I completely agree with Stergios. I am a descendant of those Greek Bulgarians that were exchanged after 1919 and my great grandfather always stated there is no Macedonian nation - there is just Comintern propaganda.

It is other issue, that for some 1,5 million that propaganda worked well, so they believe that they are descendants of Alexander the Great and that they are cousins with the Hunza tribes in Pakistan, not with their neighbors.

Greeks have the right to fight against the funny "Macedonian" claims.

It is a lie when the FYROM politicians claim that their country does not have territorial claims against Greece.

In the following link you will see Mr. Nikola Gruevski, the Prime Minister of the FYROM, bowing to a monument on which a map of so-called "Greater Macedonia" has been glued. The map depicts about 25% of Greece's territory as "Macedonian". Please follow the link:

http://blog.antibaro.gr/?p=66

How would you feel if Mexican President Calderon bowed to map of Mexico prior to 1830, with the Mexican border reaching as far north as Wyoming?

And the crazy thing is that although Mexico did actually reach all the way to Wyoming up to 1830, NEVER in history was there a political entity as defined by "Greater Macedonia", and that the Greeks have always been a majority in what is now Greek Macedonia.

FYROMian claims are not irredentist.

It's not like there exists any sizeable "Macedonian" minority in Greece.

Many Slavs lived in Greece prior to 1919, but they defined themselves as Bulgarians, and they were exchanged with Bulgaria's Greeks after the signing of the Treaty of Neuilly in the few years to follow.

The so-called "ethnic Macedonians" in Greece today have all the freedoms one expects to enjoy in an advanced democracy such as Greece, including a political party of their own ("Rainbow")which only got something like 6,000 votes in the last elections for the European Parliament, a number that amounts to roughly 0.05% of Greece's total population and 0.25% of the population of Greek Macedonia.  

Ms. Brownell, I do not know how instumental your interview was in flaming diplomatic fires but I can assure you that it managed to create a day-long migraine for one Greek Macedonian who had looked forward to a peaceful Saturday of surfing on the web!!!  The problem the foreign press, and specifically American press, has with this issue is they paint FYROM and Greece to be a modern day David and Goliath when in actuality Greece is David fighting against superpower Gotliaths (read:  US)  who want NATO expansion at all costs.  In Greece there is no doubt we will feel the effects of not caving in  to the US's pressure to admit FYROM.  The second problem with the media coverage of this issue is that the press insists on belittling the issue, all but calling Greece spoiled and paranoid.  The issue is far more serious than just who the descendents of Alexander the Great are.  The fact is, FYROM does have designs on Greek Macedonia.  One needs only to visit a handful of "macedonian" websites to encounter propaganda describing Greek Macedonia as "occupied" territory.  Milososki & many others say, "why, FYROM is a poor country of only 2 million- even if they wanted to they couldn't attack Greece."  To that I respond:  No one took Hitler seriously at first either.  What is a small, poor country today can be a powerful giant tomorrow, especially with well-placed friends.   Nor does the change in the FYROM constitution declaring no irrendentist claims on Greece convince me.  The multiple amendments to the US constitution proves that any constitution is a living organism which can be changed as needs develop.  I am glad the Greek side has spoken but I wish those in the position of informing the general population were more objective in their coverage of this issue.

How can you speak about macedonian minority in northern Greece, when those who live there, as staying to the province of Macedonia, are macedonians? Minority is something minus, in the province of Macedonia everyone who lives there is a macedonian.

Are you confused? And how not be! When people of FYROM monopolize the term "macedonian", claiming that only they are macedonians, while Greece has a huge province called Macedonia, the birthplace of Alexander the Great and Bulgaria has also an area named "Pirin Macedonia". Who forbids the self determination of the other?

I think it is clear that this composite name is neseccary to avoid the confusion and the rows between the three countries(Greece, Bulgaria and FYROM).

I would like to ask Mr.Mallias, and as a matter in fact to ask Mr.Karamanlis the president of the Hellenic Republic how can they explain the non existence of the Macedonian minority in Northern Greece. We all know that the only explanation for  that, that there is not a single person that is belonging to the minority from a neighbour country is that something awful has happened to those people or that there was iron wall that has hermetically sealed the border between those two countries.

