Αρθρο Καταπελτης σε Ομογενειακων Συμφεροντων Εφημεριδα!!!!

http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-9573-my-greek-dna-beats-yours.html


My Greek DNA Beats Yours

Dear U of U: You don't have to be born in Greece to be a Greek.

By John Saltas

A couple of years ago, I and other family members traced our DNA through FamilyTree.com. My DNA—so that of my father, his Greek father and so on—tested into Haplogroup R1a1, meaning our Y chromosomes have been wandering around central Europe since at least the time of the last Ice Age. My mother’s Cretan father (tested via a male cousin born to my mother’s brother) was shown to be a member of Haplogroup J2. That group is found throughout the ancient seafaring regions of the eastern Mediterranean. Landing there perhaps thanks to the Phoenicians, J2 is prevalent on the island of Crete, and it dates at least to the Minoan era.

That means distant male relatives of mine have been traipsing on or around the Greek homelands for thousands of years. During those millennia, the great power Macedon arose in what is now northern Greece and gave history two great leaders: Phillip II and his son, Alexander the Great, who conquered the world.

When he did so, he used some of those J2 DNA Cretans as archers in his army. Given the prevalence of R1a1 DNA throughout the Balkans, I can easily imagine that somebody in my bloodline helped Alexander ride into history. As such, I’m more than interested in the current tensions in that region between Greece and its neighbor to the north.

Macedonia is the northernmost Greek province, spreading vastly outward from the main port city of Thessaloniki. In recent decades, the southernmost republic of what was once called Yugoslavia— southern Serbia in fact—magically began calling itself Macedonia, too. The two Macedonias border each other. Imagine if someone decided to change the name of northern Mexico to Texas. Texans would be pissed. Well, Greeks are pissed.

Some very passionate—or crazy—scholars argue about who is the more rightful heir to the name Macedonia. It’s an important issue because the Republic of Macedonia (a name barely recognized even beyond Greece—maps refer to it as FYROM, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) is seeking admission into the European Union. It’s a silly point. You can’t have two places of the same name bordering each other. Greece wins. They had it first and longest. Period.

The Greek region of Macedonia comprises over 75 percent of what was the former Macedonia, including the Macedonian cities of Pella, Vergina and Thessaloniki. The capital of FYROM is Skopje, which lies beyond the borders of ancient Macedon. That’s easily explained if you have lots of time, but basically, say thanks to Yugoslav leader Josip Tito (who promoted the name Macedonia in southern Serbia while aspiring to extend his domain through Greece to the warm port city of Thessaloniki); Communist insurgencies; plus Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian and Albanian conquests, among others.

If you think Mormons and non-Mormons fight a lot and say nasty things to one another, you need to check out what the people supporting FYROM are saying about the Greeks. And what the Greeks are saying back. Greeks living in the northern provinces suffered terribly during the civil war that followed World War II while rejecting their own Communist uprising that consumed countries to their north. Thousands were slaughtered by the Bulgarians who also have eyes on Macedonia. For Greeks, it’s not merely an ancient name they lay claim to but their very heritage—they would live in freedom or die fighting for it. Since they live on the best lands of ancient Macedon, they’ve been run over more than a BYU defensive back. Both sides fought dirty; both can point to atrocities by the other. You can easily discover if the Greeks were protecting their historic homelands or expanding their influence into the Tito’s cabbage patches.

The argument distills around whether ancient Macedonia was ever Greek—or, correctly, Hellenic—in the first place. If those arguing for FYROM claim they are the real ethnic heirs to Macedonia, then they should call up FamilyTree.com and find out. But given just-recent history with so many Albanians, Serbs and Bulgarians moving in and out of there, it would only prove that their slice of ancient Macedonia has new tenants. Hellenism is conceptual, not ethnic, and Greek is a language not an ethnicity. FYROM doesn’t get the concept, but it’s this: You don’t have to be born in Greece to be a Greek.

