Macedonia Parties Condemn Athens Incident

Skopje | 04 June 2009 |

Skopje

Macedonia's top political parties - the ruling centre-right VMRO DPMNE and the opposition Social-Democrats - have condemned Tuesday’s incident in Athens, Greece in which ultra-nationalists stormed the promotion of a Greek-Macedonian dictionary.

The parties urged Athens and Brussels to condemn the incident and find the perpetrators. Macedonian government spokesman Sefket Duraku told Balkan Insight that it would release an official response to the incident later today.

“The conduct of some groups in Greece represents a big problem for the Greek state,” ruling party legislator Oliver Sambevski told local media Wednesday. He condemned the incident and said his party would plea the cause before the Council of Europe.

The opposition said it would protest in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, which at the moment is presided over by Greece.

“As head of our [Macedonian] delegation to the OSCE, I will submit my strongest protest there. It is particularly strange that this happens in a year when Greece is head of the OSCE. These kind of events should be prevented, and if not, than at least they should be sanctioned,” Social Democrat legislator Andrej Petrov told local media Wednesday.

So far there has been no official reaction from Athens.

Yesterday, local Kanal 5 TV aired footage of the incident presumably shot by the organizers of the event showing men wearing black T-shirts, reportedly with signs of the Greek ultra nationalist organization Golden Dawn, storming the International Press Center in Athens where the conference took place.

The group began destroying the promo material and damaging some of the cameras, verbally attacking the promoters and guests. The promotion was staged by the small Greek Rainbow party, which represents the unrecognized Macedonian minority there.

Greek nationalist movements strongly oppose the release of this 15,000-word dictionary, arguing that the Macedonian language does not exist.

(Reporting by Sinisa-Jakov Marusic)

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Comments:

aired footage of the incident presumably organized and shot by the organizers of the event
2009-06-04 13:26:18

aired footage of the incident presumably organized and shot by the organizers of the event

''athens incident''
2009-06-04 13:37:52

nonse!These people have no place in Greece.Personally i do not condemn what hapenned.

DICTIONARY
2009-06-04 13:45:07

THE LANGUAGE USED BY MACEDONIANS IS GREEK. "MAKEDONSKI" IS THE LANGUAGE USED IN NORTH MACEDONIA... THEREFORE IT SHOULD BE PRESENTED AS "MAKEDONSKI-GRETSKO" DICTIONARY !

Bugarian Dictionary
2009-06-04 14:07:23

Why not launch you Bulgarian dictionary in a country where someone cares like Skopje. No one in Greece has the slightest interest and frankly speaking was only done to provoke a response. After all you know already how much you are loved in Greece. As for you whining and complaaining about what happened well who really cares to listen... I would spend more time worrying if you will ever enter NATO or the EU and wether you will exist as a state, how many pieces will it be broken up if you do not change your stance.

greek behaviour...
2009-06-04 14:09:45

EU and NATO WAKE UP! One of your member states; greece has blown a gasket! It is inconceivable that the EU demands so many pre-conditions from states wanting to join the EU,to be " At a level" equal to themselves, but allows greece, one of their member states to behave in this manner. Wake Up!

Northern Macedonia
2009-06-04 19:57:54

Violation of Good Neighborly Relations... They continue to provoke Greece and they expect to be brothers and sisters united in europe? Yeah right! FYROMian fools, dream on! Being Macedonian is being Greek. The End.

pavlov pavle pavlos
2009-06-04 20:07:01

pavle looked like he was going to urinate on himself... I also loved the SLAVIC professor dude, would that refer to the .... language, right?

Staged Event
2009-06-04 22:57:45

Historically, the Bulgarians have been very proficient agents provacateurs. Still they lost the Balkan and Second World War to Greeks.

to the athenians
2009-06-05 00:28:04

So let me get this right, Macedonian is a greek language, yet you speak greek? So which is it, do you speak greek or Macedonian? It's also truely funny how many athenians instantly jump on the web "defending" themselves from a people that according to them doesn't exist. Get a life people, your politicians are destroying your country in front of your eyes, and the best you can come up with is protest at a dictionary launch.

Athens Incident
2009-06-05 07:57:52

To Greece ! Stop with this Greek nonsense . Let other people believe what they wont. Europe should not accept any blackmail by any of it's members. I can understand more and more the Euro scepticism.

b
2009-06-05 08:20:19

"your politicians are destroying your country in front of your eyes, and the best you can come up with is protest at a dictionary launch" ...as opposed to Gruevski which builds your country with more statues and organizes dictionary launches

correction
2009-06-05 10:43:23

"Greek nationalist movements strongly oppose the release of this 15,000-word dictionary, arguing that the Macedonian language does not exist." Dear balkanInsight: This lamguage does exist but isn't the Macedonian language.

Macedonian Party
2009-06-05 17:13:39

Those who think there is no Macedonian language are either with low education,ignorant,and have no idea in different languages.The Macedonian language is one of the oldest languages in Europe.Greece proved it in 1925 when they printed the Abecedar for the Macedonian children,and Greece fought tooth and nail with the Bulgarians and the Serbs, that the language is independent of all other languages.You Greeks,where are you finding your knowledge,at Athens world languages? Is there one we all can see,or it is part of you usual masterfull fabrications?.Have you people ever traveled to Aegean Macedonia and looked inside the Macedonian churches icons how brutaly have Greece changed the writtings on them from Macedonian to Greek.Dont take my word for it,just go and visit all these churches fo your self.Anyone who says it is not true, he/she is a lier,than go and visit the newly build Macedonian Church near Voden(Edessa).Greeks,please stop the ever unending falsifications of the Macedonian ethnicity!Please look at your history of 1832 when the new State was considering the Albanian language as the national language.By this I am not trying to downgrade any language,but I am stating the F A C T S !.

