Post by Kassandros on May 24, 2008 3:22:48 GMT -5
Since Fyromians love to hear about Human Rights Watch... take a look
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
(formerly Helsinki Watch)
The Macedonians of Greece (p.17)
The fact-finding mission interviewed a number of Greeks of Macedonian origin who identify themselves as Greek. One of them, Alexander Traikos, the thirty-five-year-old mayor (president of the township council) of the town of Kelli,
said:
As to my own identity: I am a Greek. Of course I am a
Macedonian, but a Greek Macedonian. Of course others may
think differently, and maybe some believe there is discrimination against locals.
Theophilos Dafkos, an agronomist whose parents were born in Bitola in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, told the mission:
I speak Macedonian, but I am a Greek. The people who claim to
be Macedonian are really Slavs. There is no such thing as a Macedonian nation. Ninety-seven percent of the people in
northern Greece are purely Greek. A few people who try to make
trouble work through the government of Skopje to bring in
money from Australia and Canada [from Macedonian emigres].
They spread propaganda to create unrest in the area and divide
people. They try to take advantage of the people who speak two languages--they are about 40 percent of the population. But everyone is Greek.
Yiannis Belkas, a Vlach journalist with a Florina newspaper, said:
My parents came from Bitola. I speak and understand the idiom
a little. But I spoke Greek as a child. Bilinguals have a Greek
consciousness, not Macedonian. Above all, my heart is Greek.
The history and archeological finds in the area are all Greek. No one's human rights are oppressed in our area.
ALL of them are Bilinguals, ALL of them live near the borders with Fyrom and ALL of them are registered by Fyrom's govnt and Rainbow Political Party as "Macedonian ethnic minority inside Greece having no human rights ".
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
(formerly Helsinki Watch)
The Macedonians of Greece (p.17)
The fact-finding mission interviewed a number of Greeks of Macedonian origin who identify themselves as Greek. One of them, Alexander Traikos, the thirty-five-year-old mayor (president of the township council) of the town of Kelli,
said:
As to my own identity: I am a Greek. Of course I am a
Macedonian, but a Greek Macedonian. Of course others may
think differently, and maybe some believe there is discrimination against locals.
Theophilos Dafkos, an agronomist whose parents were born in Bitola in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, told the mission:
I speak Macedonian, but I am a Greek. The people who claim to
be Macedonian are really Slavs. There is no such thing as a Macedonian nation. Ninety-seven percent of the people in
northern Greece are purely Greek. A few people who try to make
trouble work through the government of Skopje to bring in
money from Australia and Canada [from Macedonian emigres].
They spread propaganda to create unrest in the area and divide
people. They try to take advantage of the people who speak two languages--they are about 40 percent of the population. But everyone is Greek.
Yiannis Belkas, a Vlach journalist with a Florina newspaper, said:
My parents came from Bitola. I speak and understand the idiom
a little. But I spoke Greek as a child. Bilinguals have a Greek
consciousness, not Macedonian. Above all, my heart is Greek.
The history and archeological finds in the area are all Greek. No one's human rights are oppressed in our area.
ALL of them are Bilinguals, ALL of them live near the borders with Fyrom and ALL of them are registered by Fyrom's govnt and Rainbow Political Party as "Macedonian ethnic minority inside Greece having no human rights ".