Alexander is a Greek name. So is Phillip. So is Thessaloniki. So is Bucephalus, the name given Alexander’s ox-headed horse (and, also, trivia nuts, the nickname of Hank “Bocephus” Williams Jr.). Macedon participated in the exclusively Greek ancient Olympic Games. Alexander was tutored by Aristotle, a Greek. Alexander and his Macedonian kingdom were Greek.

This week, the University of Utah is sponsoring the seventh Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies—a scholarly attempt to commit national identity theft of the name Macedonia. There will be plenty of fingerpointing going on—if Greeks are allowed in to point back, that is. Each side will say they suffered more. Each will say the other is reshaping history. Each will count dead bodies, broken promises and acts of barbarism. And none of that will change the consequence of allowing two states or nations to share the same name—more trouble for that region.

University of Utah President Michael Young is right to allow such free expression on his campus. But Michael Young probably lacks either R1a1 or J2 DNA, too, so he may not understand why Greeks are riled at him. I suspect he’d feel differently if a long-lost cousin of his, maybe a Benjamin Young, started a new university in Orem, called it BYU and began claiming victimization while trashing Brigham Young himself. Yeah, he’s related, and Brigham likely did some awful things in his day, but that wouldn’t mean Michael might not want to wipe Benjamin’s snot off.

NikolaosTaneris

Here's a summary of my exchange with Mr. Young:

Dear Mr. Young :

You said in your form letter of legalese mumbo jumbo to me that "We zealously preserve academic freedom, promote diversity and equal opportunity, and respect individual beliefs. We advance rigorous interdisciplinary inquiry, international involvement, and social responsibility."

How in the world do you advance social responsibilty by endosing malignant lies, financed by the genocidal Turkish government in a conference sponsored by crazies like Metodija Koloski the head of UMD who protests outside the Turkish Embassy in DC holding a sign that says "Shame on Greek Terrorists For Killing US diplomats" ? How would you like it if someone held up a sign stereotyping Mormons? Would you invite them to hold a conference in your University? Is that your idea of diversity? Is that equal opportunity?

Sincerely,

Nikolaos Taneris , GREEK and PROUD

Tel (917) 699-9935

P.S. I await your reply

PHOTO ATTACH: A picture of the head of the so-called "United Macedonian Diaspora" UMD Mr. Metodija Koloski holding a sign outside the Turkish Embassy on July 20th 2009 in Washington DC celebrating the genocidal Turkish Invasion of Greek Cyprus, the sign your Mr. Metodija Koloski holds reads ""Shame on Greek Terrorists For Killing US diplomats"

http://taxalia.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post_6567.html

--- On Wed, 11/4/09, President <president@ucomm.utah.edu> wrote:

From: President
Subject: RE: The Macedonian Revisionist Conference at University of Utah
To: "Nikolaos Taneris"
Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 6:37 PM

Dear Mr. Taneris,

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the upcoming conference at the University of Utah . Please know that the University of Utah is a strong advocate of rigorous academic exploration and the freedom to engage in that exploration. The “Seventh Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies” offers an opportunity for scholars from around the world to examine cultural, literary and linguistic topics relevant to a broad spectrum of inquiry. We welcome thoughtful, reasoned and well-researched perspectives that add light and knowledge to the global discussion on these topics.

The University of Utah supports the intensive research and academic pursuits of its professors, and endorses all intellectual inquiry that seeks to enhance our understanding of the world and our place in it.

The mission of the University of Utah is to serve the people of Utah and the world through the discovery, creation and application of knowledge; through the dissemination of knowledge by teaching, publication, artistic presentation and technology transfer; and through community engagement. As a preeminent research and teaching university with national and global reach, the University cultivates an academic environment in which the highest standards of intellectual integrity and scholarship are practiced. We zealously preserve academic freedom, promote diversity and equal opportunity, and respect individual beliefs. We advance rigorous interdisciplinary inquiry, international involvement, and social responsibility.

Again, thank you for sharing your perspective and suggestions.

