The Macedonian daily newspaper Nova Makedonija with an article about ethnic Macedonians who live in Australia, but originate from neighboring Greece. There, in the EU state Greece, their ethnicity is not recognized and the minority is negated. A census in Australia reveals this, reports Nova Makedonija.
At a time when Macedonia is constantly and seriously attacked by its neighbors, our compatriots in the diaspora are struggling in every way to prove their right to self-determination as ethnic Macedonians.
Nova Makedonija recently published an article in its electronic edition referring to 2016 census data in Australia, which stated that Greek-born Australian citizens declared themselves as ethnic Macedonians. With the support of social networks, especially among Macedonians scattered around the world, this article has generated great interest and reactions.
Public interest was sparked by an analysis by the Australian Department of the Interior which, using data from previous censuses, namely the 2016 one, found that 2,105 citizens born in Greece and immigrated to Australia declared themselves as ethnic Macedonians.
The analysis shows that out of a total of 89,207 people born in Greece, 82,207 people said they speak Greek and 2,241 citizens said they speak the Macedonian language.
This is the best confirmation that there is a Macedonian minority in Greece and it is directly endorsed by an Australian government agency. Nobody can claim that such information "was created in Skopje".
The latest census data (in Australia) is expected to confirm even more Macedonians who were born in Greece and who live and work in Australia.
What the Macedonian minority cannot do in Greece, they can do in Australia. They confirm that there are people in Greece who were born there, but who call themselves Macedonians according to their ethnic origin and language, unlike the Greeks. This is the best proof that not all Greeks born within the borders of present-day Greece are Greeks. Even if the authorities there do not recognize other ethnic minorities. This is a victory and a great success for the Macedonian diaspora, well aware of their origins. At the same time a worldwide recognition for the fact that there is a Macedonian minority in Greece. A statement from a well-informed source in the Macedonian diaspora in Perth, Australia to Nova Makedonija.
According to this source, the Australian census allows all citizens to express themselves freely, so that tampering by anyone is impossible and the truth comes to light no matter who tries to hide it.
In Australia for the last 30 years, the first question in the census lists is the country of birth, the second question the origin, the third question the language, i.e. what language other than English is spoken, and the fourth question is religion. Now we have a situation where so many people said they were born in Greece but called themselves Macedonians by their origins. The question arises, whether in a census in Greece someone is allowed to declare himself different from a Greek? It is known that a person born in Greece, regardless of their true ethnic origin, cannot take on any name other than that approved by the Greek Church. Where are the freedoms and principles in the so-called “cradle of democracy”? - asks the interlocutor.
He adds that the declaration of Greek-born Australian citizens as Macedonians undermines the Greek strategy for huge Greek communities around the world, especially in large cities, which is being used for political influence during the electoral process.
Greeks, for example in Australia, say Melbourne is the largest Greek city outside of Greece. It depends on what part of the world you are in. When you are in the United States, New York is the largest Greek city; when you are in Canada, they say Toronto is the largest Greek city in the world. They use it for political influence. Well, with such statements by Macedonians born in Greece, this is shaken because there are data from the Australian Ministry of the Interior relating to the local statistics office. The census was not made by Macedonians, it speaks about how Australian citizens voted. Explained the source of "Nova Makedonija" from the diaspora in Perth, who added that only in this Australian coastal city between two and three thousand Macedonians were born in Aegean Macedonia (today's northern Greece).
In his opinion, these data from Australia should be used by the Macedonian side and communicated to the EU interlocutors, despite the propaganda from Athens and Sofia that no Macedonian minority would exist on their territory:
It should be communicated openly to Brussels, here is a document that was not drawn up in either Skopje or Athens, but by an Australian government agency. This confirms that there is a Macedonian minority in Greece. There is no stronger confirmation than the freedom of expression of the citizens in Australia.
For the former diplomat Dragan Janjatov, this is a positive step, expressing optimism that the Greek-born citizens who now live in Australia will declare themselves even more Macedonians in the future.
The Aegean diaspora in Australia is huge and the influence and propaganda of Greece is quite intense there. But now Macedonians who went there as Greeks are now increasingly encouraged to declare themselves Macedonians, and that's good. I expect that the number of such will continue to rise, especially if relations with Greece continue to loosen up. Because, people will not be afraid of repression and will therefore explain themselves the way they feel, explains Janjatov.
According to him, this is not the first generation to emigrate to Australia, but rather their descendants who want to freely express their Macedonian origins and do so in the best possible way.
SOURCE: Nova Makedonija, "Австралија ја разобличи грчката асимилаторска политика", published September 23, 2021.
