Distinguished Guests,
Esteemed Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As a professor, I have always advised my students to be curious in order to be able to enter into the depths of science in the real sense of the word. Reading the impressive biography of the Moldovan Prince, Dimitrie Cantemir, being the name of this prestigious private university, I may conclude that this great erudite and philosopher, historian and geographer, musicologist, polyglot and humanist with encyclopedic knowledge, was, above all, gifted with curiosity.
Guided by such curiosity, long ago, I began to explore what is the meaning of Romania and Bucharest to Macedonia and Macedonians, and vice versa, what does Macedonia mean to Romania and how this is reflected on the future of these two friendly countries, the future of the Balkans and Europe.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The renowned poet Mihai Eminescu once said: “If you want to see the future, go back to the past!” But before we do exactly this, I will refer in brief to the present, about the meaning of Bucharest today for Macedonia and for the Macedonians.
I believe many of you know that, unfortunately, the majority of Macedonian citizens have traumatic memories when the word Bucharest is uttered. Bucharest, not by its fault and not by the fault of the friendly Romanian people, twice was the place where the major powers were knitting the fate of Macedonia, each time, to the detriment of my country.
The Second Balkan War in 1913 ended with the Treaty of Bucharest, thus the liberation of Macedonia from the Ottomans was a prelude to a new slavery. With the Treaty of Bucharest, Macedonia and the Macedonians were divided among Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, and the name Macedonia and the Macedonian language were denied and suppressed. Macedonia, the Balkan, and European apple of discord, was transformed into cassus belli that affected the determination and alliances between the Balkan states during the First and the Second World War.
95 years later, at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, again, Macedonia was left out of the Euro-Atlantic family of nations. It happened that certain old member states did not allow the young Macedonian state to achieve its set goals.
Thus, it is not by accident that the Romanian capital today, not by its fault, awakens feelings of trauma among Macedonian citizens. Simply because few events happened here, that, unfortunately, prevented our yearning, first for a free, independent, and later for Euro-Atlantic Macedonia.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe that the negative feelings are not justified because, although we are not direct neighbors, there is closeness based on significant links.
The most profound and important are the spiritual and religious ties between the two peoples. They date ever since the time of the last Roman and first Byzantine Emperor Justinian, who in 535 established the Archdiocese "Justiniana Prima", the jurisdiction of which included the Byzantine provinces Coastal and Mediterranean Dacia, Upper Moesia and part of Pannonia.
Indeed, I believe that Macedonian-Romanian spiritual and religious ties are best reflected through personal histories. One such person is St. Nicodemus of Tismana. Born in Prilep, Macedonia, son of a Macedonian mother, Nicodemus transferred from Mount Athos the ideals of monastic isihasm in the Romanian lands. The monasticism he sowed the seeds of, has become an inexhaustible source that continued to feed for centuries the Romanian spiritual culture. However, his deeds are not only spiritual.
As a tireless builder, Nicodemus built monasteries and monastic settlements in Mehedinti, Gorzh, Ardzhesh and Hunedoara, and according to the living tradition it is believed that he was the builder of the monasteries Topolnica and Bistrica. Wherever he went, he was building spiritual disciples, erecting chapels in stone and wood, leaving a few students there to extend the life of the future monastery. However, the most significant is his monastery Tismana, the heart of Oltenia, the place from where Nicodemus spiritually guided the other monasteries and hermit's cells in the Romanian lands.
The great theoretician of religion, writer and senior church administrator was also an active politician and a great diplomat "who talked with emperors, capable to convince them in the glory of God". He was an adviser to four princes of the dynasty of Bessarabia: Vladislav Vlaicu, Radu, Dan and Mircea cel Batran, advising them not only on religious matters but also on state policy decisions. He was a teacher of Mircea and was respected by the Hungarian king, later Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Sigismund. Directly communicating with them, Nicodemus helped to overcome the differences, and in 1406, exactly in his monastery Tisman, Mircea and Sigismund agreed to joint their forces and fight against the Turkish conquests.
