Greece is an Hysterical Member of the European Union

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Greece is an Hysterical Member of the European Union

Interview with Kitsa Kolbe
Macedonian Philosopher in Germany

By Miki Trajkovski
Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

rstefov@hotmail.com

October 2008


Kitsa Kolbe is a Macedonian, who for 40 years has lived in Germany and worked as a writer, photographer and translator. Her father is a refugee from Aegean Macedonia. In her book entitled "Aegeans" published in 1998 she mentions that the "Aegean Macedonian Question" is the nucleus of an ongoing Greek struggle with the name "Macedonia" about which Greece and Macedonia are currently in dispute.

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KK- Those who recognize the work of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud know this famous "defense mechanism" where the offender takes away attention from him or herself by putting the blame elsewhere. Greece is saying that it will not allow Macedonia to call itself Macedonia because if it does it may provoke "irredentist aspirations" in the Macedonians. Using this kind of "diplomatic fog", Greek diplomacy has for 17 years succeeded in taking attention away from the real issue with the Macedonians and focused on a non-issue. This not only fooled the entire International public but, more bizarrely, it also fooled most Macedonians.

Q- Is this not a result of inheriting Yugoslav lead International politics?

KK- During the Yugoslav era the rules were simple - do not strain relations with Greece on account of the "Aegean Macedonians" (ethnic Macedonians from Greece). After being told this time after time, Macedonian politicians not only during the Yugoslav era but afterwards, even after the 1990's when Macedonia became independent, continued to use this "self-censure". Then after Greece put a squeeze on Macedonia, Macedonian politicians, like obedient little children after being disciplined, immediately changed the Macedonian constitution to placate their southern neighbour. By doing so they in effect washed their hands of their responsibilities to the Macedonian minorities in the neighbouring countries. But if you look at the situation more closely you will see that neither Yugoslav nor Macedonian politicians cared much about the Aegean Macedonians. This confirms that the Aegean Macedonian question was always the nucleus of the Greek-Macedonian name dispute and should not be a surprise to anyone that it boiled to the surface only after Macedonia declared its independence.

Q- Why are Greeks so fearful of opening this question wide open?

KK- The Greeks know that during the two Balkan Wars (1912-1913) Macedonia was invaded, occupied and partitioned under an expansionist war for grabbing territories. The Greeks also know that they used unfriendly tactics to grab those territories and assimilate the Macedonians into their Greek fold. They know very well that they evicted many Macedonians under unfriendly circumstances not only in 1913 but also in 1946 to 1949 during the Greek Civil War. They evicted hundreds of thousands of Macedonians, expropriated their properties and citizenship and to this day will not allow them to return. Greece knows that it also conducted ethnic cleansing on its "newly acquired territories" in 1913 and knows the Macedonians have not forgotten. How do you think Macedonians feel about that?

The Greek attitude towards the Macedonians has not changed and neither have its assimilatory policies, which are disastrous for the Macedonians. Extinguishing the Macedonian identity has been Greece's policy since 1913 and has continued for the last 17 years by the strength of its diplomacy. We know very well that Greece changed all toponyms and peoples' names inside Greece to modify or erase everything Macedonian. Why not continue this policy outside of Greece? There is no doubt that today's Greek politics are a continuation of yesterday's assimilatory policies and that is to continue to change Macedonian names for as long as it is allowed. And that is precisely why it is so important to open the "Aegean Macedonian Question" now! Another benefit of opening the question now is to give some dignity to the aging Aegean Macedonians like my father who not only has been waiting for this for most of his life but has been feeling somewhat ignored and unwanted. Aegean Macedonians have been carrying this pain with them alone for decades.

Even though it was not their fault, Aegean Macedonians have not only suffered immensely at the hands of the Greeks, but were neglected at the hands of fellow Macedonians. Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia took them into their country and helped them settle and find homes and work but were not very sympathetic when it came to their desire to return to Greece or to find peace of mind with regard to their traumatic experience. The attitude was "we gave you apartments, education, jobs, careers, independence, etc., what more do you want? So you are refugees, so what? The world is full of refugees who are in a more desperate state that you are." But all the "Aegeans" wanted was to be heard, to be taken seriously and to have their pain acknowledged by their fellow Macedonians. They wanted to hear from politicians with virtues like John Kennedy who stood in partitioned Berlin in the 1960's and cried out "I too am from Berlin". They waited expecting that some Skopje born or Ohrid born Macedonian politician would say, "I too am an Aegean". But it did not happen, not until recently.

