Pavle Filipov Voskopoulos, the leading Macedonian activist in Greece, told Republika that the latest move by Greek authorities against the Macedonian language school in Lerin shows that the Greek society is still not ready to open up. Greece has a policy of forcible assimilation of its Macedonian minority, banning their political and cultural organizations for almost 100 years.
A Macedonian language school opened in Lerin (Florina in Greek) last month, but now Greek prosecutors are going after its organizers.
This was an expected move by the Greek courts. They will try to prevent the studying of the Macedonian language in Lerin. The Greek society is still not prepared to hear and study the Macedonian language in its north. This has nothing with the Prespa Treaty. It is a matter of minority rights. Greek nationalists do as they please, Voskopoulos told Republka.
The opening of the center and an accompanying website were hailed as major success by former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who insisted that it was his Prespa Treaty, that he imposed on Macedonia, that improved relations with Greece to the point that such a club can be opened. Greece has severely restricted minority rights for Macedonians for almost a century and is policy of forced assimilation.
But now Greek courts can use the very Prespa Treaty as an excuse to close the club. In the treaty, Zaev agreed to a Greek reading of the Macedonian history and national identity, including a declaration that, as far as Greece is concerned, the terms Macedonia and Macedonian refer to the people of the northern Greek region and to the Hellenic cultural and historic legacy. The treaty also declares that the Macedonian language is considered part of the South Slavic languages and that it is not linked to the Hellenic civilization and culture. This could be used as grounds to ban the studying of the Macedonian language in Greece, MKD warns.
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