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MACEDONIA
HERITAGE, HISTORY, RELIGION AND CULTURE

Macedonian regional integrity as well as territorial and political continuity is very hard to dispute.
Its natural consistency and connectivity thru the Vardar valley, its regional influence as a central and
transit point for trade and commerce as well as maritime access to the sea ports of the Aegean Sea
have always made it the heart of the Balkan Peninsula.
The favourable weather patterns, the naturally rich soil, the water access thru the river and the Sea,
have made it an enormously attractive region for settlement thru the ages.
No other region could boast of such a competitive location, but as well, the country has always been
naturally resourceful and could always offer much to a farmer and shepherd.
Macedonia has always been an extremely attractive region for settlement.
Not only that, its landscape, its stiff hills and tall mountains, the many places very hard to access
and reach, the forests that could equally be as much hospitable as hostile, the extreme weather
patterns that could deliver scorching hot summers and extremely cold icy winters, have made
Macedonia historically a region where many could settle.
The tall mountains have always been highly strategic and a good place to withdraw from the hostile
invader, providing natural protection for the natives.
These isolated an unapproachable parts of the region have contributed to the establishment of self-
sufficient communities, who reinforced their identity by strengthening their own culture.
And many have done exactly that thru history, from the Dorians, who were naturally introvert and
distinct among all other Greeks, the Illyrian tribes who were scattered thru the continental parts of
the region, the Thracians, who were among the first generation of settlers, only form a part of the
First wave of settlement.
This early Macedonians lived in tribal communities run by family Elders; they were very simple and
unsophisticated farmers and workers of the land.
They were pagans and worshipped many Gods, following each their own tribal cults and rituals,
tradition forming among their own clan.
One could hardly talk about society and civilisation back then, as the social model between them
was one of tribal and family orientated character.
Religion was not standardised, and each tribe followed their own cults and worshipped in their own
style, not even holding onto much of a set tradition.
Statehood and consolidation into one political entity came along with the Kingdom of Macedonia.
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Over time as a class structure was developed and hierarchy was established, members of the
aristocracy formed the social elite.
Society was more structured and hierarchy formed along the lines of social and class distinction.
Monarchy was the preferred social and political model to administer the region, which evolved into
a kingdom, in contrast of the mainstream political trends further south where most of the
intellectual and scientific knowledge came from.
The fact that Greece during this entire period was the intellectual and scientific role model is beyond
dispute; however, Hellenization in Macedonia was a gradual process that evolved over time.
Besides, Macedonian politics were dominated with much more important regional issues of
consolidation of statehood and centralisation of power around a single monarch.
These mainstream trends were distinct for each of the two regions.
Macedonia as it united formed a local regional military power, in contrast with the Greek city states
that were enormously independent minded and orientated towards implementation of democracy.
Regional power struggle for domination in Greece left an enormous power vacuum that was easily
exploited by not only the Macedonians, but just as well by the more distant Persians, who developed
a position of intimidating strength by growing as the dominant Asian Empire conquering all along the
way.
It is a fact beyond dispute that despite of enormous Hellenic influence, Macedonia was a political
and regional entity, being distinct in its social and political model.
Macedonia explored another route of regional consolidation and a coalition of local tribes united in
a political alliance thru the institution of royal family.
Power marriages were deliberately forged, and the king himself set the standard and married many
women from all the tribes that participated in the kingdom union.
Phillip II was known to have had many wives, the most famous of them all being the mother of
Alexander, Olympia, and local Illyrian princess.
This example would form the bedrock and it is how the Macedonian identity would be formed.
All these mixed marriages would create a nation distinctly Macedonian, a rich cosmopolitan mix of
all local regional tribes encouraged to mix and assimilate into one unified kingdom.
Macedonia was in fact a confederation of tribes, where more than one language was spoken.
Greece developed a whole different tradition in its own right; however, Hellenization brought the
two neighbouring regions together and closer.
Having said all this, Hellenization and being Greek are two different issues.
Much of the world today is heavily influenced by the American culture, but that does not all make us
Americans.
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Macedonian regional authenticity and integrity remained distinct and original.
This is in no way to suggest that Hellenism was not adopted as a colonial culture export and
dominated Macedonian society, still the differences on regional level always remained distinct.
Regional competition developed early on in the history of the region.
As Philip II conquered entire Greece, it was their culture that overwhelmingly spread far and wide
thru the entire known world.
We observed just earlier the natural hostility of the region as well as its inaccessibility, creating a
contradictory situation.
