SEPTEMBER 1997

by Christina Rougheri, Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group - Gr.

ABSTRACT

Reactions regarding Article 19 and the legalization of immigrants. Correlation with security and national homogeneity issues. A more positive climate in the press regarding the future of the Greek-Albanian relations, always in connection with the demand for respect regarding the Greek minority rights. A variety of comments on the "aid package" to Albania. Albanians = the usual suspects, even in cases of gastro-enteritis in Kastoria. The course of the Bulgarian economy is assessed as encouraging. Historical references having a provocative attitude with regard to the nature of the Slavo-Turks. A bright exception is El. Increasingly more words are said on a Greek minority in Macedonia. For the umpteenth time, reactions regarding the name. Views on irredentism and ideological constructions. More cool-headed voices. As a rule, internal problems and economy are in the forefront. Optimism with regard to Romania’s economy. Anticipated interest with regard to the elections in Serbia. Turning of Milosevic into a protagonist in the elections. Different assessments by El. Reactions and anti-Islamic comments on the occasion of G. Papandreou’s visit to Sarajevo. The evil and barbarous face of Turkey in the past (references to the Asia Minor Catastrophe and to the 1955 events), in the present (operation against the Kurds in Northern Iraq, banning of the manifestation of the "train of peace", and also in the future. Anti-Turkish statements by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Th. Pangalos. Diverse comments, all anti-Turkish in essence. An opportunity for defusing feelings. References to the country’s internal affairs. Reservations regarding the initiatives taken at the other side of the Aegean Sea, scant exceptions.

The Greeks’ general feeling of superiority vis-a-vis their neighbors is reflected in the following commentary: "The usual exaggerations expressed by the spokesman of the government: ‘The neighboring countries and the friendly peoples inhabiting them are our fellow-travellers into the future’. Now let us see: in every sector, Albania is fifty years behind, Bulgaria is at the limits of bankruptcy, Turkey claims half the Aegean Sea. Only Serbia is in a good state, even though it must heal the wounds inflicted during the civil war. Consequently, precisely whom are we going to march with into the future?" (E.T. 6/9).

The discussion on the forthcoming repeal of Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code continues also this month. The reactions on the part of the opposition press, the political world and representatives of the Church are intensifying. "Mr. Damaskinos, Metropolite of Maronia (Komotini), characterizes the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, G. Papandreou, as ‘unrealistic’. The characterization is given because, in an interview to a journalist in Komotini, Mr. Papandreou gave the assurance that it is planned to repeal of Article 19. It is really a tragic thing that Mr. Papandreou discusses such an issue a few days before the sixth of September, anniversary of the pogrom against the Greeks in Constantinople in 1955, which was one of the major causes for which 100,000 people of Greek descent became refugees. In the opinion of the Metropolite of Maronia, it is certain that the repeal of Article 19 will generate national danger in Thrace, since the doors will be opened for thousands of Muslims to recover Greek citizenship, who distinguish themselves ‘for the devotedness and fanaticism in the idea of annexing Greek Thrace to Turkey" (E.T. 5/9). "‘If thise residing in the celebrated city [Athens] have decided to deliver Thrace undefended to the claws of Turkish greed, we shall resist with all our forces’" (Metropolite Demaskinos, Ap. 18/9). "‘It is a criminal action, equivalent to national treason because it aims at creating the prerequisites for a future claim with reason on this region on the part of Turkey’" (Metropolite Panteleimon, Ap. 18/9). "Nevertheless, the native Greeks know that the modification of Article 19 changes the anthropography of Thrace on the borderline, it introduces into our ancestral land a declared ‘Turkish minority’ from Turkey and from the European workers who are Muslim, it gives away an overwhelming majority to a Muslim swarm under the direct command of Turkish officers ‘teachers’ and ‘consulate officials’ in the Xanthi and Rhodope prefectures, and it transforms the native Greek Thracians into a ‘national minority’ within their own fatherland" (A.T. 10/9). "And the competent people are here asked: Do you know that for more than ten years now, Turkey has been striving to have this Article repealed through rectruited agents in Thrace and well-paid members of international organisations who supposedly care for human rights which are so ‘flourishing’ in the neighboring country? Do you know that, in the event of a retrospective repealing of the Article under discussion, the population balance which is already sensitive will be radically upset, and that Thrace will be essentially conquered from within? Where will the invaders be housed and what will they occupy themselves with? Could it be that the land of the Christians which was bought with so much easiness is intended for them? Could it be that they will come only in order to vote? Who will decide (after forty-five years) on how many and who will return? Could it be that these people will be various Ankara instruments as well as homeless and landless, in accordance with the models set by the settlers in Cyprus? What will be applicable with regard to the Greeks who were collectively chased out of Constantinople and whose properties have been confiscated? Could it be that we also open the doors to others who live, for well-known reasons, in Skopje or elsewhere now?" (Ap. 13/9).

With regard to the abolition of the office of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Thrace, the comments made by the opposition press were also in a similar climate. "PASOK cadres and Members of Parliament in Northern Greece have the obligation to demand that the Prime Minister, K. Simitis, stops the strange and suspicious decision to abolish the office of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Thrace. It is not possible to let Greek Thrace become a ‘prey’ in the claws of the Turkish MIT who carries on arbitrarily via the Komotini consulate" (A.T. 9/9).

