June 14, 2015

Hon. Alannah MacTiernan

953A Beaufort Street,
Inglewood WA 6052,
Australia
Dear Hon. MacTiernan,
Subject: Your Statement on Greek and Balkan history*
I am writing this letter in opposition to your views and comments you made regarding
several aspects of Macedonian history.
Please be informed that the disagreement between Greece and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is not an issue of history. It is an issue of irredentism and
expansionism of Skopje at the expense of all its neighbors, but in particular Greece. Your
constituents of Skopjan descent live in a euphoric recall and use distorted historical facts as the
basis for an eventual claim on the Greek region of Macedonia and especially the city of
Thessaloniki.
The ancient Macedonians were not Hellenized, as they were already of Greek origin.
Since, you believe that the Macedonians were Hellenized, I think it is only fair for you to
announce to historians of the world what the Macedonians were before they were Hellenized.
As you apparently know what they changed their culture to, you must also acknowledge the
origin of that culture.
In the Battle of Chaeronea, the Macedonians had not defeated the Greeks; they had
defeated the Athenians, Thebans and their very few allies such as Achaeans, Corinthians,
Chalcians, Epidaurians, Megarians and Troezenians. Eight tribes out of 204 are a little short of
the Greeks.
Philip II did not occupy the area of the FYROM. Somehow, you have missed the fact that
about one quarter of the FYROM was part of the Dardanians, and that included the regions of
Debar, Tetovo, Skopje and Kumanovo. It is the area that the Albanians call Ilirida, at present.
Prof. Fanula Papazoglu a member of the Academy of Skopje wrote in one of her books, It is
often forgotten that ancient Macedonia occupied only a relatively small part of the Yugoslav
Macedonia of today!"
It was not Basilios I, but Basilios II of the Macedonian dynasty. It is interesting that this
Basilios II fought and eliminated the kingdom of another king, the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil, whom
Skopje claims as Macedonian as well. Based on such a thought, should we assume that it was a
Macedonian civil war that took place in 1014? Such claim would be news to all historians.
The Slavic awakening in the south Balkans did not include any Macedonians since at that
time they identified themselves with Bulgarians living in Macedonia. All inhabitants of
Macedonia used the term in a geographic context, Misirkov says so. People such as Monk
Paisios, Rakovski, Kunchev aka Levski, Delchev (by his own admission) Gruev, Karev, Blagoev
et.al were all Bulgarians. Blagoev was the founder of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Labour
Party, i.e. Communist Party. He was the instigator of the establishment of the Balkan Federation
under communist rule that was supported by Lenin and espoused by Stalin. On January 11, 1934,
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Stalin fabricated the Macedonian ethnicity, i.e. he gave a regional name to a group as its own
ethnic. Tito gave land to the FYROM about 10 years later.
We do not deny that ethno-genesis can occur, after all Australia and Canada are but a few
such examples where nations and ethnicities can be borne and multicultural societies can live
harmoniously together. Such nations have been built on their own merits and not by usurping
others history and culture. Australia and Canada for example have no need to re-label their
English language in order to justify the creation of their nation
Maam,
For the sake of argument, if we assume that the ancient Macedonians were not Greeks, it
does not automatically mean that the Slav inhabitants of the country, which wants to be called
Macedonia, have anything to do with the ancient Macedonians. Such a conclusion is a result of a
fallacious syllogism and an argument from ignorance.
The FYROM since its independence never seized to provoke its neighbors, especially
Greece. The dream of its Slav inhabitants is to use distorted historical facts in order to set claims
on Greek lands for its own expansionist agenda, and you, Maam, are supporting such effort
becoming part of a future problem - the regional instability in the Balkans.
Regardless of what your constituents say, Greece is right. Unless your Slav constituents
stop branding the red flags with the golden Sun of Vergina and unless they stop brandishing
maps of a united Macedonia, the FYROM is not going to become a member of the EU or
NATO.
I am suggesting that you should ask your voters about the meaning of the map of a united
Macedonia (see below) that circulates under your nose. By thoughtlessly supporting the views of
the Skopje Slav diaspora, you sponsor regional instability in the Balkans and perhaps you foster
the basis for a future war.
You have been caught in a web and now you are helping the Skopjan diaspora to use the
harpoon with which they would impale the region of Macedonia from Greece.
I am attaching a more detailed response supported by references so that you learn a few
things that your constituency obviously has not told you about.
