (Bulgarian control over Macedonia) differently. IMRO favored the creation of
a separate Bulgarian state that of Macedonia. SC wanted the union of Macedonia to Bulgaria as the articles of the San-Stefano Treaty dictated. On the other hand the Bulgarian Exarchate objected to IMRO's revolutionary (and violent) means of achieving
its target. It preferred more peaceful means that would involve the creation of schools educating the Bulgar-speaking population regardless of nationality and possibly providing monetary support to this population. The members of the SC were called Supremists (Vrhovists), while the IMRO members of the terrorist bands in Macedonia were called comitadjis. In 1898, the Supreme Committee, under the leadership of Sarafov, prevailed and IMRO thus came under full Bulgarian control. By that time it was clear to every non-Bulgarian member of IMRO the intentions of that organization.

A terrorist campaign against the Greek population of Macedonia which began in 1893 intensified at that time. One reason for this was the inaction of the Greek Government mainly following the Greek defeat by the Turks in 1897. Because of this, the Turks tolerated the Bulgarian actions against the Greek population of Macedonia. This was to change only in the period of 1904-1908 when the first Greek bands with full support from Greece began to organize themselves and supplemented the few ones present in
Macedonia since 1900 (whose organization was due to the efforts of the Bishop of Kastoria Germanos Karavaggelis and the monetary support of Macedonians living in Europe). Serbian bands were also active in ''San Stefano Macedonia'' at that time, but their presence and activity was mostly limited in the lands of nowadays Rep. of Skopje.

The Balkan wars of the 1912-1920s erupted from these rivalries of Bulgars, Greeks, Serbs and Turks.

One member of IMRO in the perior 1903-1908 was Dimitar Vlahov who was also elected as a Bulgar representative in the Ottoman Parliament. After the Balkan wars and the defeat of the Greeks by the Turks in 1922 the situation in Macedonia clarified with the forced population exchanges between Turkey and Greece and the voluntary exchanges between Greece and Bulgaria. Because of these population exchanges all Turks left Macedonia (or the Greek part of ''San Stefano Macedonia'', if one follows the alternative
definition of the term ''Macedonia'' ), and almost all Bulgars left Greece. The Neuilly Treaty was to bring peace in the relations of Bulgaria with her adversaries. A convention between Greece and Bulgaria, known as the Neuilly Treaty, entering force on August 9, 1920 provided for the voluntary exchange of populations between Bulgaria and Greece in order to avoid mistreatment of the alien populations in the two countries.

IMRO, still active, objected to the implementation of the exchange of populations because this would eliminate the Bulgarian element in Greece and would eliminate Bulgaria's claim on Macedonia. A number of Slavs who had expressed their desire to mi-
grate to Bulgaria thus chose not to do so due to pressures from IMRO.

During the wars, prior to 1920, close to 16,000 Greeks and 30,000 Bulgars fled to their respective homelands and after the Neuilly Treaty the corresponding numbers were 30,000 and 53,000. Still, some Bulgars, following IMRO's suggestions remained in Greece.

Some others who due to intermarriage were not sure of their allegiance to either country also did not leave. Their presence was left noticed due to the chaotic situation in Greece following the Greek defeat of 1922 by the Turks and the subsequent forced exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. The only minority (since the Bulgars were supposed to go following the Neuilly Treaty) left in Greece was a Moslem one in Thrace.

The situation in Southern Serbia was quite complicated since a large number of Bulgars were still residing there. These were to be named in the 1940s ``Macedonians'' by Tito in order to eliminate the Bulgarian influence on this territory of then Yugoslavia.

Around 1921, IMRO was ruled by Protogerov and Alexandrov, both ex-"Supremists" (Vrhovists) who advocated a nationalistic Bulgarian policy. The "Centralists" advocated, just like the old IMRO, that an independent Macedonia was the only way towards a Bulgarian Macedonia. This latter faction within IMRO included as members Athanasov, Panitsa, Dimitar Vlahov kai Hadji-Dimov who in 1921 formed a new group inside IMRO. All four of them were leftists, either communists (like Hadji-Dimov) or socialists who
were to become communist at a later time (such as Vlahov). By 1924 these two groups murdered the leaders of each other. First Alexandrov, then Hadji-Dimov and later Panitsa were murdered. In 1925 the surviving leaders Protogerov and Vlahov splitted and Vlahov founded United-IMRO. Although United-IMRO did not have as many followers as IMRO itself, it was nevertheless followed by socialists who had not yet declared themselves communists. In 1936 Vlahov dissolved United-IMRO and went to Moscow. He returned to Yugoslavia in 1943 after being invited by Tito and became
Prime Minister of the then newly formed, by Tito, People's Republic of Macedonia. A revisionist history of IMRO by Vlahov interpreted the fight of IMRO from 1893-1920 as a fight of ``Macedonian'' (of the Skopjan type) and not Bulgarian poor peasants of low classes against the Turkish land owners. He also attacked the Supremists and accused them of (which was naturally true since all IMRO members were then Bulgars) being under the guidance of the Bulgarians in Sofia and thus being indifferent to the independent "Macedonian" movement for independence. All these were being told by a person who was elected as a Bulgar in the Ottoman Parliament.

