by Akis Gavriilidis

We’re a mixture here: Syrians, migrated Greeks, Armenians, Medes

C.P. Cavafy, In a Town of Osroini

For the past 20 years, the Republic of Macedonia was mentioned in the news, if at all, only due to nationalist or ethnic conflicts. These reports were dominated by the stupid, but no less obstinate, objections by Greece as to what the “right” name for the Republic should be, and the concomitant petty quarrels between the two countries for the title of the genuine descendant of Alexander the “Great” (murderer) and of the legitimate owner of some graves and their content. These had led to mutual suspicion and hatred, in the context of which the borders between the two countries had been under strict surveillance, and movement across them –both physical and mental- severely limited and often plainly prohibited.

This invisible human-tight wall separating the two territories was brought down and swept away the last few days, due to the unpredictable Συνέχεια →