Respectfully,
Marcus A. Templar
__________
* "In all my discussion on the Macedonian question I have always acknowledged that the Slavs
came to the area around 1,300 years ago and that Macedonia was a political and cultural entity
long before then. I just do not think that is particularly relevant fact. It is not clear the original
Macedonians can be described as Greek. In classical accounts, they conquered the Greeks and
unified them into the Macedonian kingdom, which was then Hellenised. Indeed, the Battle of
Chaeronea where the Macedonians defeated the Greeks in 338 BC was said to mark the end of
Greek history and the beginning of the Macedonian era. The cultural victory of the vanquished is
not unusual the Vikings invaded Ireland but quickly embraced Celtic culture. You may be
correct that the original Macedonia occupied a small area which is now entirely within modern
Greece. However, I do note the area of the Republic was conquered by Philip II about the same
time he subdued the Greek states. So it has been part of Macedonia for over two thousand years.
2

When the Romans came to ascendancy, they included the area that now forms the Republic in
their province of Macedonia. Even after the Slavonic invasion, the area was still known as
Macedonia in the early Middle Ages. The Byzantine Emperor Basil I was acknowledged to be a
Macedonian. Macedonian nationalism was evident through the 19th century. So, in my view,
your case that the selection of the name of Macedonia for the Republic is random is not proven
and that clearly the area has historic connections to an evolving political entity known as
Macedonia. I would be interested to know why you would think the gene pools of the areas would
line up with accidents of modern geo-political boundaries. Invading groups have always
interbred with native populations. Indeed, Alexander the Great used to encourage his soldiers to
do precisely that. Likewise, the Goths and the Slavs intermixed with Macedonians and Greeks
alike. Hence, in my view, the gene pools of Greek Macedonians and those from the Republic are
likely to be very similar. I do not see myself as choosing between Australian Greeks and
Australian Macedonians. I agree that the Greeks have brought so much to this country and
indeed I remember with great fondness the Greek Branch of the Australian Labor Party. I also
profoundly respect the political and intellectual contribution of Greece to western
civilisation. But I do feel an obligation to stand up for a small nation which I believe is being
unfairly treated." (MacTiernan to the Greek politicians from her Labor Party on June 8th 2015)
* please, continue to read on the next page *

A Contribution to Historical Truth

By Marcus A. Templar
Anything and everything we have on ancient Macedonia from its inception as a state
during the eighth century BC on to its demise under the Romans is Greek and represent the
Greek culture. (Papazoglu 1957, 4 & 333). The Greco-Bactrian kingdom is a testimony of the
Greekness of the ancient Macedonians which lasted till the first century AD (Justin XLI, para 1,
4, 6; Justin XXXVI, 1,1; Polybius 10.49; Polybius 11.34; Strabo XI.XI.I; Strabo II.II.2; Strabo
11-8-1; Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV).
Ancient Macedonians were Greeks; they were not Hellenized. Herodotus has identified
Macedonians with the Dorians (Herodotus book I, 56). Borza, agreeing with Hammond states,
First, the matter of the Hellenic origins of the Macedonians: Nicholas Hammond's general
conclusion that the origin of the Macedonians lies in the pool of proto-Hellenic speakers who
migrated out of the Pindus mountains during the Iron Age is acceptable." (Borza 1995, 149).
In addition,
The "highlanders" or "Makedones" of the mountainous regions of western Macedonia are
derived from northwest Greek stock; they were akin both to those who at an earlier time
may have migrated south to become the historical "Dorians", and to other Pindus tribes
who were the ancestors of the Epirotes or Molossians. That is, we may suggest that
northwest Greece provided a pool of Indo-European speakers of proto-Greek from which
were drawn the tribes who later were known by different names as they established their
regional identities in separate parts of the country (Eugene N. Borza 1982, 7).
But here is the issue. You are very definite that the Macedonians were Hellenized.
What kind of culture, language, and religion did they then have before they adopted Greek
culture, language and religion? Since you know what the Macedonians had changed to, you
should know what it is they changed from. What where they before? If you dont know, how do
you know that they have changed at all?
In the Battle of Chaeronea the Macedonians did not defeat the Greeks; they had defeated
the Athenians, the Thebans and their very few allies (Achaeans, Corinthians, Chalcians,
Epidaurians, Megarians and Troezenians). These few tribes can hardly qualify to represent all
Greek tribes that incidentally the Macedonian tribes belonged to. For your information there are
quite a few more of the Greek tribes that did not participate starting with the Spartans,
Amathousioi, Amphilochioi, Aones, Aperandoi, Arcadioi, Argioi, Arktanes, Aspendioi,
Athamanes Atindanes, Atintanes, Avandes, Caucones, Cassiopaioi, Cercyraioi, Chalkaioi,
Chaones, Chioi, Cooi, Eurytanes, Gephyraeoi, Gortynioi, Heraklioi, Idonoi, Ikadotoi, Knidioi,
Laconians, Leucadians, Lindioi, Locrians, Lycones, Pergians, Perraeboi, Phaselitai, Phocians,
Polyrrhenioi, Rhodians, et. al. The list can go on to include all 233 Greek tribes, that spoke 204
dialects. They do contain the three Macedonian tribes of Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanes.
