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Macedonians (Greeks)

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Revision as of 13:09, 14 May 2009 by Shadowmorph (talk | contribs) (→Political representation & Macedonian diaspora: better title since we cover the diaspora in the next section. Also adding current event template)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about the modern Greek people from Macedonia (Greece); for the ancient people, see ancient Macedonians; for other uses, see Macedonian (disambiguation).
Greek Macedonian rebel of the Macedonian Struggle
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Macedonians (Template:Lang-el) is the term by which ethnic Greeks inhabiting or originating from the region of Macedonia in Greece, are known. The larger part of this population is concentrated in the capital city of Thessaloniki but spread across the whole of Greece and in the diaspora.

Modern Macedonian identity

Preface

The Greek Macedonian identity has is roots to the ancient kingdom of Macedonia and the ancient Macedonians. The Argead Dynasty to which Alexander the Great belonged, self proclaimed to be Greeks. The Greek identity of the Macedonians had been initially disputed in ancient Greece but later accepted by the time of Phillip II. After the whole of Greece came under the rule of his son, Alexander, all Macedonians were treated as Greeks; that continued on, in Hellenistic Greece. After the Roman conquest of Greece the Macedonians and the rest of the Greek population were an integral component of the people of the Roman province of Macedonia. In the wider Macedonia, the Greek element was always important culturally and ethnographically.

In the Middle Ages the Macedonians were a part of the Byzantine Greek (Roman Greek) population. After the Ottoman invasions, Macedonia came under the rule of the the Ottoman Empire. In the years of Ottoman Greece, the definition of Macedonia came to encompass a specific region in the North of the Greek peninsula different from the previous Byzantine theme. A significant population of Greek Macedonians lived in the region and still maintained the Orthodox Christian religion. Thessaloniki, remained the biggest city where the larger sum of Macedonians resided.

In the Greek War of Independence

Greek Macedonian rebel Yero Tsamis ("Γερο Τσιάμης") of Imathia operated in the Macedonian insurrection against the Ottoman rule, in Chalkidiki
Further information: Greek War of Independence § Macedonia

In Spring of 1821, Macedonian fighters led by Emmanouel Pappas started a failed revolution against the Ottoman Rule. The Greek Revolution in Macedonia started in Agion Oros, Chalkidiki on May 23, after a force of about 4,000 Macedonian insurgents and some Monks gathered in the monasteries there. Quickly, the rise spread to Pieria, Polygyros, Arnaia, Ormylia, Sithonia, the area of Kalamaria, and to the north in Monastiri, Krousovo and Vogdantsa. In the beggining some accomplishments where made, when Papas managed to liberate the most part of the Chalkidiki peninsula and to threaten Thessaloniki. However the force soon retreated to Vasilika, Thessaloniki. There it was outflanked and overrun by superior Ottoman forces led by Mehmet Emin Pasha. Pappas was at the time named Leader and Defender of Macedonia and is today considered a Greek hero along with the unnamed Macedonians that fought with him.

This defeat, along with the repression of the revolution led by Anastasios Karatasos in Naoussa in April 1822, in Eastern Macedonia with Nikolaos Tsaras and in Siatista with Nikolaos Kasomoulis and Georgios Nioplios, marked the stop of the Greek war of independence in Macedonia, at the time. Yet the rebellion was successful for the Greeks in overall, when during the 19th century the Greeks witnessed the ascension of the state of Greece in the south in 1832. The creation of the Greek state inspired the Macedonians to continue their resistance with irregulars like other Greeks did in Thessaly, Epirus and Crete. Events of the Russo-Turkish Crimean War in 1854 ignited a new revolt that spawned at Chalkidiki, Macedonia. One of the prime instigators of the revolt was Dimitrios or Tsamis Karatasos known by the epithet Yero (Greek:"γέρο" meaning "elder one"), as Yero-Tsamis or Yero-Karatasos. He was the son of Anastasios Karatasos, the revolutionary of 1821. The insurrections of the Macedonian Greeks had the support of king Otto of Greece who thought that "liberation" of Macedonia and other parts of Greece was possible, hoping on Russian support. The revolt however failed in its part having deteriorated the Greco-Turkish relations for the years to come.

In the Balkan Wars

Main articles: Struggle for Macedonia and Balkan Wars

At the eve of the 20th century Macedonians were a Greek minority population in the northern part of Ottoman Greece. The larger part of those according to census by the Ottoman Empire lived in Thessaloniki and the Macedonia region. During the Balkan wars, Thessaloniki became the prize city for the struggling parties. Greece claimed the region corresponding to that of ancient Macedonia saying it was rightfully its own. One of the reasons, was the fact that ancient Macedonia was attributed as part of Greek history. Another justification for the claim was to liberate the minority population of Macedonians that lived in the region. Following the Balkan Wars, Greece managed to cede the region that is now Greek Macedonia, together with Thrace, from the dissolving Ottoman empire. Macedonians fought alongside the regular Greeks, with many victims from the local population. There are monuments in West Macedonia commemorating the Greeks from Macedonia that fought and died in the Balkan Wars to "liberate Macedonia" from the Ottoman rule.

