The Macedonian language primer entitled Abecedar, which was published in Athens in 1925 as a result of the short-lived recognition of the Macedonian ethnic minority after the World War I, was recently re-published in Greece after 81 years.  The original Abecedar was intended to serve as a picture booklet for children of Macedonian heritage living in Greece so that they could learn Macedonian, however, it never reached them. 

 Source: Florina Party in Greece

The Greek ambassador to the Organization of Secretary and Cooperation in Europe "OSCE," Mr Haralambos G. Manesis became the first representative of the Greek state to officially receive a copy of the Macedonian Primer Abecedar, during the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw.  This initiative of the EFA- Rainbow party comes as an answer to the recent allegations of Greek officials that no Macedonian Primer has yet been circulated. The Primer was received warmly by all other delegations.
 
The representative of EFA- Rainbow addressed the 50 member state and numerous non-governmental delegates:

"We, the members of the Macedonian community in Greece, have made the first step towards the recognition of the Macedonian language in our country by publishing this book. Even though we believe that the Greek state should have taken this initiative as is standard international practice, we still want to urge our government to finally introduce the Macedonian language to the state educational system."

Photo: The representative of EPA-Rainbow presents a copy of the Macedonian language Primer to the Greek Ambassador to the OSCE, Mr Manesis. 

In their interventions during the Working Group Session on Ethnic Minorities at the OSCE Meeting, EFA-Rainbow and Home of Macedonian Culture delegations emphasized on the fact that Greece still follows an unacceptable policy, when it comes to ethnic and linguistic diversity.

EFA-Rainbow hopes that this symbolic gesture and the publication of the Macedonian Primer will eventually make the Greek state revise this policy and follow at last the international and democratic practices on the protection of human and minority rights.

Original ABECEDAR published in Greece in 1925

New ABECEDAR published in Greece in 2006

Front Cover

Back Cover