The invasion of the Peloponnese by the Dorians took place at two different times and
from two different geographic areas. The story about the leadership of the first invasion is a
follows: Aegymios (), the king of the Dorians, had two sons, Pamphylos ()
and Dymas (), but after Heracles death, Aegymios adopted Hercules' son Hyllus ().
Hercules, by the way, aka Heracles. The above story is collaborated by Strabo who Strabo
4

divides the Makednian tribe, previously known as Makednoi, into three tribes: Hylleis,
Pamphyloi, and Dymanes (Herodotus V, 68, 2; Stephanus Byzantius s. v.)
The Macedonians, continuing their wandering over Pindus and then east to the north part
of Thessaly behind Pieria, delayed their development into a solid urban and military force until
the reign of Philip II, as Alexander the Great put it in his speech in Opis:
He (Philip) found you (Macedonians) vagabonds and destitute of means, most of you clad
in hides, feeding a few sheep up the mountain sides, for the protection of which you had
to fight with small success against Illyrians, Triballians, and the border Thracians. Instead
of the hides he gave you cloaks to wear, and from the mountains he led you down into the
plains, and made you capable of fighting the neighboring barbarians, so that you were no
longer compelled to preserve yourselves by trusting rather to the inaccessible strongholds
than to your own valor.
The Triballians or Triballi lived deep in the interior of the Balkan Peninsula, between the
lower course of the Southern Morava and the Isker, i.e. Danube. (Herodotus IV, 49; Thucydides
II, 96. Papazoglu 1978, 9-86). They were one of Thracian tribes. Three civilizations existed in
the ancient south Balkan world, the Thracian, the Illyrian and the Hellenic. Characteristic of the
above part of Alexanders speech is that he calls Illyrians and Thracians neighboring barbarians.
Deductively, it means that Macedonians were Greeks.
The statement that the area of the Republic was conquered by Philip II belied by Dr.
Papazoglu who stated the above because Philip II had occupied only the area just north of the
Mountain Vorras as Macedonians used to call the Mt. Kaymakalan of the Turks. Dr. Fanula
Papazoglu, a member of Skopjes Academy of Sciences and Arts wrote about the ancient
Macedonian subjugation of regions around it, which does not include the whole region of the
FYROM. Only the narrow area between Bitola and Ohrid was part of Upper Macedonia, the land
of Lyngistes, a Molossian Greek speaking tribe.
In this case it is not very important whether it is correct to apply the term "Illyrian" (in
the narrower sense) to the cultural area of Bosnia and Dalmatia, since the earliest literary
sources give the name of Illyrian to tribes living much further south, in the immediate
vicinity of Macedonia (ancient Macedonia, of course; it is often forgotten that ancient
Macedonia occupied only a relatively small part of the Yugoslav Macedonia of
today!)" (Fanula Papazoglu, 1978, 268). Emphasis is mine.
It is true that the Romans named the region of Skopje Macedonia Secunda or Salutaris,
but they kept the name of the true Macedonia as Macedonia Prima. Rome gave all kinds of
names to areas of conquest without the consent of the inhabitants. They actually had Senatorial
and Imperial Provinces and these provinces had not only changed names, but also their territorial
boundaries depending on the whim of the emperor and the power of the Roman Senate. For
instance, the late Roman provinces although had kept some of the names of the early Roman
provinces, they had different territorial shapes and they often included nations that had nothing
to do with the name of the province. Designations such as Secundus / -a, Salutaris, Superior,
Inferior denoted an area that Romans did not know what to call and so gave the name of a
neighboring province after attaching the above designation, e.g. Macedonia Secunda, Germania
Inferior, Moesia Inferior, etc.
5

After all, they were the conquerors. Nevertheless, under Byzantine rule, Macedonia
whenever the name had appeared was not even near the present day Greek Macedonia. And no,
the name Macedonia did not last 2000 years.
In the first century AD, St. Paul spread Christianity to Europe starting with Macedonia.
He did not visit Strumica, or Bitola although the Hellenic population was rather wide spread.
