<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>MHRMC.CA - Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada</TITLE> <META name="description" content="Among the main objectives of the Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada are to pursue and attain all fundamental human and national rights including the right of freedom of expression and association and to support all democratic principles for all ethnic Macedonians, and other oppressed peoples living in Greece, Bulgaria and Albania."> <META name="keywords" content="macedonia, macedonian, macedonians, makedonija, macedonian minority, greece, bulgaria, albania, canada, republic, aegean, pirin, mala prespa, human rights, human rights violations, human rights abuses"> </HEAD> <table border="0" width="760" align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td> <img src="/images/mhrmc_logo22.jpg"> </td></tr></table><br> <table border="0" width="740" align="center"><tr><td> <center> <BODY TEXT="#000000" LINK="#800000"><p> <center> <td valign="top" width="740"> <table width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" bgcolor="#C0C0C0" > <tr align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE"> <td><font face="Verdana" size="-1" font color="#CCCCCC"><a href="http://www.mhrmc.ca">Main</a><font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;&nbsp;</font><a href="/about.html">About Us</a><font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;&nbsp;</font><a href="/news">Latest News</a><font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;</font><font face="Verdana" size="-2" color="#CCCCCC">&nbsp;</font><a href="/publications">Publications</a><font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;&nbsp;</font><a href="/press">Press Releases</a> <font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;&nbsp;</font><a href="/reports">Reports</a><font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;&nbsp;</font><a href="/pictures.html">Pictures</a><font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;&nbsp;</font><a href="/contact.html">Contact</a><font color="#CCCCCC" size="-2">&nbsp;&#149;&nbsp;</font><a href="/links.html">Links</a></td> </tr> </table> <center> <p><h3><font face="Verdana">Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Announces Free Return of Macedonian Political Refugees</font></h3> <p> </center> <font face="Verdana" size="2"> <br> <a href="detsa_begaltsi_print.html"><img src="/images/print.gif" border=0></a><p> <b>Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada<p> Press Release<p> June 9, 2003</b><p> Macedonian political refugees (known as the Detsa Begaltsi or child refugees), were evacuated from Greece during the Civil War of 1946-49 and have consistently been denied entry into Greece simply because they assert their Macedonian ethnic identity. Former child refugees who assert a Greek identity have been allowed to return to Greece. In an historical announcement, the Greek Deputy Foreign Minister, Andreas Loverdos, pledges that Macedonian political refugees will finally be allowed to enter Greece. Answering a question on the free visit of "non-ethnic Greek" political refugees he stated that "since we have overcome all these problems of the past and of the civil war... we want to overcome this vestige too sooner rather than later...during this summer." This announcement comes at an opportune time as the Detsa Begaltsi's Third World Reunion will take place July 15-20, 2003 in Aegean Macedonia. <a href="http://www.enet.gr/online/online_p1_fpage_text.jsp?id=95903880">Click to read the article</a> in the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia. <a href="/press/03/loverdos_en.pdf">Click for the English translation</a> (in pdf format). An article was also written in the Macedonian newspaper <a href="http://int.utrinskivesnik.com.mk/default19ca.html?pBroj=1188&stID=3828&pR=2"> Utrinski Vesnik.</a><p> <center><h4>Background information on the Detsa Begaltsi</h4></center> <b>MHRMC press releases from the Detsa Begaltsi Reunion of 1998:</b><br> <img src="/images/red_arrow.gif"> <a href="/news/98/border.html">Detsa Begaltsi Border Crossing into Greece</a><br> <img src="/images/red_arrow.gif"> <a href="/news/98/arcam.html">Upcoming Second World Reunion of the Detsa Begaltsi</a><p> <b>Greek Helsinki Monitor press releases:</b><br> <img src="/images/red_arrow.gif"> <a href="http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/pressrelease/9-2-97.html">Common Statement of 11 NGO's on the Macedonian Refugees and the Macedonian Minority</a><br> <img src="/images/red_arrow.gif"> <a href="http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/pressrelease/29-7-98(1).html">Issues Related to the Macedonian Minority in Greece: The Visit of the Macedonian Children Refugees</a><p> <b>Excerpt from <a href="/publications1/mhrmc.html">Human Rights Violations Against Ethnic Macedonians</a> by the MHRMC:</b><p> "Because of these life-threatening circumstances, it was decided to evacuate the children and to save them from certain death. Although it was only supposed to be a temporary measure, it became a life-long exile for the vast majority of the children.