Appeal to OSCE from the ethnic Macedonians

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Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 11:22:21 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Appeal to OSCE from the ethnic Macedonians

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Minorities Information Service
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Appeal to OSCE from the ethnic Macedonians


APPEAL TO OSCE FROM THE ETHNIC MACEDONIANS
 
The Ethnic Macedonians from the neighbouring countries of the Republic
Macedonia, especially Greece and Bulgaria, in the past ten years had
made big efforts to attract the attention of the international
community in regards to the gross injustice done to them by the state
structures in the countries where they live.  A long list of reported
human rights violations was presented to the corresponding
institutions of the OSCE, but that did not produce substantial
improvements of their situations and the rights which are denied to
them in these countries.

The weight of the problem is easier understood if we mention that the
number of ethnic Macedonians who live in Greece, Bulgaria and Albania
is over 2,500,000 and is greater than their number in the Republic of
Macedonia where 1,400,000 Macedonians live. They are the integral part
of the Macedonian nation, with the same language, culture and history,
but unfortunately were separated after the Balkan war in 1913. Greece
and Bulgaria do not admit their existence, while Albania recognizes a
minority status only to the Macedonians of Christian religion. Using
administrative measures, Greece and Albania have changed the personal
and last names of the Macedonians, in order to hide their unique
ethnicity.

The publication "The Macedonian minority in Greece", which in May,
1999, was published by the Ministry of External Affairs of Turkey,
points to the fact that a human tragedy is allowed to happen  within
the borders of the EU. The official policy of Greece towards the
Macedonians is one of total denial in respect to their existence. And
continuing with that reasoning, if they do not exist, their rights can
not be discussed.

The High Commissioner on National Minorities, Van der Stoul, finally
took one step which purpose was to warn Athens that one minority does
not have to be recognized in order realize and enjoy its rights. But,
the interventions of this kind, without mentioning the Macedonians as
a minority, are below the minimum concern for the national minorities
expected from the OSCE. While Greece goes easily over this kind of
suggestions by the international community, the assimilation of
Macedonians is continuing as a process organized by all structures of
the state. And no one sees a problem when two Macedonians are fired
from work, only because they spoke Macedonian while using the internal
communication system of the company they worked in. This example talks
about the gap, which should be filled, so that a chance will be given
for tolerance and joint living of the different ethnicities. This is
happening in the frames of the European Union, to which Greece is a
member and Europe does not know that. Maybe that is why they are
quiet.

>From their side, the Macedonians are asking themselves whether, while
this situation is tolerated, they will ever get at least the basic
elementary education in their mother language, or whether the priests
in the Greek Church will stop conditioning baptizing children with
Greek names only? The OSCE shows a flagrantly different behavior
towards this type of problems in the Balkan region. For example, the
Republic of Macedonia is under the constant pressure to expand the
rights of the Albanian minority, even though not even one European or
other country has done the same for its minorities as much as
Macedonia has done for the Albanians who live there. It is demanded by
a poor country such as Macedonia to support a separate University for
the Albanian minority of 450 to 470 thousand people, where as Albania
has not even been asked to introduce the Macedonian language in the
elementary schools, even though close to 200,000 Macedonians live in
this country. As an example, in the whole region of Golo Brdo there is
not even one Macedonian school, even though only Macedonian people
settle it. In Tirana, as well, there are more than 35,000 Macedonians
and there is not even one school where Macedonian language is taught.

The previous examples give the skeptics the right to assert that the
principles of the international community are of a stretched material,
which is formed according to the interests of the strongest. We would
like to believe that this is changing, however, the facts do not allow
us to come to that conclusion.

In front of the eyes of Europe, police torture is performed against
the Macedonians in Bulgaria as well.  Members of the Macedonian
national minority are physically attacked because they gather to
celebrate one important day from the Macedonian history. Even though
the Macedonians once enjoyed wide cultural autonomy in the Pirin part
of Macedonia, today they are denied as a unique ethnicity, and their
history, language and culture are presented as Bulgarian. All these
also before the eyes of the OSCE.

If something substantial does not change, the injustice done to the
Macedonians in the mentioned countries can grow into a problem with
serious security consequences for the whole region. For these reasons
the United delegation of Macedonian organizations is calling the
international community, especially the OSCE, to pay more attention to
the problems which ethnic Macedonians face in Bulgaria, Greece and
Albania. This is more so, since all these countries are hoping to
"freeze" the position of the Macedonian human rights at the present
level, and that means total denial of their existence of the
Macedonian national minority.

We expect the international community to use its influence in these
countries and to insure their compliance of the international
standards for human rights and freedoms. At the same time, all games
of "individual interpretations" of those standards must be condemned.

The Republic of Macedonia, the country that is at the center of the
problematic Balkan, and the bordering countries should make an effort
to consolidate the standards that they will use for implementing the
human rights and freedoms. As a first step, they could obligate
themselves to take sanctions against all kinds of public or hidden
pressures, individually or collectively, which goal is to hinder the
self identification of the national, religious and other minorities,
or is narrowing the space of these rights and freedoms.

Parallel with this, in the framework of the ethnic and cultural
pluralism in the Balkans, there is a need to promote the right of all
peoples to have unhindered communication in its own language and
culture over the whole territory that they settle, regardless whether
that territory is separated by state borders.  The right to its own
unified linguistic and cultural territory should be accepted as an
expression of pride for all peoples, big or small, which will find its
place in the wider European community of peoples. If Europe does not
ensure this kind of free flow of the national cultures across the
existing boundaries, the pacification of the mixed ethnic regions will
not have any chance for success.

As an inevitable conclusion of all that is said in this appeal, we
feel free to express our skepticism for the success of the Pact for
stability of Southeastern  Europe if the human rights problems are
ignored any further or treated differently in relation to some
countries.
 
United delegation of ethnic Macedonians
>From Greece, Bulgaria and Albania

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