Maria Margaronis

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Greeks protest in Thessaloniki against the agreement on the name Northern Macedonia

In January, Greece ratified a bilateral agreement with the newly renamed Republic of Northern Macedonia . There are some who argue That this is The First step in the direction of the recognition of the existence of a Macedonian language and ethnicity, But Greece has denied the existence of its own Macedonian minority for decades, says Maria Margaronis . Will change anything now?

Mr Fokas, 92, is straight like a spear in his tan leather brogues and blazer cream, hardly having regard to the ebony and ivory walking stick brought over from Romania by his grandfather a century ago. His mind and his memory are as sharp as his outfit.

A retired lawyer, Mr Fokas speaks impeccable formal Greek with a distinctive lilt: his native language is Macedonian, a Slavic language related to Bulgarian and is spoken in this part of the Balkans for centuries. To his son, modern house in a village in Northern Greece , he takes me through the painful history of Greece unrecognized Slavic-speaking minority.

Mr Fokas to take care to emphasize from the beginning That he was both an ethnic Macedonian and a Greek patriot. He has good reason to emphasise his faithfulness: for nearly a century, the ethnic Macedonians in Greece were objects of suspicion and, at times, persecution, even when their presence was denied by almost all.

to speak the Most reluctant, the outsiders have about their identity. To themselves and others, they are simply known as "locals" (dopyi), speak a language, the so-called "local" (dopya). They are completely absent from school history books, the speaker is not presented in a census since 1951 (when they are recorded only patchily, and referred to simply as "Slavic"), and are hardly mentioned in public. Most Greeks do not even know That they exist.

The deletion was a reason for Greece 's long-running dispute with the former Yugoslav Republic of officially The Republic of Northern Macedonia . The dispute was finally last month resolved by a vote in The Greek Parliament ratified (by a majority of only seven), an agreement last June between the countries Two Prime Ministers . If The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras , referred to during the parliamentary debate of the existence of the "Slavomacedonians" in Greece - in the time of the second World War - he was breaking a longstanding taboo.

the use of The name "Macedonia " by the neighboring nation-state implicitly acknowledges That the Macedonians are a nation in their own right, and opens the door to difficult questions about the history of Greece 's own Macedonian minority.

If Mr. Fokas was born in the Northern Greek region of Macedonia had only recently been provided in the Annex of The Greek state. Until 1913, it became part of the Ottoman Empire , with Greece , Bulgaria and Serbia, its Slavic-speaking inhabitants of wooing as a means to claim The Territory . It was created in part in response to these competing forces, which is a distinctive Slavic-Macedonian identity in the late 19th and early 20Th Century . As Mr Fokas uncle used to say, The Family was "neither Serbian, nor Greek , nor Bulgarian, But Macedonian-Orthodox".

In the end, the Slavic Macedonians were divided between the three new member States. In Greece , some of them were sold; those That remained were forced to assimilate. All the villages and cities, which were given with a non-Greek name of new, selected by a Committee of scientists in the late 1920s, although almost a century later, some of the "locals" Still the Old .

In 1936, as the Lord Fokas was nine years Old , The Greek dictator, Ioannis Metaxas (an admirer of Mussolini) banned the Macedonian language, and forced the Macedonian-speakers to change their names, The Greek love.

Mr Fokas, remembers police officer eavesdropping on the mourners at funerals, and hear with the windows to begin to talk to anyone, or to sing, in the forbidden tongue. There were lawsuits, threats, and blows.

Women often spoke no Greek , would cover to muffle their mouths with their headscarves, their speech, But Mr Fokas mother was arrested and a fine of 250 drachmas, a large sum at That time.

Macedonian village residents, in Greece , in the year 1947

"Slavic-speakers suffered a lot from The Greeks , Metaxas," he says. "Twenty People from The Village , The Heads of the great families, were exiled to The Island of Chios. My father-in-law was one of them. "They were tortured to drink by forced, castor-oil, a powerful laxative.

If Germany, Italy and Bulgaria occupied Greece in 1941, some of the Slavic-speakers welcomed the Bulgarians as a potential liberator of Metaxas repressive regime. But many joined The Resistance , led by The Communist party (which supported at this time the Macedonian minority) and continued the fight with the Communists in the Civil War That followed the axis occupation. (Bulgaria annexed The Eastern part of Greek Macedonia from 1941 to 1944, committing many atrocities; to identify many of The Greeks are wrong to attribute these Macedonians, which, like the Bulgarians. )

When the Communists were finally defeated, with a heavy repression followed for all in connection with The Resistance or The Left side.

"Macedonians paid More Than someone, for the Civil War ," Mr. Fokas said. "Eight People court-martialled and executed, from this village, eight from the next village, 23 of the opposite. were They killed a grandfather and his grandson just 18 years Old . "

A Greek protester wears a Balkan war uniform against the agreement on the "Northern Macedonia "

Mr. Fokas was a student in Thessaloniki - But also, he was arrested and spent three years on The Prison island of Makronisos, because not all of what he had done, But because his mother had helped her brother-in-law escape through the skylight, a cafe, where he is held.

Most of The Prisoners in Makronisos were Greek left, and pressed were to sign declarations of repentance for their alleged Communist past. Those who were rejected, to crawl under Barbed Wire , or beaten with thick bamboo sticks. "Terrible Things have been done," said Mr. Fokas said. "But we can't talk about them. It is an insult to The Greek civilization. It Greece is damaging to the good name. "

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tens of thousands of fighters of the Democratic army, about half of them Slavic-speakers, went into exile in The Eastern bloc countries during and after the Civil War . Over 20,000 children have been taken across The Border by the Communists, whether for your protection or as reserve troops for a future counterattack.

Many of the Slavic-speaking civilians also went to the North for safety. Whole villages were empty, as the Old settlement of Krystallopigi (Smrdes in Macedonian) in the vicinity of The Albanian border, where the impressive Church of St. George stands testimony for a population That once numbered More Than 1,500 souls.

In 1982, More Than 30 years after The War , the end of Greece 's socialist government issued a decree, so That the Civil War , returning refugees, But only those of "Greek ethnicity". Ethnic Macedonians from Greece have remained closed, their Land, their villages and their country, families separated, were United by The War , never again.

Mr Fokas father-in-law and brother-in-law died in Skopje. But he points out That the decree tacitly accepted That there are ethnic Macedonians in Greece , even though The State never acknowledged officially, their existence: "The War refugees left children, grandchildren, fathers, mothers behind. What are they, if not the Macedonians were?"

It is impossible to accurately calculate The Number of Slavic speakers or descendants of ethnic Macedonians in Greece . Historian Leonidas Embiricos estimates That More Than 100,000 are Still living in The Greek region of Macedonia , although only 10,000 to 20,000 would identify, the others are open to members of a minority, and many of the proud Greek nationalists.

And yet, to speak or sing in Macedonia can Still be the cause of the harassment. Mr. Fokas is the son of a musician, he plays The Haunting Macedonian flute for us, than his own small son. He and a group of friends used to host an international Music Festival on The Village square, with bands from as Far Away as Brazil, Mexico and Russia.

at The Last minute, The Festival was moved to a field outside The Village , between reed-beds and swamps, without The Right equipment - which includes you, Mr Fokas son only Greece look bad.

Mr. Fokas has been referred to by his first name to protect his identity

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