WHAT?!?! Those news items are small articles lost inside the papers. Even Makedonia newspaper did not focus on those events. The key news concerns universities, morgages, sexy phone calls and pictures from Mars.
The newspaper To Vima even used the Skopje Bishop's comments in Rome to stress that Religion - any religion anywhere - should keep well out of party politics, especially before elections! Any similar comments from Skopje?

Dear Alfavitas! First of all I agree with “any religion anywhere - should keep well out of party politics”, but the biggest problem here is that the GREEK church is a PART of the Greek political system! The Archbishop Stefan was talking about the cultural and linguistic meaning that Thessaloniki have, or use to have, since all possible traces from him are “vanished”, even the letters on the graves of the dead people! Second, if the Greek politicians are calling us IRREDENTISTS because the refugees who were sent away from Greece want their stolen properties back, than SAME should apply for the Greek Cypriots. I don’t see Greece calling Cyprus IRREDENTIST COUNTRY, but helping them and supporting them in their issue! Thus, I appeal to Greece and all the brainwashed greeks, to stop twisting the truth and act as if they are the victims here. You have a lot of sins! GOD will pay you for everything! ANATHEMA SAS!!!!

1/You are out of date about Greece and Cyprus. Greece supported the UN Annan Plan for Cyprus that would have settled the problem. Now Greece more or less accepts the status quo on the island, just wants the Turkish troops to leave.
2/Thessaloniki is full of notices and newspapers in Cyrilic (Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian)! It is fully aware of the importance of Ss Cyril and Methodius in the Slavonic world.
3/Therefore, Bishop Stephan twisted the fact. Greeks are against irredentism from Skopje and that is exactly what he preached in front of PM Gruevski.
4/The issue of properties? Greece is not even pushing for the stollen propeties from the over 100,000 Istanbul Greeks between 1955-1965!

I suggest you to go to Cyprus and ask the people first hand do they really “only want the Turkish troops to leave” or THEY WANT THEIR PROPERTIES BACK! And you are wrong if you believe that Greece is fine with the Anan plan, very, very, very wrong!
As for the Greek properties, you have the right to ask for them if you want.
The real problem here is that the Greeks are one of the most irredentistic people in the Balkans, but they are always putting the blame on everyone else but them. If Greece really have a good neighbouring attentions, this is certainly not the way to show it. In fact, with their politics, they made a nationalists from their people. We could leave in peace in the past 17 years, but Greece chose this circus instead. We hade the same name of the country and the same nationality for the past 60 years. Don’t you think is late for this Greek creation? And not to mention, it is very funny too! First of all, tell me, if Macedonia vas Greek kingdom and Alexander was Greek, then how come ONLY 2,5 million Greeks feel like Macedonians? What about the rest 8,5 million? This 2.5 million people are the people living on the geographic region called Macedonia. Do you know that from all the countries that have a part of the geographic region of Macedonia, ONLY Republic of Macedonia is 100% located on that region? So if your 2.5 mill. People have the right to call them selves Macedonians, then WE absolutely have the same right as well! What about the genetic proves that the Macedonians (people in Republic of Macedonia) are directly genetically connected with the antic Macedonians? Doesn’t this prove that we are nothing new in this parts of Europe, but we are one of the oldest people in the Mediterranean areas, and especially that we are NOT Slavs? What about all the other proves? What about the opinion of the Greek archaeologists in Vergina , that the Macedonian kingdom was completely different than the antic Greek polis? If you want to learn all the evidence, including the Greek evidence that Greece have nothing to do with Macedonia and Macedonians, just go to

www.historyofmacedonia.org
Guess what, Greece is done destroying evidence, now is a new era.

History of bananadonia org

Dear 23:21...

You will find many answers to your own post. You ask why the rest of the Greeks do not feel Macedonians? May I ask if the Albanians on your territories feel Macedonians?
The way you feel is related to where do you live. Of course you don’t expect people living on Crete, Rhodes and Cyclades feeling Macedonian. But you can be sure that they are very interest in the Macedonian issues.
Our position is that Macedonian is a part of our history, not all of our history. And I also remind you that from all countries that share the Macedonia region, Greece has the largest part, so we also have the right call ourselves Macedonians.

As for the genetic proves, can you provide us with detailed information about it? Because I heard, on a different forum of yours, that genetically we are very similar.

As of the Kingdom of Macedonia and it’s differences between the rest of the Greek area..
I am sure you know that Athens was the only true democracy of the ancient, times. I suppose you know that Spartans had a very strict oligarchy. So, according to your point of you, one of them was not Greek, right? Just because they had different kind of government. Now, tell me honestly, do you really believe that this is a proof? :D

And what about the language, the names, the culture that is similar to the rest of the Greeks?