With the knowledge gained in Mount Athos, he was the founder of the transcript activity in the Romanian lands, and in the monastery Tismana he founded the famous transcription-calligraphy school. The oldest transcribed Gospel which can be found today on a Romanian territory is written by his hand and dates from 1405.
Most probably the memory of this educator of Romania, patron-protector of Oltenia, revered in Macedonia, contributed to develop trust between the Ohrid Archbishopric and the Romanian churches. Let me elaborate on this.
Following the Council of Florence in 1439, when the Constantinople Patriarchate entered into union with Rome, the Romanian Orthodox people refused to follow Constantinople and found a way out in the Ohrid Archbishopric, which also remained outside the union. Thus, the Hungaro- Wallachian Diocese and the Moldovan Diocese recognized the jurisdiction of the Ohrid Archbishopric, which was nominal and never dealt with the internal affairs of both dioceses. Although later, in the 16th century, the Dioceses in Wallachia and Moldova again recognized the authority of Constantinople, yet the memory of Ohrid remained, as a spiritual center that helped maintain the independence of the Romanian church from Rome.
After the restoration of the Ohrid Archbishopric in the form of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in 1967, a problem of recognition of its autonomy arised. Many local Orthodox churches refused to communicate with the renewed Macedonian church. But this was not the case with the Romanian Orthodox Church, which not only gave the holy ointment for the needs of the Macedonian Orthodox believers, but went on with the correct attitude and communication. I believe this is the fruit of the spiritual seeds sowed in Romania by Nicodemus, the Macedonian.
Distinguished Guests,
The ties between our countries and peoples are not only spiritual, but also educational and libertarian. The great Macedonian revolutionary, Jane Sandanski, said: "To live means to fight – the enslaved for freedom, and the free for perfection. We need to work for the awakening of our national consciousness".
At the time when Macedonia was politically and spiritually enslaved, the Romanian lands were a space for a free creative work for the Macedonian writers, illuminators and printers. In the late 16th century, Joan of Kratovo arrived in Romania, a writer and illuminator, who transcribed and illuminated gospels. In the 17th century, during the reign of the Vlach princes Matei Besarab and Vasili Lupu, Meletius the Macedonian, opened in Campulung Muscel a printing house, where the monk Nectarios of Bitola and the monk Stephen of Ohrid were engaged in the printing work.
Romania was the place where numerous Macedonian reformists came, such as Gjorgjia Puleski, lexicographer, historian, author of the first printed Macedonian grammar and one of the first Macedonian dictionaries, a person who was actively involved during his lifetime in the liberation wars of the Macedonian and other Balkan nations.
Romania was the place where one of the founders of the enlightenment in Macedonia worked, Jordan Hadzi Konstantinov-Dzinot, but also of the Macedonian reformist, writer and poet Rajko Zhinzifov, who, in Braila, published his poem "Krvava koshula" in Macedonian language in 1870. In the monasteries of the Moldovan lands, Parthenius Zografski, one of the most significant Macedonian reformists and textbook writers, was advancing spiritually.
However, Romania was not only the space of spiritual revival and enlightenment, but of national and political revival of Macedonian people. At a time when Macedonia was under the Ottoman yoke, and the Macedonian emigrants in Bulgaria were facing strong pressure from the Bulgarian authorities, the Macedonian reformists and activists, who called themselves Lozari, in Romania, printed their secret constitution with pro-Macedonian views. Thus, for the Macedonians, and not only for them, Romania has always been a beacon of freedom, a refuge from slavery and a second home.
Dear All,
It is said that a homeland is the place where there is freedom. The Romanian lands were the second homeland not only for the reformists and for the rebels, but also for migrant workers, because Romania has always been a place without slavery, space for success and progress.