Like Alexander the Great, St. Paul did not visit Veles or Skopje; they were not within
Macedonian territory. Both, Alexander the Great and St. Paul probably did not know those two
towns existed. St. Paul visited the cultural centers of Macedonia (Neapolis, Philippi, Apollonia,
Thessaloniki, and Veria, which were purely Greek), teaching the Gospel in Greek to the
Macedonian Greeks. Apostle Pauls journeys to Greece (Macedonia and Achaia) sparked the
flame of Christianity in Greece and from there to Europe and from there to the World. Apostle
Paul also sent pastoral letters directed to the Macedonian Greeks through the Thessalonians and
the Philippians. All letters were written in Greek, of course. Moreover, he visited Athens and
Corinth, two very important cultural centers of South Greece. St. Pauls visits to these Greek
cultural centers in Macedonia and Achaia ascertain that the Hellenic world was the crux of his
Ministry to Christianize Europe, as Jesus Christ said a few years before in Palestine.
The emperor Basilios II, not Basilios I was born in the city of Charioupolis (present day
Hayrabolu, Eastern Thrace, Turkey) located in the middle of the Byzantine Province of
Macedonia between the River Evros (Maritsa) and the line atalca - Yeilky. That was
Macedonia at the time of Basilios II, the Bulgar Slayer. The name Macedonia appeared on and
off in that area, but also in the area of Eastern Rumelia until the Ottoman conquest. The area of
the Greek Macedonia was constantly the Thema of Thessaloniki.
According to the Slavs from the FYROM, Tsar Samuil was a Macedonian king of the
Bereziti tribe. But since Basil II was a Macedonian, as well, doesnt it suggest that the battle at
Kleidion (Belaica) was part of a civil war? If such is the answer, it would be news to all
historians specializing in Byzantium.
I want to add some information in order to clarify a few more things. Basilios II was
called Bulgar-Slayer, for a good reason. After the Battle of Kleidion (Belaica), Basilios
gathered about 14,000 prisoners, divided the prisoners into groups of 100 men, blinded 99 men
in each group and left one man in each with one eye so that he could lead the others home.
When Samuel beheld 14,000 Bulgarians blinded by Basil II and sent back to their
homeland, he died of shock received from this horrible sight. After his death in 1014,
Bulgaria was too weak to resist the Greeks, and was soon conquered by the Byzantine
Empire. In 1018 the first Bulgarian kingdom ceased to exist, for it was transformed into a
Byzantine province ruled by an imperial governor (A. A. Vasiliev 1935, 262).
The Bulgarian king Samuel died of a heart attack on October 6, 1014, reportedly due to
seeing his soldiers blinded. Tsar Samuils stele commemorating his parents (AD 993) was found
in the Monastery of St. Achilius on an island at Lake Prespa, Greece in 1888. The column was
written in Bulgarian. He was succeeded by his son Gavril (murdered in 1015) and a nephew Ivan
(killed in battle in 1018), after which Bulgaria became a Byzantine province.
What makes the claims of those from Skopje invalidated is the Bitola Inscription. The
Bitola Inscription was engraved by order of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Vladislav in 1015 in
connection with the fortification of the Bitola (Monastiri) fortress. The inscription was found in

1956 in the village German near Bitola, The FYROM, and it is stored at the Bitola Historical
Museum. The inscription states,
In the year 6523 [1015] since the creation of the world, this fortress, built and made by
Ivan, Tsar of Bulgaria, was renewed with the help and the prayers of Our Most Holy
Lady and through the intercession of her twelve supreme Apostles. The fortress was built
as a haven and for the salvation of the lives of the Bulgarians. The work on the fortress of
Bitola commenced on the twentieth day of October and ended on the [...] This monarch
was Bulgarian by birth, grandson of the pious Nikola and Ripsimia, son of Aaron, who
was brother of Samuil, Tsar of Bulgaria, the two who routed the Greek army of Emperor
Basil II at Stipone where gold was taken [...] and in [...] this Tsar was defeated by
Emperor Basil in 6522 [1014] since the creation of the world in Klyutch [Kleidion] and
died at the end of the summer. (Thomas Lysaght 1982).
From this inscription it becomes crystal clear that Samuils family considered themselves
to be Bulgarian. But there is something that the people of the FYROM and its diaspora should
think about.
Stefan Uro IV Duan crowned himself Emperor of Serbs and Romans, i.e. Greeks (April
16, 1346) in Skopje. This title was soon enlarged into "Emperor and Autocrat of the Serbs and
Greeks, the Bulgarians and Albanians" (Hupchick 1995, p. 141; Clissold 1968, p. 98; White
2000, p. 246). If the Macedonian-Slav people existed, how was it possible that the man who
after he crowned himself emperor of the whole south Balkan region running out of titles, missed
them?
During the Ottoman rule, the name Macedonia did not exist. Instead the ottoman State
had three provinces, Thessaloniki, Monastiri (Bitola), and Kosovo which included the town of
Skopje.
