Please find below:

(1) A letter from the American Hellenic Media Project (AHMP), as published in The Washington Times on May 27th; and

(2) The longer of two versions of the letter as submitted by AHMP.

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(1)

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Letters

Thursday, May 27, 1999

Misstating history robs Greeks of heritage

In his Op-Ed column on Kosovo ("In the land of Pyrrhus," May 13), Lowell Ponte mischaracterizes King Pyrrhus and his ancient kingdom, Epirus, as being part of "Albanian history." History, in fact, leaves no doubt that Pyrrhus, the land of Epirus and its people were Greek and clearly discernible from the Illyrians who inhabited an adjacent territory and who many believe were the ancestors of today's Albanians.

That Albania has occupied the northern part of Epirus -- which still contains a Greek Orthodox majority in many areas despite decades of ethnic cleansing, pogroms, and institutionalized discrimination -- since 1913 should not mean that its Hellenic past should be appropriated retroactively into Albanian history. This is the same Orwellian logic that has been used to claim that Homer, the Byzantine Empire and St. Nicholas were Turkish or that the Indo-Europeans who invaded northern India were Germanic.

It is not merely that nationalist sensitivities are offended by this forging of history. Renewed efforts by some to discredit Greek civilization or to disassociate it from its Hellenic identity in support of a Balkan agenda detrimental to the region's most democratic and egalitarian nation, European Union member Greece, explain why many Hellenes react with such alarm. It is a strategy with a long, sordid and successful history.

Efforts to disenfranchise Hellenes of their heritage almost always have accompanied anti-Hellenic bias and have been used in the past by European propagandists to justify the mass slaughters of Greek populations during the final centenary of Turkish rule. In the early 19th century, Jakob Phillip Fallmerayer, a German propagandist who sought to erode popular European and American support for the Greeks in their struggle for independence against the Ottomans, then Germany's allies, introduced the racist theory that modern Greeks were an inferior, mongrel people undeserving of their ancient past. Many of the same arguments had been used to justify the West's complicity with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's 1922 extinction of Greek civilization's 3,000-year presence in Asia Minor, as well as Turkey's erasure of Hellenism in occupied Cyprus subsequent to its 1974 invasion.

It is no wonder that Greeks become nervous when coming across the sort of false revisionism espoused by Mr. Ponte. Given that Greek and Balkan history, both ancient and present, have been misunderstood by many, it is not surprising that our foreign policy in that region has become utterly misguided.

P.D. SPYROPOULOS
Executive director
The American Hellenic Media Project
New York

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(2)

American Hellenic Media Project
P.O. Box 1150
New York, N.Y. 10028-0008
ahmp@hri.org
http://www.ahmp.org

Via fax & e-mail: (202) 832-2982

(the longer of two responses)

May 22, 1999

To the Editor of The Washington Times:

In his article on Kosovo, "In the land of Pyrrhus" (5/13, p. A22), Lowell Ponte mischaracterizes Pyrrhus and his ancient kingdom Epirus as being part of "Albanian history". History, in fact, leaves no doubt that Pyrrhus, the land of Epirus and its people were Greek, and clearly discernible from the Illyrians, who inhabited an adjacent territory and who many believe were the ancestors of today's Albanians.

That Albania has occupied the northern part of Epirus since 1913—which still contains a Greek Orthodox majority in many areas despite decades of ethnic cleansing, pogroms, and institutionalized discrimination—should not mean that its Hellenic past be retroactively appropriated into Albanian history. This is the same Orwellian logic that has been used to claim that Homer, the Byzantine Empire and Saint Nicholas were Turkish, or that the Indo-Europeans who invaded northern India were Germanic.

It is not merely that nationalist sensitivities are offended by this forging of history. Renewed efforts by some to discredit Greek civilization, or to disassociate it from its Hellenic identity, in support of a Balkan agenda detrimental to the region's most democratic and egalitarian nation, EU-member Greece, is the reason why many Hellenes react with such alarm—it is a strategy with a long, sordid, and successful history.

Efforts to disenfranchise Hellenes of their heritage have almost always accompanied misograecist bias, and have been used in the past by European propagandists to justify the mass slaughters of Greek populations during the final centenary of Turkish rule. In the early 19th century, Jakob Phillip Fallmerayer, a German propagandist who sought to erode popular European and American support for the Greeks in their struggle for independence against the Ottoman Empire, then Germany's ally, introduced the racist theory that modern Greeks were an inferior, mongrel people undeserving of their ancient past. Many of these same arguments had been used to justify the West's complicity in Ataturk's 1922 extinction of Greek civilization's three-thousand-year presence in Asia Minor, as well as Turkey's erasure of Hellenism in occupied Cyprus subsequent to its 1974 invasion.

It is no wonder that Greeks become nervous when coming across the sort of false revisionism espoused by Mr. Ponte. Today's Fallmereyers are a motley crew, ranging from British bigots like Auberon Waugh and afrocentrists like Martin Bernal, to misograecist travel writers like Paul Theroux and Jewish-American chauvinists like The National Review's David Klinghoffer. Given that Greek and Balkan history, both ancient and present, has been misunderstood by so many, it is not surprising that our foreign policy there has become so utterly misguided.

Very truly yours,

P. D. Spyropoulos, Esq.
Executive Director