Macedonian Struggle monument commemorating the "heroically fallen officers and soldiers, October 1912". It war raised at the battle site of Portes ("Πόρτες") outside the village of Prosilio ("Προσήλιο") near Servia, Greece

The heroic feats and stories of the Macedonian Greeks who participated in the Macedonian Struggle were documented in the novels of the Greek writer Penelope Delta in many of her books, from narratives collected by her secretary Antigone Bellou in 1932-1935

After the hostilities ended, the greater Macedonia region was divided between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia with mixed populations in every side of the borders. Later in 1923, a great number of settlers by the population exchange from Turkey arrived in the Greek part, mixing with the local Greek inhabitants. In the coming years the national reinforcement policy effectively homogenized Macedonians with settlers from other places. Today, descendants of these settlers now self-identify also as Macedonian in a regional sense and Greeks in the ethnic sense.

The last acts in the formation of the present-day demographics of Macedonia were played after World War II; the extermination of the Jews of Thessaloniki in the holocaust effectively made the Macedonian Greeks the overwhelming majority population of the city. The Greek Civil War and immigration that followed World War II were the large major altering factors of the demographics that remained relatively stable after that. Macedonian immigration, as most of the Greek diaspora, was largely towards Canada,Germany and Australia, where the Macedonian Greek community is now numerous and active.

Contemporary Macedonians

Expressions of regional identity

The region of Macedonia in northern Greece

The identity of modern Greeks from the region of Macedonia has significant connotations in the context of the Macedonia naming dispute. The dispute is over the moral right to the uses of the name Macedonia and Macedonian; it was originally between Greece, Yugoslavia and partly Bulgaria. Specifically it was targeted to the notions of Macedonians and Macedonian language with a non-Greek qualification, as used by the Socialist Republic of Macedonia during the times of socialist Yugoslavia. Macedonian Greeks were objecting to that, originally fearing territorial claims as they were noted by the U.S. Roosevelt administration through Edward Stettinius in 1944. This dispute continued to be a source of controversy between the Macedonian Greeks and Yugoslavs during the 1980s, reported in Greek press articles and through actions of the Greek government of Andreas Papandreou until the Revolutions of 1989 in Europe.

The Vergina Sun, that also appears in the regional flag, is used alongside with the Greek flag, by Greeks to declare their Macedonian origin in various rallies; here from one in Melbourne, Australia

The dispute achieved international status after the breakup of Yugoslavia when the concerns of the Macedonian Greeks rose to extreme manifestations. About one million of Greeks from Macedonia participated in the 1992 Rally for Greek Macedonia (Greek:"Συλλαλητήριο για τη Μακεδονία"), a very large demonstration that took place in the streets of Thessaloniki in 1992. The point of the rally was to object to "Macedonia" being a part of the name of then newly established Republic of Macedonia using the slogan "Macedonia is Greek". In a following major rally in Australia, held in Melbourne in 1994, organized by the Macedonian Greek Australian diaspora that has significant presence there, about 100,000 people protested.

Explicit self-identification as Macedonian is a typical attitude, and a matter of national pride for many Greeks. Responding to issues around the Macedonia name dispute, the Prime minister of Greece Kostas Karamanlis — in a characteristic expression of that attitude — was quoted saying in emphasis "I myself am a Macedonian, just as 2.5 million Greeks are Macedonians" at a meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in January 2007. Both Kostas Karamanlis and the late former prime minister of Greece Konstantinos Karamanlis (his uncle), are Macedonian ethnic Greeks with origin from Serres, Eastern Macedonia.

Political representation

Template:Future Though there is no party representing specific regions of Greece - including Macedonia - May 2009 saw the formation of the 'Panhellenic Macedonian Front' coalition to run with 22 candidates in the June 2009 European Parliamentary elections . The party included Macedonian organisations of the Greek diaspora and was established by the politician Stelios Papathemelis and professor Kostas Zouraris.

Macedonian diaspora organisations

Society of Kastorians ‘Omonoia’, founded 1910; promotes Greek-American relations; assists in bettering conditions in Kastoria; maintains scholarships and hospitalization funds; operates a clubhouse. Publicatons: Kastoriana Nea, bimonthly.