President Michael K. Young

---

From: Nikolaos Taneris [nikolaostaneris@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 9:54 AM
To: president@utah.edu
Subject: Re: The Macedonian Revisionist Conference at University of Utah

Re: The Macedonian Revisionist Conference at University of Utah On November 5-9, 2009, the forthcoming “7th Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies” will take place at the University of Utah. Conference topics include “Alexander the Great and mythic Homelands” The country some of the speakers hail from is a state that was part of the former Yugoslavia, an artificial political construct of dictator Josip Broz Tito, who led Yugoslavia or “Union of the South Slavs” into believing that they were descendents of Alexander the Great, and that, they, the Yugoslavs were “the true Macedonians” by bestowing the name “Macedonia” on the region buttressing Greece. A petition to President Obama, (Please see: http://macedonia-evidence.org/) signed by hundreds of the most preeminent classical scholars in the world, including such giants as Robin Lane Fox of Oxford and Mary R. Lefkowitz the Professor in Emerita Wellesley College, declares “Why would a poor land-locked new state attempt such historical nonsense? “ Revisionism itself is an absurd body of ideas, their overall attempt to cast skepticism on Alexander the Great being Greek, insisting that he came from a state that was part of Yugoslavia are the equivalent of the International Flat Earth Research Society. As such, they should be rejected. Nikolaos Taneris, Press Officer, Hellenic League of America HLA New York City, Tel (917) 699-9935 Email: hla@hellenicleagueofamericahla.org http://hellenicleagueofamericahla.org/

James11

Dear Mr Young,
All my personal comments in light Red among your text in the answer to Mr Taneris, below

------------

From: President
Subject: RE: The Macedonian Revisionist Conference at University of Utah
To: "Nikolaos Taneris"
Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 6:37 PM

Dear Mr. Taneris,

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the upcoming conference at the University of Utah . Please know that the University of Utah is a strong advocate of rigorous academic exploration and the freedom to engage in that exploration. Mr Young, is there any attempt by the University of Utah to see if what is presented in papers is actually researched thoroughly, or anyone can present anything?

The “Seventh Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies” (now here you need to define Mr Young, which Macedonian are you referring to. Remember we have the Ancient Macedonia and the Macedonia purported to be of Slavic origin in this day and age. Has the University of Utah made any attempt to define which is being discussed, or has it been left to your colleagues to jump from one to the other without clear clarification of which they’re referring to?)
offers an opportunity for scholars from around the world to examine cultural, literary and linguistic topics (linguistic topics, very interesting, which language are we talking about? Or have we left it to anyone to talk about any language. Do you realise there are several hundred languages in the world today? Have we defined/researched which is the language of Macedonia?) relevant to a broad spectrum of inquiry. We welcome thoughtful, reasoned and well-researched perspectives that add light and knowledge to the global discussion on these topics.

The University of Utah supports the intensive research and academic pursuits of its professors, and endorses all intellectual inquiry that seeks to enhance our understanding of the world and our place in it. (“Seeks to enhance our understanding…” to which point? Did you discuss how far one professor can go, perhaps to the point of presenting and accepting fiction as fact?)

The mission of the University of Utah is to serve the people of Utah (serve ‘the people of Utah’ with what ever comes along Mr Young or attempt to serve them with historical fact and thousands of years of history? Don’t you think that the University is rather doing a disservice if the people are served with lies?) and the world through the discovery (discovery of what Mr Young? History is one and only one, cannot be re-invented to suit the underprivileged in our midst.), creation and application of knowledge (now this is where there’s grave danger that knowledge is not applied but actually supplied cooked Mr Young); through the dissemination of knowledge by teaching, publication, artistic presentation and technology transfer (the extend of misinformation in the world today is well known Mr Young, have the University of Utah conference organisers made any attempt to describe what methodology will be used in selecting truth from fiction?); and through community engagement. As a preeminent research and teaching university with national and global reach, the University cultivates an academic environment in which the highest standards of intellectual integrity and scholarship are practiced. (We do applaud the ‘highest standards’ practiced, but do standards remain standard, or change with the waves of what is defined as freedom Mr Young?) We zealously preserve academic freedom, promote diversity and equal opportunity, and respect individual beliefs. We advance rigorous interdisciplinary inquiry, international involvement, and social responsibility.

