PANHELLENIC FEDERATION OF CULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF

VLACHS

FOUNDED IN 1985

http://www.vlachs-popsv.gr/ e-mail: panhellenicfeder.vlachon@gmail.com

Larisa 19 February 2011

Ref. No.:28

To: -The Honorable Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland

Cc: - The Honorable President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of

Europe, Mr Mevlüt Cavusloĝlu
- The Honorable Commissioner for Human Rights
of the Council of Europe, Mr. Thomas Hammarberg
- The Embassy of Romania in Athens

- His Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic

- His Excellency the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
- His Excellency the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
- His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic
- The Honorable Representatives and Deputy Representatives
of the Hellenic Parliament to the Council of Europe

Ladies / Gentlemen / MPs - Members of the Council of Europe

Following the speech delivered by the President of Romania Mr. Basescu

before the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in
Strasbourg on 27th January 2011, the Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations
of Vlachs, as an elected higher and collective institution representing more than one
hundred associations of Greeks of Vlach-speaking origin, would like to clarify some
key points as follows:

A. Greece and especially the region of Pindus Mountains, has always been the historic
birthplace of the Vlach-speaking Hellenism that constitutes an integral and undisputed
part of the modern Greek nation.

B. The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs, with the assistance

of the Greek state, promotes the protection and preservation of the cultural heritage of
the Vlach-speaking Hellenism and works systematically to present the especially rich
and unique Vlach folklore and music tradition, contributing to the promotion of

1
cultural diversity and cultural identity of modern Hellenism across Greece.

C. No one is therefore entitled to characterise, in an arbitrary way, a large part of the

Greek nation as a ‘‘minority’’ in its own motherland, whose history, as a matter of
fact, is plenty of examples of great Vlach-speaking national benefactors who
dedicated their whole life, their whole achievements and their whole wealth to the
freedom, prosperity and development of Hellenism and Greece.

D. The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs consequently views

as arbitrary and groundless the implied references of the Romanian President, Mr
Basescu, that identify all Vlach-speaking groups in southeast Europe as part of the
Romanian Diaspora. The aforementioned references clearly affect the unquestioned
human right to individual and collective ethnic self-determination of all Greeks of
Vlach-speaking origin not only in Greece but also abroad. Also, such statements are
not consistent with the fundamental European principles and values that forge unity
ties, friendship and cooperation among the European peoples, on which lies the
modern European architecture in which both nations participate as allies and partners.

Sincerely Yours,

For the Panhellenic Federation of Vlach Cultural Associations

The President The Secretary

Michalis Mageirias Nitsiakou Angeliki

Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs

1 Socrates Street, 45221 Ioannina Greece
Tel. 00306932855599
http://www.vlachs-popsv.gr/
e-mail: panhellenicfeder.vlachon@gmail.com