Despite all the minority agreements and promises of fair treatment for their newly subjugated Macedonian people, the Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian Governments not only maintained the status quo but began to accelerate the process of expulsion, denationalization and forced assimilation in Macedonia.

Following World War I, Greece and Bulgaria, according to the November 27, 1919 Minority Treaty convention, exchanged populations. Greece expelled some 53,000 (Wilkinson, 1951:262) "Slav speakers" to Bulgaria in exchange of 30,000 so called "Greeks" from Bulgaria.

Then with the breakout of the Turkish-Greek war in 1921 as a result of Venizelo's "Megali Idea" a policy to create a "Greater Greece" and bring together all "Greek peoples" under a single Greater Greek State, the Macedonians in Greece again became victims of yet another war. First it was Macedonian men sent to fight and die in Turkey for the glory of "Greater Greece" and later Macedonian lands were given away as Macedonia became a dumping ground for the Turkish refugees.

Greece launched a major offensive against Turkey in March 1921 and by the end of the summer the Greek armies reached the Sakarya River, about forty miles west of Ankara.

The assault on Asia Minor was an "exclusively Greek initiative" without the blessing of the Entente Powers and as a result the Greeks found themselves alone and running out of ammunition. They knew they couldn't count on Italy or France for help but the realization of their predicament sunk in when Britain also refused to help them. By early autumn the Greeks were pushed back beyond the halfway point between Smyrna and Ankara, reaching an uneasy military stalemate. Realizing that they couldn't possibly win militarily or politically, the Greeks turned to the Paris Conference of March 1922 looking for a compromise. The compromise called for the withdrawal of the Greek armies and placing the Christian population under the protection of the League of Nations. Sensing a victory, Mustafa Kemal of Turkey insisted on an unconditional evacuation of the Greek forces, a demand unacceptable to the Greeks. Still counting on British help, in July 1922 the Greeks unsuccessfully attempted to get permission from their allies to enter Tsari Grad (Istanbul).

Turkey launched a full-scale offensive on August 26, 1922 (a dark day for Greece and its Megali Idea) near Afyonkarahisar and forced the Greeks into a hasty retreat back to Smyrna.

On September 8th the Greek army was evacuated and the next day the Turkish army invaded Smyrna. The worst came on the evening of the 9th when outbreaks of killing and looting began, followed by a massacre of the Christian population in which 30,000 Christians, perished. As a result of the violence 250,000 people fled to the waterfront to escape the catastrophic disaster.

The Asia Minor campaign was over along with the "Megali Idea" of a Greater Greece. Worse yet, as a result of this catastrophic Greek fiasco, over one million Turkish Christians were displaced; most of them were moved to Macedonia. Their settlement affected the demography of the Macedonian landscape as well as the morale of the Macedonian population. An entire generation of young Macedonian men, who were drafted into the Greek military, were sent to the Asia Minor campaigns and many lost their lives. The Greek authorities never acknowledged their service and no compensations were ever paid to the families of those "breadwinners" who lost their lives. The reason for the omission, according to Greek authorities, those who fought for Greece from Macedonia "were not Greeks but Bulgarians". How convenient! This is how Greece treated and is still treating its noble citizens of Macedonian descent!

I just want to mention here that many Greeks blame this catastrophe on the Turks and believe the Turks were at fault. How can Turks be at fault when it was Greece that unlawfully and without provocation attacked and invaded Turkey?

By the Treaty of Lausanne in July 1923, the Greco-Turkish war came to an end and Greece and Turkey signed a population exchange agreement.

It is important to understand that the selection criteria for the population exchanges were based strictly on religion. In other words, Greece agreed to accept a Christian population regardless of ethnicity or language. Similarly Greece agreed to expel a Muslim population regardless of what ethnicity it belonged to and what language it spoke. As a result, Greece exiled many Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia simply because they were of the Muslim faith.

The November 1925 issue of National Geographic Magazine best illustrates the magnitude of the human wave, the audacity of the Greek and Turkish authorities and the total disregard for human life. "History's Greatest Trek, Tragedy Stalks the Near East as Greece and Turkey Exchange Two Million of their People. ...1922 began what may fairly be called history's greatest, most spectacular trek-the compulsory intermigration of two million Christians and Muslims across the Aegean Sea." "...the initial episodes of the exchange drama were enacted to the accompaniment of the boom of cannon and the rattle of machine gun and with the settings pointed by the flames of the Smyrna holocaust." (Page 533, Melville Chater, National Geographic, November 1925)

"Stroke of the Pen Exiles 3,000,000 People. It is safe to say that history does not contain a more extraordinary document. Never before in the world's long pageant of folk-wanderings have 2,000,000 people-and certainly no less than 3,000,000 if the retroactive clause is possible of complete application-been exiled and re-adopted by the stroke of the pen" (Page 569, National Geographic, November 1925). "Even if regarded as a voluntary trek instead of a compulsory exchange, the movement would be without parallel in the history of emigration." "One might just add that history has never produced a document more difficult of execution. It was to lessen these difficulties that exchangeability was based in religion and not race. Due to five centuries of Turkish domination in Greece, the complexities in determining an individual's racial status are often such as would make a census taker weep." (Page 570, National Geographic, November 1925)

"Greece with one-fifth Turkey's area has 1,5000,000 more people. Turkey with a population of 5,000,000 and naturally rich territory contains only 15 people to the square mile...Greece, with less than one fifth of Turkey's area, emerges with a population exceeding the latter's for the fist time by 1,500,000 people averaging 123 to the square mile." (Page 584, National Geographic, November 1925)

"History's Greatest Trek has cost 300,000 lives. Conservative estimates place it at 300,000 lives lost by disease and exposure." (Page 584, National Geographic, November 1925)

"The actual exchange was weighted very heavily in Turkey's favour, for some 380,000 Muslims were exchanged for something like 1,100,000 Christians." "The total population in Greece rose between 1907 and 1928 from 2,600,000 to 6,200,000." "After the Greek advances of 1912, for instance, the Greek elements in Greek Macedonia had constituted 43 percent of the population. By 1926, with the resettlement of the refugees, the Greek element has risen to 89 percent." (Page 121, Richard Clogg, A Short History of Modern Greece).

