Australian MP clashed with Greek lobby about the history of Macedonia

Australian MP Alannah MacTiernan, who is a keen promoter of the Macedonian community and the request over Australia’s recognition of Macedonia’s constitutional name, has responded to the criticism by Greek politicians over the interpretation of history on the Balkans.

MacTiernan responds to the arguments of Greek politicians from her Labor Party, who insisted that the present Greeks are the only true descendants of the ancient Macedonians.

“It is not clear the original Macedonians can be described as ‘Greek’. In classical accounts, they conquered the Greeks and unified them into the Macedonian kingdom, which was then Hellenised. Indeed, the Battle of Chaeronea where the Macedonians defeated the Greeks in 338 BC was said to mark the end of Greek history and the beginning of the Macedonian era. The cultural victory of the vanquished is not unusual – the Vikings invaded Ireland but quickly embraced Celtic culture. You may be correct that the original Macedonia occupied a small area which is now entirely within modern Greece. However, I do note the area of the Republic was conquered by Philip II about the same time he subdued the Greek states. So it has been part of Macedonia for over two thousand years. When the Romans came to ascendancy, they included the area that now forms the Republic in their province of Macedonia. Even after the Slavonic invasion, the area was still known as Macedonia in the early Middle Ages. The Byzantine Emperor Basil I was acknowledged to be a Macedonian. Macedonian nationalism was evident through the 19th century”, says MacTiernan.

She adds, “In my view, your case that the selection of the name of Macedonia for the Republic is random is not proven and that clearly the area has historic connections to an evolving political entity known as Macedonia. I would be interested to know why you would think the gene pools of the areas would line up with accidents of modern geo-political boundaries. Invading groups have always interbred with native populations. Indeed, Alexander the Great used to encourage his soldiers to do precisely that. Likewise, the Goths and the Slavs intermixed with Macedonians and Greeks alike. Hence, in my view, the gene pools of Greek Macedonians and those from the Republic are likely to be very similar. I do not see myself as choosing between Australian Greeks and Australian Macedonians”.