14 July 2008 Skopje _ Skopje has sent a letter to Athens asking for the recognition of the Macedonian minority in Greece and the return of property to Macedonian refugees who were forced to flee.
In the letter signed by Macedonia’s
Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski addressed to his Greek counterpart Costas
Karamanlis, Gruevski refers to the exodus of Macedonians who fled northern Greece during
the 1946-1949 Greek Civil War. Gruevski urged Athens
to allow them to acquire the property they left behind in Greece.
Some historians estimate that more than 100,000 ethnic Macedonians in northern Greece fled the
country as the war between the right-wing monarchist government and the
Democratic Army of Greece, a branch of the Communist party, took hold.
“Large parts of these people, most of them ethnic Macedonians born in Greece, came to live in the then Socialist Yugoslavia or in parts of today’s Republic of Macedonia to be exact,” Gruevski writes.
“They have stayed here ever since, probably influenced by the fact that they
spoke the same language and felt as part of the same people, the Macedonians.”
Athens does not recognise those who fled as Macedonians and refuses to issue
citizenship to them or to their descendants.
In addition Gruevski urged Athens
to recognise the existence of the Macedonian minority on its territory and to
grant them the right to education in their own language as well as the right to
foster their culture and traditions.
In 1998 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg
ruled that Greece
contravened the European Human Rights convention with its refusal to allow the opening
of a Macedonian cultural centre in the northern town of Florina.
Greek courts still refuse to register the centre, Rainbow - the party led by
the unrecognised Macedonian minority in Greece, told media.
However Athens claims that only several hundred
people in Greece
support the position of the party and that they can not be called a minority.
“We all know that a political will is needed to solve these problems. I believe
that you will have that will as a democratic country and a member state of the
European Union and NATO,” Gruevski writes.
A solution to these problems would “enable the creation of a better future for
the both people,” Gruevski added, arguing that when it comes to human and
minority rights and the protection of private property, a strict following of
international standards is essential.
Relations between the two countries hit a new low in April when Athens blocked Skopje’s
NATO accession saying the country should change its name first. Greece argues that Macedonia’s
name might imply territorial claims towards its own northern province with the same name.