Please note that Clogg uses the words "Greek element" and not "ethnic Greeks" (if there is such a thing?) when referring to the population in Greek occupied Macedonia. What exactly did he mean by "Greek element"?

The "Greek element", as he calls it is not Greek at all. It consists of Vlachs, Albanians and some Macedonians mainly those affiliated with the Greek Church. There were no "ethnic Greeks" living in Macedonia prior to its colonization by the Turkish refugees.

Many people of Turkish speaking Eastern Orthodox stock were exchanged with Sunnite Muslims of Greece. The Turkish speaking Karamanlides were sent to Greece, while Greek speaking Cretan Muslims were deported to Turkey. The Karamanlides lived in Karaman or Cappadocia and may have been Orthodox Christian by religion but they spoke and wrote Turkish and considered themselves to be Turks. When the time came for them to leave for Greece, they were reluctant and while living in Greece were regarded as "foreigners".

In 1924, 31 of the 81 orthodox cities and villages in Cappadocia spoke so called "broken Greek" which Greeks from Greece proper could not understand and the other 50 spoke Turkish only. Also, Christians living in the larger cities like Caesaria, Nigdi, Neapolis, Prokopi, etc spoke Turkish only. Christians living in the eastern provinces of Asia Minor like Pamphylia, Isavria, Cappadocia, Kilikea and Lycaonia from whom the Karamanlides originated and were not Islamized, also spoke Turkish only.

In my estimation it is doubtful that the actual population of "Greeks" present in Greek occupied Macedonia prior to the arrival of the Turkish settlers was 43% as Clogg and others claim. A more accurate estimate would be 3%, representing the new Greek settlers mainly business opportunists already there, the Greek administration, police and military types that arrived and settled in Macedonia between 1912 and 1922. Further proof of the low existence of so called "Greeks" in Macedonia can be found in the 1911 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica under the heading "The Outline of the Macedonian Problem". According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the total population living in Macedonia was 2.2 million consisting of 1.3 million Christians, 800 thousand Mohammedans and 75 thousand Jews. Among the races [ethnicities probably determined by language] living in Macedonia included are 1.15 million Slavs, 500 thousand Turks, 120 thousand Albanians, 90 thousand Vlachs, 75 thousand Jews, 35 thousand Gypsies and 25 thousand Greeks. If we go by these stats, the so called "Greek speaking" population living in Macedonia in 1911 amounted to no more than 1.1% of the total population. Hardly the 43% presented by Clogg. What Clogg is referring to by this 43% is most probably the Macedonian Christian population affiliated with the Greek Church which by no means was "ethnic Greek" or Greek speaking.

I also do not agree with the idea that the entire refugee population that was settled in Macedonia from Turkey was "ethnic Greek" or "Greek speaking" as Greek authorities would like to portray it. In any case, assuming that the total population of settlers from Turkey (89%-43%) was 46% and that from Greece was 3% then by 1932 there were 49% newcomers and 51% indigenous people living in Greek occupied Macedonia.

I call the settlers "newcomers" because there is no proof that they were in any way "Greek". Yes, the Turkish refugees were Christians but that does not mean that they were actually "ethnic Greeks".

"If Greece exists today as a homogeneous ethnos, she owes this to [the Asia Minor Catastrophe]. If the hundreds of thousands of refugees had not come to Greece, Greek Macedonia would not exist today. The refugees created the national homogeneity of our country. (Antonios Kandiotis, Metrpolite of Florina, Page 141, Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood)

Surprisingly (and shamefully) after knowing all this, Greece still claims its population to be homogeneous and directly descendent from the ancient peoples of the ancient City States and of the ancient Macedonians.

According to Karakasidou, almost half of the refugees from Turkey were settled in urban centers and rural areas in Macedonia. "Searching for locations in which to settle this mass of humanity, the Greek government looked north to the newly incorporated land in Macedonia..." "...by 1930, 90 percent of the 578,844 refugees settled in rural Greece were concentrated in the regions of Macedonia and western Thrace. Thus Macedonia, Greece's newly acquired second 'breadbasket' (after Thessaly), became the depository for East Thracian, Pontic, and Asia Minor refugees." (Page 145, Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood)

If we take into consideration that most of the population imported from Turkey into Macedonia was ethnically "unknown" or non-Greek and the fact that very few so called "Greeks" from Greece proper settled in Macedonia we can conclude that Greek occupied Macedonia was settled by a number of non-Greek ethnicities.

It is not ridiculous to assume that Greek occupied Macedonia after the settlements consisted of 51% indigenous people, predominantly Macedonians and 49% of newcomer settlers mostly of non-Greek (Turkish, Armenian, Albanian, Vlach, Patriarchic Macedonian, etc) origins.

In other words the demographic composition of Greek occupied Macedonia after the arrival of the Asia Minor refugees still consisted of a Macedonian majority and a slew of unidentified other minorities.

A census done by the Greek government in 1928 reported that there were 81,984 "Slavophones" in Greece. Interestingly, the number of Macedonians drastically fell between 1903 and 1928, supporting the idea that Macedonia was being Hellenized.

Bearing in mind the stats presented in the 1911 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1.15 million Slav speakers lived in Macedonia. Since Greece occupied 51% of Macedonia in 1912, 1913 we can safely assume that 51% or more of the total Slav speaking population which lived in Macedonia ended up under Greek control. 51% amounts to approximately 600,000 people. Thus, according to 1928 Greek stats, in less than 30 years approximately half a million Macedonians became Hellenized and made into "pure Greeks".