Again, thank you for sharing your perspective and suggestions.

Mr Young, generally now, I believe if we’re to examine a topic you should look at the start of its existence. Because, Mr Young, before a beginning was made there exists nothing natural, if we’re to refer to Aristotle at all. Hence if we look at the beginning of the argument we can really see what did not exist, when it started existing and hence understand its development and future. The Ancient Macedonians Mr Young, did not speak a Slavic dialect. The names of the Ancient Macedonians were ALL Greek in origin with combined words of deep meaning. The discoveries of all archaeologists have brought to light only Greek stones, monuments, artefacts Mr Young (see German, Slav and Greek archaeologists like Manolis Andronikos, Zlatko Videski, Dragi Mitrevski, Americans like Stephen G. Miller, etc). Nothing discovered was anything else but Greek in origin, language, culture. So where do you allow these people to take you Mr Young and the people of Utah along with you?

President Michael K. Young

Iakov Osgari

arisdml

Dear Editor

In the international relations, every state is free to choose the name that wants. But when exercising its right to choose its name and indeed when exercising any other right, it must do so in a manner that will not obstruct other states’ exercise of their own right or do, that does not differ in its aim from the aim for which this right was accorded, and that does not cause injury to another state. Prohibition of the abuse of rights is a general principle of law found time and again in international legal practice; and it comes higher up in the hierarchy than the rules governing the exercise, by the subjects of international law, of their individualized rights. [Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Amsterdam, Elsevier, I,1992, pages 4, 7-8).

As regards the specific issue (the onomatology of states in international law) that examined in your article , international practice chows clearly and unequivocally that a state’s right to choose its name or its symbols may be restricted if international peace and security be placed in jeopardy by such name or symbols. It is also well known that the maintenance of peace may not only be endangered through the use of violence, but also by acts that are not at the outset contrary to international law.

In the case in question, the practice of the United Nations and of the European Union shows that Greece’s claim that a state’s choice of name may constitute a form of aggression is not without foundation. Moreover, there is recognition of the possibility in theory that a state’s choice of name may be taken as hostile propaganda against a neighbouring state, inasmuch as that name is adjudged to conceal territorial ambitions.

From this point of view, it is no secret that maps have been repeatedly published in FYROM with the current international boundaries altered in such a way as to portray the country with broadened geographical and ethnic borders taking in what FYROM refers to as Greece’s ‘irredenta territory’. It should be noted that the purpose of maps is not simply to give geographical information; they are a record of the limits of a state’s territorial sovereignty and may be cited in evidence as proof of title in international law. Though to speak of ‘cartographic aggression’ might seem excessive, publishing misleading maps does give the injured state, in this case Greece, every right to make a formal protest.

But it is not just on maps that there is misinformation. To quote a claim from a speech made by FYROM’s former ambassador to the US, Ljubica Acevska, and published in the Valparaiso University Law Review:

‘The name controversy pertains to Greece objecting to the Republic of Macedonia referring to itself as “Macedonia” because Greece annexed a territory known as Aegean Macedonia earlier this century in the Balkan Wars and fears that Macedonia may seek back this land, populated by ethnic Macedonians’.(34,Summer 2000, 477 f, with 484 n. 9)

At all events, going by current international regulations, in the six official languages of the UN list of country names, FYROM’s name is being referred to as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Consequently, the claim made by FYROM’s representatives at international meetings that the name FYROM is not the real name of the country is, besides being a direct violation of the Interim Accord, not acceptable by international organs. Going by current international regulations, FYROM has never been released from its legal obligation to choose a name after negotiation with, and agreement with, Greece.

I am afraid that the the University’s academic creditability is jeopardized by permitting such a conference that propagates revisionism, propaganda and hate speech. Upon our review of the conference’s program, as noted on the web site, beyond any academic discourse regarding a Slavic linguistic idiom, there will be presentations by apologists of communist human rights abuses, including but not limited to, the abduction of 28,000 Greek children during and after the Second World War.