Some people in Skopje advocate the amalgamation theory. According to this unproven
theory, the present Macedonians are a mixture of the ancient Macedonians with the Slavic
tribes. But such an argument is flawed. The ancient Macedonians spread the Greek civilization
everywhere they went. Nevertheless, according the theory of amalgamation they had not mixed
with Greeks, or with any invading force or conqueror waiting for the Slavic tribes so that they
amalgamate with them?
During the 9th century, the Greek region of Macedonia, or Macedonia Proper was
destined to play a very important role in Christianity. The two Great sons of Macedonia,
brothers Constantine (in schema Cyril) and Michael (in schema Methodius), provided education
to the ignorant and uncivilized Slavs through religion giving them an alphabet and codified their
language, the Old Church Slavonic. The two Greek brothers from Thessaloniki, were the sons of
Leon and Maria. Leon was a descendant of the Byzantine Empress, Irene the Athenian (797802), wife of the Emperor Leon IV and was a drougarios, a senior official of the imperial
administration equal to a General. It is clear from Methodius biography that the two brothers
were fluent Greek-speakers and educated in a Greek environment, and they grasped the Slavonic
easily. Cyril mastered a number of other languages, including Hebrew and Arabic according to
his biographer and disciple, Clement, the first Bulgarian Bishop.
There are a series of Papal affirmations regarding the birth and the nationality of the two
brothers and their family. They are:
7

1. The Encyclical promulgated on 20 November 1901 (On the Foundation of a Seminary in

Athens Pope Leo XIII).
2. Apostolic Letter Pacis Nuntius(3) of 24 October 1964, proclaimed Saint Benedict Patron
of Europe.
3. Egregiae Virtutis, by Pope John Paul II, December 31, 1980.
4. Slavorum Apostoli Pope John Paul II, 2 June 1985.
5. Encyclical Epistle Grande Munus (30 September 1880), in Leonis XIII Pont. Max. Acta,
II, PP. 125 137; cf. also PIUS XI, Letter Quod S. Cyrillum (13 February 1927) to the
Archbishops and Bishops of the Kingdom of the Serbs-Croats-Slovenes and of the
Czechoslovakian Republic: AAS 19 (1927), pp. 93-96; JOHN XXIII, Apostolic Letter
Magnifici Eventus (11 May 1963) to the Prelates of the Slav Nations: AAS 55 (1963), pp.
434-439. PAUL VI, Apostolic Epistle Antiquae Nobilitatis (2 February 1969) for the
eleventh centenary of the death of Saint Cyril: AAS 61 (1969), pp. 137-149).
6. UT UNUM SINT (That They May Be One) Pope John Paul II, 25 May 1995."
It is very well known and documented that the father of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was
Greek (Lazaroff, Pavloff, et.al. 1993, 36-38; Halecki 1952, 31: Djordic, 1990, 11)
The Slavic Awakening in the South Balkans started with a call to cultural and
revitalization of the Bulgarian ethnic identity. In the late 18th century, Bulgarian monk and
scholar Paisios of the monastery Hilandar of Mount Athos wanting to revive the Old Bulgarian
culture he, in old age, initiated great literary works, which were written in Old Church Slavonic
stating, Of all the Slav peoples the most glorious were the Bulgarians. (R. J. Crampton 2000, 47).
The 19th century nationalism did not exist as Macedonian, but as Bulgarian. Monk
Paisios, Rakovski, Levski, and a few others were professed Bulgarians. The IMRO was a
Bulgarian organization and the Revolt in Krushevo (1903) was a political revolt according to
credible sources the victims were Greek-Vlachs and the villains were Bulgarian communist
revolutionaries and Ottoman Turks. The Revolt did not have any ethnic character since
Macedonian, i.e. Slavic nation did not exist. (Lazar Kolishevski 1980, 12; Keith Brown 2003,
190, 209; George W. Gawrych July 1986, 307-330; Ivan Katardjiev Forum July 22, 2000,
Archive # 329; Ivan Katardzhiev 1986, 376-377).
The birth of the Macedonian Slav nation took place on February 11, 1934 (Vlahov
1970, 357; Bechev 2000, 98).
The geographical term Macedonia appeared on maps and literature after 1878 and only
because of the aspirations that Serbia and Bulgaria had on the area that at present constitutes the
FYROM.
Serb politicians and ethnographers such as Stojan Novakovi, Jovan Cviji, Aleksandar
Beli, et al. argued that the inhabitants of present day FYROM territories spoke dialects that
belonged to the transitional Serbian, i.e. Torlak dialects. Between 1890 and 1900, Bulgarian
governments sponsored ethnographers to draw maps of Macedonia to include the territories west
of Bulgaria that fit their political and territorial aspirations. (Tihomir R. Djordjevi 191, 6).
