The Macedonian Question

There are many ignorant FYRoM theories floating around, and perpetuated by their self declared "scholars". One such theory is the notion that the Greek state was manufactured by foreign powers and that Greece’s independence movement was not an indigenous grass roots phenomenon driven by Greeks themselves. Another silly theory is that the Rosetta Stone contains three different languages....Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the "ancient" FYRoM language, written in the demotic script. I kid you not. If you do not believe me then please visit the official website of the FYRoM church. Now click on the Rosetta Stone link on the right sidebar. Once you click on that link, you are directed to this page. Have fun absorbing it all in. There're just too many of these silly theories to list them all here. These theories are constantly promoted by many FYROM nationalists including the comical self styled “History Expert” Risto Stefov. It is worth noting that Risto Stefov publishes books under the name “Chris Stefou”. Check out more on this individual through his Wikipedia page here. Risto Stefov has recently been submitting his irredentist articles to the American Chronicle website. In these articles Stefov engages in a heavy dose of historical revisionism.

I would like to now mention several articles from the American Chronicle that counter Risto Stefov's distortion of history. The first article is titled "FYROM diaspora." A small snippet of the article below:

Stefov and his believers have totally failed to provide a single logical explanation as to how any since trace of cultural connection to those they claim descendance from is non-existent.

During the last years the main FYROM offensive in the name debate is centralized on the following logic: "since we can´t prove a connection to the ancients, we´ll centralize on disproving yours", which is exactly what we see Stefov doing today.

Here is another article titled "Greek Macedonia." A small snippet of the article below:

In his article entitled "Will there be Justice for the Macedonians in Greece," link Risto Stefov falsifies and distorts the history of Macedonia and its Greek ethnic origin and presents it as territory that is occupied by the Greeks.

To begin with, the word itself is of Greek origin, and it is derived from "macednos" which means in translation tall. The language spoken by the Macedonians was of Doric origin, an ancient Greek dialect. It should also be noted that the names Alexander, and Philip are purely Greek names. In addition, Aristotle, Alexander's mentor and teacher, is universally acknowledge to be an ancient Greek philosopher. It should also be noted that Aristotle was born in Stagira, Macedonia.

Here is another great article titled "FYROM's extreme nationalism leads nowhere." A Snippet of the article below:

Examining the rationale behind this "justification" used by the state-sponsored propaganda, it is remarkable how paper-thin their arguments often are. FYROM propagandists have shown to be adept at convincing themselves of the rationality of even their most irrational claims. Goebbels said that "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it people will eventually come to believe it." That quote could´t be more accurate in the case of Greece´s newest northern neighbour.

Unfortunately, this kind of spurious adoption of stolen identity from their Greek Macedonian neighbours is reaching currently epidemic proportions. Curiously, the Slavic element of FYROM are so strongly indoctrinated with historical revisionism that they deny their South Slavic heritage and insist they are the direct descendants of an ancient Greek tribe: the Macedonians.

Here is another article written by Vasko Gligorijevic who happens to be a citizen of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. His piece is titled – wait for it – "Pseudomacedonia - The Fallacy Of A Cause."

Here are American Chronicle links i am compiling that destroy Risto Stefov's silly claims:

Stefov and the distortion of Macedonian history (NEW)
Slavic Settlement in Povardarje (FYROM) Reviewed: History, Ethnology and Modern Politics
Macedonia - HISTORICAL REVIEW
Gettysburg and the unification of ancient Greece by Philip II of Macedonia
FYROM: How a Lie was Imposed as a Supreme Reality
The Macedonian Question, 1878-1908
Ancient Macedonian Language
Origin of Macedonia
Emmanouil Papas, leader Greek revolution in Macedonia 1821
Slav Propagandists and their Macedonia Lies....
Evaluating Herodotus' testimony on the ancient Macedonians
The Basic Narrative of Pseudomacedonian Ideology
FYROM's Nikola Gruevski Lawsuit: His Latest Provocation
The Birth of a Clone State (Macedonia dispute)
The Greek Revolution of 1878 in Macedonia
A story about Florina from an indigenous Macedonian
Macedonian Name Issue - self-determination or territorial aspiration?
More Balkan Ethnic Conflicts? (The Macedonian Issue)
'Aegean Macedonia' - an irredentist term
Risto Stefov and Slav-Macedonism
The Anatomy of a Big Lie: Nationalistic Ideology and FYROM
Alexander the Great: how Greek was he?
Notable figures on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Worshiping Imagined Ancestors
FYROM - A Country With A Borrowed Identity
FYROM: The Troublemaker of the Balkans?
Hellenic Electronic Center (HEC) Responds to Risto Stefov
Alexander the Great - a symbol of Greek history and civilization
Risto Stefov and the falsification of Ancient Macedonian history (Part I)
Risto Stefov and the falsification of Ancient Macedonian History (Part II)
Risto Stefov and the falsification of Ancient Macedonia History (Part III)
Risto Stefov and the falsification of Ancient Macedonia History (Part IV)
BULGARIAN AND 'MACEDONIAN' LANGUAGE
Encyclopaedia Britannica on the population of FYROM
Distortion of Ancient Macedonian history
The Rosetta Stone
Reply to Gandeto's response on "FYROM: The troublemaker Of the Balkans?"
THE COLLAPSE OF YUGOSLAVIA AND THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE MACEDONIAN LITERARY LANGUAGE

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Interesting article can be read at OpEdNews titled: Time's Up for "Macedonian" Perverse Nationalism.

Here are two small snippet from the article:

...the Greek concern isn't the name itself, but what lies benieth the use of the name: Articles 3, 68 and 74 of the Constitution of the self-called "Republic of Macedonia" include reference to a "possible change of the existing borders"

[...]

U.S. Congress and Senate share the above concerns. On August 3, 2007, senators Barack Obama, Olympia Snowe and Bob Menendez introduced to the Senate a resolution (S.R.300) calling Skopje to "stop the utilization of materials that violate provisions of the United Nations-brokered Interim Agreement between FYROM and Greece regarding hostile activities or propaganda"

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Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are today jointly advocating the withdrawal of U.S. recognition of FYROM as ‘Macedonia’, in a published newspaper Op-Ed. The Washington Times Op-Ed talks about the events of the 1940's and also talks about irredentist policies in FYRoM like schools teaching that northern Greece is FYROM territory occupied by Greece.

A snippet of the article below:

In 1944, Secretary of State Edward Stettinius expressed concerns about Yugoslavian communist leader Josip Broz Tito creating a "Macedonian" province and consciousness among his people. Stettinius saw the destructive potential in Tito's choice of a name describing an ancient geographical area, 52 percent of which is located in modern Greece, 9 percent in Bulgaria and 39 percent in Yugoslavia. His description of Tito's actions as "a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece" manifested years later when Tito's "Macedonians" crossed into Greece as participants in Greece's anti-communist civil war (1946-49).

Nearly half a century later, that Yugoslavian province became an independent nation in 1991 identified by the United Nations and internationally as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" or "FYROM." Yet Tito's furtive aims live on in many ways, including the nation's pursuit of the name "Macedonia." Its new constitution called on all "Macedonians" in neighboring countries to rise up and unite. In addition, FYROM printed currency featuring the White Tower of Salonika (Thessaloniki), Greece, and created a flag featuring the Macedonian symbol from the dynasty of Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great, which was located in Greece.

Years of productive U.S. and U.N. diplomacy moved FYROM to drop the offending language from its constitution and symbols from its currency and flag. Many believed FYROM was moving toward adopting a name such as "North Macedonia" or "Upper Macedonia" which appropriately describes its own geography.

Read the full article here.

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