By Dimitar Chulev
A group of Greek nationalists unsuccessfully attempted to block the promotion of the Macedonian primer which took place in the center of Athens. http://www.utrinskivesnik.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=5AB5145AB7EE6245B76538A8F29C1F5D
(Translated from Macedonian to English and edited by Risto Stefov)
rstefov@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.oshchima.com/
Athens - The Macedonian primer known as the "Abecedar" designed for educating Macedonian children in Greece in the Macedonian language in the 1920's, after 81 years, was yesterday (November 7, 2006) promoted in Athens.
"This is a big step for the Macedonian minority in Greece towards gaining freedom to use the Macedonian language in the Greek educational system" said Panagiotis Dimitras, president of the Greek Helsinki Committee, during the Abecedar's promotion in a meeting with the Athens based journalists in the center of the Greek capital.
More than a hundred journalists and intellectuals took part in this event during which Pavlos Voskopoulos, one of the leaders of the political Party Vinozhito, said that twenty or even ten years ago one could not even think of such a promotion, let alone holding it in Athens.
To counter the event, a group of about fifty Greek ultranationalists from the illegal organization "Hrisi Avgi" held a violent protest in front of the building where the event was taking place, threatening to blow it up to prevent the promotion.
The promotion took place about a hundred meters away from the Greek Parliament and was surrounded by one hundred or so policemen in riot gear who pushed the ultranationalists back and held their position until the promotion was over and the journalists safely left the premises.
The Abecedar's promotion was jointly organized by Vinozhito and the Greek Committee from the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL).
The situation in Athens resembled the one in Solun two years ago during which the Greek nationalists attempted to stop the Vinozhito congress. In both occurrences the police exercised its duty and protected the meeting and its participants.
"The reappearance of the primer is of exceptional significance and we hope it will be viewed as a signal for the Greek Government to change its rigid position towards the diverse languages in Greece" says Athanasios Parisis, President of the Greek Committee of EBLUL, who invited the skeptics present to go to places where Macedonians live and discover for themselves that Macedonians really do exist in Greece.
About ten days ago, the Greek Minister Dora Bakoianis reported that there is no ethnic Macedonian minority living in Greece. In response to her comments, Panaiotis Dimitras replied that the climate is not right in Greece to officially admit to the existence of ethnic or national diversities and called on the journalists to verify this for themselves not only about the Macedonians but also about the "Vlachs, the Albanians, the Roma and see if and how the Government responds".
Pressured by the League of Nations Greece was ordered to print the Abecedar in 1925 in order to safeguard and protect the rights of the evident Macedonian minority in Greece.
[As a result of the Treaty of Serves which Greece signed on August 10, 1920 under Article's 7, 8 and 9, the Greek government was to undertake certain obligations regarding "the protection of the non-Greek national minorities in Greece". These Articles specifically stated free use of language and education.]
The primer was printed in the Latin script and was then defended by the representative of the Greek Government Vasilis Dendramis in front of the League of Nations. Among other things Dendramis retorted that "the Macedonian language as being 'neither Bulgarian, nor Serbian but an independent language.'" [He listed various linguists and linguistic maps as evidence to support his claim of the independence of the Macedonian language. This high ranking Greek official representing the Greek state not only recognized the existence of the Macedonian identity, but openly defended and supported it.] Unfortunately, Greece never fulfilled its obligation. The entire printed batch of the Abecedar was destroyed in a staged train accident and never reached the Macedonian population.
Two thousand copies of the primer have now been reprinted with funds from the Greek Government's budget. More precisely, the booklet was printed using the 35,000 Euros which the Strasburg Court forced the Greek State to pay Vinozhito for human rights infractions. The high court ordered Greece to pay for damages caused to the by-lingual sign (Greek and Macedonian) and to the Home of Macedonian Culture in Lerin.
"We are far from achieving our goal in teaching the Macedonian language with the Abecedar" said Voskopoulos "our purpose is political aimed at bringing attention to an unresolved problem. What better place than to do it here in Athens in the center of Greek nationalism. Ideological reforms must begin here in the center of our country".
The intellectual and former president of the Greek branch of "Amnesty International" Dionisis Dusetis agrees that the Macedonian language must be recognized and implemented in the educational system. According to Dusetis, interpreting extreme nationalism as support of Hellenism is a mistake. "What the nationalists really aspire to is to negate the name of their northern neighbour" said Dusetis.
"Even if there are two hundred individuals who wish to speak a different language, we should not be allowed to prevent them" retorted former journalist Rihardo Someritis during a heated provocative discussion, "if you don't understand that, you and we as a society have a problem" he said.
Journalist Teta Papadopoulou who works for "Elefterotipia" said that the Macedonian language must be recognized as a language and not as a dialect, and no one has the right to prohibit Greek citizens from speaking Macedonian or any other language for that matter.
Georgios Nakratsas, whose family came from Asia Minor in the 1920's during the Greek-Turkish population exchanges and is now political advisor to the political party European Free Alliance to which Vinozhito belongs, suspects that Greek Society is close to being ready to accept the existence of different ethnicities and languages inside Greece. "If you say one does not exist that is fascism" said Nakratsas. In the road of evolution, which is slowly taking place in Greece, "stand the Church, the military and the Educational system."
"My resolve as a Macedonian is political and I believe that respecting differences in people is essential in breaking the myth that Greece is a homogeneous nation. This myth is holding Greece back." said Pavle Voskopoulos. Greek society knows very little about the part of democracy which respects one's right to be different. "Our task is to educate our society" said Voskopoulos.