Vasil Knov, one of the enlisted inventive ethnographers, created a map of a new
Macedonia, never before imagined, allegedly inhabited mostly by Bulgarians. (orevi
(Georgevich) 1918, 6). Considering that only a few westerners visited Macedonia at that time,
Bulgaria, assisted by Russia, was free to assert that the majority of the Macedonians were
Bulgarians when in fact they were a medley of races and nationalities. Ottoman statistics tied to
8

military taxation were unreliable since most Patriarchist households registered only one male per
household, while children and female residents were completely missing from the equation. That
was not true with the Exarchist households, which were ethnically Bulgarian. (pek K.
Yosmaolu, Feb., 2006, 55-77).
The new map of Macedonia included the Vilayets of Thessaloniki, Monastiri, the south
region of the Vilayet of Kosovo and in general the Torlak speaking areas of Serbia. The sole
purpose of such effort was the annexation of the territories northwest, west and south of Bulgaria,
i.e. the restoration of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
The Treaty of Bucharest (1913) that set the borders between Bulgaria and its neighboring
countries does not mention Macedonia anywhere. After the Balkan Wars, Greece was the first
country to establish the administration of Macedonia on April 3, 1912.
There is no doubt in anyones mind that Krste Petkov Misirkov is the father of
Macedonism, yet in his book, he states that he attended the Petrograd Macedonian-Slav Literary
Society Sveti Kliment. In addition, Misirkov states that Macedonia has other ethnicities, such as
Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, Turks et.al. who call themselves Macedonians as a regional
designation. He repeats himself to an annoying degree, connecting these Macedonians with
Slavic ethnicity, language, traditions, specifically in pages XXII, 9, 10, 20, 39, 59, 80, 84 (twice),
85, 89, 95, 96 (. . , ,
, , 1946). In this manner, Misirkov had established the fact that his
Macedonians were Slavs, descendants of the Seven Slavic Tribes.
That the Macedonians, i.e. Slavs who lived in Macedonia existed in the 19th and even
in the first half of the 20th century as a nation is a myth. It was created by their diaspora in
consequence of their recognition by the Communist International in 1934 and conveniently
applied retrospectively to those Bulgarians who lived in Macedonia.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bulgarians roamed western Europe seeking
support for an independent Macedonia
In 1895, one of the secret societies, "The Macedo-Adrianople Committee" addressed a
letter to the Great Powers. They supposedly represented all inhabitants of Macedonia, advocating
"an autonomous Macedonia, with its capital at Salonika [Thessaloniki], to be placed under a
Governor-General of the predominant ethnicity". Since the dominant ethnicity was Bulgarian,
they were seeking to establish the first step for their domination over Macedonia. (William
Miller 2009, 444).
The Great Powers were very cognizant of the fact and it is why Rostkovski, the Russian
Consul in Monastiri (Bitola) often said, "The Bulgarians think they are the only people in the
world with brains, and that all others are fools. Whom do they hope to deceive with their articles
in Pravo and other papers saying that the Macedonians want Macedonia for the Macedonians?
We know very well what they want! (Krste P. Misirkov 1974, 44).
Ahmet Emin Yalman was born in Thessaloniki in 1888. He was one of the most
prominent figures within Kemal Ataturks party (CUP) throughout his life. He had graduated
from the German School; he graduated from the Faculty of Law in Istanbul, and received his
doctorate degree at Columbia University of New York in journalism and philosophy. He was the
publisher and editor of the Istanbul paper Vatan. He wrote a political autobiography, titled
Turkey in my Time covering the Atatrk era and later.
Yet this man covering his early life in Macedonia, brings in pages 9 and 11, as
inhabitants of Macedonia the Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews, Serbs, Greek-Vlachs, and
Albanians. On page 15, he lists the komitadjis as Bulgarian terrorists. He further states that,
9

officers and public servants, many of whom were also Young Turks, witnessed the bloody strife
between Bulgarian, Serb, Greek, and even Rumanian bands who were fighting both against each
other and against the Turkish authorities (Yalman 1956, 22).
Under Yane Sandanski, a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary (i.e. communist and follower
of Plekhanov), whose gang was responsible for the area of Serres, present day Greece, staged a
number of terrorist acts that affected the infamy of the IMRO. The most famous act of these
felons, was the kidnapping of Ms. Ellen Stone. The U.S. government at that time, paid
US$66,000 ransom (the present equivalent of about US$15 million), that have become part of
Skopjes heritage by its own admission. The brigands had originally demanded 25,000 gold
Turkish liras, or approximately US$110,000, which for that time, the sum was colossal. The
reason for such terrorist act, was the need for money that would finance their weapons supplies.