To date, over 332 academic scholars have co-signed a letter to President Barack Obama in opposition to such historical revisionism that the U of U is now facilitating. As a former Professor and Director at Columbia University, President Michael K. Young you might be interested in noting that two current Columbia faculty members, Professors Mylonopoulos and Lougovaya, are signatories of this letter.

At the conference, a scheduled presentation will apparently question recognized human rights abuses directed against defenseless Greek children by communist guerillas. The recognized facts of these events have been recorded by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies, and has been condemned by the United Nations General Assembly with resolutions recorded in 1948 (193), 1949 (288), 1950 (382), 1951 (517), and 1952 (618).

As adopted by the UN General Assembly, the truth is that “the Greek children have not as yet been returned to their homes in accordance with the resolution of the General Assembly” and that all “States harbouring the Greek children to make all necessary arrangements… for the early return to their homes.” More that 28,000 Greek children were forcibly torn from their families and abducted by communists and thereafter brainwashed to reject their national identity and homeland.

Where would be the academic responsibility of the U of U if it permitted blatant historical revisionism that seeks to dispute these facts? The human tragedy of these contemptuous acts affected thousands of Hellenic families for many years and decades. While only some 4,000 children were returned by 1963, the vast majority were confined to camps in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, East Germany, and Albania until the collapse of the Communist Bloc.

As UN General Assembly resolution 618 (1952) clearly states, it “Condemns the failure of the harbouring States other than Yugoslavia to co-operate in efforts to enable the Greek children to return to their homes.” This statement is absolute with regard to the identity and fate of these Greek victims of communism. The vast majority of the children were sent to camps outside of Yugoslavia, and most of the few thousand that were in Yugoslavia were repatriated following the reproach of Tito with the West.
We therefore condemn any effort by a Slavic fringe group to usurp the identity of these Greek victims of communist aggression. . This is the time to stand up against hate speech and apologists for totalitarian regimes.

Thanks

Elena

Dear John

Is a rose by any other name still a rose? What if we started calling the "rose" an "onion"? If you had both next to each other, could you point to each and call each an onion? Would one be a real onion and the other a fake onion? Would both smell the same, look the same, have the same texture, color, and all other qualities? If you asked someone for an onion what would he give you? Would your sweetheart appreciate the dozen onions that you sent her for Valentine's Day?

Now, what happens if one area of our world started calling itself with the same name as a neighboring area? What if this area also took the identity and history of its neighbors? What if this first area becomes a country? Can it now decide to call itself with the same name as its neighbor and the rest of the world recognizes it so? The Massachusetts Bay Colony consisted of the area of the northern New England states and also encompassed part of what today is the Canadian province of Quebec. Throughout the years, many Quebec inhabitants have migrated from Quebec to the New England states. If Quebec broke away from Canada and became an independent country, would it be suitable to change its name to "New England"? Would it bother anyone if this "New England" hoisted a new flag with New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain in the middle of it, printed new currency picturing Bunker Hill on it, redrew their maps such that their territory is shown going all the way down to Boston and beyond, and revised their history books to indicate the colonial New England history as their own. Maybe we can call this new country "New New England" and we can rename the Northeastern part of the United States "Old New England". Will that make it clear to everybody?

We read the above hypothetical situation and think that it is so ridiculous that it could never happen. But, that is exactly what is happening today right before our eyes between The FYROM, former Yugoslavia's southern republic, and Macedonia, one of Greece's northern provinces. Before 1944 the area that later comprised of the former Yugoslavia's southern republic was not called Macedonia but was called Vardarska Banovina (Province -of the river- Vardar). It was in 1944 that (Joseph Broz) Marshal Tito, the Communist dictator ruling Yugoslavia at that time, created Yugoslavia's southern republic and called it "Socialist Republic of Macedonia". However, "Macedonia" was already the name of one of Greece's northern provinces. In ancient times, the land that Macedonia covered included this northern province of Greece, a small part of Bulgaria, a small part of Albania, and a small part of the region that Tito named the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. It is pertinent to note that Tito’s Socialist Republic of Macedonia consisted of not only a small part of ancient Macedonia but also a far larger part from Slavic Yugoslavia. There is no doubt that creating this Republic in the southern region in Yugoslavia and including "Macedonia" in its name was deliberate with the main intention of laying claim to the region of ancient Macedonia of the northern province of Greece. Particularly, what Tito and his Communist allies wanted was the city of Thessaloniki with its lucrative warm water port.

