On my way to the R. Macedonia from Thessaloniki... things seemed fine.. normal.. peaceful for someone who doesn't know about the Macedonia name dispute. While i was waiting in the Thessaloniki train station, i had few hours to spend until my train to Gevgelia leaves. I observed the people.. coming into and out of the station, they looked so much similar to the Macedonians.. and then it occured to me .. that they probably are Macedonians.. but they are afraid of declaring themselves as Macedonians.. and speak their language.. but instead they speak Greek..
I had flash backs of the Macedonians running away from the very same station.. in the late 1940s during the civil war in Greece. Children.. and women.. running.. looking for the peron of the train going to Yugoslavia (at that time) ofcourse for those who were lucky enough to afford the train.. for the majority.. the border was crossed on foot.
The Greek Civil war... was probably one of the many unjustice acts made by Greece towards the Macedonians. The Greek civil war, was fought between the Greek governmental Army backed by UK and USA, and the Democratic Army of Greece - the military branch of Greek Communist Party. USA and UK backed the greek government at that time.. to stop the spreading of Communism as it it became the political system in almost all Eastern Europe.
During that war, many Macedonians caught in the middle.. decided to send their children and women as refugees to Yugoslavia to the newley established Socialist Republic of Macedonia within the Yugoslav federation. Those Macedonians who stayed in Greece.. more preciesly in Aegean Macedonia, fought alongside the Communists in Greece. And Unfortunately... that gave the excuse to the Greek army, to commit one of the biggest genocides against Macedonians after the Second world war, killing the Macedonians.. and kicking out those who stayed in their homes just to make the big dream or the big idea (the Megali idea) coming true.. of occuping Macedonia.. and make it Greek..
Bilingual slogan on mount Vitsi both in Greek and Macedonian ("Long live our leader, N. Zachariadis"and "Long live the II Congress of the NOF. Long live the national unification.") prooving the existance of Macedonians alongside the greeks in Aegean Macedonia
The Civil war ended.. and the genocide was done.. Greece continued its practise of assimilating the Macedonians.. and forcing them to change the endings of their last names from -ov or -ski (slavic) into -kis (greek), and changing the names of the cities , rivers and even churches.. into Greek names. Many Macedonian refugees from Yugoslavia at that time.. tried to go back to their homes after the war ended.. but they were always denied entrance at the border.. many have even migrated to USA , Australia and Canada.. and with those passports they were also denied entrance.. for simple reason.. the birth place written in the Slavic way not as it is now.. which was a reminder to Greece of the terrible act against human rights. Many of these refugees.. are still in todays Macedonia.. waiting the day when the border will be open and go and visit their houses.
When it became evident in the late 1980s that Yugoslavia will break up..and that Macedonians will gain independency , Greece decided to continue its practice of Helenising Macedonia.. renaming the northern province.. from North Greece into Macedonia, renaming the Airport of Thessaloniki into Macedonia.. and starting a strong campaign claiming that Alexander the Great was Greek.. and that Macedonia is Greek, challenging the history.. and prooving that the powerful writes the history.. not facts and actual events.
Thats basically the reason why until now Greece denys the right of milions of Macedonians of Self Identification.. and moreover un-recognizing the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia, even though Greece had no problems with the name Macedonia when it was within Yugoslavia.