In times of peace and prosperity, when the people lived together side by side and were encouraged
to mix and integrate, the regional borders were easily crossed from one end to another allowing the
many various tribes to create a thriving and vibrant society.
However, when intolerance and war prevailed, and superstition, discrimination and prejudice filled
the air, the natives took advantage of the natural hostility of the region to remain distinctly isolated
and excluded from one other.
This has always been the dual nature of Macedonia, naturally hostile to outsiders and mesmerizingly
attractive and invigorating to its natives, a jewel in the Balkan crown.
Over time, distinct patterns in periodic history would emerge and develop in the region, making it
pre-emptive and predictable to anticipate future developments.
Having always been enormously proud of its own independence and sovereignty, Macedonia has
been a world conqueror, but it has just as well been conquered and occupied over time and again.
Each and every major European power has been present in the region at some point and has left its
cultural and imperial impact on the rich national heritage.
All these are a part of the distinct collective national treasure and experience.
Every empire will create its own distinct period, and would in turn create a movement of people and
mass migration to and from the land.
The arrival of the Romans and their rise to power swallowed up the eroded Macedonian mainland,
as after the death of Alexander and his sudden departure without leaving a competent heir to
inherit the empire created such power vacuum that was easily filled by dividing it among his generals
who obtained regional control and most of the time fought a war against each other regarding land
and border disputes, as well as regional domination.
The first Jewish communities in Macedonia arrived during this time, adding to the rich tapestry of
ethnicities, and contributing to the cosmopolitan mix, adding further to the Macedonian Melting
Pot.
Following imperial growth, the Jews scattered around the Mediterranean and established a thriving
diaspora of merchants and traders predominantly involved in the movement and shipping of goods.
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Christianity followed suit and established its stronghold in Macedonia with the arrival of St. Paul and
his teaching and religious mission, preaching the inevitable salvation and the arrival of the kingdom
of heaven thru the Saviour and messiah.
Inside the Roman Empire, particularly in the regions of Macedonia and Greece, the Greek power
base dominated, and easily squeezed out the ruling Romans, whose imperial decline and withdrawal
from the region saw the establishment of Byzantium.
This central maritime port city on the Bosporus, established in Antiquity, was gradually growing into
a regional centre of trade and commerce.
Christianity grew from strength to strength, and became the predominant faith subsequently
infiltrating as a state religion into the emerging Byzantine Empire, replacing the old polytheist and
pagan cults.
Orthodox Christianity would dominate this region ever since as the main religion, and would in turn
culturally shape both Macedonia and Greece creating rich Orthodox heritage and tradition spanning
two millennia.
The Byzantine Empire would rule the then known world thru professing the warship of Christianity
as the true revelation and the only way to obtain Salvation and entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
The roots of anti-Semitism would be planted here on a purely religious base, claiming the Jews
rejection of the Messiah would be their denial to leave the Age of Ignorance and enter the
Enlightment Era.
Byzantiums rise to power would enable their promotion of Christianity into a world religion and due
to this influence the reminder of Europe would follow suit.
Once again, this part of the world would dominate contemporary politics, and the Byzantine Empire
would be the new super power of the day.
The Greeks would once again resume position of power thru obtaining influence in the church as
well as inherently taking over dominant positions in politics, administration and all other positions in
society.
Constantinople would in turn become the worlds most beautiful and glamorous city of the Era, a
statement of wealth and cultural achievement.
Macedonia would for few centuries become the peripheral backwater and would be excluded from
the main events of the day leaving it in a remotely state and a period of provincial inactivity.
As business and politics move further towards Byzantium and the maritime ports cities on the
Aegean Sea, the mainland would become remote and laid back and would depopulate.
Macedonia would once again be invigorated with the arrival of the Slav, the Vlachs and the Bulgars.
This would historically be viewed as the second big wave of migration of tribes and people into
Macedonia, adding further to the rich multicultural mix.
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Much has been speculated about the extent of assimilation and the level of interaction between the
natives and the new arriving tribes, however, theres absolutely no evidence of expulsion or perhaps
wars of extermination and ethnic cleansing.
Whatever happened was peaceful and spontaneous and contributed to the cosmopolitan mix of the
land.
With time the Slavs would become the second big element in Macedonia besides Orthodox
Christianity, and when they finally merge would contribute more to the cultural and religious
identity than any other confession or ethnicity, creating distinct Slav Macedonian Heritage.
Byzantine influence in Macedonia would spread thru conquest and war, but just as well thru the
Church, that at least in the Empire was becoming increasingly Greek and the main promoter of
Greek nationalism.
