WE, THE MACEDONIANS

Letter to the United Nations

We, the Macedonians

Defending our dignity

and respecting our Hellenic ancestry and our Hellenic cultural heritage

We declare that

1.      We are indigenous residents of the geographical area between Prespes Lakes and the Nestos river, east of Pindos mountain range, and between Olympus and Orvilos mountains, and we are Hellenes (Greeks) due to common blood, common religion, common language and common ways of living as it is mentioned by all ancient writers.

·        Document 1: «The geographical boundaries of historical Macedonia»

·        Document 2: «The identity of Macedonians in the ancient texts»

2.      We have identified ourselves as Macedonians, since thousands of years, from the name of Macedon (who was the son of the greatest ancient Hellene God Zeus and Thyia, brother of Magnes and nephew of Hellen) and we call Macedonia, the land we live in. The word Macedon comes from the Hellenic word “makos” which means long or tall.

·        Document 3: «Mythological tradition of ancient Hellenes»

3.      Since then, we live in the geographical area of Macedonia and, maintaining our specific Macedonian identity, we participate in any phase of the Hellenic history along with the Thracians (Residents of Thrace), Epirotes (Residents of Epirus), Cretans (Residents of the island of Crete) and along with other Hellenes.

·        Document 4: «The continuous presence of Macedonians in the Hellenic history»

4.      As indigenous people in the geographical area of historical Macedonia, as indigenous Macedonians, according to our free will and the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Article 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 19, 26, 33, 42), our ancestry and our ethnicity is Hellenic. A small part of us, speak, in parallel with the Hellenic language, and a quasi-Slavic local idiom, which we call “Endopika”. (the word “Endopika” means “local” in the Hellenic language). They speak this local idiom due to some specific historical conditions in their geographical area, and this does not mean that they have lost their Hellenic identity.

·        Document 5: «The quasi-Slavic local idiom “Endopika “»

5.      We do not accept to give up our ancestral name “Macedonian” and our historical and cultural identity to the multinational population of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.). The F.Y.R.O.M. officially consists from twenty-one (21) nationalities, in which Slav and Albanian are the predominant ones.

·        Document 6: «Official censuses in the region of Skopje»

·        Document 7: «The identity of Slavs in the area of F.Y.R.O.M.»

6.      We do not accept that the area of Skopje will be called “Macedonia” in order to facilitate the expansionist plans of the government of F.Y.R.O.M. against Hellas. The area of Skopje was never included in the historical boundaries of Macedonia, where we the Macedonians always lived.

·        Document 1: «The geographical boundaries of historical Macedonia»

·        Document 8: «Photographs of F.Y.R.O.M.’s government members in front of the map of the “Great Macedonia”»

7.      We do not authorize any politician of Hellas to give up our name “Macedonian” to the Slavic population of the F.Y.R.O.M. by accepting a compound name or a geographical complement containing the term “Macedonia” or any of its derivatives to be included in the permanent name of F.Y.R.O.M. The politicians of Hellas are bind by the summit of the political leaders which took place on 04/13/1992 in Athens, under the President of the Hellenic Republic which decided to not accept the inclusion of the term “Macedonia” and any of its derivatives in the permanent name of F.Y.R.O.M. This official decision reflects fully the will of the Hellenic people and can be changed only by a referendum, which is the most democratic solution for such a critical issue.

·        Document 7: «The identity of Slavs in the area of F.Y.R.O.M.»

We request

1.      To respect our self-identification as Macedonians, which has been existing for thousands of years.

2.      To respect our Macedonian historical and cultural identity, within the Hellenic civilization.

3.      To prevent our historical and cultural plundering which exist, as indigenous Macedonian Hellenes, from the state propaganda of F.Y.R.O.M. This propaganda is aiming at the appropriation of our name, our historical and cultural heritage in order to present a big part of our Hellenic history as Slavic so as to claim land from Hellas.

·        Document 8: «Photographs of F.Y.R.O.M.’s government members in front of the maps of the “Great Macedonia”»

4.      To protect the human rights of indigenous Macedonian Hellenes, who have been living up to now in the southern part of the territory of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.). Specially assist them to acquire their human right a) to declare their Hellenic ethnic ancestry in the census, and b) to freely practice their religion in “canonical” churches.

·        Document 6: «Official censuses in the region of F.Y.R.O.M.»

·        Document.9: «Ecclesiastic problems in F.Y.R.O.M.»

5.      Do not allow the change of the geographical term “Macedonian” to an ethnic terminology, for the Slav population of F.Y.R.O.M. This population, is the majority in F.Y.R.O.M.,  speaks Slavic (they can be easily understood by other Slavic people such as Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Russians and others), and write with the Cyrillic alphabet, which is the specific characteristic of Slavic languages. They should be proud to be Slavs and live in an area which was called Vardaria (Vardarska) until 1944. The department of History in the University of Skopje teaches that their Slavs ancestors appeared in the Balkans after 600 AD. (Document 7: «The identity of Slavs in the area of F.Y.R.O.M.») This means that their Slav ancestors appeared 900 years after the death of Alexander III the Great (356-323 BC) King of Macedonia and Commander in chief of the Hellenes against the Persians. Moreover it is impossible that they have any racial affinity with us, the Macedonians, who have always lived in the geographical area of historical Macedonia.

6.      Do not put a pressure on the politicians of Hellas to accept the term “Macedonia”, in the final name of the multinational state of F.Y.R.O.M., by providing proposals of United Nation’s (UN) special negotiator, which are totally unhistorical and offensive to us. The area of F.Y.R.O.M. is located in the central Balkans and the river Vardar flows through of this area. This area, in 1944, completely arbitrarily and against the historical truth, was renamed from Vardaria (Vardarska) to Macedonia for political and expansionistic reasons by the Communist leader of Yugoslavia Tito. (Document 10: «Circular telegram 868.014/26Dec1944. Edward Stettinius U.S. Secretary of State»). Everyone knows that the most accurate names for the definitive name of this new multinational state are “Republic of Central Balkan” or “Republic of Vardaria (Vardarska)”.

7.      To remind to all the states in the world that this new multinational state has been temporarily recognized by the United Nations as «Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia» (F.Y.R.O.M.) and urge them to respect this decision in order to maintain the prestige and credibility of the United Nations as the supreme international organization. Anyone who uses the name “Macedonia” instead of F.Y.R.O.M. as a name for this state, breaks the international law and does not respect the historical truth. This causes resentment to all the Hellenes and especially to us the Macedonians. This also causes resentment to all the people, all over the world, who know history and don’t have any political agenda.

·         Document 11: «Letter from Stephen Miller, Professor of Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley (USA) to the magazine “Archaeology” in USA»

·         Document 12: «Letter from 370 University Professors, all over the world, to the President of USA Barack Obama»

We do invite

   The Honorable Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moun, the special negotiator Mr. Matthew Nimitz, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and any other of your official representative, to host and guide them in the following archaeological sites, in order to ascertain the Hellenic identity and the continuity of ancient and contemporary real Macedonians:

·         In the archaeological site of Aiges (the first capital of the Macedonian Kingdom),

·         In the archaeological site of Pella (the second and last capital of the Macedonian Kingdom),

·         In the archaeological site of Dion (the sacred town of Macedonians at the foot of Mount Olympus, the home of the twelve Hellenic Gods),

·         In the archaeological site of Aiani Kozani in the Upper Macedonia (the cradle of Macedonians),

·         In the ancient Macedonian tombs which were found in the municipalities of Pella, Naοussa, Verroia and in other places of  the Region of Central Macedonia in Hellas,

·         In the archaeological museum of Thessaloniki.