United Macedonian Diaspora - Greek Customs Officer Interrogates Canadian-Macedonian at Athens Airport

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Greek Customs Officer Interrogates Canadian-Macedonian at Athens Airport

Monday, 17 July 2006

Source: Macedonian daily newspaper Vreme

Translated by UMDiaspora Staff

Written by Pavle Stojkov, who lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

I went on vacation to Greece. I am a Canadian citizen and at the airport in Athens a customs officer asked me for my passport (which is Canadian, not Greek). I gave him my passport and he asked me why my name is not Greek. I said that, if he wants to hear the truth, I will tell him. In 1926, the names of all Macedonians were changed to Greek. For example, Jovan Patchev became Yoannis Paciopulos. The Greek Government did the same to me, however, when I moved to Canada, I changed my name back to the original Macedonian one.

The customs officer called me into his office and started to ask me questions. He wanted to know in which church I was married, and whether that was a Macedonian or a Greek church. He also asked me whether or not I am a member of any Macedonian association in Canada.

My question is: since Greece is an EU member state, do all customs officers of the EU member states have the right to ask such questions about one's private life?

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