The visit to Thrace realized by the Greek Helsinki Monitor and the corresponding American committee (Helsinki Watch) are dealt with in a particularly negative manner. Most of the articles referring to this fact attribute partiality and anti-Hellenic aims to the international group. Characteristically, E.T. (11/9) states: "Particular discontent has been caused to the local authorities by the fact that the members of the Organization, headed by some American who arrived... by road in a coach from Turkey, exhausted ‘the objective recording’ of the situation by making contacts with notorious extremist elements from the minority who expounded the familiar mythology on ‘oppression against the Turks in Western Thrace’. Typical was the fact that the group from ‘Helsinki Monitor’ avoided to meet with the legitimate mufti in Xanthe, but they hastened to listen to the views of the ‘pseudo-mufti’, Emin Agha, whose trial is pending as he is charged with usurpation of authority. (...) The visit and particularly the manner in which it was carried out leave no doubt as to the ‘objectivity’ which will characterize the report on the state of the Muslim minority in Greece, which is drawn up by those in charge in the ‘Helsinki Monitor’ (and of course it endangers the credibility of the body which has published remarkable studies in the past)". In the rest of the articles the style is also similar. Once more, in the context of the alignment by the Greek press with the positions of any government, the visit of an international human rights organization is characterized anti-Hellenic and not objective only because its positions do not coincide with the invariable declarations of non-recognition of any other minorities apart from the Muslim one, in Greece. Notably, Ap. (12/9) blames the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Y. Kranidiotis, because "he met with the representative of the ‘Human Rights Watch’ human rights organization, Chris Panikos" and it characterizes the event "unusual, since it is customary for these meetings to take place at the level of officials and not at the level of an assistant minister". The aforementioned proves the unwillingness and unpreparedness of the Greek press to support any development - even when it comes from government quarters- which will be to the benefit of a more open and less xenophobic dealing with minorities in Greece in the context of inter-cultural theory and reality.

Referring to the policy implemented in Thrace in the past, a reporter in A.T. (11/9) maintains that: "Certainly no serious person refutes that Muslim citizens in Greece have been subjected to unacceptable unfavourable discrimination until 1992, when the then Prime Minister, C. Mitsotakis, personally enforced the great turning-point, that of equality before the law, which has been correctly pursued by the subsequent governments". Views like the one mentioned above are hardly ever seen in the Greek press. There is hardly ever any criticism to any government decisions, and this in favour of the minority, always with scant exceptions. However, even this kind of articles in the Greek press, though rare, are not sufficient. The reference to the past excludes all thinking and critical attitude towards the present, a fact which generates to the readers the erroneous impression that there is no issue regarding any violation of minority rights any more. Moreover, the Greek press often draws comparisons between the minorities in the two countries, in order to demonstrate the difference in favour of Greece with regard to respect for human rights. "Contrary to the misery that the Greek press in Constantinople is undergoing, the Turkish newspapers published in Greek Thrace serving the Muslim minority, are supported with a goldmine of money by the Turkish consulate in Komotini" (A.T. 17/9).

With regard to the Macedonian minority, the familiar stand taken by the Greek press which is to ignore in the best of cases and, in the worst of cases, to regard with skepticism and irony the relevant articles and statements, is repeated once more. "Among those who opposed the candidacy of Athens were the self-styled ‘Macedonians of the Aegean Sea’, who protested (in a letter to the I.O.C.) that Greece oppresses the ‘Macedonian minority’" (El. 6/9). "K. Gligorov was suffocating in his corner, pressed between the nationalist frenzy produced by a botched construction about a ‘Macedonian nation’ and his (temporary) inability to speak openly about the fatherland in bondage, ‘Macedonia of the Aegean Sea’; that one which is dreamed of and directly mentioned by the ‘Macedonians of diaspora’ and VMRO" (El. 17/9). For the Greek government and the press, a Macedonian minority exists only in the sphere of imagination of those persons who have irredentist purposes and anti-Hellenic inclinations.

In the context of cultivating a climate of ‘danger-mongering’ reminiscent of other epochs and evoking suggestively the threat from the North, A.T. (4/9) refers to scenarios which "want that Thessaloniki, the metropolis of Hellenism, be cut off from our national body and ...become independent!" Nevertheless, the newspaper assesses that "in Greece such things cannot take place by any manner of means. There is national homogeneity and what is more important is that the Greeks are Christian Orthodox by 98%. This is why the enemies of Hellenism have gone berserk and attack the Church".

Salonica as well as the comments made by the European press regarding the cultural capital, occupy the particular attention of A.T. (2/9): "The well-known magazine ‘Economist’ has in store for Salonica, Cultural Capital of Europe, acrimonious comments with a strong portion of irony. They accuse us that we have ignored the contributions made by other cultures, like the Turkish, the Armenian and the Jewish, in the formation of the city’s profile! They also reproach us for not including events regarding the birthday of Kemal Ataturk!!! What reply can one give? That Kemal may have been born here, that he may be the founder of the ‘modern’ Turkish state but, also, he happens to be the inspirer of the massacre of thousands of innocent Greeks? To which massacre, could it be that ...some ancestors of the ‘Economist’ reporters have lent a hand? Could it be?" However, in the same newspaper (26/9), a completely opposite viewpoint is presented. "And we consider it imperative that, not Aghios Demetrius’ street, but the vertical road where the Turkish consulate and the house where Kemal Ataturk was born are situated, be named after him, as proposed by Y. Boutaris. All the more so now that the Ecumenical Patriarch comes to Salonica, and this as a step of goodwill regarding the Greek-Turkish relations which we all have to get restored. Because, at the other end of the shore, there are also people having prudence, who ask for something like that".

In view of the legalization of illegal immigrants who live and work in Greece (including those who come from neighboring countries), the opposition press openly declares against the government decision. The main argument presented concerns the formation of minorities (and, particularly, of an Albanian minority) in Greece, something which puts the country’s national homogeneity at stake. "Diplomats as well as technocrats of the other co-competent ministries emphatically point out that legalization of the Albanians who at present are in our country illegally, is equivalent to an institutional legalization of an Albanian community within the Greek state and which, in the future, can form characteristics of a ‘minority’!" (E.T. 3/9). "Unfortunately, however, E. Venizelos’ work now runs the risk of being completely destroyed, because our governments have allowed to an enormous number of illegal immigrants to come to Greece. They are many hundreds of thousands and, together with their families, they may amount to or exceed 1 to 1.5 million! And, unfortunately, they come from those countries whose dream is to grab territories from our country. They are Turks, Bulgarians, Skopjans, Albanians, Romanians" (N. 3/9). "The legalization of the illegal immigrants who have flooded Greece is a true crime against our country. It is certain that tragic situations await our unfortunate country, because those illegal immigrants have come mainly from neighboring countries which have claims on our territories. (...) We beg Mr. Prime Minister to not get minorities settled here, to not do such a great harm against Greece" (G. Pantazoglou’s letter, Eth. 8/9). Almost daily are the references "to the borders where, every day, the scant and mostly aged inhabitants are suffering hell on earth on the part of the Albanian illegal immigrants" (Ap. 5/9) as well as the correlation of the above references with the "continuously increasing criminality" (Ap. 5/9) and the dangers of contagious diseases being spread by the immigrants. "‘We are afraid to go near the aliens less ‘we get infected’ and carry to our children any contagious diseases from which most of them suffer’, say with despair the trade unionist policemen who live daily in a tragedy having to guard aliens" (E.T. 30/9).

