The Slav Macedonians of Greece

Abstract

Slavic languages have been spoken in the region of

Macedonia alongside Greek and others since the invasions

of the Slavs in the 6th and 7th centuries AD. Since then

lot of things changed, given that people were moving

freely to the Balkan Peninsula. In Greece, the question

about a Slavic minority in the country and especially in

western Macedonia is an issue that has sparked a great

controversy. It is also the name dispute with the

F.Y.R.O.M and the usual nationalism which is always

present to the Balkan countries. In this essay, we will

examine the historical background of the Slavic spoken

people in Greece, their legal framework and the current

political situation of them.

Table of Contents. The Slav Macedonians of Greece..............................1

Abstract..................................................1

1

Introduction..............................................2Identification of the term Slav Macedonians...............3

Minorities in Greece?.......................................3Historical background.......................................4

THE SITUATION AFTER THE WORLD WAR ERA..........................6Legal framework.............................................7

Current situation...........................................8Conclusion...............................................11

Bibliography.............................................13

Introduction

In the north west part of Greece in the west part of

Greek Macedonia, near the boarders with the F.Y.R.OM they

reside some Slavic-speaking people. Greece does not

recognize them as minorities because of the name dispute

issue, but in general, the Slavic-speaking minority of

northern Greece can be divided into two main groups:

Christians and Muslims.

The Christian portion of Greece’s Slavic-speaking

minority is commonly referred to as Slavophones. The vast

majority of them espouses a Greek national identity and

is bilingual in Greek. They live mostly in the region of

2

Western Macedonia and adhere to the Greek Orthodox

Church. The fact that the majority of these people self-

identify as Greeks makes their numbers uncertain.

The second group is made up of those who seem to reject

any national identity (Greek or Slav Macedonian) but have

distinct ethnic identity. The smallest group is made up

of those who have a clear Macedonian national identity

and consider themselves as part of the same nation with

the dominant one in the neighboring Republic of

Macedonia. A crucial element of that controversy is the

very name Macedonian, as it is also used by a much more

numerous group of people with a Greek national identity

to indicate their regional identity. Slavic speakers also

use the term "Macedonians" or "Slav omacedonians", though

in a regional rather than an ethnic sense. Until and

including the 1951 census the question of mother tongue

was asked throughout Greece, so this gives a rough idea

as to the size of this group, and later estimates are

usually based on this figure1. Al the more this issue has

sparked a great controversy in both countries and is

directly linked with nationalism in the Balkans. 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_speakers_of_Greek_Macedonia

3

Identification of the term Slav Macedonians

As we have mentioned, the Slavic languages have been

spoken not only in the region of Macedonia but also

alongside Greece since the invasions of the Slavs in the

6th and 7th centuries AD, but also mainly after the

invasion of the Slavs invade Greece with Stephen Dušan,

when they conquered a large part of southeast Europe and

a big part of Greece. At this point it is necessary to

identify the term Slav Macedonians in Greece. Most of

those people identify themselves as Greek Slavic –

speakers,. In parts of northern Greece, in the regions of

Macedonia and Thrace Slavonic languages continue to be

spoken by people with a wide range of self-

identifications. The actual linguistic classification of

these dialects is unclear, although most linguists will

classify them a combination of Bulgarian or the dialect

of the part of Southern Yugoslavia, which today is

F.Y.R.O.M. It is true that although they are some

residents of the northwest part of Greece who self-

4

identify themselves as “Macedonians” the majority of them

does not feel like “Macedonians” or Bulgarians, but

Greeks, whose mother tongue is that Slavic linguistic

idiom.

Minorities in Greece?

As a country of the European continent and a member of

the European Union family, Greece has signed specific

treaties with the promise to respect minorities, to avoid

racism and marginalization and to promote the human

rights of the minorities that live in the region of the

country. For that reason the past 20 years, the attitude

towards minorities has closely followed that of the

international (legal and political) community: a great

amount of attention is being spent on this issue. It is

true that Greece has in general a high homogeneity of its

population. But this was not always the truth as, the

Greek State has since its independence in 1830 dealt, in

different historical periods, with minorities living

within its borders. Minorities were, and continue to be,

perceived by the State as a problem by definition. This

5

is quite understandable in light of the various political

turbulences, border resetting and irredentism in the

Balkan Peninsula for most part of the 20th century.