Before, and especially after the independence of Romania in 1877, many stone masons, painters, various craftsmen came here to work. Indeed, I know this from my personal experience. My grandfather Avram was also a migrant worker in Romania, and in Bucharest, in the vicinity of the park "Cismigiu" he had a bakery, thanks to which he earned money to feed his family in Macedonia. Some migrant workers sought for seasonal work, and others remained forever. Many Macedonians, preferring freedom to slavery, went to live and remained in Romania, and founded their own families.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Enslaved peoples fight for freedom even from liberty. Therefore, many of the enslaved Macedonians fought for freedom from free Romania. Even in the 16th century, the Macedonian squad led by the Macedonian fighter Baba Novak, fought on the side of Prince Mihai Viteazu in the battles against the Ottomans. In Wallachia, active was one of the most significant Macedonian fighters, Petar Karposh. During the Austrian offensive attacks against the Ottoman Empire, Karposh returned to Macedonia from Wallachia, and, in 1689, sparked the Karposh uprising for liberation of Macedonia from the Turks. After the suppression of this uprising, many of his comrades escaped to the Romanian lands.
Also later, many Macedonians, including brothers Paul and Dimitar from Bitola, took active part in the great people's uprising in 1821 led by Tudor Vladimirescu. The suppression of Razlog and Kresna-Macedonian Uprising in 1876 and 1878 respectively, forced many Macedonians, fleeing from the mischiefs, to come here in Romania, and some of them, as hajduk Veljku, established hajduk squads there.
Romania was a space of freedom-loving people who wanted to achieve freedom. Both Macedonians and Albanians, but also Greeks. We all know about Rigas Velestinlis, ideologist of the Greek Revolution, who served as a Dragoman in the French Consulate in Bucharest. Imbued with the French Revolution ideals, he published his "Declaration on the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" and the "New Political Constitution", proposing the establishment of a Balkan federation with a republican order, in which Macedonia would exist, too.
It is in Romania, in Bucharest, that the Macedonian and Albanian immigrants issued a joint newspaper "Albano-Macedonia". Here is the germ of the joint plans for the liberation of Macedonia and Albania from the Ottoman yoke, which resulted in creation of the Macedonian-Albanian Revolutionary League in 1887.
Let me quote an excerpt from the 1887 Proclamation of the Macedonian-Albanian League, in which, the Albanian patriots stated the following: "After many attempts to help our homeland Albania, we learnt that there is only one way to victory. That is alliance with our close Macedonians and joint actions to liberate our ancient suffering homeland. Alliance with the Macedonians that are in the Bulgarian Principality and with those who live in Macedonia... "
It is in Romania, in Bucharest, in 1899, that the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee led negotiations with the Albanian Revolutionary Committee for initiation of the Macedonian-Albanian rebellion against the Ottoman oppression. Rebellion that would force Europe to intervene and solve the Macedonian issue.
However, history and geopolitics were not inclined to us. The 1903 Ilinden Uprising and its bloody suppression attracted great attention among the Romanian public. The Romanian Consul in Bitola, Alexandru Padeanu, in his report on the events in Krusevo during the Ilinden Uprising, No. 583, dated on August 6, 1903, inter alia, wrote: "It would take me too long to enumerate all the Christian villages that suffered from the Ottoman mischief".
Following the rebellion, the situation in Macedonia was desperate. Hunger, disappointment and military actions forced an increasing number of Macedonians to seek refuge here, in Romania, in freedom, not expecting that ten years later, the fate of Macedonia would be sealed right here.
However, both before and after the division of 1913, Macedonia sees Romania as a space of compassion, support and freedom. I assume that the best proof of this is the greatest human gesture - the acceptance of approximately 8,000 Macedonian children refugees, victims of the Greek Civil War of 1947. For their needs in Romania, Macedonian schools were opened in Sinaia, Tuglesh, Oradea ... Textbooks were published in Macedonian language, Macedonian grammar, newspaper in Macedonian language... in other words, Macedonian children taken from their families and homes were given a new life.
