Let’s Not Forget the Exiled Macedonians from Greece
By Risto Stefov
September 18, 2008After reading the MINA article(http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/3525/46/) about Panayotis Dimitras, member of the Greek Helsinki Monitor, I couldn’t help but remember what my father had told me about other United Nations visits to the Greek concentration camps in the Greek islands in the past where Macedonians and others were tortured daily. It was naïve of me to ask, “Why didn’t anyone report the abuses while the people from the UN visited you?” “Because no one wanted to die a horrible death,” was the answer. The UN and other investigative bodies came and went but the prisoners remained and were constantly reminded of what would happen not only to them personally but to their families and friends if they spoke up. They were also reminded that “the strangers will come and go but you will definitely stay”. “How were we to know that these people were truly from the UN and not another ‘Greek show’, a ploy to pull us into getting into trouble and giving the Greeks another excuse to torture and murder us?” was another answer I received. If I were a Macedonian living in Greece today what would I think if a high profiled Greek such as Panayotis Dimitras is openly threatened in the face of the entire world with “high treason” and life imprisonment just for saying Macedonians exist in Greece ? I would have to ask myself “if they can do that to Panayotis a member of the Greek Helsinki Monitor who is well known worldwide, imagine what they can do to me, an unknown person, if I speak up?” “Would I dare say I am Macedonian and risk my life and the lives of my family?” The answer would most likely be NO!Macedonians have many examples to refer to where they were put in similar circumstances and many times were let down. The Greeks are back to their old tricks because these tricks are tried and proven tactics that have worked well for them in the past! They know this will bring them the desired results without any consequences.But let me tell you something, not all Macedonians from Greece live inside Greece where the Greek government has them under its thumb. There are millions of Macedonians, yes millions of exiled Macedonians whose citizenship and properties were expropriated by the Greek government and who were driven out of Greece . To this day I have yet to find a single Macedonian who has left Greece willingly and hasn’t been driven out as a war refugee or as an economic refugee.The Macedonians still living in Greece have no rights but they at least still have their lands, homes, citizenship and live where they were born. Unfortunately that is not the case with the Macedonians and other minorities which Greece has exiled over the years.From what happened to Mr. Dimitras it should be obvious to everyone that the Macedonians living inside Greece are in peril from the Greek government and from the racist and fascist organizations the Greek state supports. Those Macedonians who volunteered information to the UN have put themselves and their families at great risk. Greece has used similar treats before and knows its methods are tried and proven. It knows terror tactics will work because its minorities live and have always lived in fear and will not dare reveal themselves or freely speak to strangers. Greece will exercise its threats and send people to jail; it has done this before and has suffered no consequences so it will do it again. Macedonians living inside Greece unfortunately have suffered many consequences in the past and would be less willing to come forth with information. Another place to obtain reliable information about the Macedonians in Greece is to interview Macedonians from Greece who live outside of Greece where they can’t be threatened with violence and long jail sentences. To exile people from their homes and to have their homes, properties and citizenship confiscated is not only immoral but also illegal and today the law is on the Macedonian side.
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