The Greek Macedonians played a major part in the history of Greece, of Europe, and of the whole world during the Hellenistic period (336-30 BC).

Alexander, the King and commander-in-chief of all the Greeks, crushed the despotic Persian Empire. He propagated Hellenic culture (as Plutarch tells us) and, assisted by his successors, the diadochi, established Greek as the universal language, thus changing the whole course of history.

It is deliberately deceitful to use the term "Slav", for the word "Slav" means "race". For centuries, the only Slavs known in the Balkans were the Croats, the Slovenes, the Serbs, and the Bulgarians. Until 1944, the only Slavs living in the territory of the FYROM were either Serbs or Bulgarians, as historical references and statistics attest (see Document No 9) Since they could not, in 1944, transform Serbs and Bulgarians into "Macedonians", Skopje's historians resorted to the term "Slav".

Historical accounts, statistics and wartime events also, confirm that the only Slavs in the region were Serbs and Bulgarians. The Macedonian Struggle (1903-1908) was waged by Greeks and Bulgarians; the first Balkan War (1912) was fought by Serbs, Bulgarians, and Greeks against the Turks; the second Balkan War (1913) was fought by Serbs, Greeks, Rumanians, and Montenegrins against the Bulgarians; and during the First World War British, French, Serbian, and Greek troops clashed in this region with Germans, Austrians, Turks and Bulgarians. There were no "Macedonians" fighting on either side.

The deliberately misleading use of the terms "Macedonians" and "Slavs" is exposed by two irrefutable Turkish documents. One is a population census of 1905, published by an Italian firm and the other is an election announcement of 1912 from Monastir (now Bitolj), which describes the candidates as Turks, Greeks, and Bulgarians. There was no such thing as "Macedonian" nationality during the Turkish period either. The referred Slavs were only "Serbian" and "Bulgarian" (see Document No 10).

For the people of FYROM to call themselves "Macedonians" constitutes an assault on fundamental principles and on the proclamations of international organizations, states, and world leaders. We underline the following three reasons:

• First: Everyone talks about democracy, but no-one bothers to mention that this "sad farce" (as the French Byzantinist Raine Gerdan has described it) is the brainchild of the world's most undemocratic system, Communism (see Document No 11)

  In order to gain control of the Balkans and the northern Aegean, Stalin imitated Hitler (who invented the "Arian race") and created the Macedonian nation". A statement he made in 1946 is eloquent in this respect; "They do not have Macedonian consciousness at the moment, but they shall acquire it': The Communist propaganda machinery, efficient as always, bore out the truth of Stalin's words. (see Document No 12)

  To recognize the people of FYROM as "Macedonians" is to support not only an undemocratic edifice but also an evil plot conceived by the Communists to take over Greek Macedonia.

  In 1948, the Communist Guerrillas abducted 28,000 Greek children from Macedonia and took them to various Eastern Block countries. The United Nations archives contain documented evidence of this, and a description may be found in Nicholas Gage's book Eleni. Those children were brainwashed about "Macedonia" for years, the guerrillas intention being to liberate one day Macedonia from the Greeks. In 1988, a few thousands of them, now adults, gathered in Skopje. Many came from Canada, Australia, the United States of America and Europe. In the presence and with the support of the political leadership of Skopje', they decided to raise once again the Macedonian Question. A special international committee was set up and, since then, it has been engaged in coordinating a worldwide propaganda against Greece.

• Second: To recognize the people of FYROM as "Macedonians" will create a permanent source of friction that will endanger peace in the region. The name of "Macedonia", imposed on the republic by the Yugoslav Communist Party, at the conclusion of World War II, bears the seeds of aggression on regions of neighboring countries.

  Successive Greek Governments have declared, on many occasions, that they are not opposing the independence and territorial integrity of the new Republic. But no Greek would consent to this state's appropriation of the Greek name of "Macedonia". It is only with a new name (after the example of America and Australia, for instance) that the new Republic, with its multi-ethnic population, will be able to live in peace in a turbulent region.

• Third: As any country, Greece is not represented only by its geographical territory, but also by its history and its cultural heritage. International organizations such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe, governments and prominent world figures, have stated that the history and the cultural heritage constitute fundamental elements of a peoples' identity and should be safeguarded and respected.