Now, if you want to know more about the truth, visit:
http://history-of-macedonia.com/
http://macedonia-makedonia.blogspot.com/

First of all I told you go to www.historyofmacedonia.org and you will find all the answers about the language and all the other issues you are concerned, and also you will find the genetic study in a FULL version. Obviously you didn’t even open the page. So here some parts: "The Macedonians are one of the most ancient peoples existing in the Balkan Peninsula, probably long before arrival of the Mucaenian Greeks about 2000BC.""Macedonians are related to other Mediterraneans and do not show a close relationship with Greeks.""Much to our surprice,the reason why the Greeks did not show a close relatedness with all the other Mediterraneans analysed, was their genetic relationship with SUB-SAHARAN ethnic groups now residing ie Ethiopia, Sudan and West Africa.""Macedonians are NOT related with the geografically close Greeks, who DO NOT belong to the "older" Mediterranean substractum".
Second, about your question about the Albanians, normally they don’t feel like Macedonians, because they are not, they are MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS. You all are Greeks in Greece, at least your government says so. Then if Fillip’s and Alexander’s kingdom was Greek than all of you Greeks suppose to fill like Macedonians. Stop twisting it and try to get my point. Don’t mix two different things who don’t go together. Plus you didn’t prove to me that WE (the people in Republic of Macedonia) don’t have a right to call our selves MACEDONIANS. We have the right, despite you selfish Greeks want the exclusive right on it and are calling us Skopjanians. And now since we came to this point I will tell you that NOT all Macedonians FEEL like Skopjanians, simply because they are not from Skopje, but from Veles, Bitola,Kumanovo, Berovo….. BUT WE ALL FELL LIKE MACEDONIANS! If I’m wrong tell me, do the Greeks born and living in Australia feel like Greeks? Absolutely. Then all of you 11 Millions should feel like Macedonians. But you don’t, normally because even that 2.5 million Greeks are not real Macedonians, but ONLY people who live on the geographic region of Macedonia. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE!
The difference between the kingdom of Macedonia and the Greek polis is not in the political system, but in the sophistication. Just go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o7Pn5st68k

Well.. well.. well..
Yes, I found the genetic research! I also found the answer to that!

Look something I found :

Quote:
The Macedonians have a following percentage of Y-haplogroups (male lineages): E3b1 21.4% , I1b 29% , J2 12.2% , R1a 14.7% , R1b 7.8%.

Answer:
I1b (29%) and E3b1 21% makes a 50%. Both of those 2 alleles are common to slavs, first is to be found in dinaric populations,mostly in western balkans,(Bosnians as it is mentioned below),the latter one is typically slav,found across Russians,Poles etc.

So the results of the taken sample (bear this in mind,as i will come into that later) show that 1 out of 2 slav macedonians are exactly that: SLAVS.
Strangily enouph,there is no mention of any Bulgarian gene pool,and any connection between the gene pool of the slav macedonians and the bulgarian one. If we had a similar report of the bulgarian DNA we could make a comparison and see any possible similarities and differencies. Omitted? Who knows.
You can see more about that genetic reseach on :
http://history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/2007/03/09/fyromian-lies-over-slavic-populations-genetics-part-i/

So, my friend, the Genetic study you are mentioning clearly classifieds you as Slav. Thank you for that! If you want more answers, please let me know !


Let’s see what else do you comment…
The way you are grouping people is really amazing. The Albanians that live there are Macedonian Albanians but the Greeks living in out Macedonian are Greeks? And how you expect out government to call Greek citizens? Macedonians? You like to forget that Macedonia is only a part of our country. It’s like saying that since Skopia is a part of your “Macedonia” then everybody in your land should feel Skopians!

Personaly, I don’t agree with the name Skopians that Greeks used to call you. But we don’t have any other name to call your right now. FYROMians is worst I think.

I will examine your video later at home. But if you talk about sophistication then try to remember the difference between Sparta and Athens. They were different in almost everything. Does this make them unrelated?

REPLY to anonymous further up:

You might find it difficult to accept the facts bellow, but in the current climate of insecurity with the name problem, that is only human. And yes, this is a new era where Republika Makedonija will have a voice, welcome.
* Greece and Cyprus (just like Republika Makedonija and Bulgaria, Germany and Austria) are different countries, they must not be confused! They have different political priorities. In Athens, all political parties supported the Anan Plan; but most Greek Cypriot parties were against it and Greek-Cypriots voted against it. Greek and Turkish politicians are fed up with this unending Cyprus problem.
* 2 million Greeks feel Macedonians, the rest feel Peloponnesian, or Maniates, or Corfiot, or Cretan, Epirotes, Chiots, etc…
* Only 20% (I think) of historical Macedonia is contained in the borders of the ROM: the areas around Bitolia and Strumnitsa. But Ohrid, Titov Veles, Debar, Skopje, etc are not. But that is no problem.
* It is 100% certain that if you want to find out about the Macedonian kingdom, all the original sources and the direct quotes are in Greek and in the Greek alphabet (α,β,γ,δ,ε,ζ,η,θ,ι,κ.λ,μ...). It is also certain that they spoke Greek. No Greek = no sources.
* The Macedonian kingdom was different from the Greek polis; also King Leonidas with his Spartans were certainly not a typical polis, or the Kings of Crete, or King Agamemnon, or King Odysseus, etc.
These are facts. You can correct your facts without giving up your right to call yourself whatever you want. Perhaps you feel that if you accept them then you are sabotaging your ‘Macedonian identity’ as a citizen of the Republika Makedonija. Likewise, some Greeks may feel that if they study the history of their fellow Slavomacedonian citizens and those who claim property, that they are sabotaging their rights as Greeks. I disagree with both you and those Greeks. It is all a question of emphasis and perspective.
* Greeks are the most irredentist people in the Balkans? I have not seen that, please explain. They are probably ignorant but they are not at all irredentist. They just want to feel safe in their borders, from Prespa to Crete and Gavdos and from Kastelorizo to Corfu.
academic100@hotmail.co.uk