Pan-Macedonian Association, founded 1947, including 15 US and Canadian regional groups (in 1993). US and Canadian citizens and residents who emigrated from Macedonia and descendants of such persons. Works to advance cultural and friendly relations between the American and Greek peoples; promotes the social welfare and educational advancement of the inhabitans of Macedonia, collect and distribute information on the land and people of Macedonia through cultural exchange between Greece and the US. Maintains a rich library (over 3,000 volumes), bestows awards. Publications: Convention Journal (annual); Macedonia (in English and Greek, quarterly).

The Macedonian Society of Great Britain (MSGB), a not for profit organisation, registered as a charity in the UK, founded in London in 1989 by Macedonian members of the Greek community. It aims to be the focal point for Macedonian Greeks and organizes social and cultural events aiming to promote the history and culture of Greece's province of Macedonia and of Greece in general. MSGB past events included leading authorities in their fields.

Pan-Macedonian Federation of Australia (Pan-Makhedoniki) is the most prominent of all the Greek Macedonian organizations in Australia. Its main establishment is in Melbourne, where the non-profit organisation of "The Pan-Macedonian Association of Melbourne and Victoria" was established in 1961 while outside Victoria the federation is active in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

Publication. Makedoniki Zoe (Macedonian Life), monthly journal, Greek with some English articles, founded 1965, published in Thessaloniki; contains section on the diaspora, “Reports and news on the diaspora Macedonians”.

Language

The overwhelming majority of Macedonians inside Greek Macedonia speak modern Greek with small variations. The Macedonian (Greek:Μακεδονίτικα) or Thessalonian (Greek:Θεσσαλονικιώτικα) dialect belongs to the northern dialect group, with phonological and a few syntactical differences distinguishing it from standard and southern Greek. A significant minority of Slavic-speakers also exists, mainly in West Macedonia.

Notable Macedonians

Revolutionaries

Main list: List of Macedonians (Greek)#Revolutionaries

Politicians

Main list: List of Macedonians (Greek)#Politicians

Other famous Macedonians

Main list: List of Macedonians (Greek)

Sports people

  • Olympic medalists
  • Basketball players
  • Football players

Miscellaneous

See also

Reference List

  1. ^ Jupp, J. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins, Cambridge University Press, October 1, 2001. ISBN 0-521-80789-1, p. 147.
  2. Vakalopoulos, Apostolos E. "History of Macedonia 1354-1833", Vanias Press (1984)
  3. ^ Pg.130Emmanuel Amand de Mendieta, Michael R. Bruce. "Mount Athos". Arbeitsgemeinschaft mit Hakkert, Amsterdam, 1972. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  4. In Greek "The Cultural Identity of Greeks in Pelagonia (1912-1930)" Nikolaos Vassiliadis, Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki, 2004, p.230
  5. Pg.699Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La. "International Dictionary of Historic Places". Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 2009-04-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Pg 29,32,39 Varban N. Todorov. "Greek federalism during the nineteenth century". East European Quarterly, 1995. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  7. ^ Institute for Balkan Studies. "Why wars widen". Society for Macedonian Studies, 1976. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  8. ^ Pg.49,50Institute for Balkan Studies. "Why wars widen". Society for Macedonian Studies, 1976. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  9. Stacy Bergstrom Haldi. "Why wars widen". Routledge. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  10. Kozani.net, Kozani Greek newsblog (in Greek)
  11. Marii︠a︡ Nikolaeva Todorova. "Balkan identities". C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  12. ^ Peter A. Mackridge, Eleni Yannakakis (1997). "Ourselves and others". Berg Publishers. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  13. Quote "a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece" ,from Wikiquote
  14. ^ RADIO FREE EUROPE Archive
  15. ^ Pg.32 Victor Roudometof (2002). "Collective memory, national identity, and ethnic conflict". Greenwood Publishing Group. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  16. Eurocentrique Column, New Europe - the European weekly Issue 802 (6 October 2008). "Macedonia enlarged,". New Europe. Retrieved 2009-05-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. Shayne Mooney, head of SBS news in Melbourne, TV coverage of the Greek Macedonian Rally in Melbourne in 1994
  18. Floudas, Demetrius Andreas; ""A Name for a Conflict or a Conflict for a Name? An Analysis of Greece's Dispute with FYROM",". 24 (1996) Journal of Political and Military Sociology, 285. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  19. Foreign Ministry spokesman G. Koumoutsakos quoting K.Karamanlis
  20. Encyclopedia of Associations, official US publication of registered associations in the United States, Washington 1993
  21. Encyclopedia of Associations, official US publication of registered associations in the United States, Washington 1993
  22. Jupp, J. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins, Cambridge University Press, October 1, 2001. ISBN 0-521-80789-1, p.418.
  23. ‎Studies in Greek Syntax (1999), Pg 98-99 Artemis Alexiadou, Geoffrey C. Horrocks, Melita Stavrou. "Preview in Google Books".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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