Comments by;NIikos"These people have no place in greece"
2009-06-08 14:32:11

Nikos; 1) Many of the people attending that were abused, are from a variety of International Organisations. 2) The people you are referring to, did nothing wrong and have every right to be there,it is their land. Sadly it's looking extremely bad for greece. Although they are not saying it publicly,many EU politicians think greece has become an Embarrassment.

Greeks
2009-06-08 15:27:51

British archaeologist Iain Shearer, a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, says neither side has any real grounds for claiming Alexander. "For modern Greece to say that Alexander was Greek is as absurd as Macedonians who claim that Alexander was Macedonian," he said. "The terms don't mean anything ... The only real commonality to the situation is accidents of geography and history."

avoid the bate, go for the mark
2009-06-08 22:17:01

Hello "Croatia", thank you for quoting a very recent AP article by one Konstantin Testorides (!). You'll also note in the same article that he, the author, refers to "Mosul" as a port city in ... Iraq. My google map says otherwise! This lil' ole conflict's infatuation with Alex Veliki as a sideshow, the real friction is unfinished business -- as far as the Slav Macedonian VMRO and many cooky expatriates are concerned -- dating from the Greek civil war and the emergence of a "People's Republic of Macedonia" within the Tito communist state.

Croatia
2009-06-09 08:22:38

Even Einstein had to prove his theories. In your case, next time you see this guy, ask him why jews celebrate their victory over greeks and not Macedonians in Channukah.

Peter
2009-06-09 08:29:03

Don't know about you, but even if you count the slav-speaking people who left Greece after WWII either because of their involvement in the nazi Ohrana or the civil war, there were no more than 50000 slav-speakers compared to 1,5 million greek macedonians. So why should the term "macedonian" refer to you and not the majority? If you want to discuss with greeks, then you need to keep this in mind- referring to yourself as macedonian is stupid and insulting to the majority of macedonians, who want no relation to you. Once you find a sane name, like slav-macedonian, we can discuss about your language and your churches. But Macedonian does not refer to you and it never will

Macedonian Language
2009-06-10 02:36:42

For a language to exist it must first be spoken by people then recognised by ISO, the International Standards Organisation. DO a search for "ISO LANGUAGES" and sure as eggs are eggs, you'll find that Macedonian is an internationally recognised language... Recognised by ALL ISO MEMBERS in fact, INCLUDING GREECE... So, stop complaining about the book and start complaining about the government who not only recognises it but by definition recognise that people speak it. Then, get used to it... As unless you are prepared to remove EVERY Macedonian from the planet, it will continue to exist.

What was that again? How many got killed? any wounded?
2009-06-10 03:00:19

I guess that if a dozen of people start shouting at you in the street, you shall drop your pants! Then you shall run to the nearest U.S. embassy or human rights whatever and cry about the violation of your human rights. Wake up people, the Europeans see that balkan stuff and laugh at us. Hopefully there's not going to be anymore travel directives from foreign minitries again...

Macedonia Parties Condemn Athens Incident
2009-06-10 19:27:07

Ok, before we get started, boys and girls, I am an american born of Macedonian descent with roots in Lerin and Kostur, so that rules out any FYROM and slavoscopian insults. Are we clear on that so far? Ok, good. I guarentee you the reason there were cops outside that didn'tcome in to break it up and why it took so long for the cops to eventually show up and do nopthing, is because them skinheads that did the damage, screamed, yelled and threatened, were themselves, police officiers. I was a Cleveland Policeman for 14 years and would know a cop anywhere when I see one. Them guys were coppers. Trust me on that!

Tasho
2009-06-15 09:13:35

ok, you say you have Bulgarian roots and indoctrinated by Bulgarian ideas of last century -you cannot even accept the real names of the places you mention. Clear? If you are sure skinheads are cops, you might be interested to know that in places outside Cleveland, police have rules about appearance. Losing your hair does not disqualify you from being a cop. Shaving it does. So much for your analysis!

Tasho
2009-06-16 06:00:30

Poor Yorgo(George) wouldn't know the difference between, Russian, Ukranian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian or Macedonian just to name a few if they were all in one room..because they all speak "Slavic," whatever that means. Maybe george speaks Pontian..'cause no greek other than Pontians would understand that..but it's greek all the same..right? Here's a video to view Tasho..I'll let you expain it to george :) Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDRQtwS7TEI

Pharos
2009-06-16 14:47:01

Well, any greek would understand macedonian -it's the greek idiom spoken in real macedonia. Bulgarian, as spoken in Skopje would be easily understood by Bulgarians. Wanna bet, Pharos?

Mitsos
2009-06-16 20:05:38

Sorry Mitsos but the only bulgarian spoken in Skopje or anywhere else in Macedonia would only be spoken by an ethnic Bulgarian, just as Serbian, or Croatian would be spoken by the same ethnic Serb or Croat..unless of course the the ethnic Macedonian is multi-lingual. Macedonians speak Macedonian. By the way Mitsos since you are so darn sure..you must by virtue be a Bulgarian disguised as a Greek vacationing in Skopje.

Macedonian Party
2009-06-25 23:51:52

Does anyone on this site is able to differentiate between the elections in Iran and Greece? The Post office of Greece on the governments orders failed to deliver the material to its constituents for the European elections on June 6-7.Does Greece practices democracy,or it is in the 19th centiry.If the Hellens were around they would have been embarassed. It is worse now,they must be turning in their graves from shame.On the language issue,see what V.Dendramanis said in 1925 at the League of Nations.I dont think I should be trying to explaine it any further.If 338-337 you dont believe in it,than there is no Greek history.

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Dancing Alexander-style, Down Under

Macedonia Parties Condemn Athens Incident