After 1944 a deliberate and systematic campaign was initiated for Yugoslavia's southern republic to take over the history of ancient Macedonia. “Scholars” from the “People’s Republic of Macedonia” were commissioned to re-write their history books to include the ancient Macedonian History according to the wishes of the League of Communists of communist Yugoslavia, accompanied by perverted maps showing their "Macedonia" going all the way down to the northern half of Mount Olympus. Also, “linguists” led by Blagoj Konev, a.k.a. Bla%u017Ee Koneski, were appointed to create the alphabet for and refine the "newly discovered" Macedonian language, which, of course, was made to sound as if it were the “natural development” of the ancient Macedonian language. Through their control of mass media and education, the government of “People’s Republic of Macedonia” then introduced this language and claimed that it is the language that was spoken by the ancient Macedonians. However, this language is grammatically nearly identical to Bulgarian and, due to continuous government interventions, its vocabulary tends to include more Serbo-Croatian words that have replaced the Bulgarian words. They clearly overlooked the unquestionable fact that the inhabitants of ancient Macedonia were Greeks and spoke the Greek language. Numerous excavations in all of the ancient Macedonia area have consistently unearthed relics clearly with Greek writings, and depictions of rulers clearly designated with Greek names.

In September of 1991 this republic declared independence from Yugoslavia and it named itself "Republic of Macedonia" as a new independent country. They designed a new flag with the Sun of Vergina at its center and printed new currency with the White Tower of Thessaloniki, symbols clearly from the northern province of Greece. Because of these actions and also because of certain articles in their constitution which implied that the their country had territorial rights to all of the ancient Macedonian area, Greece imposed a trade embargo and prevented any trade commerce through Greece's northern border. Greece reluctantly lifted the trade embargo when The FYROM redesigned and accepted a new flag, stopped the issuance of the new currency with the depiction of the White Tower of Thessaloniki, and passed amended articles to their constitution implying that they have no territorial rights outside their present boundaries. Greece, however, continued to object to their use of the name Macedonia. Because of this objection, the United Nations accepted this nation as a new member with the temporary name of "The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia (The FYROM)" (UN Resolutions #817 of April 7 and #845 of June 18 of 1993) until a permanent solution to the name is found. To this date no solution has been found and the UN deadline of September 13, 2002 has passed by with the two countries only agreeing to extend discussions on this matter for one more year.

The deliberate and systematic campaign of distortion, stealing and absorption of the history and ethnicity of the ancient Macedonians is ongoing today with full and untiring strength. Although officially this country is known as The FYROM, through a vigorous campaign they have managed to contrive the world to call it Macedonia in common day usage. The Internet and mass-communication has made it easy for them to do this and they have used these tools to create a flood of misinformation. One such example that clearly shows their devious actions is the Web site: http://faq.macedonia.org/. Hitler is credited with saying "Tell a big enough lie, tell it often enough, and it becomes the truth". In some way this provides an explanation as to why the inhabitants of The FYROM are so adamant about keeping the name Macedonia. Now, fifty-eight years after the start of the campaign of distortion, stealing and absorption of the GREEK history and ethnicity of the ancient Macedonians, we find that the inhabitants of The FYROM are mostly the children of 1944 and those that were born afterwards and who grew up with these untruths. To them these have become facts. But, must this go on any longer? Isn't it time to set the record straight?