As far as I can remember there was no wall between the two countries, and if my remembrance serves me well there was a civil war going on in the end of 40’s.

Now if the Greek state stands behind their theory that there is no Macedonian Minority in Greece then they should accept that during the civil war years there was a genocide going on in Greece and that hundreds of thousands of people were killed and expelled from their land, just because they were not declared themselves as Greeks.

The state of skopja is an artificial concoction created by Tito in the 40s to separate the slavic population of te region (the northern reaches of ancient Macedonia) from Bulgaria.  The language of the non-albanian part is a bulgarian dialect, and their origin is slavic, cousins to the bulgarians.  The row is not simply over a name as the slavs os skopjia deceptively state.  By calling themselves  "macedonian" they lay the ground for the liberation of the unredeemed "Macedonioa of the Aegean" as their maps and propaganda state.  This is a hoax.

The simple fact is that they are slavs, they have no relation to the Macedonians of Alexander the Great, and they have no historical claim to lands other than those they have now. Until they get adjusted to that idae, they will stay out of NATO and the EU.  Meanwhile the fast-multiplying albanian population will be a majority,  Then they will follow the fate of Kosovo.  They better get back with Serbia, or Bulgaria while the going is good.

Macedonian or not?

Being Macedonian myself, please let me explain how the people from the two countries see themselves and the other party, from their own perspectives, through a rather simplified example:

THE GREEK, say John Smith: I am (say) John Smith, grand-grand-son of Peter and Helen Smith, American, speaking American English and living in Delaware, 21 Spencer Str., in a very old house. My grand-grand-father built the house himself when Delaware was founded, and my family always owned it, through generations. 30 years ago, a Chinese guy and his family, coming from China, speaking Chinese, settled to the house next-door. His brother (say, Jin Chang) and his family, coming together from China and, of course, speaking Chinese, occupied part of the house next-door, and also an abandoned part of (our) old house. I have no doubt that this part of the old house definitely belongs to them (Jin Chang s family), through positive prescription. However, unlike the Chinese brother living only to the house next-door, Jin is not at all happy being Chinese. So, what does he do? A few years ago, he changes his name into Smith. Not only that, he teaches his grandchildren, that Peter and Helen Smith, who built the old house, were Chinese, speaking Chinese. Nowadays, Jin s grandchild, named by his father as John Smith, just like me, truly believes that he has rights, not only on the name, but on the whole property (the whole of the old house) itself! To his eyes, I look nothing but an invader. He feels to be the only legitimate owner of the whole house, and claims the exclusive right on the surname Smith, forcing the other neighbours to call him, and HIM only, John Smith. I will NOT continue to tolerate that!

THE SKOPJAN, say would-be-Jyin Chang Jr. This is a free country, where everybody has the right to feel whatever they wish, and to call themselves however they want to. So, since my grandfather decided his family to be called Smith, who are you, John Smith (as you call yourself), to stop ME from being called John Smith? And yes, you are an invader, since you occupy a big part of the house my ancestors built, Peter and Helen, who spoke Chinese, just like the Smith s always did!

CONCLUSION: Apart from the complicated political and economical issues this dispute gives rise to, to the (Greek) Macedonians it is being felt and pointed out, mainly, as an issue of what is right and what is wrong, as a matter of pride and truth. To the Slavs of the last two generations who live in this country, it is also being felt as a matter of pride and truth. However, the elder KNOW that the place was not named Macedonia before the 1940s, and the language they speak is actually a Bulgarian dialect. Thus, their main arguments arise from the values of self-determination and self-identification.

So should it be what is right and true, or what one should be tolerated to feel and say?

Not easy to say, right?

The Hellenic Republic, which you errantly call Greece, has a right to retain the name of one of its states within a very volatile region. I am certain that the USA would not be impressed if an undemocratic African state decided to rename itself New Washington. But it is worse here since FYROM and others have territorial ambitions to steal Hellenic territory just as Europe, led by Winnie Churchill did when the created the artificial state of Albania. A large region of the north of the Hellenes was taken and the people there have suffered ever since.