Commemoration of the 62nd Anniversary of the British Napalm Bombing of Gramos and Vicho

World Macedonian Congress

August 25, 2010, Skopje, Macedonia (WMC) - The World Macedonian Congress and the Association of Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia this year will continue the tradition of commemorating the anniversary of the 1948 British napalm bombing of Gramos and Vico in the Aegean part of Macedonia during the 1946 to 1949 Civil War in Greece with a memorial for the victims of the war.

On August 27, Friday, 10 am, a delegation of the World Macedonian Congress and the Association of Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia will mark the 62nd anniversary of the napalm bombing. The bombing in Aegean Macedonia was the first time napalm bombs had been used in the world. The delgates will lay fresh flowers at the monument to the victims of the civil war at Woman Park before the Parliament of Macedonia. At 11 am in the courtyard of the church of St. Mary Mother of God on the Vardar River, Skopje a memorial service will be held for the victims of the bombing.

Invited guests to the commemoration include representatives of the religious communities in Macedonia, the president, members of Parliament and ministers, directors of national institutes, directors of state universities, the mayors of the city of Skopje and the Skopje municipalities, diplomatic and consular missions and foreign missions in Macedonia, associations of Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia, and the Macedonian print and electronic media.

The memorial service will send a request to Britain to apologize to the Macedonian and Greek anti-fascists in the Second World War for the defeat in the Civil War in Greece, for the victims of the British napalm bombing at Gramos and Vico, and for the British assistance for the victory of the Greek monarcho-facists who fought fiercely against the Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia, due to the agreement between Churchill and Stalin that the United Kingdom win Greece and the Soviet Union win Bulgaria and Romania. Macedonia and Macedonians will no longer be collateral damage to the interests of the big powers and their spheres of influence in the region. No longer can they hide the history and archeology in order not to reveal the truth about Macedonia.

The commemoration will condemn the use of weapons of mass destruction (napalm, hydrogen and atomic bombs), and send a message to the world of peace and love over war and hate. Macedonians around the world wait for Britain's apology, and recognition of the Republic of Macedonia and membership of the European Union and NATO alliance under the state name of Macedonia.

The World Macedonian Congress and the Association of Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia expect not only the fulfillment of the contract between Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia and the Communist Party of Greece for cultural autonomy of the Macedonian people in Greece after the victory in the Second World War. With thousands of victims between 1940 to 1949 Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia laid the foundation of Greek statehood, because together with Greeks they were able to free themselves from the fascists. And because of that they unconditionally seek to reclaim the civil and property rights of the Macedonians forcibly exiled from Greece from the Balkan Wars to today, and to receive respect and universal human rights for Macedonians who live in Greece.

Macedonians around the world reject the request to change the state name of Macedonia in order to legalize the Greek genocide against the Macedonian people and the occupation of Macedonia that occurred during the Balkan Wars and continues to this day. They require the immediate and unconditional suspension of talks on the state name of Macedonia. Macedonians around the world reject the pressures to change the state name of Macedonia and see these pressures as cultural genocide against the Macedonian people and crimes against humanity.