October 2006

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EXISTENCE OF MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE DENIED BY GREEK AUTHORITIES

October 2006 – Greek state officials have declared there is no such thing as a Macedonian language in Greece nor a Macedonian alphabet, and that the Muslim Turkish minority in western Thrace is the only minority within the State. These are some of the excerpts Catalan MEP Bernat Joan of the European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament and party co-director Gënther Dauwen gathered from their meeting with national, regional and local representatives of Greece.

The two MP visited Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria to examine the situation of linguistic rights of Macedonian speakers who live outside the Republic of Macedonia. Bernat Joan has declared that “it is unacceptable and counter productive to deny the existence of the Macedonian people and the language which they speak. We challenge the Greek authorities in Athens to organise a census in which all citizens can declare openly the language and culture to which they relate”. Not surprisingly, Bulgaria –next member state– and Greece have not signed neither the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages nor the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.