What's in a Name? - In a name you have identity, history, ancestry, culture, ethnicity, belonging, cohesiveness, texture, color, and many other qualities. On November 5-9, 2009, the forthcoming “7th Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies” at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City. By allowing this lecture, the University of Utah at Salt Lake City runs the risk of being scrutinized for endorsing a conference whose sole purpose is to promote historical revisionism and distortions with regards to the Greek history of Macedonia.

Thanks
Elena Nikols
SLC Utah

HOUGA

I would like to thank the publication and the author of this article.

It’s about time someone stresses the importance of truth, and how historical revisionism can become a danger to all.

Again thank you

Andreas Savva

President
Hellenic Organization of University Graduates of America (HOUGA) www.houga.com

First of all I want to apologize from my bad English grammar. As native Macedonian [1] my mother language is Greek and not Slavic as the postmodernists [2] professors that will participate in this Conference claim arbitrarily.[3]

In November 5-8 ay the University of Utah in Salt Lake City will take place the so-called "7th Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies".[4] Although a number of presenters strictly deal with subjects of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, there are politically motivated lectures that attack and disparage the people of Greece, the Greek Cultural identity and as they twist historical facts through their disturbing presentation. These motivated lectures are influence under the umbrella of the Slavmacedonism [5], a post modern nationalism ideology.

In American universities today not everyone knows what extreme Slavmacedonists are doing in their classrooms/conference/lectures or even if they do know, they choose not to ask questions. Ordinarily if someone has a theory that involves a radical departure from what the experts have professed, he or she is expected to defend his or her position by providing evidence in its support. But no one seemed to think it was appropriate to ask for evidence from the professors who claimed that the Slav Macedonians of the FYROM have any kind of connection with the ancient Macedonian civilization.

Normally, if one has a question about a text that another instructor is using, one simply asks why he or she is using that book. But since this conventional line of inquiry was closed to us, I have to raise my questions in a more public context.

A lecture at which serious questions could not be asked, and in fact were greeted with hostility--the occasion seemed more like a political rally than an academic event as this that will take place in Utah. Arthur Schlesinger says in “The Disuniting of America” that the purpose of history is to promote not group self-esteem, but understanding of the world and the past, dispassionate analysis, judgment and perspective, respect for divergent cultures and traditions, and unflinching protection for those unifying ideas of tolerance, democracy, and human rights that make free historical inquiry possible.

Slavmacedonists supporters have suggested many ways to revise the teaching of European history and science.[6] But if diversity does not apply to truth, then there are limits to academic freedom. That does not mean that we should try to keep students from knowing about erroneous theories or hypothetical possibilities, or from reading works like the Macedonians Slavs and the connection with the ancient Greek culture or the Slavic idiom that speak Greeks and Slavmavedonians is the same with the creation of the Slav Macedonian language that had as aim to de-Bulgarize the Slav Macedonians and create a separate national consciousness.[7]

But lectures that are designed to conceal a considerable body of evidence, or that are intended to instill resentment and distrust in place of open discussion, have no place in the academaic curriculum. I believe it is essential for all of us to realize that some action needs to be taken. It is not simply a matter of doing justice to the ancient Greeks and their modern descendants. Universities must encourage free inquiry and debate, and not permit the classrooms/conference/lectures to be used as a means of political indoctrination. Even more important than that is our obligation to teach history, history that can be supported by warranted evidence and not in half evidence.

As Pr. Mary Lefkowich points out the teachers of course need to have freedom to experiment and to test new theories and interpretations. But academic freedom does not give us the right to rewrite history without reference to the known facts—even if by doing so we imagine that we can bring about social improvement. The scientists among us, for example, do not have license to falsify data to achieve desired results. If a scientist in the "hard" sciences does so, he or she is disciplined and even dismissed. It is often more difficult to distinguish between false and true in the writing of history, but it is still usually possible to establish at least the broad outlines, and to give a clear account of the available evidence. Historians do not have the right to invent their own narratives or to misuse evidence.[8]