At the antipode of all the above is the article in El. (8/9) which follows: "No country wants immigrants any more and they all discovered that they have many of them. (...) Now, with a naked eye we can see everywhere foreign manual workers to dress, decorate and tidy up Greece. I wonder how many have got their houses built, how many have got servants, cooks, cleaners, baby-sitters or nurses for their weak parents? Would they be able to do this if this free workforce did not exist? And let us not refer to rural works, worksites or small sized industries. Consequently, it is not society which finds them to be supernumerary, but a policy which wants to bring back a regime of slavery. Because, even the most prominent racists have a Polish woman to clean for them. And it is a myth that these inexpensive hands are not needed. On the contrary, these are wanted more than anything else. But it is for this reason that they will have to become slaves and a model for the rest of the working people. We have said it repeatedly. (We have said it). Human rights have a high price and they burden the production cost of the final product".

Eth. (26/9) presents the findings of the Report by the European Committee against Racism and Intollerance (ECRI) with ironic comments: "With regard to our country, ECRI detects ‘a danger of ...sliding towards an excessive nationalism or ethnocentrism’ being a result ‘of the powerful concept of national identity which is connected with Orthodoxy and the Greek national origin’! At least, it did not call for the removal of citizenship from the identity cards of the Greek citizens".

Albania and the Albanians

The improvement in the relations between Greece and Albania is presented less on the basis of a universal and humanistic spirit, and more on the basis of mutual services which have to be performed in order for both sides to get the best out of the bargain. The issue on the Greek minority in Albania is presented by the Athenian press as the pre-eminently "necessary" counterweight on the part of the Greek side as against the forthcoming legalization of Albanian immigrants. "We give millions of dollars, we also lend other more money uncertain repayment, we legalize the illegal immigrants, we provide military advisers, we supply more medical and pharmaceutical aid etc. We get a promise for the establishment of a Greek elementary though ‘private’ school in Tirana, and our ministers have not dared discuss also the standing demand of the Epirotes from the North, which is the restoration of the geographical restriction of the minority" [letter of I. Kapralos, (N. 5/9)]. "Legalization of the Albanians without Greek schools in Northern Epirus and respect for the Orthodox Church in Albania, cannot be thought of. And this has been explicitly clarified by the former Minister of Defence, Y. Varvitsiotis, during the meeting he had with the President of the new Albanian Parliament, Skender Ghinoussi. And, of course, the cadre from New Democracy did well to ‘give the cold shoulder’ to Tirana which invariably appear to make demands, but they start pretending they do not understand when the time comes for them to give. The problem is that the government does not seem to have grasped the Albanian tactics and in its haste to ‘embrace’ Nano and the Socialists (as it did with Berisha a few months ago), it seems that, once more, it will forget the Epirotes from the North" (E.T. 11/9).

El. (13/9) makes the assessment that due to the "Greek aid package for the support to Albania", "now the Greek-Albanian relations are becoming normal rapidly as, moreover, F. Nano’s government brings the neighboring country back to order". However, a reply to this is not absent, and it correlates the economic granting of aid with the Greek minority in Albania. "Pangalos has discussed with Milo only with regard to the Greek loan to Albania amounting to 2 billion. Not a word was said about the Epirotes from the North" (E.T. 13/9).

The Greek press sees in a particularly positive manner the decision taken by the Albanian government to establish a kindergarten for the Greek minority at Sarande. The statements made by the Albanian Assistant Minister of Education, A. Martou, who evaluates the fact as "‘a proof for the determination of the Albanian government to offer quality in Education, free from the conservative mentality of the past’" (N. 30/9).

Under the headline "Do Albanians poison the springs?", and in the context of easily attributing responsibilities "to the usual suspects’, Ap. (2/9) refers to a public denunciation made by the Mayor of Kastoria, according to which "(Albanian) immigrants had threatened with sabotage a few months ago". The public denunciation was made on the occasion of a serious case of gastro-enteritis caused to the inhabitants in the area from drinkable water. It is a frequent phenomenon in the Greek press to present the Albanians as scapegoats on any occasion of incidents involving violence and any other incidents.

The above "reasoning" includes also the unvariable tactics of the Greek press to lay the blame for thefts and crimes on Albanians, even when there is not the slightest evidence on their implication. "According to the police, the perpetrators are probably Albanians, members of the gangs which pillage the Attika areas where there are country houses" (N. 29/9).

An article in Ap. (14/9) makes the assessment that there is also a race dimension in the Albanian uprising, something which, according to the reporter, can explain the good relations between the southern part of the country with Greece. "The Albanian ‘revolution’ which has taken place last winter had also an unconscious race character and it was exactly for this reason that it has taken place in the southern part of the country, in the birthplace of Dorians. The Albanians from the South love Greece, whereas the Northerners feel hatred towards our country. The genetic racial characteristics do not lose their historic route so easily, DNA preserves genetic memories in the course of thousands of years. So, we reached the conclusion that the southern Albanians are descendants of the primordial Greeks, and the northern Albanians are the various races of the Illyrians who perhaps have a distant relation with the Greeks, as the ancients themselves wanted to believe".

The statements made by Arta Dade, Albanian Minister of Culture, Young Generation and Sports, in El. (13/9), present an alternative image of the country and its citizens. "‘The Albanians should become interested in their cultural heritage and understand that we Albanians have something to be proud of in Europe, despite the many difficulties, and this is our language and our culture which are of ancient and at the same time modern origin’. As she says, ‘the Albanian people are a civilized people, although some times they have created a wrong image in the world because of bad administration or leadership by politicians and governments’".

