Are the EU and Nato Proud of Greece?

Good little report from our friends at the US State Department Every paragraph reveals a thousand words! Not pretty to watch slow motion cultural genocide and remember, these are Nato an EU values at work!


"Macedonia"
US State Department 2006
Report on Human Rights Practices in Greece:

In October the Home of Macedonian Culture (Stegi Makedonikou Politismou) filed an appeal to a previous decision denying to the organization legal status; however, the appeals court in Florina rejected the appeal in September. Having exhausted all state avenues of redress, the only avenue left for the group is to file an appeal with the ECHR.

In 2004 a former Greek Orthodox priest who became a priest of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was issued a three‑month prison sentence, later suspended, for holding religious services without a house of prayer permit. The priest's sentence could not be appealed in the country and for this reason he intended to appeal to the ECHR.

The law permits the government to remove citizenship from persons who commit acts contrary to the interests of the country for the benefit of a foreign state. While the law applies to citizens regardless of ethnicity, it has been enforced in all but one case against persons who identified themselves as ethnic "Macedonians." The government did not reveal the number of such cases, but it was reported to be low, and there were no reports of new cases during the year. There were reports that citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Republic of Macedonia were prevented from entering the country because their names appeared on a blacklist of people who had taken an anti-Greek political position on the Macedonia issue.

A number of citizens identified themselves as Turks, Pomaks (Slavic speaking Muslims), Vlachs, Roma, Arvanites (Orthodox Christians who speak a dialect of Albanian), or Macedonians. While some members of these groups sought to be identified as "minorities," or "linguistic minorities," others did not consider that these identifications made them members of a "minority." The government considers that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne provides the exclusive definition of minorities in the country and defines the rights they have as a group. In accordance with its view of the treaty, the government recognizes only a "Muslim minority." It does not officially confer status on any indigenous ethnic groups nor does it recognize "ethnic minority" or "linguistic minority" as legal terms. However, the government affirmed an individual right of self identification.

The government did not recognize the Slavic dialect spoken by persons in the northwestern area of the country as "Macedonian," or as a language distinct from Bulgarian. Most speakers of the dialect referred to themselves as "natives." A small number of Slavic speakers insisted on the use of the term "Macedonian," a designation that generated strong opposition from the ethnic Greek population. These Slavic speakers claimed that the government pursued a policy designed to discourage use of their language. Government officials and the courts deny requests by Slavic groups to identify themselves using the term "Macedonian," because approximately 2.2 million ethnic (and linguistically) Greek citizens already use the term to identify themselves.