This role of the Greek Orthodox Church would dominate regional politics, and would influence much
of the events for centuries.
Greek nationalism would evolve and form very early on in European History, much earlier even than
the one that would spread thru Western Europe.
Most of the regional struggles in Macedonia would be a result to curb and eradicate infiltration and
penetration of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Contrary to popular belief, Christianity was the main cause in Europe of Xenophobia, intolerance,
superstition and prejudice for centuries, particularly among the Catholic world.
Prosecution and expulsions were the natural way to deal with minorities particularly against the
Jews.
Segregation and the most awful discrimination and inferior subject status were all prophesised by
the Catholic Church including the Inquisition and the Crusades.
Much to everyones surprise its the arrival of the Ottomans that would provide relief for the
prosecuted Jews and minorities of Europe.
The Ottoman expansion into the Balkans would in turn provide the third big wave of settlement and
migrations into Macedonia with the arrival of the Sephardic Jews from Spain.
However it has always been a traditional tendency in Macedonia to extend hospitality and to
provide freedom of warship for the new comers instead of insisting on assimilating the arrived into
the existing population.
Mixing has always been encouraged but not at the expense of ones roots and heritage as well as a
compromise between ones old and new identity.
Despite of all the contemporary criticism, the Millet system that was introduced to administer and
manage the various communities across the Ottoman Empire was revolutionary in many ways,
particularly given the fact that the only offered alternative available to remain to live in Western
Europe was to be totally assimilated and converted.
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Having said this, event those who made severe decisions to convert were a subject of prosecution,
hence the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition.
I will not go any further into Catholic Middle Age Xenophobia and paranoia, but some of the biggest
crimes against humanity and abuse of human rights were done in the name of the Pope in Rome.
Aldo the second class subject status was formally established; the Millet system offered whole
religious autonomy and right to warship, religious observance was never an issue of prosecution in
itself, and each Millet had its own right to administer itself with a great degree of autonomy,
extended to the right to educate its constituents in their own language.
On the other hand, Western Europe back at the same time saw the introduction of the Ghetto, the
prosecution of many Renaissance scientists for trying to break away from religious superstition on
more obvious issues of neglect and ignorance towards their subjects to keep them in place.
Anyway, for much of the period Muslim Spain provided edge and pushed the scientific envelope and
was the heart of science and education providing a blueprint for the Italian renaissance.
Toledo and Cordoba were the European cultural and University centres, and to one of the greatest
blunders in European history, much of this intellectual wisdom and superior knowledge was
transferred to Ottoman Macedonia and the then already fallen Constantinople, that became
Istanbul.
Given that much of the intelligentsia in Spain was Jewish as well as Arabic, the intellectual heart of
Spain was expelled and shifted in one of the most controversial exchanges of brain power in known
history, being done purely out of religious indoctrination.
Such deliberate and nave loss of intellectual power base, to an almost nave extent has not been
known to have happened elsewhere.
This giveaway of scientists would much improve the Ottoman position and would increase its
competitive advantage against all other contenders for the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe.
Of course, the financial advantages as well as the contribution to the Ottoman economy by the
arrival of the Sephardim make their expulsion even more detrimental from Spain.
This would greatly improve the overall balance of power; it would create a greater cash flow and
much better money supply in the Ottoman Empire and it would harden the colonial grip on Eastern
Europe.
The Sephardim would in time re-establish in Macedonia, mostly in the city of Salonika, which would
become known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans.
Speaking three different languages on average, they will form once again the intellectual core and
would easily integrate among the Ottoman Elite, becoming or resuming their old businesses
enterprises.
The arrival of the Jews in Salonika would greatly improve its financial position in the Empire.
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The city would experience a substantial population growth, not only credited to the Sephardim, but
as well as a result of the improved opportunities for trade and commerce.
Salonika would become the biggest Ottoman maritime port and would engage in shipping and
shipbuilding.
Its character and appearance would be a true reflection of the many ethnicities and confessions that
have found a place in it.
Sephardic Jews, Bulgarians from a variety of social backgrounds whod dominate the hinterland as
well as Serbs, Montenegrins, Vlachs, Turks, Armenians, and many more people from both the
Ottoman as well as the Balkan lands would mix freely in the larger society, working together for the
common good of all.
Ottoman Macedonia could offer many incentives and basic freedoms opposed in West Europe for
the most part.
Criticism of the Millet system is only approved from the perspective of contemporary world affairs,
as well as some kind of retrospective opinion, but fact of the matter is, after the Holocaust, one
could hardly argue that things were better anywhere in Europe.