Looked after by friendly Romanian people as their own children, many of them with academic background, returned to the Republic of Macedonia with a strong Macedonian national feeling. But they never forgot the Romanian hospitality, and today, they are one of the strongest bridges of friendship between our two countries and peoples.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My address so far was focused on the historic ties between Macedonia and Romania, which can be discribed with one word - freedom. Romania, country of freedom, a place where many generations of Macedonians have come to succeed in freedom, to progress, and to fight for the freedom of their first homeland - Macedonia.
Through the personal stories of people like St. Nicodemus, Meletius and Puleski, through the courage of Karposh, Vlaicu and the Macedonian immigrants, remembering the migrant workers and the children refugees, we learn the truth about the Macedonian-Romanian profound spiritual, cultural, economic and political ties. We learn what Macedonia meant to Romania and what Romania meant to Macedonia and the Macedonians.
Having in mind the recommendation of Eminescu "If you want to see the future, go back to the past!", I suggest, for a moment, to look into the future.
Respected Guests,
In two years we mark a century of the Treaty of Bucharest which divided Macedonia, and five years of the NATO Summit, when the Republic of Macedonia faced the Greek blockade on the path of its Euro-Atlantic integration. What is common for these two events are the challenges typical for the 19th century, when the states and peoples were struggling for recognition, when the space was divided, instead of united.
It is simply unacceptable for such challenges to cast a shadow today, at the beginning of the 21st century. Those challenges will be overcome only if we accept that freedom is imminent state of real and lasting peace.
It is certainly true for Pax Europeana, which sees Europe as a peace project. Europe should be a space for free movement of people, ideas, capital and products. Freedom, everyone to enjoy and exercise its rights and identity! As open space in which everyone is respected for what he is, regardless where he lives and where he works! The Balkans today again, more than ever, needs Europeanization and elimination of all boundaries, which still prevent it from being part of what the visionaries call "Europe, our common home".
I believe that today we have new circumstances. For the first time in history in all Balkan countries we have democratically elected governments. In contrast to only ten years ago, when completely different issues were on the Balkan agenda, today, we are discussing concrete projects, infrastructure, economic and energy connectivity, environment, improved and joint approach in the prevention, mitigation and response to natural disasters. Nowadays, the governments in the region are committed to the joint fight against organized crime and other negative phenomena. Accelerated, balanced and sustainable development in the region remains our common goal, value and benefit. But, still there is a need for an open space. Now is the time again, through the Balkans, the European idea to produce peace and stability, as generations of statesmen and visionaries in Europe have already done that. "To build Europe is to build peace", said the father of modern Europe - Jean Monnet.
We, certainly, must be honest. The European Union is not yet Europe.Only when the European Union becomes Europe, we can talk about real peace in the continent. Until then, we should work on to restore the attractiveness of the idea of the European Union as a peace project. Let me elaborate on this.
It is unacceptable to have different approaches on key values such as peace, the rule of law and individual human rights and identity. The requirement imposed on us to continue on the path of progress, on the path of our European and Euro-Atlantic integration, not only includes the name of our country, but also individual human rights of my fellow citizens, the right of self-identification and human dignity.
Dear Friends,
It is impossible that Europe is not acquainted with this. Indeed, I believe that Pax Europeana cannot be achieved without Pax Balcanica. It is time Bucharest to become a synonym of a real Balkan peace. It is the right time Bucharest to be given the epithet of a city of peace, a city that would spread the idea of Pax Balcanica. I am confident that friendly Romania with its capacity, being European Union and NATO member state, can impose its influence to achieve Pax Balcanica, and thus Pax Europeana. This was proven in the past, it can be reaffirmed in the future, too.
Through Bucharest to Pax Balcanica,
Through Bucharest to Pax Europeana!
Thank you.
One of the discussions that is imposed, one of the theses which according to my opinion is unjustified, is that there is certain conflict of personalities and events in our history, which did not exist even in approximately the same period.