This kidnapping was the first terrorist act ever against a U.S. citizen and to top this, Skopje has
erected statues in testimony to the exaltation of these criminals. Even by standards of those times,
these people were considered terrorists (Teresa Carpenter 2003, 57, 73, 157).
The architects of post-WWII Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito charted the foundations of
the new state of Yugoslavia, after considering all the ethnic groups within communist
Yugoslavia. The original name of communist Yugoslavia was the Peoples Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia with each constituent republic bearing the title: Peoples Republic. In this form, the
Peoples Republic of Macedonia was established by the Constitution of the Peoples Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia on August 2, 1944. The framers wanted to ensure that the ethnic Slavic
groups formed the backbone of the country. Simultaneously, they realized that the Serbs, who
were more numerous than the other Slavs, were a factor they could not ignore. Tito wanted a
politically balanced country a Slavic Yugoslavia with communist flavor.
According to the system of Nations and Nationalities, if the mother-country of an ethnic
group of people lay outside the country of Yugoslavia, it was defined as a Narodnost or a
Nationality, which meant it was an ethnic minority. This was how the Albanians and the
Hungarians were classified. But the rest of the six constituent peoples of Yugoslavia the Serbs,
Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Muslims and "Macedonians," whose mother-countries all lay
inside Yugoslavia were considered ethnic Slavic groups and constituted a Narod, or a Nation.
They were not ethnic minorities.
Thus, this system of Nations (ethnic Slavs) and Nationalities (ethnic minorities) had little
to do with the size of an ethnic group, and only with whether the origins and mother-country of a
specific group was inside or outside Yugoslavia. For example, since only the Slav peoples were
allowed to form a Republic, the Montenegrins as Slavs, although fewer in number, formed a
nation that was a Republic; whereas the Albanians, despite their greater numbers, were only a
nationality (ethnic minority) living in a Province.
So the important question to ask is: Based upon this system of nations and nationalities as
laid down by Tito and his architects, would it have been possible for a group of people to be
classified as a Nation in a Republic, had the mother-country and origins of these people been
outside the borders of Yugoslavia? Obviously not. And since only Slav peoples could form
republics, and the Peoples Republic of Macedonia qualified to become a republic, can we
comfortably conclude that the Macedonians of Skopje have to be Slavs? Of course. It is
obvious that Tito and the framers of Yugoslavia knew this, as did the people of the republic, as
well.
Lazar Kolievski, was the 2nd President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia, 6th President of
the People's Assembly of PR Macedonia, 1st President of the Executive Council of PR
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Macedonia, 1st Chairman of the League of Communists of Macedonia. Before and during the
WW II he was known by his real name Lazar Panev Koliev, before he Macedonized it. He
was arrested by the Bulgarian occupying force and he was condemned to death by a military
tribunal. On December 7, 1941, he asked for pardon from the King of Bulgaria declaring his
Bulgarian origin, stating, I am the son of Bulgarian parents, I felt and feel Bulgarian, despite the
terrible [Serbian] bondage, I have remained in customs, language and manners, Bulgarian. In all
250 pages of his book, Aspects of the Macedonian Question, he exclaimed about the
achievements of the Macedonian people and yet he did not write a single sentence about the
ancient Macedonians, not even the Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the illuminators of the Slavs.
During the War of Insurrection, the kidnapping of Greeces 29,877 children
(Papathanasiades 1951, 22) by the communists brought about the U.S. House Resolution 514 of
March 22, 1950. In addition, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions for the
same purpose (UNGA Res 517, dated February 2, 1952, UNGA Res 381, dated November 17,
1950, UNGA Res 382, dated December 1, 1950) all calling for the speedy reparation of these
children to their homes and homeland. The above resolutions condemned Yugoslavia, and
indirectly Skopje, for its direct involvement in the kidnapping of Greek children (Milan Ristovi
2000, 20).
I want to keep for last as being the best of the worst. Normally, I would not say anything
about it, since it is improper and silly; however, Mrs. MacTiernan has opened the door. Mrs.
MacTiernans statement the gene pools of Greek Macedonians and those from the Republic are
likely to be very similar is simply ignorant.
It reminds me of a statement coming out of the mouth of Ernst Rdin, Nazi Germanys
psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist. Boris Trajkovski, the late President of the FYROM
announced that in order to prove that his Slavs citizens of a specific village close to the Greek
border who had relatives in Greece, were of the same DNA as Philip II. His intention was to take
DNA from Philips bones and match it his DNA with that of the people of that village. If the
results were in accordance with the Skopje governments wish, then they would apply them to all
Slavs of the country by association making them Macedonians descendants of the ancient
Macedonians.