I am using the term "Macedonians" instead of "Slavophones", even though Greece did not recognize them as such and considered them to be Bulgarian speakers, which explains why Professor R. A. Reis, who was commissioned by the Greek government to ethnologically study the new territories, felt compelled to insist that "those you call Bulgarophones, I will simply call them Macedonians" (Reiss, 1915:3).

The numbers really get confusing when we add the Bulgarian and Serbian views. According to the Bulgarian Rumenov, in 1928 there were a total of 206,435 "Bulgarians" living in Greek occupied Macedonia. The Serb Bora Milojevich pegs the numbers at 250,000 "Slavs". Belgrade's "Politika" in its 6164 issue published June 24, 1925 gave three times greater numbers for the Macedonians in Greece than official Athens: "The Greek government must not complain that we are pointing to the fact that the Macedonian population of West Macedonia - 250,000 - 300,000 - is the most unfortunate national and linguistic minority in the world, not only because their personal safety is endangered, but also because they have no church or school in their own language, which they had during Turkish rule."

So the "real" number of Macedonians living in Greek occupied Macedonia in the late 1920's is unknown and to this day remains disputed in Balkan documents. Unfortunately, Greek governments will not allow anyone, including neutral observers to conduct statistical studies.

If we follow the "Greek example" we will note that according to Greek Stats, Greece is populated by 98% "pure Greeks" and 2% "Muslim Greeks". In other words Greece, to this day, has no creditable population statistics that are based on ethnic composition.

Without a clear definition of what a "pure Greek" is one cannot accurately interpret what that means. However, looking at the numbers one can speculate that Greece may still be using religious affiliation to define its demographics. The numbers 98% Orthodox Christians and 2% Muslims most accurately represent Greece's demographics. Unfortunately, religious affiliation hardly speaks of the various ethnicities that make up that population. So, what exactly is the Modern Greek nation made up of outside of Orthodox Christians and Muslims? Who are the "ethnic groups" living in Greece today?

To answer this question we need to go back to the time before Greece became a State and examine the ethnic composition of the populations living on those lands that now make up Greece.

Before Greece became a State for the first time in 1829, its ethnic composition consisted of a Majority of Albanians, Turks, Vlachs and Slav speakers. If there were any so called "Greeks" they were a small minority. As Greece acquired Epirus and Thessaly, more Albanians, Vlachs, Slav speakers and Turks were added to its Population. In 1912, 1913 as Greece acquired 51% of Macedonian territories, it added a large portion of Macedonians (or Slav Speakers as Greece like to call them), Vlachs, Albanians, Turks, Roma and Jews to its total population.

Since then Greece expelled a number of Macedonians to Bulgaria because they were affiliated with the Exarchate Church, and imported some so called "Greeks" from Bulgaria. Through the 1920's Greece expelled a sizable Muslim population and added a large number of Christian Turks from Asia Minor and other regions of Turkey as indicated earlier. Thus, ethnically speaking at the end of the 1920's even after all the population exchanges, Greece remained predominantly the same; made up of Slav Speakers, Turks, Albanians, Vlachs, Roma and Jews.

There is no doubt that the Slav speakers in Greece are Macedonian and will declare themselves as Macedonians should Greece allow them to do so under the right conditions. If we examine the situation in the Republic of Macedonia in the 1920's and today we will see that in the 1920's there were no Macedonians registered to live in that territory. There was a large Majority of "Slav Speakers" referred to as "Serbians" by the Serbian Sate and smaller minorities of Albanians, Vlachs, Roma, Jews, etc. The situation however in the 1990's became different. The so called Serbians were not Serbians at all but Macedonians. The only Serbians registered as Serbians in the Republic of Macedonia in 1990 were the Serbian settlers who came with the army and administration in 1912, 1913 when Macedonia was invaded, occupied and partitioned by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. All the so called "Slav speakers" of the late 1920's declared themselves as Macedonians in the 1990's. So, if we examine today's demographic statistics of the Republic of Macedonia we will find a large Majority of Macedonians living there with well represented minorities of Albanians, Vlachs, Roma, Serbians, etc., or minorities of the same ethnicities and somewhat same proportions that lived on the same soil in the late 1920's.

Now if we apply the same conditions to the Greek occupied territories and adjust for the population exchanges of the 1920's we can deduce that the population living in Greek occupied Macedonia is predominantly ethnic Macedonians, Turks, Vlachs, Albanians, Roma, etc. Proportionally, when stacked against the entire population living in Greek occupied Macedonia the Macedonian population may be a minority (30% to 49%) but given the number of other ethnic minorities such as the Asia Minor Turks, Albanians, Vlachs and Roma and their numbers, the Macedonian population may be close to being the majority. In other words, the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia may outnumber all of the other individual ethnic groups.

As I said, the only way to prove or disprove this is by Greece recognizing the various ethnicities living on its soil and by creating the right climate for them to self-declare.

Even before Greece invaded, occupied and annexed 51% of Macedonian territories, it had begun its denationalization process converting Macedonians into Greeks. By denationalization I mean, indoctrinating people into believing that they were Greeks related to the so called "Ancient Greeks" the people that live south of Mount Olympus two and a half millenniums ago. Greece was determined to gain Macedonian territories by proving to the world that "Greeks" lived in Macedonia and by rights Macedonian territories belonged to Greece. Unlike today where Greece is indoctrinating people into believing that Greek-Macedonians are related to the Ancient Macedonians. In those days the Greek State was making claims that Macedonians did not exist and only "Greeks", "Slavs" (Serbians and Bulgarians), Turks, Albanians, Vlachs, Roma and Jews lived in Macedonia.

Before the formation of the Bulgarian state, Greece took it upon itself to view all Orthodox Christians as "Greeks" on account that they all were affiliated with the Patriarch Church. But after Bulgaria became a country in 1878 and established the Exarchate Church it challenged the Greek views and Greece backed off.