Bulgaria and the Bulgarians

Once more, the country’s economic problems come to the forefront. "In the immediate future, the Bulgarian Parliament is called upon to make ‘hot’ decisions with regard to reversing the country’s tragic economic state’", writes Ex. (4/9), on the occasion of passing new laws pertaining to international investments in the country.

In a retrospection of the past, Ap. (28/9) mentions: "In closing this issue, let us see what happened on the 28th of September, 1941. On the basis of a prearranged plan, the Bulgarians begin massive massacres among the Macedonian Greeks. In Drama, over 1,500 were executed, while the murderers were cutting off the heads of the Greeks and were playing soccer at the central square of the town - this is the nature of the Slavo-Turks. At Doxato, 397 were executed, at Kyrna 250, at Choristi 160, at Kato Nevrokopi 59, at Meghalokambos 38 etc. The massacres have continued until the 20th of October, and the victims exceeded overall the figure of 15,000". However, a few days later, only El. (30/9) presents also "the other aspect of the issues". "Bulgarian representatives from the first level of local authorities have asked forgiveness for the mistakes made by their ancestors, by sending a delegation of theirs to Drama; its members participated in yesterday’s events in memory the 5,000 victims in the prefecture, which were massacred by the Fascist Bulgarian occupation army in autumn of 1941. This is a major event which has satisfied relatives and fellow-townspeople of those sacrificed".

Macedonia and the Macedonians

Recently, there are increasing references in the Greek press on a Greek minority in Macedonia. This presence functions as a counterweight against the Macedonian minority in Greece while, in parallel and for the opposition newspapers, it constitutes a new point for criticizing the government. "The former Minister of Macedonia-Thrace, G. Tjitjicostas, has recently informed public opinion that in accordance with data known to him, there are at least 200,000 Greeks in F.Y.R.O.M. However, in the recent census carried out in the neighboring country, there is not so much as a mention that there are Greeks there. During the last fifty years, the Greek governments have never announced anything on the fate of the Greeks in Skopje" (Ap. 2/9).

Despite its general downgrading (particularly by the press supporting the government), the issue of the name does not cease to cause concern. The viewpoint that relates the name to a sure legalization of the irredentist purposes of the neighbors, to a falsification of Greek history and to an invention of an issue on a Macedonian minority in Greece, is projected particularly frequently. "For the whole problem is centered on the fact that the Skopjans attribute an ethnological content to the term Macedonia. Namely, they maintain that they belong to the nation of the …Macedonians. And this really constitutes a danger for security and peace in the region. Firstly, because ethnologically the Macedonians are Greeks. Second, because the Bulgarians consider the Skopjans as Bulgarians. And thirdly, because - apart from other minorities among which is the Greek minority- also Albanians live in Skopje. The arbitrary use of the terms ‘Macedonia’ and ‘Macedonians’ by the Skopjans, in complete distortion of history and reality, not only does not disengage things and situations but, on the contrary, it complicates them dangerously" (Ap. 15/9). "The state-invented concept of a ‘Macedonian spirit’ in Skopje is not a simple issue concerning a name. Under the ‘Republic of Macedonia’ pseudonymity lies a time-bomb apparatus, able to blow sky-high any nice plans set up by Simitis; and, above all, the whole area of the Balkans. During his recent interview to the BBC, President Gligorov was once more revealing and crudely outspoken, when he affirmed that ‘all the present problems are due to the historic fact that all our neighboring states have dismembered the single Macedonia between them and deprived our Macedonian people of their ethnicity’" (A.T. 22/9).

Again in the context of the issue on the name and, on the occasion of the death of Mother Teresa, A.T. (9/9) comments: "The first time, we thought we did not hear well… The second time, we became sure… The third time we felt, once more, anger about the unacceptable anti-Hellenic propaganda of the large news networks, like the CNN… When referring to the death of the Saint of the Poor, Mother Teresa, a reliable reporter of the great American channel said: ‘Mother Teresa was born 87 years ago in Macedonia to Albanian parents…’ The great missionary was a fellow-countrywoman, we thought. A Macedonian? How come we did not know it all these years? And, of course, the speaker meant Skopje, which he announced explicitly as Macedonia without even using the name FYROM… And this happened repeatedly, as the channel had daily reports on the death of that woman. I wonder, did she consider herself as a ‘Macedonian’ from Skopje, I wonder did she acquiesce in this name?"

An exception to the above rule are the following extracts which in expressing a moderation, approach always the Greek positions with mild tones. "This new nationalism (regarding the contest for the Olympiad) comes as a continuation of the previous one which was promoted and developed through the hysteria on the so-called Macedonian issue. It is one thing to claim and fight for our Macedonia, for its Hellenic nature and for FYROM to have a name without the word Macedonia, and it is another thing to raise hysteria which disorientates, causes harm and serves only narrow party interests" (El. 18/9). "I have not been yet in Skopje, but I am sure that when I go, I will find there people who believe the same things as I do. Namely: That they are keen devotees of classical Hellenism, they know by heart many things from Greek history and they believe that the ‘Macedonian’ quadrilles on the part of Kiro and his company are only in order to enable them to continue receiving the subsidies, since they exist on the basis of these beans" (A.T. 25/9).

Well-known for his positions on the Macedonian issue, PASOK Member of Parliament, S. Papathemelis, returns to the issue of the Macedonians’ history and origin, and remarks (El. 3/9): "All those who concern themselves with certain issues painful to this country, know well that Skopje’s whole state-ideological superstructure is based upon two lies. Lie one: Macedonia’s alleged division into three parts during the Balkan wars, of which free is the Skopjan section (how else could it happen!), the historical mission of which is to liberate the slave brothers and slave territories in Greece (and in Bulgaria). Of course, during the Balkan wars no Macedonia was divided. It was simply agreed among the warring parties that the part of the Turkish-Ottoman ‘vilayet’ [Turkish administrative region] which was occupied by each country’s armies was to be annexed to it. Lie two: the ancient Macedonians were not Greeks. In order to support this lie, the pseudo-Macedonians’ propaganda has spent quite a lot of money enriching the international bibliography and the international libraries with hundreds of ‘studies’ and naturally making rich ‘those studying’ them. It goes without saying that this viewpoint facilitates the propaganda in its usurping the Greek history together with Philippus and Alexander, in constructing a tale about an alleged Macedonian nation and in allowing Messrs. Gligorov and Topourkovski to pass off as prominent continuators of the Macedonian Dynasty".