Greece is considered as a country that has minorities, as

every European country and as a country with

controversial history. For instance as it concerns the

Turkish minority, only its religious aspect is accepted

to figure in the public domain, whereas the right to

identification as „Turkish‟ is banned. At a more extreme

level, the existence of a Macedonian minority is denied

altogether. Not only because the name dispute issue with

the F.Y.R.O.M, but also because the world and this

identification binds with Greek cultural bounds.

Historical background

Article 1 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human

Rights:

Claims all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They

are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another

in a spirit of brotherhood. Greece is a country with minorities

6

too. The think is that through reason of public security,

history and other sensitive issues, the Greek “corridors

of power” deny such a claim.

Some claim that the roots of this issue derive back from

the 19th century, where it was present and common the

second wave of nationalisms, the romantic and linguistic.

The Macedonian Question has dominated Balkan history and

politics for over a hundred years. During the Ottoman

period, which lasted in Macedonia from the fourteenth

century until 1913, the population of Macedonia included

a number of different ethnic, linguistic, and religious

groups, including Slavic and Greek speaking Christians,

Turkish and Albanian speaking Moslems, Vlachs, Jews, and

Gypsies. -

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, it was the

exact time when the theory of romanticism was widespread

and appealing and the complicated situation in the

Balkans was difficult to be faced. Furthermore the

population in the area of Macedonia (the area because of

the ottoman taxation system was divided in two major

“millets) was increasingly being defined from various

7

external nationalist perspectives in terms of national

categories, such as Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians,

and Turks. In addition, Ottoman authorities, however,

continued to divide the population of the empire into

administrative units, or millets, on the basis of

religious identity rather than language, ethnicity, or

nationality. –The Greeks, were exercising the hegemony

over the Christian Orthodox millet and this was something

that was offering them a great power. This hegemony was

seriously risked when the Bulgarians driven and motivated

from the theory of romanticism, established their own

Church, in the 1870s. Now the Christian Orthodox

communities in the area of Macedonia, had the choice of

affiliating with either the Greek or the Bulgarian

national church.

This fact enhanced nationalism as, Greeks, Bulgarians and

at some point the Serbs irredentist claims came into

conflict over who would gain control over the people and

the territory of Macedonia – At the begging of the 20th

century those three Balkan states had guerilla fighters

who were attacking the Turks, fought each other, and

8

terrorized the local population. Furthermore they were

all constructing churches and schools and placing

teachers, in order to conduct an intense propaganda

campaign, whose goal was to instill the "proper" sense of

national identity among the Orthodox Christians of the

territory of Macedonia. -

The position of the Macedonian minority worsened in the

period 1936-41 under the Metaxas regime which viewed the

minority as a danger to Greece’s security and large

numbers of slav Macedonians were interned from the border

regions with Yugoslavia, During the 50s In this period it

was forbidden for Macedonians to use the Slavonic forms

for their names and henceforth only Greek forms could be

used for official purposes

THE SITUATION AFTER THE WORLD WAR ERA

The name dispute has a long history, but became more

serious when F.Y.R.OM, became an independent country. On

4 December 1991, the Greek Council of Ministers defined

9

the terms for the international recognition as

independent state of the (until then federal Yugoslav)

Socialist Republic of Macedonia: It should not use the name

‘Macedonia’ which has a purely geographic and not an ethnic meaning. It

should recognize that it has no territorial claims on our country. It should

recognize that, in Greece, there is no ‘Macedonian’ minority.2 .

The Greek authorities have from the outset of the modern

Greek state consistently denied the existence of the Slav

Macedonians as a separate people from the Greeks and

instead officially referred to them as Slavophone Greeks.

The notion of them as a separate people, the Macedonians,

only really came later in this century, especially after

the World War II and the founding of the Socialist

Republic of Macedonia in neighboring Yugoslavia.