After the establishment of the foreign Churches (Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian) inside Macedonia and in the absence of a Macedonian Church, the three competing states began to divide the Macedonian people by affiliation to their Church. In other words, according to Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, ethnic Macedonians affiliated with the Greek Patriarchate Church would be counted as Greeks, ethnic Macedonians affiliated with the Bulgarian Exarchate Church would be counted as Bulgarians and ethnic Macedonians affiliated with the Serbian Patriarchate Church would be counted as Serbians. Since there was no official or legal Macedonian Church in Macedonia (the Ottoman authorities on the advice of the other Orthodox Churches inside Macedonia would not approve of one) there were no Macedonians to be counted as Macedonians inside Macedonia.

It was by this method that the demographic in Macedonia was established and published into various statistics in the late 19th and early 20th century.

I believe Greece is still using this method to this day to count people in its state. How else does one explain the Greek demographic of 98% "Pure Greek" and 2% "Muslim Greeks"?

Demographic statistics released by Greek authorities before the invasion, occupation and partition of Macedonia in 1912, 1913, were based exclusively on Church affiliations. All Macedonians affiliated with the Greek Patriarchate Church were counted as "Greeks" even though they were not "ethnic Greeks". The fact that there were virtually no "ethnic Greeks" living in Macedonia before 1912 did not stop Greece from showing numbers as high as 40% to 50%. Even the massive expulsions carried out between 1912 and 1928 were based strictly on religion and "Church affiliation" and NOT on ethnicities.

During the second Balkan War Greece initiated a massive denationalization program to eradicate everything Macedonian which began with the ethnic cleansing of entire towns and villages in South Central Macedonia (Kukush, Doiran, Demir-Hisar and Serres).

The criminal activities perpetrated by the invading Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian armies were brought to world attention which prompted the Carnegie Endowment Commission to investigate.

Even though all three States, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia committed atrocities against the Macedonian people during the 1912 and 1913 Balkan Wars, for our purpose here we will only focus on the Greeks.

The Carnegie Endowment Commission was dispatched from Paris on August 2nd, 1913, shortly before the end of the second Balkan War and returned to Paris nearly eight weeks later, on September 28th. In spite of opposition from the Greek government, the commission arrived in time to witness much of the war's aftermath and record most accounts while they were still fresh in people's minds. The commission's findings were compiled and released in 1914.

In a statement dated February 22, 1914, Carnegie Endowment Acting Director Nicholas Murray Butler said:

"The circumstances which attended the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 were of such character as to fix upon them the attention of the civilized world. The conflicting reports as to what actually occurred before and during these wars, together with the persistent rumors often supported by specific and detailed statements as to violations of the laws of war by the several combatants, made it important that an impartial and exhaustive examination should be made of this entire episode in contemporary history. The purpose of such an impartial examination by an independent authority was to inform public opinion and to make plain just what is or may be involved in an international war carried on under modern conditions. If the minds of men can be turned even for a short time away from passion, from race antagonism and from national aggrandizement to a contemplation of the individual and national losses due to war and to the shocking horrors which modern warfare entails, a step and by no means a short one, will have been taken toward the substitution of justice for force in the settlement of international differences.

It was with this motive and for this purpose that the Division of Intercourse and Education of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Constituted in July, 1913, an International Commission of Inquiry to study the recent Balkan wars and to visit the actual scenes where fighting had taken place and the territory which had been devastated. The presidency of this International Commission of Inquiry was entrusted to Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, Senator of France, who had represented his country at the First and Second Hague Conferences of 1899 and of 1907, and who as President Fondateur of the Conciliation lnternationale, has labored so long and so effectively to bring the various nations of the world into closer and more sympathetic relations. With Baron d'Estournelles de Constant there were associated men of the highest standing, representing different nationalities, who were able to bring to this important task large experience and broad sympathy.

The result of the work of the International Commission of Inquiry is contained in the following report. This report, which has been written without prejudice and without partisanship, is respectfully commended to the attention of the governments, the people and the press of the civilized world. To those who so generously participated in its preparation as members of the International Commission of Inquiry, the Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace offer an expression of grateful thanks." (Preface) George F. Kennan. "The Other Balkan Wars"

The commission reported that the atrocities committed by the Greek army at Kukush took place on July 4, 1913. The town was a flourishing community of 13,000 people, the centre of an exclusively Slavonic-speaking area which the Greek army occupied and burned to the ground.

European observers confirmed that Greek soldiers evicted occupants from their homes which they then looted and burned down. It was estimated that in Kukush alone the Greek army burnt down forty villages and 4,725 houses. The commission's report provides the names of the burned down villages and respective numbers of houses in each that were destroyed.

The commission was also informed and given the names of seventy-four people, mostly women and eleven children, who were murdered by the Greek soldiers. It was estimated that more than 100,000 Macedonians became refugees and fled the town. No accounts were given regarding their losses of life and property.

On July 6, 1913 approximately four thousand refugees attempting to flee, accidentally ran into three hundred Greek cavalrymen. Unfortunately, following their surrender, the Greeks picked out sixty men and took them off to a nearby forest and had them murdered. Eye witnesses reported that Greek soldiers were seen the next day running rampant killing, raping and robbing people. The commission was unable to establish the exact number of refugees slain by the Greek army on site but according to witnesses the number was no less than 365 people.

One European eye witness informed the commission that after the Greek army entered Gevgelija it executed two hundred civilians.

Most atrocities committed by the Greek army were corroborated by the soldiers themselves in letters they sent home to their relatives. A captured mailbag revealed the reality of horrors perpetrated against the Macedonian civilian population. According to one soldier's account "This war has been very painful. We have burnt all the villages abandoned by the Bulgarians [Macedonians affiliated with the Exarchate Church]. They burn the Greek villages [Macedonian villages affiliated with the Patriarchate Church] and we the Bulgarian [Macedonian villages affiliated with the Exarchate Church]. They massacred, we massacred and against all those of that dishonest nation, who fell into our hands, the Mannlicher rifle has done its work. Of the 1,200 prisoners we took at Nigrita, only forty-one remain in the prisons, and everywhere we have been, we have not left a single root of this race."