Recently, as a rule, the country’s internal problems are a permanent source of interest for the Greek press. Moreover, often, the internal imbalance is presented, particularly by the opposition press, as a sign of weakness which the Greek government should exploit diplomatically. However, though as a whole any open positions are avoided, at a second level of reading, an identification with the official state Macedonian authorities can be recognized. The demands raised by the Albanian minority are characterized suggestively as excessive. "And while the Slavo-Macedonian majority chooses respect with regard to personal rights as a recipe for the protection of the subjects of FYROM, the Albanians demand recognition of their collective rights within a federal or even a confederate system of government. It is evident that no common ground has been found between the Slavo-Macedonians and the Albanians in FYROM" (K. 21/9). In justifying Osmani’s conviction and the sentence passed against him on the occasion of the events at Gostivar, Ex. (17/9) characterizes his action as "an evidently unacceptable action, for any state".

The economic situation in the country is covered by the Greek press which shows a special interest. Despite the bilateral problems with Greece, Macedonia is recognized by the majority of the Greek press as the best market for disposing the Greek products and for "opening up" the Greek enterprises towards the North. The results of the economic policy implemented by the country are correlated, inter alia, with the internal political problems. "President Gligorov has called upon the Skopjans to make more sacrifices for even greater austerity, in order for their country to be able to join NATO and the European Union, but popular discontent is growing due to tough measures and unemployment, whilst criminality is growing and nationalist tensions are intensifying" (Ap. 6/9).

Romania and the Romanians

Consoling are the messages sent by the Greek press in relation to the country’s economic state. "Optimism prevails among the Romanian government with regard to the approval for the second installment on the loan which the International Monetary Fund had decided to grant Romania within a time period of thirteen months, as the economic reforms have proceeded significantly since the approval of the first installment amounting to $86 million" (Ex. 4/9).

Serbia and the Serbs

The electoral confrontation in Serbia and the role played by S. Milosevic in the country’s political game monopolize the interest of the Greek press. The majority of the articles dedicated to the neighboring country is expended in descriptions on the political climate, but also on the margins existing for turning S. Milosevic into a regulating factor in developments. "The Yugoslav President has absolute control over the game in Serbia" (Ex. 17/9). The same newspaper (20/9) assesses that "as far as Milosevic is concerned, a re-election of the Socialists to the Presidency as well as to Serbia’s Parliament is of great significance, because this will send a message to the politicians who question his policy outside Serbia, that he still is the powerful man in Serbia and Yugoslavia, the addressees of which will be primarily the Prime Minister of Montenegro and the President of the Serbs in Bosnia". "The forthcoming elections will again elevate Milosevic as the winner, who is at the head of an coalition of smaller parties. After failing to win over the confidence of the people who at the beginning of the year came out in the streets, a section of the oppositionists now hope that they will tarnish Milosevic’s victory by securing an abstention which will be over 50%" (K. 21/9). "Despite the fact that he did not participate in the - presidential and parliamentary- elections in Serbia due to constitutional prohibitions, S. Milosevic who, some time ago, has switched to the Presidency of Yugoslavia, was the man who influenced them more than any other person did" (Ap. 22/9).

On the day following the elections, when commenting on the results, the majority of the Greek press refers to "Milosevic’s absolute prevalence over Yugoslavia" (Ex. 23/9) and to "Milosevic’s triumph" (E.T. 23/9). More restrained and realistic and making a different assessment of the facts, El. (23/9) notes: "Milosevic has lost the absolute dominance". When commenting on the general results, E.T. (24/9) mentions: "The characteristic of the unquenched nationalist feeling of the Serbian society is the spectacular rise of the Radical party and the stationary situation of the reforms opposition of V. Draskovic’s Serbian renewal movement".

But the country’s internal problems also rouse the interest of the Greek press, moreover when they are correlated with the forthcoming elections. "A few days before the presidential and parliamentary elections, the nationalist violence was added to the tension prevailing in Serbia and, as a result, the Socialists’ candidate for the Presidency of the country promised to take measures against the ‘Albanian autonomists’" (El. 18/9). "Despite their present problems, the Albanians have a surplus of courage as well as capable negotiators. On the contrary, the Serbs are confronted with a profound crisis which is sharpened by the economic sanctions of the West, the absence of a reliable opposition to Milosevic, and a destructive introversion which has cut them off from the outside world and from international reality" (K. 21/9).

On the occasion of the latest developments in Bosnia and G. Papandreou’s visit to Sarajevo, we observe also certain anti-Muslim comments: "Last week, Muslim schools in Sarajevo were inaugurated by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, G. Papandreou, in an atmosphere of complete blissfulness. We are informed that the schools have been (re)constructed by Greek companies with a generous funding by the Simitis government, namely by the Greek tax-payers who, as usual, are not asked about that kind of choices. And of course we know Mr. Papandreou’s bonds of dependence with the State Department and the U.S. policy. Couldn’t he, however, even if in name only, inaugurate some school or hospital in the Serbian sector of Bosnia? It’s a shame to the sensitivity invoked by the mentioned Minister on humanistic issues. Or, could it be that the Serbs are not human beings according to the new status quo? However, one can draw their conclusions from the fact that the Greek Minister avoided meeting the Serbian representative of the collective Presidency. ‘We promote contacts among persons of different religions’, the once ‘atheist’ Mr. Papandreou stated" (E.T. 7/9). "Discontent has been caused among the Greek public opinion because of the recent visit to Sarajevo made by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, G. Papandreou, where he inaugurated Muslim schools whereas, in accordance with reports, he avoided carefully to meet with the Serbian representative of the collective Presidency. This was pointed out yesterday in a question raised in Parliament by Mr. Ap. Andreoulakos (N.D.) who asked: For what reasons has the Greek government funded the reconstruction exclusively of Muslim schools in Sarajevo?"