Following the Balkan Wars and WWI, Bulgaria lobbied Soviet Union to support her position on the Macedonian problem that is the the political future of San-Stefano ``Macedonia'' in case of a communist victory in the Balkans.

Bulgarians did not and still do not accept the existence of a ``macedonian nationality'' (the way Skopjans do) but use the term ``macedonian'' population to refer to the population of the San-Stefano ``Macedonia'', whose definition was only political and
had nothing to do with the historic region of Macedonia. Thus, the resolution of the Sixth Communist Balkan Conference promised that "... In setting up the ideal of a workers' and peasants' government, the communist parties and the Communist federation of
the Balkans will assure peace, independence and liberty of development of all the peoples of the Peninsula, that it will be a voluntary union of independent Balkan Republics, including the Republic of Macedonia and Thrace".

It is noted that this text indicates that Bulgaria wanted to see all Northern Greece taken away from Greece. Bulgaria had aspiration not only on Macedonia but also on Greek Thrace. This is in line with earlier Bulgarian claims that ancient Macedonians were Illyrians (or Thraco-Illyrians) and that they (Bulgarians) are ancestors of either the Illyrians or the Thracians. The Bulgarians realising that it was difficult for the lands of
San-Stefano ``Macedonia'' to become parts of Bulgaria, rallied for an independent ''Macedonia'' to eliminate objection from the Communist parties of Yugoslavia and Greece and also gain the support of the Soviet Union.

Separately, Bulgarian communist representatives and IMRO, represented by Alexandrov (before his murder), Protogerov and Chaoulev, signed a manifesto which also included the following (see [9]) "IMRO declares that it is fighting and will fight with
all the means permitted by the revolution:

1) For the liberation and the reunion of the separated parts of Macedonia [My Note: that is the San-Stefano Russian defined ``Macedonia''. The two three pieces are "Macedonia" (Skopje) and what the Skopjans call Pirin Macedonia and Aegean Macedonia (what we Macedonians in Greece call simply Macedonia)] in a fully autonomous and independent political unit, within its natural geographical and ethnic frontiers.

2) For the democratization of the States bordering on Macedonia [My Note: presumably Greece, and Yugoslavia-Serbia. Only communist states were considered democratic by the two signatories.] and for their union in a Balkan federation which alone can guarantee the political existence of an independent Macedonia and the independence of the other Balkan peoples."

During WWII, Bulgars sided with the Germans and their reward for that was the occupation of Macedonia and Thrace of Greece.

At the end of WWII the feelings of the Greeks and especially of those living in the areas occupied by the Bulgarians toward their Bulgarian neighbors prompted a British to remark that " the only brotherly sentiment which Greek Macedonians felt towards
the Bulgars was a disposition to raise Cain". Elizabeth Barker similarly wrote " Although Greeks were relieved by the belated Bulgarian withdrawal, they were left with an
overpowering hatred of all Bulgars, whether pro-German or Communist. In fact the average Greek probably detested and feared the Bulgarian communists, who represented the great Slav menace to Greece from the north, even more than he had hated their predecessors".

Among the Bulgars still living in Greece at that time, some of them sided with the pro-German Bulgars who occupied parts of Greece during WWII. These, at the end of WWII, naturally left Greece. Some other (pro-communist ones) joined various communist oriented guerilla groups. These groups were controlled by the Yugoslavs of Tito and after WWII sided with the Greek communist guerillas who turned in the meantime against the Greek Government. After the communist defeat in the subsequent greek civil war they finally left Greece, 28-29 years after the signing of the Neuilly Treaty that first provided for their departure from Greece.

It is noted that the first 'premier' of the new republic of "Macedonia" was Dimitar Vlahov, who had been an outspoken Bulgarian during the first decade of the 20th century, was an elected Bulgarian delegate to the Turkish Parliament, became leader of the "United" IMRO in 1925, and in the following years declared himself an "authentic Macedonian".