Greek President makes anti-Macedonian speech

- Speaking on the anniversary of a late 19 century battle in which Greece took the city of Elassona from the Turks, Greek President  Prokopis Pavlopoulos said that the battle marked the beginning of the "liberation of Macedonia", adding that Macedonia will "forever remain Greek".

"Those who deny the Greek character of Macedonia are an object of ridicule due to their senseless claims", President Pavlopoulos said, in an apparent barb at the Republic of Macedonia and the decades long name dispute between Macedonia and Greece, during which Greece has blocked Macedonia's entry into NATO and the European Union while demanding that Macedonia must change its name.

Such statements are popular among Greek nationalists, who on average score better results in the northern parts of Greece, or the Greek regions of Macedonia. The region of Macedonia was held by the Ottoman Turks until the Balkan wars in the early 1910s, in which Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece fought initially against the Turks, and then among themselves, to divide the region. Greece claims that the once diverse population of Macedonia, which included Macedonians, Greeks, Turks, Roma, Vlachs and Jews, is now homogeneously Greek and the emergence of independent Macedonia in 1991 has been a rallying cry for Greek nationalists for decades.

Greek media see the statement by Pavlopoulos as a response of sorts to the recent snub in New York, where the United States invited Macedonia to attend a meeting of their coalition to fight violent extremism under its constitutional name, and not under the clumsy interim reference name. The United States, Canada, China, India have joined over 130 countries that recognize Macedonia under its constitutional name.

Always fighting against common sense

This is what the EFA had to say in its press release:

EFA is appalled by the recent statements of the Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos regarding the Macedonian people and the absurd dispute Greece has created over the name of another sovereign country.

Mr. Pavlopoulos was quoted to say that “…those who doubt the Greek-ness (!) of Macedonia are making a fool of themselves” and that “Macedonia is and will remain Greek (!)”.

Such words of irredentism and intolerance are not only unacceptable and completely unworthy of an EU statesman in the 21st century but they also contravene essential common sense. Everyone knows that there is a large number of ethnic Macedonians residing in the Greek part of Macedonia and that there is an independent country called Republic of Macedonia in Greece’s northern border.

It is very disheartening to find out that the “new” political establishment in Greece is closely following the footsteps of its predecessors by walking away from UN conferences only because Macedonia is there under its constitutional name and by denying the mere existence of the Macedonian people.