One hundred and sixty villages and no less than sixteen thousand houses were burned by the Greeks in the Second Balkan War. No attempt was ever made to find out how many civilians were tortured, raped and murdered and how many thousands were left homeless.

It is important to note at this point that the Macedonian people did not raise arms against the invading allied armies (Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian). Instead of opposing them, the Macedonians welcomed the allied armies and in fact helped them evict the Turkish forces from Macedonia.

The atrocities committed against the civilian population in Macedonia including the burning of villages was simply a cold act of genocide perpetrated to eradicate the Macedonian civilian population in order to make room for Greek colonization.

Unfortunately for the Macedonian people, this was only the beginning. No sooner than the invading armies established their spheres of influence and partitioned Macedonia with their imposed artificial and illegal borders, the process of denationalization was accelerated. First came the demands for loyalty to the new occupiers. Macedonians affiliated with the Exarchate Church were given twenty-four hours to "take what they can carry" and leave their lands. "This is Greece now and there is no place for Bulgarians here." Those who remained were forced to swear loyalty to the Greek State. Anyone refusing to take the loyalty oath was either executed, as an example of what would happen to those disloyal, or evicted from the country. To explain the mass evacuations, Greek officials claimed that the inhabitants of Macedonia left by choice or became Greek by choice. The truth is no one was given any choice at all.

Thousands of Greek publicists began to fill the world with their shouting about the essentially Greek character of the populations of their newly occupied territory. The Greek newspapers began to write about a Macedonia entirely populated by Greeks and the fact that no-one spoke Greek was explained by calling the people 'Bulgaro-phone Greeks'. The Greek army when entering villages and encountering Macedonians speaking Macedonian, discouraged them from doing so by crying out. "Why are you talking Bulgarian, this is Greece and you must speak Greek now." All "Slavic" language schools and churches were closed and teachers and priests were expelled. Use of the Macedonian language and Macedonian names were forbidden and Macedonians were referred to as Bulgarians, Serbians or natives.

After the Treaty of Bucharest was signed on August 10, 1913 Macedonia's partition was formalized and the Greek Government set up a "Military Administration" to govern its new acquisition which Greece named "New Territories". Then an influx of administrators, educators, police, etc. were sent from Greece to administer it. Among other things, the first order of business was to "Hellenize the New Lands".

In 1917 Greece passed LAW 1051 inaugurating new administrative jurisdictions for governing its newly acquired Macedonian lands.

In 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles, Britain and France ratified the principles of the Bucharest Treaty thus endorsing Macedonia's partition. This gave Greece the signal it needed to pursue forced expulsion, continue its policy of denationalizing the Macedonians and begin a mass colonization of the Macedonian territories by transplanting "potential Greeks".

What was surprising, especially to the Balkan delegation, was the raising of the Macedonian question by Italy. On July 10, 1919, Italy along with the USA made a proposal to the "Committee for the Formation of New States" for Macedonian autonomy. France flatly opposed the motion while Britain proposed establishing a five-year Macedonian Commissary under the auspices of the League of Nations. Greece and Serbia, by refusing to acknowledge the existence of a Macedonian question, literally killed the motion.

Another item that came out of Versailles was Article 51, the League of Nations' code to "protect national minorities". Article 51 of the Treaty of Versailles espouses equality of civil rights, education, language and religion for all national minorities. Unfortunately, article 51 was never implemented by the Balkan States or enforced by the League of Nations which Greece and Bulgaria, to this day, violate and ignore.

It is interesting to note that on September 29, 1924 Greece signed an agreement with Bulgaria declaring that the Macedonians in Greece were Bulgarians. Not to disappoint the Serbians, when they found out about this, the Greeks changed their mind and on August 17, 1926 declared that the Macedonians in Greece were in reality, Serbs.

In 1920 the Greek Ministry Of Internal Affairs publishes a booklet "Advice On The Change Of The Names Of Municipalities And Villages" in Greek occupied Macedonia.

From 1918 to 1925, Greek authorities changed 76 Macedonian names of villages and towns to Greek ones.

"By law promulgated on November 21, 1926, all place names (toponymia) were Hellenized; that is the names of cities, villages, rivers and mountains were discarded and Greek names put in their place. At the same time the Macedonians were forced to change their first and surnames; every Macedonian surname had to end in 'os', 'es', or 'poulos'. The news of these acts and the new, official Greek names were published in the Greek government daily 'Efimeris tis Kiverniseos no. 322 and 324 of November 21 and 23, 1926. The requirements to use these Greek names is officially binding to this day. All evidence of the Macedonian language was compulsorily removed from churches, monuments, archeological finds and cemeteries. Slavonic church or secular literature was seized and burned. The use of the Macedonian language was strictly forbidden also in personal communication between parents and children, among villagers, at weddings and work parties, and in burial rituals." (Page 109, John Shea, Macedonia and Greece, The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation)

The act of forbidding the use of the Macedonian language in Greece is best illustrated by an example of how it was implemented in the Township of Assarios (Giuvezna). Here is a quote from Karakasidou's book Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood.

"[We] listened to the president articulate to the council that in accordance with the decision [#122770] of Mr. Minister, General Governor of Macedonia, all municipal and township councils would forbid, through [administrative] decisions, the speaking of other idioms of obsolete languages within the area of their jurisdiction for the reconstitution of a universal language and our national glory. [The president] suggested that [the] speaking of different idioms, foreign [languages] and our language in an impure or obsolete manner in the area of the township of Assirios would be forbidden. Assirios Township Decision No. 134, 13 December 1936." (Page 162, Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood)

By 1928, 1,497 Macedonian place-names in Greek occupied Macedonia were Hellenized (LAW 4096) and all Cyrillic inscriptions found in churches, on tombstones and icons were destroyed (or overwritten) prompting English Journalist V. Hild to say, "The Greeks do not only persecute living Slavs (Macedonians)..., but they even persecute dead ones. They do not leave them in peace even in the graves. They erase the Slavonic inscriptions on the headstones, remove the bones and burn them."

