THE ISSUE REGARDING THE CITIZENSHIP AND PROPERTY RIGHTS OF ETHNIC MACEDONIAN REFUGEES FROM THE CIVIL WAR IN GREECE (1946-1949)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze instances of human rights violations of ethnic Macedonian refugees, exiled from Greece during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), with a particular focus on the continued deprivation of their citizenship and property rights. In addition, the Greek legislation that enabled the deprivation of the said rights, as well as the so-called 'amnesty laws’ promulgated some 40 years after the civil war, will be examined. These ‘amnesty laws’ of 1982 and 1985; perpetuate the discrimination against ethnic Macedonian refugees, by preventing them from reclaiming their right to Greek citizenship, as well as their confiscated properties. The second part of this article devotes itself to possible sequential remedies available to ethnic Macedonians, first through administrative and judicial procedures within Greece, followed by, should domestic remedies become exhausted, petitioning the case before the European Court of Human Rights, invoking several articles and using precedent cases from the Court’s jurisprudence. The article will close with a brief assessment addressing the possibility for the Republic of Macedonia to initiate an inter-state case against Greece via the ECtHR and CERD.