Until the late 1980’s, there was no apparent autonomous

(i.e. outside the mainstream political parties and

associations) minority activism in Greece. However, as on

the one hand the problems grew and on the other the

emphasis in the post-cold war European world moved

2 Macedonian Information Centre, The Name Issue,Revisited, an Anthology Of Academic Articles Skopje, 2013

10

towards human rights, both in Thrace and in Macedonia

some members of minorities became energetic human and

minority rights activists.

Legal framework

Because of the legal complicity of the issue, Greece has

faced the ECHR several times for issues that were/are

violating the human rights of people or “ ethnic groups”.

They are specific legal cases as it concerns In Sidiropoulos

v Greece3 the applicants lodged an application against

Greece based on its refusal to allow the registration of

a non-profit association named “Home of Macedonian

Civilization”. The organization aims at empowering the

cultural development of the inhabitants of the region.

Greek courts had justified the denial on the basis that

the purpose of the use of the term “Macedonian” was to

dispute the Greek culture and identity of Macedonia and

its inhabitants and from which they inferred an intention3 Sidiropoulos and Others v. Greece, 10 July 1998, ECHR, (no. 57/1997/841/1047)

11

on the part of the organizations founders to undermine

Greece’s territorial integrity. Four Greek court

decisions, however, have refused to grant the Center for

Macedonian Culture legal recognition on the grounds that

its purpose is to promote the idea of the existence of a

Macedonian minority in Greece, an activity which was

contrary to the national interests of Greece and

therefore illegal4.

Ouranio Toxo vs Greece5 was another case that handed down by

the Court which also related to the Macedonian minority.

The case was brought before the Court by a political

party which took part in elections with the declared aim

to defend the Macedonian minority residing in Greece. The

central complaint was that the acts directed against the

party, ware violating the freedom of association.

Furthermore they were several laws in Greece that it is

said that they were violating the human rights of

F.Y.R.O.M. THOSE laws have to do with political refugees

who left Greece after the Civil War. Those refugees were

allowed to return to Greece and reclaim their property

4 Danforth, The Makedonian Minority Of Northern Greece, 19955 Ouranio Toxo and others v. Greece, 20 October 2005, ECHR, (Appl. no. 74989/01)

12

(which had been confiscated by the Greek government) only

if they were "Greek by birth.". The residents of the

F.Y.R.O.M were excluded from this advantage.

Current situation

The “Macedonian Minority” is recognized globally bot it

is not recognized in Greece6. The AREA that today is THE

F.Y.R.O.M has often been a land of major instability and

conflicts. In the Balkans. The recent past has shown that

the restful disintegration of Yugoslavia, contrary to the

conflict and bloodshed in Bosnia, was the exception. As

all scholars know, even now, it lies at the center of a

bitter dispute between Greeks and the people of the

F.Y.R.O.M over which group has the right to identify

itself as Macedonians.

This latest phase on the name dispute issue between

Greece and F.Y.R.O.M, involves two major issues: the

human rights of the so-called Macedonian minority in

northern Greece, and the international recognition of6 Greek Helsinki Monitor & Minority Rights Group- Greece, Greece against its Macedonian minority The rainbow trial Athens 1998, p14

13

F.Y.R.O.M as the “Republic of Macedonia”.- The negation

over the Macedonian Question in Greek ideology focuses on

three main points: the existence of a “Macedonian

nation”, the issue of the language, and a the Slav phone

minority in Greece. From the Greek nationalist

perspective, then, the use of the name "Macedonian" by

F.Y.R.O.M constitutes a violation over the cultural

heritage and history of Greeks. On the other hand, the

residents of F.Y.R.O.M, , are sustaining their existence

as unique people with their own history, culture, and

identity and at some level they have gained international

recognition.

As it has been claimed, nationalism is not only Greek or

Bulgarian. It is a theory that derives from 19th century

and the theory of romanticism. Nationalists, of

F.Y.R.O.M, claim that there is a continuity between

ancient and modern Macedonians. They also reject that

they are Slavs and whole heartedly support that they are

direct descendants of the ancient Macedonians.