In the years following World War I, the Macedonian people underwent extensive measures of systematic denationalization. The applications of these "denationalization schemes" were so extensive and aggressively pursued that in the long term they eroded the will of the Macedonian people to resist.

In Greece, in 1929 during the rule of Elepterios Venizelos, a legal act was issued 'On the protection of public order'. In line with this Act each demand for nationality rights is regarded as high treason. This law is still in force.

On December 18, 1936, Metaxas' dictatorial government issued a legal Act 'On the activity against state security' on the strength of which thousands of Macedonians were arrested, imprisoned, expelled or exiled (EXORIA) on arid, inhospitable Greek islands, where many perished. Their crime? Being ethnic Macedonian by birth.

LAW 6429 was passed to reinforce Law 4096 on the Hellenization of toponyms and DECREE 87 was enacted to accelerate the denationalization of Macedonians. The Greek ministry of Education sent "Specially trained" instructors to accelerate the "conversion to Greek" language.

On September 7, 1938 legal Act No. 2366 was issued banning the use of the Macedonian language. All Macedonian localities were flooded with posters: 'Speak Greek'. Evening schools were opened in which adult Macedonians were taught Greek. Not a single Macedonian school functioned at the time or ever since.

Many Macedonians were fined, beaten and jailed for speaking Macedonian. Adults and school children alike were further humiliated by being forced to drink castor oil when caught speaking Macedonian. LAW 1418 was enacted to reinforce previous laws on renaming peoples' names and toponyms.

While there were some prospects for basic human rights for the Macedonian people in the Greek State in the early 1920's, those prospects died as Greece tightened its grip on Macedonia by implementing more racist assimilation policies. If that was not enough, on December 18, 1936 the Greek Government issued a legal act concerning, "Activities Against State Security". By this act thousands of Macedonians were arrested, imprisoned and expelled from their homeland.

In 1938 Australian author Bert Birtles in his book "Exiles in the Aegean" wrote, "In the name of 'Hellenization' these people (Macedonians) are being persecuted continually and arrested for the most fantastic reasons. Metaxa's way of inculcating the proper nationalist spirit among them has been to change all the native place-names into Greek and to forbid use of the native language. For displaying the slightest resistance to the edict-for this too is a danger to the security of the State-peasants and villagers have been exiled without trial." (Page 112, John Shea, Macedonia and Greece The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation)

In 1940 39 more place-names were Hellenized since 1929. In 1945 LAW 697 was enacted introducing more regulations on renaming toponyms.

The Greek Government in Greek occupied Macedonia worked closely with local collaborators and enlisted, from the Macedonian population, only those who could be proven trustworthy. The collaborators worked hard to identify all those who were sympathetic to the Partisans and reported on their activities on a regular basis. Anyone reported aiding the Partisans was severely punished and sometimes executed. In the spring of 1947 all those who were blacklisted were rounded up, arrested and locked up in the Lerin jails. Those accused of aiding the Partisans were taken out and executed. The rest, after spending one hundred days in jail without trial, were sent to various concentration camps in the most desolate Greek Islands where they were kept anywhere from 2 to 5 year.

I want to mention something very important here because I believe the Greek Government, even before the commencement of the Greek civil war, had plans "to deal with the Macedonians in Greece". In 1947, during the Greek civil war, the legal act L-2 was issued. This meant that all those who left Greece without the consent of the Greek government were stripped of their Greek citizenship and banned from returning to that country. The law applied to Greeks and Macedonians, but in its modernized version the act is binding only on Macedonians. It prevents Macedonians, but not former Communist Greeks who fought against the winning side from returning to Greece and reclaiming property. On January 20, 1948, the legal act M was issued. This allowed the Greek government to confiscate the property of those who were stripped of their citizenship. The law was updated in 1985 to exclude Greeks, but still binding on Macedonians

Clearly acts L-2 and M were designed to work against the interest of the Macedonian people. Even innocent Macedonians who left before the Civil War were not allowed to return. The question now is "What was Greece planning to do with the Macedonians?" The way acts L-2 and M were enforced over the years brings another question to mind. If there were no Macedonians living in Greece, as the Greek state claims, then what ethnicity were these people the Greek Government was refusing to allow back? Why is it that Greek law makes the distinction between Macedonians and Greeks when it suits Greece but not when it benefits the Macedonians?

By the end of 1947 battles were raging everywhere in Greece and the war was slowly moving north into Macedonia. Clearly this was a "Greek War", yet again the Macedonian population was being sucked into it. The heavily armed Greek air force and mechanized artillery gained control of most cities and main roads. The Partisans were literally trapped and continued their strictly defensive campaigns mainly from the mountains Vicho and Gramos.

As the situation became critical, both sides stepped up their recruitment campaigns and again were drawing from the same population. The Partisans could no longer count on volunteers alone and began to enlist fighters by force and drafted anyone they could get their hands on, male or female. In addition to support roles, women were now armed and given combat duties. They fought alongside the men against the well-trained, well-disciplined and heavily armed Greek Army. Such was the fate of the Macedonian women, most of whom were taken by force to fight someone else's war.

As the war intensified the Greek air force regularly bombed Macedonian villages putting the civilian population, including children, in danger. In the spring of 1948, to save the children, a temporary evacuation program was introduced and implemented on a voluntary basis. It is estimated that about 28,000 children from the ages of 2 to 14 were rounded up and taken across the border into Yugoslavia. From there they were sent to various Eastern Block countries.