Of course, the Ottomans participated in their own colonial endeavours of ethnic cleansing and mass
prosecutions.
The Armenian genocide is a milestone of inhumanity and unfortunately tells much about our animal
nature despite of several millennia of civilisation.
Having said this; it is the events in Macedonia that would determine the future Ottoman foreign
policy as well as their overall course in inter-ethnic relations.
Much of the contemporary political Map in Macedonia and the Balkans would be drawn up between
the end of the 19
th
and the beginning of the 20
th
century.
Ottoman decline is a totally separate subject matter, however, imperial withdrawal generally always
leaves huge power vacuum, open to opportune manoeuvring.
The great powers obsessed to preserve the fragile balance of power made all the wrong decisions,
besides the only people who were not consulted were the natives and the people who lived there
themselves.
The partition of Macedonia is the greatest blunder that happened as consequence of the departure
of the Ottomans and it never achieved its objective, it only added to more human suffering, war and
displacement of people.
The Aegean part of Macedonia had for centuries been populated with Vlachs, Bulgarians, and Turks,
as well as a substantial amount of Sephardic Jews who lived for the most part in Salonika, as well as
all the other denominations and confessions of the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans.
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Until the partition Greeks have only been a small minority equalling those of the Macedonian born
Turks, scattered mostly around the big towns and Salonika, but hardly any of them lived in the
countryside.
One can only focus on the fluctuations between ethnicities in Salonika to get an idea of the
deliberate and state sponsored campaigns to change the social structure in Macedonia, particularly
after it had been divided among superficial and totally artificial lines.
Not one single border reflected and took into account the historic and traditional integrity of the
region, let alone the fact that it would only lead to more war and displacement followed by ethnic
cleansing and exiles.
For Greece this was only a colonial expansion into a land they could hardly make any heritage claims
to, given that it would concern not recent but historic claims from Antiquity.
It is a fact beyond any dispute that an overwhelming majority of the Aegean countryside had for
more than a millennia and a half been predominantly Bulgarian, with every other ethnicity, from
Vlachs to Serbs and to Spanish Jews living for centuries all established in their own communities and
in the social life of the country.
The historic consistency and continuum of Greek presence are only forged; even the Greeks who
replaced the expelled population had been from Anatolia having no historic connection to
Macedonia at all.
Unfortunately, official mainstream world history provides a view that has been deliberately
fabricated to insinuate a claim to a land in the same way the Jews made their argument to the right
of return to Palestine.
It is appalling that people like me have to be branded revisionists to get any attention and an
opportunity to be heard, concerning the only truth that has been side lined and marginalised to such
aggressive Greek propaganda, with abuse of their world lobby and diaspora as well as their
connections in the EU.
The Macedonian Exodus is no less appalling than what happened to the Armenians or the
Palestinians.
The biggest irony of all is the denial of the Greek government the right of the Macedonians to their
self-determination and the use of the name, on a false pretence of identity theft.
Stereotype patterns of colonial style land confiscation to later deny it to its own inhabitants, has
repeated thru history, in fact Ben Gurion and Herzl as well as the other Zionists leaders of the
movement were heavily influenced by the developments in Macedonia.
Aegean Macedonia was a gift of territory out of fear for the Slav regional expansion.
At the same time, a German noble blood line of aristocrats infiltrated into the Greek Royal family,
influencing the newly established kingdom in the Balkans thru its Monarchy.
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What better other way is there than to penetrate the highest levels of society thru a power marriage
into the family that rules the country?
As the process of Hellenization took place to reinvent the Greek history in order to create
consistency of land ownership and Greek right to a claim, the German royal family indoctrinated the
elite with Arian philosophy of Ubermensch ideology and the Superior Race fascist doctrine that
would dominate German politics for time to come.
And it was mutual, the cultural exchange working both ways to forge history to a noble past and just
as well to give the Germans the most obnoxious continuum and connection between Germany and
Classical Greece from Antiquity.
Both campaigns being public relations success, they both succeeded to create history, not with facts
but by aggressive marketing.
This is the only way to explain the horrendous influence on German art and architecture from the
period from distant Classical Greece.
In Greece it was even easier to forge history to reinvent two thousand years of national history, and
deny its own rich byzantine and Ottoman Heritage to produce a distinct and strict national heritage
based on antiquity.
Hellenization even marginalized the power of the Orthodox Church in Greece.
