Serbian-Greek Friendship
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Serbo-Greek friendship. (Greek: Ellinoserviki Filia , Ελληνοσερβική φιλιά) (Serbian: Srpsko-Grčko Drugarstvo , CPΠCКO-ΓΡЧКО ДРУГАРСТВО)
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[edit] Cultural Factors
[edit] Orthodoxy
The strong Orthodox Christian presence in both Serbia and Greece, has since the wars for independence, played a strong hand in providing a common goal for the two nations and a sense of unity among nationalists from both countries.
[edit] Eastern Roman Heritage
Another important aspect of Serbian-Greek friendship is the common cultural heritage that the two nations have inherited from the Eastern Roman Empire. The Serbs were greatly influenced by the Hellenic culture of the Eastern Roman Empire, particularly under the reign of Serbian emperor Stefan Dusan. Dusan, who had himself crowned as "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks", made both Serbian and Greek the official languages of his empire, wrote charters and signed in Greek, and adopted Eastern Roman law as the foundations of his empire.[1] The expansion of his Serbian Empire into Greek lands and his attempts to capture Constantinople were not so much in order to subjugate the Greek Empire but rather to fashion a Serbian-Greek Empire through a synthesis of the two. Dusan, therefore, "took pains to woo the Greek inhabitants of those provinces [that he had acquired in Macedonia and northern Greece]. His code of law, or Zakonik, proclaimed the equality of Greeks and Serbs in all his dominions and confirmed the privileges bestowed on Greek cities by Byzantine Emperors of the past whom Dusan was pleased to regard as his imperial predecessors. His administrators were adorned with the Byzantine titles of Despot, Caesar and sebastokrator and his court was a model of that in Constantinople. He minted a silver coinage in the Byzantine style; and churches and monasteries in the Slav as well as the Greek provinces of his Empire were decorated by artists of the best Byzantine school".[2]
[edit] Historical Factors
[edit] The Yugoslav wars
In mid-1992, the UN responded to Serbian offensives in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina by declaring a full embargo on trade with Serbia by all member nations. The sanctions placed Greece, which had recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina shortly after its declaration in 1992, in a difficult position. Serbia was an important trading partner with strong religious and historical ties to Greece, and Serbia had supported the Greek position on the FYROM issue. Beginning in 1992, the Konstantinos Mitsotakis and Andreas Papandreou governments, fearing that the Bosnian war would spread in a direction that would involve Turkey, Albania and Greece, undertook long series of peace-negotiations with Serbia's president, Slobodan Milošević, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, and the Bosnian government without results. Meanwhile, food, oil, and arms were reported moving from Greece into Serbia in violation of the UN embargo. Before, during, and after its 1994 presidency of the EU, Greece was the only EU nation to back the Serbian position that Serbian forces had entered Bosnian territory in response to Bosnian provocations. In early 1994, Greece incurred the displeasure of its European allies by voting against NATO air strikes on Serbian positions. Greece also refused the use of its NATO air bases at Preveza on the Ionian Sea for such attacks and refused to supply Greek troops to the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. In NATO, Greece's position was diametrically opposed to that of Turkey, which supported the Bosnian Muslims.
In December 1994, after official talks with Milošević in Athens, Papandreou reiterated that the positions of Greece and Serbia on the Bosnia issue were virtually identical. A Milošević proposal for a confederation of Greece and Serbia with FYROM failed to gain support among any faction in Greece.
[edit] Assistance to Bosnian Serbs
According to University of Amsterdam professor 'C. Wiebes', the Hellenic National Intelligence Service (EYP) systematically sabotaged NATO operations in Kossovo in the mid-1990s, in an attempt to aid Bosnian Serb nationalists. In his report for the Dutch government, entitled Intelligence en de oorlog in Bosnie 1992-1995, Wiebes claims that EYP leaked classified NATO military plans (to which, as an allied intelligence service, it had access) to the Serb Bosnian leadership, and often to General Ratko Mladic himself, during the summer of 1995. Eventually, Wiebes states in the report, NATO allies ceased sharing NATO military plans with the Greek authorities.