Again, I want to point out that the evacuation program was sponsored and organized by the Greek Partisan Leadership which was fully versed in "Greek Law" (act L-2). Yet they carried out the children's evacuation program and lied to the trusting mothers that the evacuation was only a temporary measure. Almost all the Macedonian children who were evacuated in 1948 are still not allowed entry into Greece.

Fearing reprisal from the advancing Greek army, in August 1949 waves of refugees left their homes and went to Albania to save themselves. When the war was over Greece did not want them back. As a result they were sent to Eastern Block countries that were willing to take them.

Years later some tried to return but Greece (act L-2) would not allow it. Even innocent Macedonians who did not participate in the conflict, including the evacuated refugee children, were refused entry (again act L-2). Years passed and still they were refused entry again and again. They were not even allowed to visit ailing relatives. Finally in 1985 a repatriation policy was introduced and amnesty was given but only to those of "Greek origin". This again excluded the Macedonians.

After the Greek Civil War ended LAW 3958 was enacted to allow the confiscation of property of those who left Greece and did not return within five years. Villages in Greek occupied Macedonia were forced to swear "LANGUAGE OATHS" to speak only Greek and renounce their mother tongue (MACEDONIAN).

In 1962 DECREE 4234 was enacted to reinforce past laws regarding confiscated properties of political exiles and deny them rights to return.

In 1968 The EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS accused Greece of human rights abuses and in 1969 the COUNCIL OF EUROPE declared Greece "undemocratic, illiberal, authoritarian, and oppressive". Greece was forced to resign from the Council of Europe under threats of expulsion. The Military Junta in Greece continued its policy of colonizing the confiscated Macedonian lands and continued to donate Macedonian lands to persons with "proven patriotism" for Greece.

Се бара ревизија на Бук*решкиот договор

Главниот плен била територијата на тогашната турска провинција Македонија, која биле поделена меѓу Србија, Грција, Бугарија и Албанија.

Оттогаш, за голем дел од Македонците овој ден е симбол за неправдата што светските сили ја нанеле врз македонскиот народ.

Денеска речиси еден век од настанот, дел од национал-романтичарите се уште сонуваат за повторно обединување на териториите, и покрај тоа што во Уставот на земјава категорично стои дека таа нема никакви претензии кон соседите и се залага за неменливост на границите.

Дел од ултранационалистите упатија и меморандум до ЕУ со кој и бараат во рок од 3 години да ги ослободи, како што велат, окупираните територии.

„За жал постојат плиткоумни новинари, плиткоумни политичари и плиткоумни аналитичари кои смеејќи се и непочитувајќи ја идејата која ја носиме со себе, си се смеат и не се почитуваат самите себе, не го почитуваат сопственото потекло и постоење“, изјави Страшо Ангеловски.

На денешниот протест по повод годишнината од потпишувањето на договорот пред седиштето на ЕК се собраа едвај неколку десетици илјади граѓани.

„Луѓето се плашат да речат дека се Македонци“

- Ние сме единствени народ со корен на овие простори, сите ни ја имаат крадено историјата“, велат граѓани.

За разлика од дел од граѓаните кои се убедени дека постои некаков анекс на Бук*решкиот договор со кој неговото важење истекува по 100 години, односно во 2013-тата, македонските историчари се едногласни дека се работи само за претпоставки.

„Нема, барем ние македонските историчари и јас лично, не можам сега да тврдам за другите, но мислам, претпоставувам и другите историчари во РМ немаат видено таен додаток или таен анекс“, вели Никола Жежов.

Бук*решкиот договор содржи само општи одредби со кои се опишуваат новите граници на Балканот, како и висината на репарациите што тогаш поразената Бугарија требало да им ги исплати на победниците од Балканските војни - Србија, Грција, Црна Гора, Романија и Турција.

Boogie напиша: Ох мори муко Бугарска - негирање ти е вродено Ајде еве ке ти одговорам : Иван Хаџи Николов, виден македонски деец, во своите ракописни мемоари изнесува суштествени податоци за преземањето на иницијативи во основањето на македонската револуционерна организација во 1890-1892 година. Гледиштата на Хаџи Николов, изнесени во неговите „Мемоари" се мошне интересни за периодот спроти основањето на револуционерната организација. Во ни среќаваме интересни сведоштва и за активноста на Гоце Делчев. Од „Мемоарите" се даваат изводи од разговорот помеѓу Иван Хаџи Николов и Коста Шахов, истакнат македонски деец, прв претседател на „Младата македонска книжовна дружина", соработник на „Лоза", редактор на повеќе весници („Македонија", „Глас македонски", „Борба" и др.),. Се бара авторитетно лице кое ќе застане на чело на организацијата Во јули 1892 година дојдов во Софија за да побарам преку Коста Шахов, кој издаваше македонски весник, едно авторитетно лице, Македонец, кој ќе дојде во Солун и ќе застане на чело на револуционерната организација за ослободување на Македонија. Откако ме ислуша, К. Шахов ми рече: разбрав што сакаш, но не можеш да го најдеш тука бараното лице. Тука сите се шмеќари, само зборуваат, а кога ќе дојде за рабoта, ги нема. Тука има само едно лице со кое можеш сериозно да зборуваш по македонското прашање. Тоа е јункерот Гоце Делчев... Се согласивме со'Коста Шахов да му соопшти на Гоце дека сакам да се видам со него и в недела во два часот попладне да се сретнеме кај Шахов. Во определеното време јас отидов во печатницата на Коста Шахов и таму ги затеков двајцата. За да разговараме послободно, предложив да отидеме во Борисовата градина ( парк во Софија) и таму, во некој оддалечен крај, да разговараме. Планот на основање на револуционерната организација: 1. Организацијата да се основе во Македонија, а не во Софија, бидејќи основана во Софија и раководена од Софија, Србите и Грците ќе ја1025 третираат како измислица на бугарската влада, ќе основаат и тие такви организации и од нашата организација нема да излезе ништо. При тоа таа треба да биде тајна. 2. Основачите да се Македонци, чесни, да имаат добро име и да живеат во Македонија, за да бидат постојано во контакт со населението во Македонија, да бидат и тие изложени на истата опасност на каква што ќе бидат изложени нивните следбеници, преку кое полесно ќе ја спечалат и довербата на населението. 3. Паролата треба да биде автономијата на Македонија. Нашето барање треба да се потпира врз член 23 од Берлинскиот договор за да се надеваме на успех. Да постигнеме автономија на Македонија, значи да ја откинеме не само од Турците туку и од Србите,Бугарите и Грците. Оцртани еднаш границите на автономна Македонија, Србите и Грците не ќе можат да бараат делови од неа, додека ако посакаме присоединување на Македонија кон Бугарија, Србите и Грците ќе посакаат и тие делови од неа. Нашата задача треба да биде да ја спасиме Македонија цела, а тоа може да стане само преку автономна Македонија. 4. Организацијата треба да биде самостојна и независна, да нема никакви врски и ангажмани со владите на соседните држави, за да не и влијаат и да не ја обвинуваат дека е орудие на некоја од тие влади и со тоа да предизвика противдејство од страна на другите соседни влади. 5. Од Македонците во Бугарија и од бугарскиот народ ќе бараме морална и материјална поддршка, без при тоа да ни се мешаат во работата. По четиричасовно опсудување К. Шахов и Г. Делчев го прифатија планот. Гоце рече: „Слушај, г. Хаџи Николов, толку време минало, нека мине уште една година. Јас в година го завршувам военото училште и ќе ме произведат за офицер. Ќе подадам оставка на офицерството, ќе дојдам во Солун и ќе ја основаме револуционерната организација. Откако ќе почнеме да работиме, ние ќе спечалиме авторитет и нема да има потреба да бараме друго авторитетно лице." Гоцев лист 1/1 (1933), 8; Гане Тодоровски, Формирањето на ВМРО според ракописните мемоари на Иван Хаци Николов. - Разгледи XI / 10 (1969), стр. 1072-1074.