<p> A total of 28,000 children, aged 2-14 years, left their war-torn homeland for the safety of the Eastern European countries. With the assistance of the Red Cross in these countries, they were housed, fed and educated. Tragically, 1,200 children between the ages of 14-15 were brought back to the battlefield by the Provisional Government of the Greek Communists, the majority of whom were slaughtered in the last days of the Greek Civil War.<p> For the Macedonian children that remained in the Eastern European countries, life was made very difficult by the separation from their parents, grandparents, and the homes in which they were raised. Because of the generosity of the host countries, the basic needs of the children were always fulfilled, even to the extent that Macedonian language classes were a regular part of the school curriculum. With time, the majority of the children emigrated to the free part of Macedonia (at the time the Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslavia), only a handful returned to the Aegean part of Macedonia because of the ongoing discrimination and attempt at the assimilation of the ethnic Macedonians. Many of the children later emigrated to Western countries such as Canada, the United States and Australia, to be re-united with other members of their families, and became prominent and productive members of those societies.<p> The situation in the Aegean part of Macedonia has unfortunately not changed significantly since the 1940's. Even internationally guaranteed fundamental human rights are not enjoyed by the ethnic Macedonians in Greece, the Greek government denies the very existence of any Macedonian minority within its borders. In 1982, the Greek Parliament, under the leadership of Mr. Andreas Papandreou, passed legislation named Bill 1540, which allowed for a general amnesty and repatriation of all political refugees who left Greece during the Civil War, a restoration of their civil rights and the reinstatement of confiscated properties. The injustice lies in the fact that Bill 1540 only applies to persons of Greek nationality. Any of the children who left Greece and declare themselves as Greek citizens of Macedonian ethnicity are not granted repatriation.<p> It is ironic that the former leaders of the Greek Communist Party, who were responsible for the Civil War, were allowed to return freely to Greece, while innocent children that were evacuated with the help of the Red Cross are prevented from returning to their birthplaces. Even as Canadian citizens with valid Canadian passports, they are not permitted to visit Greece as tourists or to attend funerals of immediate family members. All this because the former children refugees declare themselves to be ethnically Macedonian, a right which is guaranteed by all International Human Rights Agreements and to which Greece is a signatory.<p> The Association of Refugee Children from Aegean Macedonia (ARCAM) was formed in the year 1979, with the intention of uniting all former Macedonian children refugees living in Canada and throughout the whole world. One of the main objectives of ARCAM was to facilitate the adaptation of these people into their new homelands so that they could become more productive members of their respective societies. Another main objective was to organize the refugee children to work in a systematic manner for the achievement of fundamental human and national rights as ethnic Macedonians. With chapters of ARCAM existing in: Toronto, Canada; Adelaide, Australia; Perth, Australia; Melbourne, Australia; Skopje, Republic of Macedonia; Poland; Czech Republic; and Slovakia, they will continue their struggle until Greece recognizes the Macedonians within its borders as a separate ethnic people, grants them all of the fundamental human rights as enjoyed by other ethnic groups throughout the world and as guaranteed by International Agreements such as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the 1975 Helsinki (human rights) Accords." <p> <b>Bill Nicholov<br> Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada<br> Address:</b> P.O. Box 44532, 2376 Eglinton Ave. East, Toronto, Canada M1K 5K3<br> <b>Tel:</b> 416-493-9555 <b>Fax:</b> 416-412-3385<br> <b>e-mail:</b> <a href="mailto:mail@mhrmc.ca">mail@mhrmc.ca</a> <b>website:</b> <a href="http://www.mhrmc.ca">www.mhrmc.ca</a><p> <center><font size=2><a href="#top">Back to top</a></font size></center><p> <br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> <br> </BODY> </HTML>