Разговор:Recovering Macedonia 1 - Expiration of the Bucharest Treaty of 1913

I have to agree with some of of your points.

As you accurately say, ever since the Middle Ages, the geographical area of Macedonia was a multinational one. It was inhabited by many different tribes, such as Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Macedonians and Slavs (sorted in alphabetical order here).

All of those tribes were living in the same place, with no clear borders separating them. Back in 1850s, if you took a walk through the geographic region of Macedonia, you would come across with all kinds of tribes during your trip, all next to each other. They were also mixed up. For example, during your walk, you could see an Albanian village, a Greek village, a Macedonian village then a Bulgarian village and then maybe an Albanian village again. This was how it was back then. Mixed up. In fact, even those tribes were often seperated into even smaller regions, each one with it's own dialect. Practically, every village, or every valley in this area had it's own ethnicity! There was no such thing as clear borders. As you accurately say, the whole place was just a multinational area, under the influence of the Ottoman Empire (a multinational nation).

Even before the Ottoman Empire, nobody can really tell what the ethnicity of Great Alexander was. Could have been Macedonian, could have been Slav, could have been Greek. Records are not clear at all, so nobody can really tell. No country has the right to assign Alexander's ethnicity to it's own.

When the Ottoman Empire broke up and during the Second Balkan War (June-July 1913), Macedonia was partitioned (the area, there were no countries there yet, the ottomans had just left the place and no countries had been formed yet). The way things was done were plain and simple: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Macedonia had their war (a bloody one), and then they drew the borders in some Treaty in Bucharest. The borders were not drawn according to which tribes were living were (this would be impossible)! The borders were drawn mostly randomly, and yes, Bulgaria and Greece were the lucky ones to get the best, as they were the most powerful back then. Democracy of Macedonia would have done the same, it just didn't happened to. It was a war, so it just happened..

To put it simple, Albanians, Bulgarians Greeks, Macedonians, back in those days, all had the same right to own the area of Macedonia. They had all been living there for hundreds of years, mixed up, and no one of these 5 tribes can claim it was "them". There isn't only a "Bulgarian Occupied Macedonia" and "Greek Occupied Macedonia" but there is also a "Macedonian occupied by Macedonia". --> Just because their name coincides with the name of the area, it doesn't mean their population (back in the day) was more than the others. The Macedonian population coexisted with the Albanian, the Greek and the Bulgarian ever since the Byzantine Empire! They had as much right to the area as the others. Claiming Macedonians have the right to the whole geographic area of Macedonia just because they have the same name is as paranoid as Greeks claiming Alexander was Greek.

-Then, there was a population exchange: To make sure their borders will stay that way, the countries decided to make a population exchance. In plain words, they exiled foreigners. Careful: All countries!! Greeks were forced to the South, Macedonians were forced to the North. They were "split". This is how it happened: Macedonians were exiled from "Greek Occupied Macedonia". Greeks were exiled from the "Macedonian Occupied Macedonia"! This is the part you got wrong. The population exchange, the atrocities, the exiles and so on, went both ways! Greeks were forced to give up their homes and were exiled from what is the Democracy of Macedonia nowadays too! Despite living there for hundreds of years!

The reason I am telling this is that many (old) people who are inhabitants of the Greek Macedonia still tell stories about how were they were forced to come here from the north. And they are of Greek ethnicity, as they never remember talking any Macedonian language. Ever. These people are real people, and you can meet them in most Greek villages. I know, because I happen to go there quite a lot. In a same manner, many Macedonians were forced to go to the north, into what is know the Democracy of Macedonia.

And this is how the countries as we know it were formed

Returning to the present day,

1)I can't believe the Greek Government doesn't allow the Democracy of Macedonia to use it's proper name, and still refers to this country as "F.Y.R.O.M", "Skopia" or even "Vardarska".

2)I can't believe the Greek government effectively blocked the way of a country to the EU, just because they "were afraid their name might get confused with the Greek Macedonia". Lamest excuse, ever.

3)And I can't believe Greece doesn't recognize any Macedonian minority inside it's borders. I know they exist, because I 've seen them on the map. It's a very small minority (the others were exiled to what is now the democracy of Macedonia during the population exchange, just like Greeks were exiled from the democracy of Macedonia) but it still exists. And, believe it or not, they have their own political party for the recognition of that particular minority. Which (guess what) got some votes during the recent elections! So, at least one (1) small Macedonian minority inside Greece actually exists. Why isn't Greece recognizing it? They should.

I am from Greece, and I am ashamed of my government. Trust me, I never voted for them, and never will. The reason they are doing that is the one you 've guessed: There is a "status quo" here in Greece that dictates that Macedonia has always been greek (not true). It was not Greek, it was not Macedonian, it was nobodys!!! It belonged to the Sultan, the leader of the Multinational Ottoman Empire. Then it was split into four. Unfortunately, most Greeks don't recognize that, and this is why the Government promotes this status quo to enchance it's popularity and gain votes. Of course, some Macedonians don't recognize the fact the geographical area of Macedonia was not theirs either. Again, it was the Sultans, and he just allowed allowed all those different people to live toghether, mixed up (a policy of the Ottomans). However, the Macedonians never prohibited Greece from calling it's area "Greek Macedonia", and that's why our government (the Greek) is the weirdo in this case.

While a re-drawal of the borders will not be a reasonable claim for the Democracy of Macedonia (as the population exchange took place nearly a century ago, and there were no countries before, just ottoman empire), all the other three demands are perfectly reasonable. Why Greece is objecting?

The Macedonian people should be able to call themselves "Democracy of Macedonia", at least one minority of Macedonians in Greece exists (it's small, but it does) and the veto was a really unfair thing of Greece to do to it's neighboring country.

Thanks for your time.

PS: If the treaty expires, then Turkey (= the Ottoman Empire) will claim back everyhting from all the 4 tribes (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia), and this would be bad for everybody.