Turkey and the Turks

On the occasion of a demonstration organized by an international delegation in Diyarbakir, the Kurdish issue comes to the forefront enabling the Greek press to present, for the umpteenth time, the anti-democratic face of the country. "Using clubs and shooting in the air, Turkish policemen attacked members of the international delegation which was travelling towards Diyarbakir in seventy coaches, in order to promote a political solution to the Kurdish issue" (A.T. 3/9). "Turkish CRS have beaten up an international peace delegation. They bashed them up" (Ap. 3/9). "Yesterday’s police intervention was the culminating point of an unbelievable campaign aiming at obscuring the facts, which was undertaken by the Turkish state as it was thrown into panic by the foreigners’ persistence to find out with their own eyes what is going on with regard to the Kurdish issue" (E.T. 4/9). "Yesterday, showing its extremely anti-democratic face once more, Turkey proceeded to deport foreigners who ‘dared’ touch upon the Kurdish issue publicly and, at the same time, it escalated the battle to deal with the ‘Islamic threat’ with arrests of demonstrators who were protesting against the attempted abolition of the religious schools" (K. 6/9). "Isn’t there a Member of the Euro-Parliament, a brave one, to ‘launch a complaint’ against the Turkish criminals at the International Court in Hague, which manifests such a curious ‘sensitivity’ regarding the Serbo-Bosnians? There are also the televisions videotapes which have been seen by the whole international public opinion - for those who question the two crimes committed in cold blood by the Turks whom the USA protects so much" (A.T. 6/9). The presentation of the news on Turkey’s military operations against the Kurds in Northern Iraq is similar. The headlines which follow give an idea regarding the content of the relevant articles: "New Turkish operation with tanks against the Kurdish guerrillas" (Eth. 25/9). "New Turkish invasion into Iraq" (El. 25/9). "At a time when the military armies were escalating their liquidation campaign against the Kurds in northern Iraq, the European Court obliged the Turkish government to pay a young girl of Kurdish origin named Sukran Aidin, the sum of Drachmae 12 million as a compensation for the tortures to which she was subjected by the Turkish policemen" (Ap. 26/9).

On the occasion of the impasse regarding the Greek-Turkish talks, the statements made by the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs, Th. Pangalos, are presented in a special manner. "‘It is impossible to discuss with the bandit, the killer and the rapist’, said the Greek Minister referring to ‘that section of the military and diplomatic Establishment’ in Turkey which disputes the Greek borders in the Aegean Sea, Th. Pangalos stated" (El. 25/9). The anti-Turkish comments and the criticism regarding government policy find a fertile ground particularly among the opposition press. "We should look back at the Munich Pact which encouraged German Fascism and prepared the Second World War if we wish to find a similar diplomatic unbreeching. What will the next step be? The Turks will escalate their verbal attacks and provocations and the Americans will call upon us to make new national retreats in order to control Turkish expansionism" (E.T. 25/9). "Before Th. Pangalos had finished speaking about ‘rapists’, the European Court vindicated him. As you will read in other columns, Turkey was condemned for tortures and for rape against a young Kurdish girl. Of course, the amount awarded by the Court is rather a symbolic one (Drachmae 11 million). However, the offence has been recognized and the they were given the ‘rap’! Theodoros also has hit the bull’s eye in his characterizations…" (K. 26/9). "Sometimes, things have to be said by their names. Much more so, since the ‘butchers’ in Ankara do not understand any other language. When the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs speaks about murderers, he does not refer to Turkey’s glorious history, at the time when the armed hordes were flinging themselves upon the civilian population in occupied Greece or in Armenia in 1915. He does not even refer to the pogrom in Poli [Constantinople] in 1955 or to Attilas in 1974. "The murderers who, last year, killed S. Solomou and T. Isaak, are now settled in northern Iraq, occupied in ‘a limited range operation’, as they call the genocide against the Kurds" (Ap. 27/9). "With regard to these discussions with the Turks, I stand on the side of Pangalos. And he said very little to them. Namely, are the Turks not ‘rapists, bandits and killers’, by any chance? For if they are not, then we should moreover apologize to the non-baptized ones and tell them ‘bravo, my pasha’" (A.T. 27/9). "This explosion by Pangalos against a section of the military and diplomatic Establishment in Ankara, against those called ‘hawks’ in Turkey, using characterizations like ‘bandits’, ‘killers’ and ‘rapists’, is neither an exaggeration as some people abroad attempted to imply, nor a hysteria as others abroad think. It is, simply, an expression of the feelings of anger which stifle the Greek people since 1955" (Ap. 28/9).

In relation to the aforementioned, an objection is also raised: this is related more to the position from which Th. Pangalos expressed his views, and less to the recognition of the exaggeration and one-sidedness of the statements made by the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs. "Even though the Turks are the last ones who can evoke the rules of proper behavior regarding bilateral relations, even though they are burdened with crimes, Th. Pangalos’ behavior gave them the opportunity to get the upper hand" (Ex. 27/9). "Mr. Pangalos’ unrestrained language (‘Bandits, rapists and murderers’) would not have been so significant so far as Turkey’s hawks are concerned, moreover, we would say that they express a common conception regarding the nature of these militarists, if he were not our country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. Because, a Minister for Foreign Affairs should not express himself in a way which would give the right for unfavorable comments and views to be made concerning a lack of decency" (Ap. 28/9).