As far as the relentless effort to assimilate all the other ethnicities within the borders of Greece and
how Greece from one of the most cosmopolitan regions on Earth became ethnically clean, we
dedicate a whole new essay.
The creation of a one nation Greek state was a gradual process of ethnic cleansing and assimilation,
state sponsored expulsions and prosecution enforced thru an official policy implemented thru their
institutions that would see massive removal and displacement of people from whole regions, and
would span over several decades.
For those who made the hard decision to stay on and resume living in the newly emerged Kingdom
of Greece, total assimilation was the only available option left.
Never mind that, the Greeks were a small minority as big as the native Greek born Turks who have
lived in the region since it has been integrated into the Ottoman Empire.
The lowest and most underestimated figures state that 650.000 ethnic Bulgarians were forcefully
removed from Aegean Macedonia and displaced from their homes, property and personal assets.
Just as the Palestinians, no right of return applies to them, despite of the fact that some of them still
have the keys to their own houses they were removed from; however, it is the Greeks who settled
into their homes from Anatolia who claim consistency and continuity of land ownership and
presence in the land.
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These arguments have been presented in the long standing Name dispute, but as far as the EU is
concerned for the hypocrisy to only grow bigger, it is the Republic of Macedonia that has to make
further concessions.
Despite of all the compromises offered, the Greeks would never resume negotiations, their
acquisition of Aegean Macedonia has always been an occupying colonial effort and the country has
been stolen in the same way Palestine was from the Zionists.
The Greeks will never recognise the assimilation of the Arnaut Orthodox Albanians into their
population by force, the massacre at Kukus, the hundreds and hundreds of schools burned to the
ground, the removal by genocide and mass murder of all the ethnic Turks who have been a part of
the rich Ottoman heritage of the region, the denial of no other but ethnic Orthodox Greeks to be the
only part of the population even today, the destruction of churches and synagogues, and so on
Revisionists are poring over misinterpreted documents to revive a part of European history that was
totally counterfeited to swipe the facts under the carpet, in order to recognise the true extent to
which human rights were abused and to get credit for all the crimes against humanity.
Today finally, revisionists question the real cause for the great Fire of Salonika from 1917, as it was
surgically accurate in its deliberate destruction of the Jewish district, and it coincided with the same
being done in Smyrna after the withdrawal of the Greeks from the town.
Despite of popular thinking that Venizelos and Ataturk were ingenious in their negotiations and
saved many lives with the population swap agreement, they both indoctrinated two traditionally
cosmopolitan regions with extreme nationalism and enforced the creation of two separate ethnically
clean nation states.
We must be very cautious when we criticise the Ottoman system of government in retrospect,
however, we must just as well bear in mind that those were the days of imperial rule, forced labour,
legal slavery as well as slave trade, and the reminder of Europe was filled with ghettos, the Russian
Empire was starved under a totalitarian autocrat who encouraged pogrom against minorities, and
despite of all shortcomings the overall situation for minorities of other confession and ethnicities
was much better under Turkish rule.
Fact of the matter is Britain did not do any better at all at the time, it was an Empire ravaged with
extreme social injustice, and a minority white elite ruled by fear and force.
As far as for Ataturks status in modern Turkey, I hope that the overall level of education would
improve over time for the nation to become more informed of the real extent of the damage done
to Anatolia with the arrival of the Young Turks as well as their xenophobic ethnic cleansing and
genocides committed against the Armenians, as well as all other minorities.
Today we live in a time with a totally distorted view of what really happened a hundred years ago,
not only because of the fact that history is very interpretative but just as well because whole
countries forged their national past to avoid responsibility of past crimes against humanity.
I must reiterate that the only country in the region that is truly transparent of its past cosmopolitan
and multi-ethnic character is the Republic of Macedonia.
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To put it in a blunt and very shallow way, Aegean Macedonia is as much Greek as Anatolia is Turkish,
both of them being a political product of superficial human engineering to reinvent the traditional
social fabric of inherently two cosmopolitan regions.
Contemporary view of modern mainstream history is nothing more than an opportune way to
describe that countries and entire regions are traditionally occupied by a single nation, in other
words an explanation for the superficial borders that established even more totally artificial states.
For Aegean Macedonia to be true to its real multi-ethnic heritage and this rich tapestry of faith, and
many nations that lived there for centuries, it would have to be no less cosmopolitan than the
Republic of Macedonia, that today is a home of an established Turkish and Vlach, Albanian and
Jewish, Serb, Bulgarian and Bosnian communities, who have all been there consistently thru time.




















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