The 4th World Re-union of the Refugee Children from Aegean Macedonia (3/8)

19.07.2008 - 2nd Day
Tones echoing the Macedonian anthem marked the start Friday [18 July] in Skopje of the 4th World Re-union of Refugee Children from the Aegean part of Macedonia on the occasion of 60th anniversary since the exodus, when 28,000 were forced to flee during Greece's civil war.
Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski, on behalf of the patrons - the parliament and government of Macedonia - delivered an address before 6,000 participants from all over the world, top state and church officials, as well as guests from the Macedonian organization is Greece, Albania, and Bulgaria. He stressed that the gathering organized by the refugee children from Aegean Macedonia represented another proof for remembering that the Macedonian people, with its distinctive national and cultural identity, was a truth that couldn't be erased by force and sufferings.
National identity cannot be erased administratively. The former joint state, where attempts were made for substituting the national identity with Yugoslavian, disintegrated, but Macedonians, Croatians, Serbs, Slovenians... [ellipsis as received] remained. It's in the nature of Christianity to forgive, it's human not to forget, whilst its our civilization right to be and to declare ourselves in the way we feel - Macedonian. Because we are Macedonians and because we won't give up our identity, 60 years ago our brothers and sisters from Aegean Macedonia endured a Golgotha. And today, 60 years on, 28,000 people, who were children then, and their descendants are not quitting their Macedonian identity, same as those who live in northern Greece, said Veljanovski.
He noted that due to the Macedonian identity the country at the recent NATO Bucharest Summit was denied membership invitation, but that "the red line cannot be crossed, because if we renounce our national identity, we will simply vanish."
Referring to the letter sent by PM Nikola Gruevski to Greece's Government, the speaker stated it only pledged amending the evident historical injustices caused 60 years ago, the same injustices that were open today - the issue of the Macedonian minority in neighbouring Greece and the problem facing the refugee children, whereas sovereignty and territorial integrity of the southern neighbour was not under threat.
I believe these appeals will be understood as such by our neighbour and beyond, because they lay on the foundations of numerous international principles, said Veljanovski, noting that Macedonia, as European country and UN member, observed these international norms which guarantee freedom and human rights and urged Greece to abide by them, "since it is a member of NATO and EU and a signatory to these documents."
The parliament and ruling majority, which according to democratic principles bears the biggest accountability, added Veljanovski, will resume in meeting our strategic goals - NATO and EU membership - and in deepening neighbourly ties, hence providing peace, stability, and economic progress in Macedonia, the region, and beyond.
Petro Vassiliakis, president of the Macedonian Association in Florina (Lerin), in his address said the issue of Macedonian refugee children should be internationalized. In 60 years the refugee children grew old, whilst most DAG fighters have passed away. Does Greece plans to close this issue in a natural way?, he stated.
Georgi Ajanovski, president of the event's organizational board, addressed the re-union, praising government's position to treat the issue of refugee children and the Macedonian minority issue as a state affair.
Participants at the re-union also sent a declaration to the international public, including a request for realization of their human rights and freedoms.
Afterwards, a delegation will lay flowers at the monument of "Children-Refugees," Goce Delcev's tomb, monument of the World War II fighters, and Krste Misirkov's bust.
The 4th World Re-union of the Refugee Children fro m Aegean Macedonia, spanning in four days, encompasses exhibitions, scientific symposium, book show, poetry evening, book promotions, film projections, etc.

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