The neo-Nazi attacks on minorities, the rising
extremism, the connections between the state, the secret police and the church
in defending the Greek national myth and the absurd refusal to let minorities
call themselves as they like were some of the most serious accusations
concerning the attitude of Greece toward the non-Greek communities living in
the country. Their concerns were voiced at the public debate in Washington
attended by representatives of the Macedonian, Turkish and Albanian ethnic
communities in Greece. The present representatives of US organizations for
protection of human rights and analytical centers listened in disbelief to the
personal testimonies of persecuted Archimandrite Nikodim Tsarknias and the
reports of the arrests of muftis in the Turkish-populated towns and villages of
Greece, reports Cvetin Cilimanov, MIA's Washington-based correspondent.
"How is it possible for such a country to be
an EU member state?" a representative of the Woodrow Wilson International
Center wondered out loud.
Archimandrite Tsarknias recounted that many times
he was taken into custody by the Greek police and driven by another service as
far as possible from the Macedonian towns in Greece under the pressure of Greek
politicians, the police and the clergy.
"I was continuously accused of being
disobedient, of not being a good Greek and of being an autonomist and all of
this even before Macedonia became independent and the "Macedonian
issue" appeared. In Greece, in order to be a priest, even today, you need
a certificate from the Greek police that you are 'a good Greek,' he said.
The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) hosted the
event, which took place in its offices near the White House and at which
representatives of the three ethnic communities discussed their joint action
with the aim of improving minority rights in Greece.
Eugenia Natsulidu, a representative of UMD for
Greece, gave a somber recount of the neo-Nazi political party Golden Dawn.
"The rise of Golden Dawn and the neo-Nazi and fascist ideology has been
groomed, led and promoted by the parts of the Greek society that want no
changes in their country and who will lose their privileges if the country
becomes truly democratic," she said.
She defined the Greek Orthodox Church as one of the social forces
promoting Golden Dawn.
Representatives of the three ethnic communities in
Greece also met in Washington with Suzan Johnson Cook, Ambassador at Large for
International Religious Freedoms at the US Department of State.
We, the Albanians from Chameria, have old
connections with Macedonians. Alexander is our shared, both Macedonian and
Albanian, hero. He is neither Macedonian nor Greek, he is both Macedonian and
Albanian, Sali Bollati, Secretary General of the Albanian-American Organization
Chameria (AAOC), said at the conference in Washington. His testimonial about the
expulsions from Greece when he was a child, after the end of World War II, the
frequent internments in Albania, the countries of the Warsaw Pact, the exile to
the USA and the recent bans on ethnic Albanians from Greece to enter the
country resembled to a large extent the plight experienced by the ethnic
Macedonians driven out of Greece. Chameria is a region in northwest Greece
around the city of Preveza, populated by Albanians.
"Our Albanian government should be more like
the Macedonian. Your government openly tells the Greeks - we are Macedonians.
Your government is proud of its Macedonian descent and fights for it. Greece,
which is a bankrupt country, on the other hand, is fighting to protect the
Greek heritage in Albania and with German money pays salaries to Greeks living
in the southern parts of Albania," Bollati said.
Macedonian Information Centre
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