Letters for February 23, 2003

From Staff Reports
The Facts

Published February 23, 2003

Letters to the Editor published in The Facts:

GREEK TO ME

I am responding to the article “Resolution Causes Outcry” by Michael Wright. His facts are not quite straight. In no way is the Republic of Macedonia claiming territorial rights on the sovereign Greek nation.

Macedonia has a population of less than 2 million as compared to Greece’s 8-plus million, and Macedonia has been ravaged by civil war. Does this appear to be a threat to Greece? Macedonia has always been Macedonia and nothing else. It was not “created” in the 20th century. The people of the republic of Macedonia are Slavic, yes, and a mix of many other ethnicities similar to the peoples of Northern Greece. No country is ethnically homogeneous.

Whether “Macedonians are Hellenes” is not the point. The United States is currently neutral on this controversial issue, and it is therefore not an appropriate subject for the state of Texas to comment through a simple resolution. Mr. Bonnen’s quote really does say it all “All Greece wants to be able to state is this is a Greek territory... ” It sounds to me like Greece, and Mr. Bonnen, believe we are all Greek, which is Greek to me.

Emilija Kolevska