WHAT IS A GREEK?

Deconstructing the so called “Greek Nation”

By Risto Stefov

rstefov@hotmail.com

September 12, 2008

Ordinarily I couldn’t care less what the Greeks call themselves, it’s their right and who am I to interfere? But these are not ordinary times when self proclaimed Greeks take it upon themselves to dictate to others what they can and can’t call themselves.

Greeks say “Ethnic Macedonians” don’t exist! I say “Ethnic Greeks” don’t exist and I can prove it!

What makes a Macedonian an ethnic Macedonian?

According to Webster’s dictionary belonging to an ethnic group is belonging to a division of mankind as distinguished by customs, characteristics, language, common history, etc.

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that a large majority of people living in geographical Macedonia share common customs, traditions, songs, dances, and have a common language, a common history and a common religion that stretch back to at least one thousand years. So if we establish that such a group exists or existed in geographical Macedonia up until at least the time of Macedonia’s partition and annexation in 1912, 1913 by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria then what should we call this group of people?

If a people lived on Macedonian lands for over a millennium, which I am sure we can establish, then a rational thinker would have no problem calling these people ‘Ethnic Macedonians” if that’s what they want to be called.

As I was browsing through the www.maknews.com forum I read an article Turkey: Macedonia's best friend posted by VMRO which can also be found at this link; http://www.mfa.gov.tr/denial-of-ethnic-identity.en.mfa in a Turkish official website.

Now who better than the Turks would know if Macedonians exist or not? Better still let’s see what the Turks have to say about the Greeks. After all both Macedonia and Greece belonged to Turkey for many centuries; Greece for four centuries and Macedonia for five. So I would say the Turks know something about both nations; wouldn’t you agree?

According to the information on the website;
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“The Greek Nation is based on the principle of belonging to the Greek race and the Greek Orthodox Church. On this subject, it is enough to glance at the speeches of the Greek statesmen about the ‘homogeneity of the Greek nation with the exception of the Muslim minority.’

If the Greek Nation is really homogeneous, one can not help but wonder about the destiny of the Albanians, the Muslim Albanians, Vlachs, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Jews as well as the Turks.
In this respect it becomes necessary to answer the question of how homogeneity has been achieved in Greek Macedonia while ethnic variety still survives in the Republic of Macedonia.”

But wait a minute what are the Turks talking about, what Albanians, Vlachs, Macedonians, Turks, etc. existing in Greece? Greece has always maintained it’s a pure and homogeneous nation with roots extending back to the so called Ancient Greeks. If their lineage does not stretch back to the ancient Greeks and ancient Macedonians of at least two-and-a-half millennium ago then how can they claim both the so called ancient Greek and Macedonian heritage as their own and at the same time exclude the ethnic Macedonians from claiming theirs?

Surely the Turks must know what they are talking about? They were the masters of Greece for four hundred years! They were the masters of Greece even before a Greek state existed or the Greeks (Romanoi) called themselves “Greeks”.

With regards to Greek claims that “no ethnic Macedonians exist in Greece” I would like to point you to the crucial question asked by the Turkish website: “In this respect, it becomes necessary to answer the question of how homogeneity has been achieved in Greek Macedonia while ethnic variety still survives in the Republic of Macedonia?” How indeed!

Before Greece became a country for the first time in 1829, the following ethnic groups lived in what today is called Greece: Arvanites (Albanians), Vlahi (Vlachs), Tourki (Turks), Slavi (Macedonians), Voulgari (Macedonians), Slavo-Makedones (Macedonians), Endopii (indigenous Macedonians), Gifti (Roma), Evreii (Jews) and others. There was absolutely no group of people called “Greeks”. These people were made into Greeks after the Greek state was created for the first time in 1829.

Before Greece was created by the Great European Powers, the Arvanites spoke the Albanian language and had their own unique customs and traditions. The Vlachs spoke the Vlach language similar to Latin and had their own unique customs and traditions. The Turks spoke the Turkish language and had their own customs and traditions. The many names the modern Greeks use, such as Slavs, Bulgars, Slavo-Macedonians, indigenous, etc., to identify the Macedonians also all spoke the Macedonian language which existed and still exists throughout all of geographic Macedonia. The Macedonians too have their own unique customs and traditions which are different from the other groups.

The Greek state, once created by the Great Powers, used force and coercion to artificially create the Greek nation by deconstructing the real ethnic identities of the Albanians, Vlachs, Turks, Macedonians, Roma and others it trapped in its borders. By stripping them of their natural mother languages the Greek state forced upon them the artificial Koine language which today is paraded as Greek.

The Koine language by the way, which many Greeks today boast connects them to the Ancients, is nothing more than an artificially imposed language which the Greek state stole from the Byzantine Church and taught to its people in school. One who learns this language in school is no more Greek, related to the ancient Greeks, than one who learns the hieroglyphs in school and claims to be related to the ancient Egyptians. But can modern Greeks see the absurdity of such claims? Judging from the thousands of e-mails I have received, apparently not!

If I may add, Greece has demonstrated its artificiality not only by imposing a dead language on its people but also by changing every place name and people’s names in all the territories since its creation. It renamed everything to make them “Greek sounding” and to demonstrate to the world how Greek Greece is! But in reality what does this really tell you? This tells me that as a Greek from Macedonia my history began in 1926 when my grandfather’s name and my village name were changed. There is no Stefou or Trigono before 1926! If I believe I was a Greek I would ask myself what was I before 1926?

So then, what makes a Greek an ethnic Greek?

Let’s see what the dictionary has to say?

According to Webster’s dictionary Greek (Graecus) is a native or modern inhabitant of Greece.

The name Greek is derived from the word Graioi originally the Latin name of a Boeotian tribe that settled in Italy in the 8th century BC.

So anyone from any ethnic origin can be a Greek as long as they inhabit the lands of modern Greece which very well defines what a real Greek is. But what makes a Greek an “ethnic Greek”? It can’t be culture, tradition or customs because the under layer of people (Albanians, Vlachs, Macedonians, Turks, Roma, etc.) that make up the Greek nation do not share similar characteristics. It can’t be language since the Koine language was adopted by the Greek state and imposed on the various diverse groups of people. Koine is not the mother language of any of these people.

So the people that make up modern Greece today shared none of the characteristics that make a group an “ethnic group” before Greece became a country for the first time in 1829.

Thus I have to conclude that “ethnic Greeks” do not exist.

So how can Greeks who themselves are NOT even Greeks and DO NOT qualify to call themselves “ethnic Greeks” are not only allowed to usurp the Ancient Greek heritage but also rob the Ancient Macedonian heritage? Furthermore how do they qualify to tell Macedonians what to do?

Obviously these people are frauds and pirates, what are we doing negotiating OUR NAME with them?