On the other hand there is the most moderate position,

that is generally adopted by educated residents of the

14

F.Y.R.O.M. THOSE claim and support that the modern

residents of F.Y.R.O.M have no relation to the ancient

macedonians, but are a Slavic people whose ancestors

arrived in Macedonia in the sixth century AD. –Greek

nationalism claim that the national identity of F.Y.R.OM

is somehow constructed and artificial and that it is not

genuine at all. This is the Greek position for years and

that, has never changed. What makes a national identity,

or even a minority is the religion, the culture and of

course the language. The existence of a separate and

unique “Macedonian” language is accepted by linguists all

over the world except in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Attempts by the Greek state to impose a homogeneous

national culture on a group of people with different

linguistic and cultural traditions may itself contribute

to the creation of a national minority7. According to

human rights activist there are more than 30,000 people

in northern Greece who are speaking the so-called

Macedonian language. Although a majority of these people

have a Greek national identity and they identify

themselves as Greeks and as Macedonians, or as Greek-7 Danforth, The MAKEDONIAN MINORITY OF NORTHERN GREECE, 1995

15

Macedonians, a significant number of them have a

“Macedonian’ national identity (that is, they identify

themselves as Macedonians and not as Greeks)8.

Since the mid 1980s, a small number of these Macedonians,

many of whose families experienced severe persecution

during the Greek Civil War, have become politically

active and begun to demand human rights for the

Macedonian minority in Greece. This is also one of the

reasons why the government of the F.Y.R.O.M demands that

Greece (as well as Bulgaria) should recognize the

existence of Macedonian minorities in their countries and

grant them the basic human rights they deserve. The human

rights groups who were established by the diaspora

residents of the F.Y.R.O.M- ARE SeekING recognition by the

Greek government of the existence of a so-called

Macedonian minority in Greece. They want Macedonians in

Greece to have the right to attend neither church

services in their language witch are nor official and

internationally recognized globally according to the

Greek authorities. Furthermore they want to receive

8 ibid

16

education in their language and to publish newspapers in

their language9

The past 20 years several human rights delegations and

organizations have begun to ask for demands from Greece

over the human rights of the “Macedonian” minority in

northern Greece. Ethnic minorities struggling for

recognition and this is not something that came the

resent years, but derives from the 19th century. Even in

Greece there are still people ow claimed that they have o

“Macedonian national identity “such as Sidiropoulos who

also states that Macedonian minority exists in Greece and

was being deprived of its basic human rights.

Conclusion

The issue with minorities in Greece is not only

complicated but also controversial. The two questionable

and debatable minorities in Greece, are the Slav

Macedonic and the Turkish in Thrace. In this essay, we

are interested in the former. It is true that all over

the world minorities find themselves in a disadvantageous

position and Greece is not an exception. State9 ibid

17

interference with their associations and parties is

equivalent to negating the minorities’ actual identity

and existence10.

Greece aligns itself with the position that it is for the

states to determine in the first place whether a minority

exists11, by denying the self identification of the

minorities. This position and behavior cannot be

accepted because it leads to the denying of specific the

individual rights such as the right of self-

determination. On the other hand sometimes this behavior

increases and enhances nationalism something that is not

preferred in a potentially enlarged EU.

The minorities issues of high importance for a

(European ) country who want s to protect Human rights of

minorities in its region. On the other hand European

Union’s legislation, give to the people the right to

undergo and to ask for a judicial process, if they think

or consider that their rights are violated12. All the

10Thio, L.-. Managing Babel: the international legal protection of minorities in the twentieth century. Boston, 2005.11 18Weller, M. (2005). The rights of minorities in Europe: a commentary on the European Framework Convention for the Protection ofNational Minorities. Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press., p. 633.12 Gilbert, G. (2002). "The Burgeoning Minority Rights Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights." Human Rights Quarterly 24.

18

more, the ECHR is not the only option for minority

protection in Europe. The nature of the FCNM, it is has

set a new benchmark and “no real alternative has emerged

to challenge [its] role as the most far-reaching European

standard for the protection of national minorities”13.

Furthermore, since the outbreak of the financial crisis

is more difficult for country, to play its significant

role in the Balkans and to support its citizens. The

issue with the minorities in the region does not seem to

be solved for the time being.

13 Jurado, E. and A. Korkeakivi (2006/7). "Completing the First Decadeof Monitoring: Latest developments under the Framework Convention forthe Protection of National Minorities." European Yearbook of MinorityIssues

19

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