In November 5-8 the up-coming conference will be a new link in the Slavmacedonism chain. The opposite opinion in this one-side conference will be forbidden. The re-invention of history has been the selected terrain of action. The dispute is not a question of survival and grandeur but an issue of challenging territorial stability. This has led to the extreme position of discarding Slav origin and labeling it as a "derogatory term", an "insult". It is indeed dangerous not to cut ties with the Slav past because this brings the country closer to Bulgaria. At the same time it is convenient to baptize Bulgarian national heroes "Macedonians", to deny the Bulgarian origin of the language spoken, to usurp Greek history and to suppress Bulgarophilia and Grecophilia within the country. A visit to Vergina, Pella and tens of archaeological sites in Greece would be enough to ridicule those who suggest that ancient Macedonians spoke Greek because it was a fashionable thing to do. In effect what some suggest here is that ancient Macedonians did not speak their mother tongue but a "foreign language".

The finally questions that rose in my mind as regards in this revisionist conference are:

(a) The ancient Macedonian culture was invented from the Greeks or the Slavs ?
(b) How you segregate a Greek Macedonian identity with a Slav Macedonian one?
(c) Utah University administrators ought to ask whether we need historical lectures basing on facts or in political motives ?

Thanks for your timing.

NOTES
[1]- A Macedonian according to several sources [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Macedonian], [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/macedonian], [Oxford English Dictionary] is a native or inhabitant of the (Ancient or Modern) Macedonian region. Any usage diffrent from this that give from the dictionaries has political and ambiguous motives.
[2]- http://www.hum.utah.edu/languages/?pageId=4549
[3]-One of them is the Linguistics professor and Balkan Studies scholar Victor Friedman that portrays Greeks as a most undemocratic and oppressive nation, from ancient to present time, and places the role of Greece in the Balkans in a most negative light. The core of his arguments seems to lie in what he considers suppression of multilingualism and minorities in Greece, which he associates with the current dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on the name of the latter country. Scholars and academics invited Dr. Friedman to debate his views in the Hellenic Electronic Center/Professors' Forum*, but he declined their invitation. For more details see “Ime romeos e xeuro plus glose Fazio degli” (http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2009/03/greek-academic-response-to-victor.html)
[4]- Post-modernism is a form of skepticism combined with self-consciousness. Its adherents believe that no historical narrative can be considered authoritative, because writers always have political motives, whether they are aware of them or not. For the post-modernist, the past is more problematic. Though nations are modern and the product of modern cultural conditions, nationalists who want to disseminate the concept of the nation will make liberal use of elements from the ethnic past, where they appear to answer to present needs and preoccupations. The present creates the past in its own image. So modem nationalist intellectuals will freely select, invent and mix traditions in their quest for the imagined political community. For more detail see the works of the Anthony D.Smith.
[5]- Slav-Macedonism(also call as Macedonism and pseudo-Macedonism) is the political idea prevailing in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) which utilises historical revisionism to establish links between an ethnic group that formed in the 20th century - ethnic 'Macedonians' - and historical events and figures of the 19th century and Middle Ages. For example, Bulgarian Tsar Samuil, despite the overwhelming evidence, is portrayed as a "Macedonian" king. Further attempts are made to deny the Hellenic nature of the ancient kingdom of Macedon and to seek connections between present day ethnic Macedonians and the Ancient Macedonians. Unfortunately for extremist Macedonists , history bears witness to the fact that in the early 1940s the Bulgarian inhabitants of Vardar Macedonia were transformed into "Macedonians" for political reasons by communist dictators (Tito, Stalin, and Dimitrov) and infamous communist organizations (Comintern and the Balkan Communist Federation ).
[6]- The ROSETTA STONE and the Tendov-Boshevski Controversy by Miltiades, Phoebos and Hephastion Bolaris.[ http://ancient-medieval-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2009/09/rosetta-stone-and-tendov-boshevski.html ]
[7]- “Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question” by Stephen E. Palmer, Jr. Robert R. King, 1971.
[8]-History Lesson, a race odyssey, Yale University Press, 2008