Besides some dozens of Greek volunteers fought along Bosnian Serbs in the Bosnia war and helped capturing Srebrenica. According to a report in the Greek daily Ethnos, they raised the Greek flag over the town's destroyed Orthodox church. Since the start of the war, about 100 Greeks have fought in a "guard of volunteers" based in Vlasenica, in central Bosnia.[3] The Greek Volunteer Guard, or GVG, soon became a regular fighting unit with its own insignia - a white double-headed eagle on a black background. In September 1995, four of its members received the White Eagle medal of honor from then-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić.
Most volunteers were recruited in Belgrade, but liaison offices were also set up in Athens and Thessaloniki. A student working in one of the offices said he received many calls from patriotic-minded candidates and claimed to have fought himself in Bosnia for six months. He added the Greek authorities "never caused any problems" and that the Hellenic National Intelligence Service was in touch with the volunteers, the cause of their volunteering was reported "in the name of Orthodoxy".[4]
[edit] Friendship during other Wars
Serbs and Greeks, while constantly warring in the early stages of Serbian history around the medivel times, have generally been on the same side in most modern conflicts. Also, a Montenegrin Serbian commander named Vasos Mavrovouniotis was a very influential factor in the Greek War of Independence and is also seen by some as someone who represents the common military goals of nationalist Serbs and Greeks alike because although he was a Serbian, he helped the Greeks free themselves of the Ottoman yoke. In both Balkan and World Wars, Serbs and Greeks fought on the same side. Many in both nations regard countries such as Albania and Turkey as "common enemies", a factor that may contribute to friendship between the two nations.
[edit] Other Factors
[edit] Greeks in Serbia-Montenegro
The fact that marriages between Serbs and Greeks living in Serbia-Montenegro are "quite common" is both a cause and result of the close bonds shared by many Greeks and Serbs.[5]
[edit] Confederation
Despite strained ties during Tito's rule of Yugoslavia, Serbian-Greek relations reached the point where the creation of a state for Serbs and Greeks was seriously proposed by Milošević in 1992[6] and later by Karadžić in 1994. These proposals failed to gain any significant response from the Greek government, mostly because of the precarious state of Yugoslavia at the time. A book by Greek journalist Takis Michas called ["Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milošević's Serbia"] provides serious evidences of these initiatives.
[edit] Known Serbian-Greek Friendship Societies and Organizations
HELLENIC-SERBIAN ALLIANCE - Website at http://www.hs-alliance.org [Currently under construction]
SOCIETY OF GREEK-SERBIAN FRIENDSHIP[1] - 10 Tzortz St, Athens 106 77, tel 210 381 8530
SERBIAN HOUSE IN CORFU[2] - 19 Moustoxydou st, Corfu 491 00, tel/fax 26610-26724
SERBIAN-GREEK FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY - Headed by Prof. Dr. Miodrag Stojanović, President
HELLENIC-SERBIAN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY - Formerly located at http://www.eesf.org
GREEK-SERB FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY[3] - Kavala, Greece
ASSOCIATION OF GREEK-SERB FRIENDSHIP[4] [5] [6] - Headed by Konstantinos Christopoulos; based in Athens, Greece.
HELLENIC-SERBIAN FRIENDSHIP ECONOMIC CHAMBER[7] - Organized by members of the Association of Greek-Serb Friendship.
SERBIAN-HELLENIC COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION - Based in Serbia; website: http://www.sehecoc.com
MACEDONIAN-THRACE COORDINATION COMMITTEE FOR AID TO THE ORTHODOX SERBS OF BOSNIA[8] - Based in Greece.
GREEK-SERBIAN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY "ANCIENT GREECE"[9] - Headed by Laios Constantinos.
SERBIAN-GREEK FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY[10] - Headed by Aristiodes Mussionis; based in Greece.