(Translated from Macedonian to English and edited by Risto Stefov)
rstefov@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.oshchima.com/
Athens - The Macedonian primer known as the "Abecedar" designed for educating Macedonian children in Greece in the Macedonian language in the 1920's, after 81 years, was yesterday (November 7, 2006) promoted in Athens.
"This is a big step for the Macedonian minority in Greece towards gaining freedom to use the Macedonian language in the Greek educational system" said Panagiotis Dimitras, president of the Greek Helsinki Committee, during the Abecedar's promotion in a meeting with the Athens based journalists in the center of the Greek capital.
More than a hundred journalists and intellectuals took part in this event during which Pavlos Voskopoulos, one of the leaders of the political Party Vinozhito, said that twenty or even ten years ago one could not even think of such a promotion, let alone holding it in Athens.
To counter the event, a group of about fifty Greek ultranationalists from the illegal organization "Hrisi Avgi" held a violent protest in front of the building where the event was taking place, threatening to blow it up to prevent the promotion.
The promotion took place about a hundred meters away from the Greek Parliament and was surrounded by one hundred or so policemen in riot gear who pushed the ultranationalists back and held their position until the promotion was over and the journalists safely left the premises.
The Abecedar's promotion was jointly organized by Vinozhito and the Greek Committee from the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL).
The situation in Athens resembled the one in Solun two years ago during which the Greek nationalists attempted to stop the Vinozhito congress. In both occurrences the police exercised its duty and protected the meeting and its participants.
"The reappearance of the primer is of exceptional significance and we hope it will be viewed as a signal for the Greek Government to change its rigid position towards the diverse languages in Greece" says Athanasios Parisis, President of the Greek Committee of EBLUL, who invited the skeptics present to go to places where Macedonians live and discover for themselves that Macedonians really do exist in Greece.
About ten days ago, the Greek Minister Dora Bakoianis reported that there is no ethnic Macedonian minority living in Greece. In response to her comments, Panaiotis Dimitras replied that the climate is not right in Greece to officially admit to the existence of ethnic or national diversities and called on the journalists to verify this for themselves not only about the Macedonians but also about the "Vlachs, the Albanians, the Roma and see if and how the Government responds".
Pressured by the League of Nations Greece was ordered to print the Abecedar in 1925 in order to safeguard and protect the rights of the evident Macedonian minority in Greece.
[As a result of the Treaty of Serves which Greece signed on August 10, 1920 under Article's 7, 8 and 9, the Greek government was to undertake certain obligations regarding "the protection of the non-Greek national minorities in Greece". These Articles specifically stated free use of language and education.]
The primer was printed in the Latin script and was then defended by the representative of the Greek Government Vasilis Dendramis in front of the League of Nations. Among other things Dendramis retorted that "the Macedonian language as being 'neither Bulgarian, nor Serbian but an independent language.'" [He listed various linguists and linguistic maps as evidence to support his claim of the independence of the Macedonian language. This high ranking Greek official representing the Greek state not only recognized the existence of the Macedonian identity, but openly defended and supported it.] Unfortunately, Greece never fulfilled its obligation. The entire printed batch of the Abecedar was destroyed in a staged train accident and never reached the Macedonian population.
Two thousand copies of the primer have now been reprinted with funds from the Greek Government's budget. More precisely, the booklet was printed using the 35,000 Euros which the Strasburg Court forced the Greek State to pay Vinozhito for human rights infractions. The high court ordered Greece to pay for damages caused to the by-lingual sign (Greek and Macedonian) and to the Home of Macedonian Culture in Lerin.
"We are far from achieving our goal in teaching the Macedonian language with the Abecedar" said Voskopoulos "our purpose is political aimed at bringing attention to an unresolved problem. What better place than to do it here in Athens in the center of Greek nationalism. Ideological reforms must begin here in the center of our country".
The intellectual and former president of the Greek branch of "Amnesty International" Dionisis Dusetis agrees that the Macedonian language must be recognized and implemented in the educational system. According to Dusetis, interpreting extreme nationalism as support of Hellenism is a mistake. "What the nationalists really aspire to is to negate the name of their northern neighbour" said Dusetis.
"Even if there are two hundred individuals who wish to speak a different language, we should not be allowed to prevent them" retorted former journalist Rihardo Someritis during a heated provocative discussion, "if you don't understand that, you and we as a society have a problem" he said.
Journalist Teta Papadopoulou who works for "Elefterotipia" said that the Macedonian language must be recognized as a language and not as a dialect, and no one has the right to prohibit Greek citizens from speaking Macedonian or any other language for that matter.
Georgios Nakratsas, whose family came from Asia Minor in the 1920's during the Greek-Turkish population exchanges and is now political advisor to the political party European Free Alliance to which Vinozhito belongs, suspects that Greek Society is close to being ready to accept the existence of different ethnicities and languages inside Greece. "If you say one does not exist that is fascism" said Nakratsas. In the road of evolution, which is slowly taking place in Greece, "stand the Church, the military and the Educational system."
"My resolve as a Macedonian is political and I believe that respecting differences in people is essential in breaking the myth that Greece is a homogeneous nation. This myth is holding Greece back." said Pavle Voskopoulos. Greek society knows very little about the part of democracy which respects one's right to be different. "Our task is to educate our society" said Voskopoulos.
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