Q- It happened recently with the first step taken by Prime Minister Gruevski who sent letters to various International organizations asking for the recognition of the Macedonian minority in Greece. The prime Minister also received responses to these letters, one from the Greek Prime Minister Karamanlis, who said that there were no Macedonians living in Greece. Even more surprising was Baroso's response. Baroso is the President of the European Commission who has publicly stated that the EU is not qualified to decide on this kind of dispute. Was this a worthy response from a European politician?!

KK- I was not expecting anything different from Baroso. The most significant thing about these letters is that they expose the fact that "Macedonia knows why Greece is trying to change Macedonia's name".

Greece, as a member of the European Union, has been acting hysterically towards the Macedonians accepting absolutely no advice or recommendation from any of the EU members. Many European politicians unable to reason with Greece, before Gruevski's letters, were hoping and counting on Macedonia to accept a compromise. The thinking was "since the Macedonians were willing to negotiate their name, they couldn't have placed too much value on it, so let them 'give a little' and finally save ourselves from this 'Greek theater'". After Grevski's letters however, the Europeans were starting to feel nervous. Their comfort level had been disturbed and not knowing what else to do; they took the road of being "incompetent".

Baroso's response is not worthy of a European Union politician, because he has failed all European Union principles. One good thing however is that he raised the hopes of the Aegean Macedonians. Now that the EU has abdicated its responsibility, it's time to start anew knocking on more doors and continue knocking and spreading the truth. And by that I mean, spreading the truth by letters, books, films, etc. By taking our message out to the world and exposing more and more people and organizations to the truth the world is more likely to learn about the injustices perpetrated against us. The world will sympathize with us not because our suffering is unique - sadly there are many injustices and many "Aegeans" in the world, like the Armenian genocide - but on account of our persistence and on account of our self-awareness; we know who we are and we know what we want.

Q- The Greek-Macedonian name dispute is slowly unwinding and is leading into a dead end. What would you accept as a compromise if you had to?

KK- Politics are changeable. I am skeptical of the nucleus of the Greek campaign against Macedonia. I am also skeptical of the dual formula; "one name for home and another name for the outside". This is provisional and everlasting dualism. During the 2001 conflict the name "Macedonia" was rarely mentioned as a problem with Greece. I believe Greece was expecting Macedonia to fall apart. Since it didn't Greece has been saying Macedonia will not have a future without NATO. I would be happy to see Macedonia become a member of NATO as soon as possible but I fail to see where the danger is coming from? I am more worried about Brussels's skepticism than I am about any perceived danger.

When Macedonia becomes a member of the European Union the Greek-Macedonia border will cease to exist, opening free communication and contact between Macedonians on both sides. Once this happens the Macedonian ethnic identity in Aegean Macedonian will solidify even more. I believe this is what Greece is really afraid of and is trying very hard to prevent. That is why the Aegean question is of such great importance for the survival of all Macedonians as Macedonians. The Aegean question can be exposed with persistent launching of lawsuits against Greece in the European courts and by exposing the Greek genocides against the Aegean Macedonians.

Q- The kind of changes to our identity, language, constitution, etc., proposed as compromises are they dangerous?

KK- Every change brings consequences. Names are not coincidental; they are expressions of identity, language, culture, etc., which in every community are enshrined in law, constitutions, etc. This is my opinion as a philosopher and writer. I often ask myself if such changes are made how will they affect the morale and dignity of our people? If people can no longer be what they were, what will they be? If this is allowed how many more ills will we witness in Aegean Macedonia?

We need to remember and remind ourselves of how badly our grandparents were treated by the Greek governments when their names were changed from Macedonian to Greek. In order to save their self-respect, my own family refused to forget our true Macedonian name. The other name the Greeks gave us was a formal name for use in public. They had no choice but to use this name in public because they were prohibited from using their real name. There was no one there to help them or protect them. This has been their reality, which we must not forget.

Q- What are your thoughts on the proposals for the name for example Upper Macedonia or Northern Macedonia?

KK- Traditionally someone else always gives us our name but only when we are baptized as newborns. The name with which we are baptized is a name, which comes of love, of family, etc. A name is a blessing and a pledge.

We Macedonians already have a name, changing our name now is like changing the name of an adult who does not want their name changed but because of outside pressures we insist that they accept a conditional name. I ask you, was the temporary name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, imposed on Macedonia by its International "godfathers" a name given out of love and concern? Is this a better name than the name "Macedonia" which this region has carried since biblical times?

Above all, the Macedonian people were also lied to. The name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, imposed on the Macedonian people, was only to last three months. We need to remind our "godfathers" of that.

The "clever" Macedonian politician who fell for this lie now needs to be very vocal in the defense of the name and in solving the Aegean Macedonian question. I don't want to think about changing our name because there is nothing worse than having someone else decide what our name should be.

Nova Makedonija, Saturday October 4th, 2008

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You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com