When Turkey’s "evil face" is projected from within, the Greek press does not omit mentioning it, as it wishes to strengthen even more the image of a barbarous and uncivilized country, demonstrating that the Turks themselves cannot cohabit with the anti-democratic regime existing in their country. "’We want to deliver Turkey from the shame of being a country where writers and intellectuals suffer in prisons’, Sezer Duru, President of the Union of Turkish Writers, stated recently" (N. 6/9). In the same issue, the views of the editor Aishe Zarakolu were also quoted: "‘There cannot be true democracy in Turkey’, she points out, ‘as long as the people cannot express their identity’". On the occasion of the anniversary of the 1955 events, but also of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, again the Greek press bitterly attacks Turkey. "Today may be a day for joy because of the 2004 Olympiad; however, it is also a day of remembrance of the tragedy which Hellenism in Poli [Constantinople] has experienced on that cursed day, on the sixth of September, 1955, when, on the basis of a government plan, hordes of barbarians raided the properties of the Greeks in Constantinople, their homes, their schools, their churches, their shops, in order to plunder them, to destroy them, to commit them to fire. They did not respect even their cemeteries. They opened the graves and they unburied dead in order to loot whatever valuables have been left on them by their relatives. What was the catastrophe? 4,500 Greek shops and factories were pillaged, 2,600 Greek homes destroyed, 75 churches desecrated, 26 schools were burned down. The atrocities and the crimes committed on the sixth of September by the Turkish mob will never be obliterated from the memory of Hellenism" (Ap. 6/9). "‘No action ever committed by the Turkish race during the whole of its bloodstained history, had any characteristics more crude and lewd characteristics, neither were they ever so productive with regard to the worse possible forms of tortures ever inflicted upon unarmed and defenceless people’, writes characteristically in his book ‘The scourge of Asia’ the last American consul in Smyrna, in relation to the catastrophe of this dishonored city. Thirty-three years later, during the Black September in 1955, in Constantinople this time, Hellenism became again the target of the Turkish ferocity" (E.T. 7/9). El. is the only newspaper which takes a balanced and objective position towards the 1922 and 1955 events.

This month also, the comparisons drawn between the present day Turkey with Hitler’s regime are not absent. A characteristic example of this is the statements made by the Greek Minister of National Defence, A. Tsochadjopoulos, but also by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Th. Pangalos. "‘We are dealing with a policy of annexing on the part of Turkey and against Cyprus, which can be compared only to Hitler’s policy in Poland and Czechoslovakia, some decades later" (El. 6/9). "Ankara follows an internationally unacceptable policy which reminds us of the policy followed by Hitler’s Germany during the mid-war years. Its plans are unprecedented and illegal and they can only be implemented through enforcing a policy of relationship of forces’. This attitude followed by Turkey has increasingly limited results internationally’" (K. 28/9). A reporter in Ap. (29/9) writes in an article headed "Nazism - Kemalism, similarities in foreign policy": "This policy, the policy of national cleansing and expansion which had been followed in the pre-war years by Hitler’s Germany, is at present followed by Turkey in our region with the consent and backing of the western press and the tolerance of the western governments. The Turkish expansionist policy, however, will harm first of all the Westerners, as was the case also with Hitler’s Germany". A.T. (30/9) is in the same spirit. "Some people often have objections regarding the front pages. Regarding yesterday’s (29/9) front page, the owner of a kiosk said to me: ‘Why did you call Ecevit, a Hitler?’ ‘What should we call him, an exterminator of the Bulgarians?’ ‘You have insulted Hitler. The only thing of resemblance with this …icoglani [young scoundrel in Turkish] is the moustache’".

Among all the derogatory articles written regarding Turkey’s culture and tradition, there is one in A.T. (22/9). "The Turks …look desperately for their cultural identity and for tourists, and as a result they demonstrate all the more frequently that they are ignorant of history, imperialists and insolent. After the change in the geographical maps which often show the Aegean islands as being Turkish, now also Helen the Beautiful has become theirs. In its attempt to attract Australian and Asian tourists, the Turkish Tourism Organization persists in advertising that Alexander the Great, Constantine the Great, Helen the Beautiful as well as King Midas are integral parts of the Turkish history… And it is truly deplorable for one to see that a people do not have any roots and they appropriate other people’s roots. It would have been more enticing for tourists if they admitted that their historical roots are to be found in the depths of Asia and that they come from nomad ancestors. It would have been better if they said that they came - in a semi-savage state- to Asia Minor and to eastern Europe during the 13^th century A.C. and before that nobody knew them". The extract from E.T. (26/9) which follows is also in a similar climate: "You see, however, Greece which, despite its effeminate government is getting the upper hand thanks to the 2004 Olympiad, and it is going to become the little master in the Balkans penetrating deep into the economies of Albania, Bulgaria, Skopje, Yugoslavia and Romania… You see the mess Turkey is in from the position of rogue Turks, with inflation running at 100%, with its Islamists ready for the great revenge, with its Kurds enraged and always invincible, with the international public opinion against it, because Turkey is a barbarous, uneducated, bloodthirsty hunchback in Asia, whom only the grave would be able to straighten up… Well, all this burdens it with spite and malice and fear. And it grinds its teeth towards Greece and seeks an opportunity and a pretext to bite it, as it did to Cyprus".

The general feeling of superiority on the part of the Greeks vis-a-vis the "uncivilized" Turks is reflected in a letter from a reader in Ap. (2/9), which follows: "The first mistake is when we say: we ask nothing from Turkey and we give nothing. The correct thing to say to the Turks is: we owe you nothing and you owe us a lot! And what they owe us is well-known: Constantinople, Aghia Sophia, the Eastern Thrace, Imvros and Tenedos, the coastlines in the Aegean Sea and in Pontus". Contradictory as it may seem, often the Greeks’ superiority complex vis-a-vis the Turks goes together with a general climate of complaining on the part of the Greeks, as they consider that, for reasons of (anti-Hellenic) interests, the rest of the world does not support their rights. In an interview in E.T. (21/9), K. Metaxas, publisher of a Greek newspaper in London, refers to the "Turkophile" past of England and its special relations with the East. However, the headline which accompanies the article ("In Europe everybody is Turkophile") apart from the fact that it is generalizing, it allows to mean that it concerns a contemporary situation.

