Niki Lazaro, inspired by our press release UMDiaspora Sends Letter to Greek President, writes to us and describes first hand the hardship of the state sponsored discrimination he experienced under Greek torture. Niki even today can not visit his birthplace in a country that is part of the European Union.
From: Niki Lazaro
Date: Nov 16, 2005 10:59 AM
To Whom It May Concern,
My grandparents, my mother, father spoke only Macedonian. This is the language that was spoken for hundred and hundreds years and will continue to speak the language as we did all this years, with all the surprising from the Greek government. In 1964/65 I went to the Greek Embassy in Bucharest to ask if I can visit my grandparent before their death. As I mention the name and the village (Zelevo today is called Andartico) I was told to walk out and never ever come back. The Greeks ” used to call us ‘ta makedonopula” looked at me and said you will never go back/ Ironical the Greeks took me from the city in Romania called Onesti and took me in Bucharest where I finish high school. I grew up in a dictatorial government under the Ceausescu era, I had the opportunity to see the Berlin war, I was 17 years old when I did a trip to Italy looking for a refugee camp, I did end up in 1974 in refugee camp in Austria but today are all gone the truth and the good will win no matter if will take a year, 10 or hundreds. I hope our name to stay as it was Macedonia that’s the only name I/we know. Forced to leave at the age of 9 months from home I do feel Macedonian, talk Macedonia and no Greeks will tell me otherwise.
I thank you very much,
Niki