Socrates had said that "“ ... our country is more to be valued and higher and holier far than mother or father or any ancestor, and more to be regarded in the eyes of the gods and of men ... " Friends, we are facing mounting challenges that threaten the very future of Hellenism. At this moment, the Turkish Coalition of America is reportedly funding a strong anti-Greek US Skopian Lobby group (the UMD) in Washington D.C.
Special to hellasfrappe
Sources claim that in 2008, the Turkish Coalition of America presented $150,000 to the US Skopje Lobby group in the American capital (www.umdiaspora.org). Also, Ankara apparently also gave approximately $150,000 to the Bosnian American Advisory Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
With this funding, the FYROM Lobby was able to open a permanent office in downtown Washington in the summer of 2008.
With this funding, the FYROM Lobby was able to open a permanent office in downtown Washington in the summer of 2008.
The Turkish Coalition of America, (www.tc-america.org), which promotes the understanding of Turkish issues via public education, is headed by Lincoln McCurdy who is not of Turkish decent. Lincoln worked for the US Consulate General office in Constantinopole.
Under his term, he established the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund, the Turkish Coalition of America Study Abroad in Turkey Scholarships for Minority groups (such as Indians, African Americans, Latinos). He also began the TCAdvance Scholarship Program, as well as the TCA Capitol Hill Summer Internship Program.
The FYROM-US lobby is headed by Meto Koloski. Reports note that interned with Democrat New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and word has it that Pascrell has spread many lies in Washington D.C. regarding Greek Macedonian history.
What some might not know is that Pascrell's district in New Jersey has the highest concentration of citizens from FYROM, so he was easily "persuaded". Pascrell is also pro-Turkey on all issues.
It is apparent that FYROM and Turkey are weaving a strong defense based on lies against Hellas.
What they fail to understand, is that anyone who has an understanding of history knows that Yugoslav Communist Dictator Marshall Tito created a separate Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia in 1944. And the only reason he did this was to annex Greek Macedonia by supplying weapons to the Greek Communist rebels (ELAM-ELAS).
The only historical Macedonia is in Greece. Alexander the Great spoke Greek not Slavic Bulgarian. He was born in Pella which lies in Greece near Thessaloniki and not anywhere near Skopje.
But people are ignorant to the facts and continue to spread falsehoods. If they agree that the Communists were notorious for creating false identities to separate and control territories, then why can't they accept that the same was done on the issue of Skopje?
But people are ignorant to the facts and continue to spread falsehoods. If they agree that the Communists were notorious for creating false identities to separate and control territories, then why can't they accept that the same was done on the issue of Skopje?
One example of this is Moldova. In 1939 when Stalin invaded Romania’s Bessarabia province, he annexed Bessarabia and renamed it Moldova. Today’s Moldovans speak Romanian and have gained Romanian passports. This East European country is a troubled nation, but its young people want to be united with Romania.
Another good example is Belarus. This nation separated from Russia and created a false republic named Belorussia, but they speak the Russian language!
The same was done by Communists to the Bulgarians of South Serbia’s Vardarska Province. Today’s FYROM Slavs obtained Bulgarian passports. On its part Bulgaria has warned Skopje on their propaganda campaign. And incidentally... they too also speak the same language: Bulgarian.
The same was done by Communists to the Bulgarians of South Serbia’s Vardarska Province. Today’s FYROM Slavs obtained Bulgarian passports. On its part Bulgaria has warned Skopje on their propaganda campaign. And incidentally... they too also speak the same language: Bulgarian.
Still not convinced?
"February 26, 1992 - In an interview from the Foreign Information Service daily report, FYROM President Kirov Gligorov stated that "we are Slavs who came to the region in the sixth century. We are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians."
January 22, 1999: FYROM's Ambassador in Washington D.C., Mrs. Ljubica Acevska, gave a speech on the present situation in the Balkans, noting that "we do not claim to be descendants of Alexander the Great. We are Slavs and we speak a Slavic language. Greece is The FYROM's second largest trading partner and its number one "investor."
February 24, 1999: FYROM.'s Ambassador to Canada, Gyordan Veselinov, in an interview with the "Ottawa Citizen", admitted that the people of FYROM "are not related to the northern Greeks who produced leaders like Philip and Alexander the Great. We are Slavs and our language is closely related to Bulgarian. There is some confusion about our identity."
December 29, 2001: In an interview to Utrinski Vesnik of Skopje, former FYROM Foreign Minister Slobodan Casule said that he mentioned to the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria Solomon Pasi that they “belong to the same Slav people.”
Taking all these facts into consideration has anyone really asked themselves why is FYROM insisting with the name Macedonia? The second question would obviously be what are the Greeks doing about all of this?
The Pan Macedonian Association manages to fight the lies of the Skopje Lobby by organizing the Greek community with the truth of Hellenism but in all fairness it is not enough. If it wasn’t for this dedicated group of individuals Hellenes would have slept themselves to defeat on this issue.
That is why they urge everyone to get better educated about this issue. It is necessary that we all enhance our understanding of issues that perpetuate discrimination of our country.
The Pan Macedonian website is a good place to start. (www.panmacedonian.info). Together with the Greeks in Greece, the Omogenia must engage in exposing these truths and must unmask all the falsehoods of FYROM and Turkey.
Posts