Накај ноември учителите, родум од Бугарија, поднесоа молба до директорот, да им се дозволи да се хранат во пансионот, при што да си ја плаќаат храната. Им се дозволи. Хранејќи се заедно бев сведок на нивните постојани префрлувања на сметка на македонските Бугари, обвинувајќи ги за слаб патриотизам - „ќе ми дајш пари, ќе се чинам Бугарин“ и сл. на тоа. Јас им ја истакнував борбата на македонските Бугари против туѓите пропаганди, која борба е поинтензивна и поголема одошто е борбата на Бугарите од другите бугарски географски области, Добруџа, Мизија и Тракија, туку тие постојано продолжуваа да ги исмејуваат своите југозападни сонародници, чии деца беа повикани да ги обучуваат и воспитуваат.

Еден ден бевме излегле крај морето, да пиеме кафе во кафеаната „Белви“. В. К'нчев беше многу зборлест, и меѓу другото во своите прикажувања рече дека тој дошол за учител во Солун, за да ја побугари Македонија. Тоа беше претерано и силно речено. Му приговорив дека не бива да зборува така и да се натценува себеси, бидејќи Македонија одамна е бугарска и дека македонските Бугари одамна водат борба против рутината; нејзе и` е потребна просвета што треба вистински да ја шират сите учители и духовници. К'нчев се почувствува засегнат и оттогаш почна да ме мрази, се` дотаму што по 5-годишно заедничко учителствување во солунската гимназија, ме натера да се откажам од надгледништвото, а потем ме пријави во Егзархијата, да ме преместат во гр. Серез, каде не отидов и го напуштив учителствувањето.

Од 1888 година српската пропаганда во Македонија ја засили својата активност и почна да врши атаки дури и во солунската гимназија. Со давање пари и големи ветувања српските агитатори успеаја да заблудат околу 40 мина ученици од гимназијата, и да ги испратат во Белград, кои по едногодишен престој таму, избегаа во Софија. Истата пропаганда растураше улавски големи пари, за да отвора српски училишта насекаде низ Македонија, поткупувајќи по неколцина продажни луѓе од секое населено место. Турската влада и Цариградската патријаршија беа во нејзина служба. Знаејќи дека во Македонија нема Срби, ваквата активност на српските агенти многу ме лутеше. Во барањето на средство за спротивставување на таа пропаганда, дојдов до заклучокот, дека само една тајна револуционерна организација ќе може да го пресече патот на туѓите пропаганди во Македонија, и дека таа ќе обезбеди основа за запазувањето на бугарштината во Македонија, како и тоа дека таа ќе помогне дури и за стопанското засилување на нејзиното население. Ва своите размислувања за основање на револуционерна Организација јас предвидував дека ќе наjдам на пречки од луѓето на Егзархијата, и од самата неа што и самата во црковно-училишното дело спроведуваше централистичка политика: таа ги назначуваше и ги отстрануваше учителите и архиерејските намесници. Поради тоа почнав да барам сомисленици меѓу учителството и граѓанството, што имаа децентралистички погледи спрема нашето црковно-училишно дело. Во тоа време такви најдов во лицето на Петар П.Арсов и Цонев, а подоцна и д-р Хр.Татарчев, школски ценет лекар. На други колеги родум од Македонија, не сметав, познавајќи ги нивните гледишта и нивните карактери.

1. Револуционерната организација да се оснава внатре во Македонија и да дејствува таму, за да не можат Грците и Србите да ја толкуваат како орудие на бугарска влада;

2. Нејзините основачи да бидат месни жители и кои живеат во Македонија;

3. Политичкото мото на Органшацијата да биде автономијата на Македонија;

4. Организацијата да биде тајна и самостојна, без да влегува во врска со владите на соседните слободни држави; и

5. Од македонската емиграција во Бугарија и од бугарската јавност да се бара само морална и материјална поддршка за борбата на македонските револуционери.