The Vanishing Aromanian by Eugene Matzota
Page Numbers: 330
Publication Date: 2018
Publication Name: The Vanishing Aromanian
Aromanian […]is spoken by half a million people, mainly in parts of northern Greece, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Bulgaria.” , said Martin Maiden . The Aromanian Question, as Max Dreysuss said in his book , is not new, but has never been solved.
Regardless how sensitive and delicate this problem might be, one cannot just be another silent witness to the disappearance of Aromanians, known by so many names . Armân / Makedon-Armân – self definition = identifies their native space, the ancient Macedonia .
We use, instead of the well-known Aromanian, the ethnonim armân as defined by their own community: Armân / Makedon-Armân. Even in Romania, who claims they are Romanians, before Weigand coined in 1895 the word Aromanians, the term used was „macedo-român” (Macedo-Romanian). For Romania, they are Romanians and for Greece, they just simply don’t exist. Or, they existed only as enemies, and things are getting worse. Branislav Stefanoski – Al Dabija told me: “In 1981, people from Greece declared themselves Aromanians / Makedon-Armâns. Today, unfortunately, they are all Vlahos!”
Now more than ever, though, the interests related to the assimilation are stronger than ever, even in EU countries, wanting a larger number of potential citizens for a stronger voice at the common European table. So, once again, Makedon-Armâns fell midway between various state interests. The danger of assimilation is real and, despite Recommendation 1333 /97 of the Council of Europe concerning their rights as a minority, Aromanians could just perish right before our eyes.
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