| MKoloski |
Macedonians around the world please e-mail Walt Belcher at [email protected] for his misrepresentation of the Macedonian nation in his latest article " 'Great' Escape."
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBGF03981E.html
Example letter:
Dear Mr. Belcher,
I’m writing in response to your latest article ‘Great’ Escape published today in the Tampa Tribune. In your article you wrote and I quote, “Alexander was a military genius who, at 20, became king of Macedonia in Greece.” I do not agree with this statement.
The Macedonian identity has given rise to many controversies and debates.
The Modern Greek claim -- that the ancient Macedonians were Greek -- is politically motivated and is not supported by historical evidence. This political mythology was created in the late 19th century to advance territorial claims against Ottoman Macedonia. In its current incarnation it is used by Greece as an excuse to discriminate against its Macedonian minority.
Ancient Macedonians were among the peoples that lived between northern Greece (Thessaly) and Thrace in the Balkans and were considered by the classical Greeks as "non-Greek Barbarians" that could not participate in the Greek Olympic Games. Herodotus wrote that "Macedonians" were "Dorians" and were never admitted to the Greek community. They did not speak Greek but another language presently unknown of which only proper names remain.
There is a large gap between ancient and modern times. Macedonia has been a kingdom, as well as a province under Rome, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. It is true that the ancient Macedonian capital of Pella, Alexander’s birthplace, has been located in northern Greece since Macedonia's partition in 1913. However, this does not make the ancient Macedonians Hellenic or Greek. Consider that the Modern Greek State itself was only formed ca. 1829 and even then under a Bavarian monarchy. I would also like to point out that, at the time of the Alexander the Great, the word “Greek” or “Greek nation” did not exist since the ancient city-states were never united.
Recent genetic research, -- "HLA genes in Macedonians, and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks" (2001) -- has established that Greeks exhibit a sub-Saharan origin whereas Macedonians are related to the older Mediterranean sub-group and, more to the point, do not show a close relationship to Greeks.
Allow me also to mention the struggle facing the Macedonian minority in Greece. Following the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, Greece annexed half the territory of Ottoman Macedonia and instigated a policy of denationalization (ethnic cleansing) and forced assimilation of the indigenous Macedonian population.
It is widely known that Greece refuses to acknowledge the existence of any national minorities or even minority languages. These difficulties still persist in Greece as highlighted by the US Helsinki Commission hearing of June 2002.
The Greek government will ultimately have to recognize that there is a distinct Macedonian ethnic identity. The United States formally recognized Macedonia on Thursday, November 4th, 2004.
In the movie Alexander, Mr. Oliver Stone, in reference to Alexander’s armies, placed “Greek” before Macedonian emphasizing that the “Greek” army was more important to Alexander than his own Macedonians. I can assure Mr. Stone, if my history serves me right, Alexander conquered the “Greeks” and any reputable historian will tell you that the “Greeks” in Alexander’s army were no more than hostages to keep the conquered city-states in line.
As a Macedonian and student of history your article is very troubling for me. Macedonia was partitioned by the then world powers in 1913, and Greece was given a large portion of that land. The land where the Republic of Macedonia exists today, which was omitted in your text, was part of the kingdom of Macedonia proper even before Alexander was born.
As a Macedonian and student of history your article is very troubling for me. It is my hope that this omission was unintentional and will soon be corrected.
I thank you for your time and consideration. |