While some people in Skopje thought that would solve the issue once and for all,
historians members of the Institute of Sciences and Arts advised the President to abstain from
such an idea. What if, the villagers DNA and Philips DNA had matched and then Greece took
Philips DNA and match it to the DNA of inhabitants of Argos, the town of Philips hereditary
origin? That would prove that not only the inhabitants of the FYROM village were actually
Greeks and so would be Philip, but again by association all Slav inhabitants of the FYROM
would prove to be Greeks! Then what? After all, Skopje would have opened the door to such a
claim against it.
Something one finds amusing in the statements attributed to Mrs. MacTierrnan is her
final sentence that one would not find any difference between the Slavs of Skopje and the Greeks
who live in the Greek Macedonia. This lovey-dovey ending indicates the low degree of
knowledge that some politicians have on the area.
If by Greek Macedonians Mrs. MacTiernan means the Slavs who live in the Greek
region of Macedonia, according to the last European elections they are about 5,000 in all.
Applying the same standards that the FYROM applies to its own minorities, the 5,000 Slavs
cannot be considered a minority. If on the other hand, by Greek Macedonians she means the
Greeks who live in Macedonia, about 2.5 million of them, then she has a huge problem.
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The Greeks of the region of Macedonia and the Slavs who live north of it have different
culture, different language, and different values. When the train leaves Greece, the passengers
know that they are out of Greece. Greeks are Greeks, Slavs are Slavs, and that is that.
The distortion of historical facts and the crocodilian tears of self-imposed martyrdom of
the Skopjans are about the appropriation of Greek land.
The importance of the geographic position of Thessaloniki, Macedonias Capital has been
demonstrated by actions of various powers. During the period of the Congress of Berlin, Vienna
indicated that it was serious about the status of Thessaloniki not intending to lose the railroad
line to the port of Thessaloniki as a direct way to push products from Central Europe to Asia and
Eastern Africa through the Suez Canal and back. In 1940, Nazi Germany offered the city as a
present to Yugoslavia in exchange of the latter to ally itself with Axis. Upon capture of the city
by German forces, Hitler originally planned to annex Thessaloniki directly to the Third Reich,
making it part of German territory, instead of allowing the puppet government in Athens to
administer Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki, Macedonias Capital, holds the scepter of the most strategic city of Greece.
Its natural port not only connects Europe with Asia and Africa, but by means of marine
thoroughfare it links up the Black Sea with the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. Kavalas seaport
and airport along with the modern infrastructure of auto corridors in Macedonia, and railroad
lines connect this second large hub of Eastern Macedonia with the rest of Balkans.
The Greek region of Macedonia has a unique morphology, which facilitates business and
commerce, it allows the importation, exportation, and transit passage of goods not only
throughout the Balkans, but also throughout the Central and Eastern European hinterland. The
geostrategic significance of the Greek region of Macedonia increases when one considers the
already developed industry in conjunction with its agricultural and mineral wealth, to include,
but not limited to rare earth elements. This should not sidetrack the seaport and the gold mines of
Stratoniki, near Stagirus, Aristotles hometown. Notably, the only oil production in Greece today
is at the Macedonian island of Thassos and the longest route of the Trans Adriatic pipeline, in
European soil will be in Macedonia Greece. The convenient passageways, including the
combination of water, air, and land transportation, promote not just the above cities, but the
whole Greek Macedonian region converting it into a point of vital commercial and strategic
military value.
The name dispute is directly connected to geostrategic importance of Thessaloniki and
indeed the region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. Skopjes plan is simple. At first comes the
appropriation of the name Macedonia and its derivatives. Then, it is the connection of its Slavic
population to the population of the ancient Macedonians, who were a Greek stock. Once both the
name of the country and the connection of the Slavs to the ancient Macedonians is legitimized,
the next step arises the claim and acquisition of the inherent lands of ancient Macedonia, i.e.
the region of Greek Macedonia. That is why the name dispute with Greece is a matter of national
security and territorial integrity for Greece. The point is that no matter who recognizes the
FYROM as Macedonia and its Slav inhabitants, their language, and their heritage as
Macedonian, for as long as Greece does not do, Skopje cannot succeed in its plans. The issue of
the name is of vital importance to Greeces territorial integrity and as consequently a matter of
national security.

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It is not the mark of an intelligent person to be able to prove anything he likes; but to be able to
see that truth is true and falsehood is false, and to prove that, is the mark of an intelligent person
(Emmanuel Swedenborg, True Christian Religion, 334:8, 2).

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