The deficit of democracy in the country is correlated also with the fragile political situation. "If Turkey does not change its brains, it will not be Greece the one to give in. Besides, between Greece and Turkey, it is the latter which is threatened by great internal and external problems, like the bad state of the economy, the increasing Islamist danger, the intensifying social differences, the deficit of democracy, the undisguised violations of human rights" (Ap. 28/9). There are particularly frequent references to the demonstrations held by the Islamists and to their clashes with the police. The Greek press presents the situation without taking a position for the one or the other side. However, suggestively and for obvious reasons, a preference is recognized for those who fight against the Islamic rage. Particularly on the occasion of the pulling down of Saint Nicholas church, E.T. (6/9) notes: "The Islamists who have occupied the municipalities of the greatest Turkish cities, attempt systematically to eliminate every element of Orthodoxy, thus violating even the principles of their own religion which imposes respect for the religious monuments of other religions". The passage which follows is particularly indicative of the political situation in the country: "The definition of democracy in Turkey, which spreads around in the form of a joke these days in Ankara is: A young boy asks his father: ‘Father, what is the meaning of democracy?’; and he replies: ‘Think of our home. I work and provide our bread. I am the state. Your mammy who looks after the home, is the economy. And your little brother, he is the people. This is democracy’. The young boy did not make much of it and began to reflect on it. He went to see his little brother who was crying, he was alone and lonely and besides he had shitted himself. He went further on, he passed by a room and saw his father on top of his mother. In the morning, he got hold of his daddy and said to him: ‘Hey, dad, I still have not understood it; what I saw was that the state f….. the economy and the people alone and unhelped waded in shit…’ I heard this joke frpm a military man" (El. 18/9).

The refusal by the Greek wing-commander and chief of the Armed Forces to attend the events organized in Turkey on the occasion of the Turkish national anniversary, is commented on positively by the entirety of the press. "Namely, they demanded that our Chief of Armed Forces should go there, wish on the Asia Minor Catastrophe, celebrate the darkest day of modern Greek history, and as, fortunately, we have not yet reached such levels of national masochism, Ankara comes up and calls us bellicose. I wonder how do the Turks comprehend peace? ‘Do they expect to slaughter us and then expect us to tell them ‘many happy returns of the day’?" (Ap. 4/9). "The discontent of the Turkish officers regarding the absence of the Chief of General Staff of National Defence, A. Tjoghanis, from the reception given by the Turkish Embassy on the ‘celebration of the victory’ (over the Greek army in 1922) would be understandable. But when these officials reach a point where they say that it is a proof regarding the ‘imperialist character’ of Greece and that ‘Greece is testing the endurance of the Turkish nation’, all these seem to be rather exaggerations… Mr. Tjoghanis, who had just returned from Russia, where he had got a closer view of the modern arms systems of the Russian industry, would not of course ‘leave the important things in order to engage himself with the unimportant’" (Eth. 7/9). The only exception is Ex. (4/9) which condemns the official position taken by the Greek military leadership and makes the following remark: "The Greek Chief of the General Staff of National Defence, wing-commander Ath. Tjoghanis, a very efficient military, hesitated to take the risk of making a choice as he should by avoiding to reciprocate the gesture of good intentions shown by his Turkish counterpart, I. Karadayi, and he lost a battle of impressions while, at the same time, he gave cause for critical comments on the part of the Turkish quarters against our country".

The perspective of Turkey’s admission into the European Union is a standing subject of projection and discussion in the Greek press. A large section of the opposition press particularly, looks with distrust at the scenarios drawn on the entry and participation of the country into the European integration. "We are a nation which is slowly dying. And if we continue in this pace, in fifty years we will be a species under extinction. Whereas, Turkey has a population explosion. And it will need no war in order to re-occupy the whole of Greece. Because, simply, the perspective of its admission into the European Union exists. Which means the right to free settlement for millions of Turks in the European region which will be called ‘Greece’, but only in the geographical meaning of the word. Not any more in the ethnological meaning. (…) If the Turkish political leadership did not have so many internal problems to consider necessary for it to preserve a Greek-Turkish tension for internal consumption, Turkey would neither threaten nor provoke Greece. On the contrary, it would do everything in its power in order to persuade that it is eligible to be included in the next phase or even in the phase after the next, in the European enlargement. And to exploit the advantage of free movement and settlement. In order to also swallow, in the most painless as well as a safe manner, Thrace and our islands and Greece as a whole" (A.T. 13/9).

Several initiatives taken by citizens from both countries and aiming at the improvement of the bilateral relations are presented positively in a significant section of the Greek press. However, reservations are expressed some times, particularly when the initiatives begin on the part of Turkey’s business circle. Under the headline, "Eleftherios Venizelos and Kemal Ataturk", an article in Ap. (11/9) refers to an initiative taken by Greek and Turkish entrepreneurs. "Independent of the good intentions of the entrepreneurs, there is also the other viewpoint which says that ‘Athens should not play into Ankara’s hands through such activities’, because the Turks do not understand these things since: they have claims for non-existent things in the Aegean Sea. They hold in abeyance the Cyprus issue and they hide behind Denktash’s insolence. They continually violate our air and sea space. However, time will show if this initiative which is taken by the entrepreneurs and has the encouragement of the Simitis Government, will be long lasting". Similar is also the skepticism expressed by a section of the press in relation to the perspective of co-operation between the two countries on issues of forest fire fighting in the Aegean Sea. "The sharing out of the Aegean Sea starts from …forest fire fighting, in the ‘Madrid spirit’ as well as in the climate cultivated in New York. And whereas, just a year ago, we were saying that the fires are set by the Turkish agents, now we agree to let them help us in putting them out…" (E.T. 27/9).

At the antipode of all the above are the articles which follow: "Many times, the Turkish grand businessman Koots has shown respect towards the Patriarchate - similar to that which was shown also by the Ottomans towards Orthodoxy, for so many centuries- but also profound philellenic feelings. We did not only see him in Thessaloniki, a guest of the former industrialist President, N. Efthimiadis; we saw Koots during Easter, in Poli [Constantinople] paying his respects to the Patriarch, and also, recently, assisting in Lausanne so that Greece gets the Olympic games. R. Koots as well as Y. Boutaris and other businessmen from both sides, are fervent advocates of the reviving of Greek-Turkish friendship, as this has been elaborated by E. Venizelos and Kemal Ataturk" (A.T. 26/9). "A world day against the war yesterday, and once more in Greece which has so many victims, we forgot the anniversary. However, contrary to us, in the neighboring Turkey, the citizens of the coastline made their own presence felt; in a series of manifestations, in the wedding in international waters near Imia which was much talked about and much distorted, in the manifestations in Cesme. With actions which prove that against the commands of Ankara and its hawks, the peoples of Turkey are being persuaded in favor of peace and are sending out peace signals which expect look for an answer" (El. 2/9).