EFA-Rainbow :: News 2008

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ΕFA-Rainbow supports the right of the Catalan people to decide on their future and joins the EFA campaign "Catalonia decides"

Catalonia decides

MAKEDONSKI.ORG

INTERNET RADIO

A selection of Macedonian blogs in Greece

Abecedar
Aegean Macedonian Culture
Antimakedonismos
Mladini-Makedonci

Anti-macedonian policy during the elections for the European Parliament against Rainbow by the Greek state and the Greek mass media

A scandal by the Parliamentary committee

Greek TV stations sabotage EFA-Raibow

Ultra-nationalists want "borders with Serbia"!

"Hellenic Post" sabbotages EFA-Rainbow Campaign

Typical example of censorship of Rainbow

Attack of the Greek Neo-nazi party

A Greek - Macedonian dictionary by Vasko Karatza printed with the support of EFA - Rainbow
Greek Macedonian

D. Lithoxoou

lithoksou.net/home.html
"Extracts of Letters"

Τι έλεγε κάποτε το ΚΚΕ για τους Μακεδόνες

Denying Ethnic Identity:
The Macedonians of Greece, by Human Rights Watch

Linguistics and politics II:
Macedonian Language

Greece's stance towards
its Macedonian minority
and the neighbouring
Republic of Macedonia.

Lawed Arguments
and Omitted Truths

R. Nikovski: Memorandum to the European Parliament
Facts behind the Greek politics towards Macedonia
English Macedonian

"Proposed disciplinary measures to stamp out the Macedonian minority in Greece by the National Security Service"

Center Maurits Coppieters

Greek Anti–Nationalistic Movement

Macedonian Forum for politics and history

2008 OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting

Working Session 3: Fundamental freedoms II
Freedom of assembly and association

Statement of the Home of Macedonian Culture

September 30, 2008

OSCE

Thank you Mr Moderator.

I would like to bring everyone’s attention to a case concerning Greece’s refusal to respect the right of freedom of association.

In early 1989, the Berlin Wall was still standing. At the same time, a local court in Greece denied the application of a group of Greek citizens to form a non-profit making organisation called the “Home of Macedonian Culture.” The group proceeded to register this association with the local court in the town of Florina/Lerin. The court rejected the application asserting that the objective of the association was to promote the idea that, and I quote, “…there is a Macedonian minority in Greece, which is contrary to the national interest and subsequently contrary to the law”.

In 1994 the highest court in Greece upheld this decision. The applicants then appealed the case to the European Court of Human Rights. In 1998 the court found that there was a violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Following the Strasbourg ruling, the applicants tried once again to register the association. However for the next few years, there was no lawyer in the Florina/Lerin area who would take up the case. Following the intervention of the Greek Ombudsperson, the local bar association appointed a lawyer and a new application was submitted to the court. However in December 2003, the local court in Florina/Lerin again refused to register the association, thus ignoring the Strasbourg ruling.

The case is due to be heard by the Greek Supreme Court which has already postponed the case on multiple occasions. This deliberate tactic of continually delaying the case is an attempt to avoid a new application to the European Court of Human Rights which Greece knows in all likelihood will result in other positive judgment for the Macedonian minority.

The denial of registration of the Home of Macedonian Culture raises serious doubts about Greece’s commitment to OSCE principles. The right to association is guaranteed in paragraph 10.3 of the Copenhagen Document. Furthermore, the right of a minority, which of course includes the right of the members of the Macedonian minority of Greece, to form cultural associations is also guaranteed in paragraph 32.6 of the same document.

Mr Moderator, almost two decades have passed since 1989. The Berlin Wall has been destroyed, yet the walls of prejudice and injustice against the Macedonian minority stand tall in Greece.

In 2009 Greece will hold the Chairmanship of the OSCE. We sincerely hope that Greece will use this opportunity to meet its OSCE obligations with respect to freedom of association and that the Home of Macedonian Culture will finally be registered. I invite the Greek delegation to give such a commitment today and to inform us all how it plans to implement the aforementioned judgment of the European Court of Human Rights.

Thank you.

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EFA 2019 MANIFESTO

Γιατί να ψηφίσω
την ΕΕΣ-Ουράνιο Τόξο

Click here
to read the Abecedar!

Promotion of the
Macedonian Language
Primer at the OSCE HDIM

Greek irredentism and expansionism officially sanctioned by the Greek Parliament

Letter to Carla del Ponte,
Chief Prosecutor for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

The Yugoslavian Crisis

Document of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
Related to the article - The obvious linguistic particularity - Eletherotypia, 18/11/2006

The ten Greek myths
on the “Macedonian issue”
By IOS team – Eletherotypia, 23/10/2005

Who says there are no
minority languages in Greece?
The "secret" census
in north Greece, in 1920

Map showing the Cultures and Languages in the E.U.

Council of Europe
Framework convention for the Protection of national minorities

Συνέντευξη: Ευάγγελος Κωφός, Έλληνας ιστορικός
Δημοκρατία της Μακεδονίας - Σκόπια είναι όνομα που εκφράζει την ταυτότητά σας

Ο Παύλος Φιλίποβ Βοσκόπουλος απαντά στον Ευάγγελο Κωφό.
«Το Μακεδονικό ζήτημα είναι η αχίλλειος πτέρνα του ελληνικού μύθου».

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