So, with one swift stroke of the pen, the U.S. State Department managed to bring to fruition the aims of Tito's communists in the Balkans, the establishment of a "Macedonia," a "Macedonia" that communists hoped to unite with lands in neighboring countries. Never mind that about 100,000 people were killed in the Greek Civil War to combat this communist propaganda, or that the U.N. repeatedly demanded the return of over 25,000 Greek children that had been taken out of Greece by the communists. And never mind that the U.S. had expended enormous sums of money in response to the Civil War because of the Truman Doctrine. No, it was "a long time ago," as representatives of the U.S. State Department have explained.
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Since we've already mentioned the FYROM misstep, let's move backward in time. Take Kosovo. Greeks protested loudly and vociferously against U.S. bombing in Serbia. Why? They were better informed about the full ramifications of the short-sighted U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Muslim Albanian terrorists who had been quickly relabeled freedom fighters and who had been agitating in the Balkans for quite some time. Did I actually use the word "agitating?" I guess that I did. Perhaps I should have said "waging terror." Because that's just what they did. They crossed over borders and waged terror in order to gain a firm hold on territories in other lands.
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Let's continue our journey back into time, to the mid-1970's, another pivotal point in failed U.S. foreign policy, the Cyprus debacle. Thanks to the U.S., Turkey invaded a small, sovereign, independent country, one without any national defense. The Turks overran one-third of the island which they continue to occupy today, in repeated violation of U.N. resolutions, an invasion fueled illegally with U.S. armaments. Now, in case you may have forgotten why the case of Cyprus might be of interest to Greece, let me refresh your memory. The greatest majority of the population of Cyprus-preinvasion-was Greek. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced illegally from their homes and land by the invasion. Sixteen hundred people were massacred outright by the Turks, a fact that only in fairly recent years has been verified by Turkish officials. And a handful of American citizens were also killed. Now, those numbers appear to me to be similar in magnitude to the ones suffered by "ethnic" Albanians in Kosovo. So, if that's the case, as people of Greece might wonder, why didn't the U.S. come to the aid of the Greek-speaking Cypriots at the time of the invasion? And why, now thirty years later, has the U.S. still done nothing to rectify this terrible injustice? Why instead has the U.S. taken the side of the Turkish aggressors, as it appears to me and to most others interested in this issue?
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Let's continue our journey back into time, to the 60's, to the time of the military dictatorship in Greece. The U.S. is perceived by Greeks as having supported this military junta. To the Greeks, this group of army generals was fascist dictators. But they couldn't have achieved power unless they were recognized and supported by the U.S. and other major world powers. Do you understand, Mr. Undersecretary, that there were many Greek patriots who were jailed and exiled under this regime? Do you know that people who disagreed with this regime disappeared, never to be heard from again?
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Let's continue our journey back into time, to the 20's, Mr. Undersecretary. I know that you have said that this was "a long time ago," but this, too, is a pivotal period in the history of the Balkans. After the defeat of Greece's forces in Asia Minor-and I won't even elaborate on the massive genocidal massacres of Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek Christians by Muslim Turks-nearly one million refugees swarmed into Greece. I know that this was "a long time ago," Mr. Undersecretary, but it's important to understand that these refugees were thrust into extreme poverty for decades, whole villages from Asia Minor. Their descendants still talk about the betrayal of their relatives and ancestors by the Great Powers, particularly the U.S. Why did the U.S. look the other way when these poor, blameless Christians were being slaughtered by Muslim extremists because of their religion and ethnicity?
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Most of these refugees from Asia Minor had come from a wealthy and educated merchant class, an urbane and cultured group of people who lost everything when they fled their homes in Asia Minor. Did you know, Mr. Undersecretary, that their ancestors had lived in Asia Minor for over three thousand years before finally being pushed out by Muslim extremists? That their ancestors founded many of the cities on the coast of Asia Minor?
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Let's continue back in time a little further, Mr. Undersecretary, to the first decade of the twentieth century. I know that it was "a long time ago," but this was a significant period for all of Europe-and even for the U.S. Remember World War I, Mr. Undersecretary? Do you remember the Balkan Wars that immediately preceded World War I? That's when Turkey lost European land because the Christian subjects of the Sublime Porte had finally suffered enough at the hands of Muslim extremists. The two Balkan Wars resulted in new borders in the region. That's rather significant, Mr. Undersecretary, since it required the redrawing of European maps. The effects of these wars are still being felt today. I know that it seems like "a long time ago," but there are actually people still alive who remember being freed by these wars. I would say that these peoples who gained freedom would not dismiss this history as something rather irrelevant, as something that happened "a long time ago," Mr. Undersecretary.
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Or how about the involvement of the U.S. in World War II? My own father fought alongside many proud U.S. veterans to combat fascism and communism in the 40's and 50's. Yes, indeed, some American soldiers have actually fought against communists. And-just in case they forgot to cover this chapter about southern European history at your alma mater-some of those important battles were fought right in Greece. You see, after the withdrawal of German occupation forces from Greece, the U.S. became actively involved in combating communism there. As I had mentioned above, American taxpayers expended enormous amounts of money and manpower in combating this ideology.
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Perhaps, then, Mr. Undersecretary, you should stop saying that these things happened such a "long time ago." Because, you see, you've lost credibility with many more people than just this one writer. Who can believe you and your colleagues?
