Greeks in Australia Angry Over Plans for Macedonian Conference in Lerin

The announcement from the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee that they will hold a conference in the city of Lerin (known as Florina in Greek) in mid July, has sparked angry reactions from Greek nationalists in Australia.

The conference, that will focus on Macedonian history, sociological, linguistic, anthropological and political issues, is being co­organized by AMHRC and the European Free Alliance ­ Rainbow, a liberal Greek political party that represents various discriminated groups in Greece, and is allied with the Green ­ regionalist European Free Alliance party. The conference is planned to coincide with the Ovcharani gathering, the largest cultural event of ethnic Macedonians living in Greece that features traditional songs and dances that were routinely banned in Greece under the policy of nonrecognition of ethnic minorities.


The conference in Lerin is supposed to include many guests from abroad, including members of the European Parliament. But, Australian Greek nationalists react strongly against the plan of an Australian Macedonian organization to hold such a conference within Greece. Neos Kosmos, newspaper of Greek Australians, quotes Greek commentators who claim that the conference will "inflame tensions, cultivate regional instability and is a political stunt". Anastasios Tamis, a controversial Greek academic from Australia, claims that the conference is provocative to Greeks. "The event will inflame already intense tensions in the region and cultivate instability.

Its aim is to portray that 'Macedonia' is not just a geographic region ­ where various ethnicities lived for hundreds of years ­ sharing common cultural concepts and religious perceptions, but the country of
the new ethnicity of the Balkans, namely the 'Macedonians'. The conference is being called in Florina, Greece to negate the claims of Greeks on Macedonia and to generate ill tensions", Tamis, a frequent commentator on Greek national issues who has also been investigated for fraud related to Greek groups activities in Australia, told Neos Kosmos.

Greece has refused to recognizeMacedonia under its constitutional name, due to the fact that it has a province also called Macedonia. Lerin (Florina) is in Greek Macedonia, close to the border, and has a significant Macedonian population that has faced pressure from Greek authorities to adopt a Greek identity. Greek nationalist groups, both domestic and from the diaspora, continue to push the country against resolving the name issue, which has blocked Macedonia's entry into NATO and the European Union.



MIA correspondent in Athens reports that AMHRC organized a similar conference in Melbourne in 2013, to mark the 100 year anniversary of the end of the Second Balkan War, when the then Ottoman province of Macedonia was divided between Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Documents used in the 2013 conference will be published later this year in a book prepared by professors Victor Friedman and Jim Hlavac. Friedman has been exposed to attacks by Greek nationalists in the past, during a visit to Athens together with European Free Alliance ­ Rainbow representatives to present an old Macedonian-Greek dictionary.

- See more at: http://www.independent.mk/articles/16838/Greeks+in+Australia+Angry+Over+Plans+for+Macedonian+Conference+in+Lerin#sthash.i9O6uGwL.dpuf



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