GREEK-SERBIAN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY[11] - Headed by Panayiotis Mihalakakos; based in Greece.
SOCIETY OF SERB-GREEK FRIENDSHIP[12] - Headed by Dušan Kanazir.
BOARD FOR THE PERMANENT COMMEMORATION OF GREEK-SERB FRIENDSHIP[13] - Headed by Diogenes Valavanidis; based in Athens, Greece.
NEW SOCIETY OF SERBIAN GREEK FRIENDSHIP[14] - Headed by Diogenes Valavanidis; based in Belgrade, Serbia.
ASSOCIATION OF GREEK-SERBIAN FRIENDSHIP "ST. SOFIA AND ST. SAVA"[15] - Based in Patras, Greece.
SOCIETY OF GREEK-SERB FRIENDSHIP "ST. SAVA"[16] - Based in Thessaloniki, Greece.
SERB-GREEK SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE[17]
ASSOCIATION OF HELLENES IN SERBIA "RIGAS FEREOS"[18] [19] [20] [21] - Based in Belgrade, Serbia.
HELLENIC FRONT[22] - Formerly a Greek-Serbian-Russian Orthodox Christian patriotic organization (known under several names) based in New York City, United States.
On July 28, 2006, 18 members of the Serbian parliament took the initiative of establishing a Serbian Greek friendship group, and are looking to increase parliamentary cooperation between both nations.[23]
It is estimated that there are dozens more such organizations situated throughout both nations and a smaller amount in the diaspora, but because few of them have established foundations on the internet, it is difficult to keep an accurate tally of how many truly exist. Generally, however, prominent Greek-Serbian organizations have been known to meet with government officials and political figures, religious leaders, and fellow Greek-Serbian groups in order to strengthen mutual relations, sponsor cultural and historical celebrations, establish economic initiatives, and coordinate various humanitarian efforts. Smaller Greek-Serbian organizations generally organize local recreational activities.
[edit] Famous Quotes
- "We, the Serbs, are blessed to have God in heaven and Hellenes on earth. You the Hellenes have us Serbs as your friends. We will continue the struggle you undertook in 1974 against the Muslims until Constantinople becomes a centre for Orthodoxy." - Bishop Nicolas of Sarajevo, Cyprus in July 1994 (20th anniversary of the Turkish invasion)
- "The Serbs have only two friends, God and the Greeks." - Former Republic of Srpska President Dr. Radovan Karadzic.
- "The Greek and Serb peoples will remain united until Doomsday." - Former FRY President, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, 3 December 2000, Mount Athos.
- "The Serbs are our true friends [...]" - Former Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis
- "May the traditional Greek – Serbian friendship flourish! [...] The Greeks have always been friends of our people" - Serbian Patriarch Pavle
read by His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral on 20 April 2000 (addressed to the Athens Meeting).
- "As a Greek I swear eternal friendship with the Serb people." - Former Foreign Minister George Papandreou, 15 March 2003, Belgrade.
- "We have more in common than differences. The Greek people stood by our side more than any other nation. Up there we do not say the Greeks, we say our brothers. Whatever happens here – let's hope the time will never come – they will be by your side in no time. They are yours. You have won their brotherhood. They are so proud for my Greek origin both mine and my husband's. For the fact that he chose a Greek woman too, like his grandfather did." - HRH Crown Princess Catherine, 18 December 2004.
- "The Greek and the Serb people are united like a fist." - Former Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic, 1994.
[edit] References
- ^ Radoman Stankovic, "The Code of Serbian Tsar Stephan Dushan", Serbian Culture of the 14th Century. Volume I
- ^ Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453, page 254.
- ^ Greeks Helped Liberate Srebrenica, 14 July 1995
- ^ Greek Volunteers Fight With Bosnian Serbs, 5 June 1995
- ^ Bilateral Relations Between Greece and Serbia Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- ^ Serbia Calls For Confederation With Greece, 4 July 1992
