Meliti
Μελίτη
Florina city- in the background is the electricity power plant of Meliti.
Florina city- in the background is the electricity power plant of Meliti.
Meliti is located in Greece
Meliti
Meliti
Coordinates: 40°49.80′N 21°34.88′E / 40.83000°N 21.58133°E / 40.83000; 21.58133
CountryGreece
Geographic regionMacedonia
Administrative regionWestern Macedonia
Regional unitFlorina
MunicipalityFlorina
Municipal unitMeliti
Highest elevation
680 m (2,230 ft)
Lowest elevation
680 m (2,230 ft)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Rural
1,432
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Meliti (Greek: Μελίτη, before 1926: Βοστεράνη - Vosterani;[2] Bulgarian: Овчарани or Вощарани, Macedonian: Овчарани) is a village in the Florina regional unit, Western Macedonia, Greece, 15 km northeast of the city of Florina. It is part of the municipal unit Meliti.

Name

The name of the village is "Voshterani", "Voštarani" (Воштарани, Вощарани) or "Ovčarani" (Овчарани) in both Macedonian and Bulgarian.[3] The village was called Türbeli during the Ottoman Empire.[3] In 1926, it was renamed to "Meliti" in Greek.[2]

History

The village was first mentioned in an Ottoman defter of 1481, where it was listed under the name Voštarani and described as having one hundred and ninety-eight households.[4] During the Ottoman period, the village had a mixed Bulgarian and Turkish population.[3] In 1845 the Russian slavist Victor Grigorovich recorded Vushtarani (Вуштарани) as mainly Bulgarian village.[5] A Bulgarian school stood in the village at the beginning of 20th century.[6]

After the Balkan Wars, Greece annexed the village. In World War I, Bulgaria occupied it, but with Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine it was returned to Greece. After the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), the Turkish population left the village and Greek refugees from Anatolia were settled there. The village mosque was destroyed and its minaret demolished.[7] A Muslim türbe (burial monument) on a hill above the village was destroyed.[7]

After the defeat of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941, a local government was established and villagers were actively involved in the pro-Bulgarian organization "Ohrana." In 1946, 20 activists from "Ohrana", were sentenced to prison by a court in Florina.[8] During the Greek Civil War, about 200 villagers joined the Communist-led Democratic Army of Greece.[9] After the Greek Civil War, 66 Slavic Macedonian and 12 Pontic families left the village.

In 2008, a group of roughly 30 villagers from Meliti joined in protest with fellow slavic Macedonians from Lofoi and Kella to protest the presence of the Greek military conducting training exercises in the vicinity of these villages.[10][11]

Culture

Meliti holds an annual festival in honour of the Prophet Elijah. Held every year on 19–20 July, it is known as "Ilinden" in the local dialect, and is considered by some Slavic Macedonians living in the village to be a celebration in honour of the Ilinden Uprising. The festival has attracted performers from the neighbouring Republic of North Macedonia such as Vaska Ilieva, Suzana Spasovska, Elena Velevska, Synthesis and the Tanec folklore ensemble.[12][13][14] An estimated 3,000–5,000 people attend the event every year.

The festival however has not gone without criticism from the Greek authorities and local Greek media. In the past, as was common with all festivals involving songs in Slavic Macedonian, there were suppressive measures enforced by local authorities.[15] According to the president of the local community, this was so severe that it was only until 1983 that songs in the Slavic Macedonian language were allowed to be sung.[16] In 1988 the local police interrupted the festival to by switching off all power to the sound system, a reaction to the singing of Slavic Macedonian songs. The police later justified these actions claiming that the mayor of the village had been warned not to use the Slavic Macedonian names of songs, but to instead use the Greek version. Two years later the police employed similar tactics in response to a folkloric group singing in Slavic Macedonian.[15] Some Greek media has perceived the festival to constitute a threat alleging that the festival represents a "rebellion against Greek sovereignty".[15][16] Within the Slavic Macedonian media however, an alternate approach has been taken, with the event being publicised as the largest annual gathering of Slavic Macedonians in Greece.[17][18]

The village is home to both Slavic Macedonian and Pontic Greek folkloric groups, with the Macedonian group "KUD Ovčarani" notably performing at the 40th "Macedonian Border Festival" at the border village of Trnovo, North Macedonia.[19]

Demographics

The Greek census (1920) recorded 1292 people in the village and in 1923 there were 370 inhabitants (or 90 families) who were Muslim.[20] Following the Greek-Turkish population exchange, in 1926 within Vosterani there were refugee families from East Thrace (2), Asia Minor (10), Pontus (24), the Caucasus (20) and one other from an unidentified location.[20] The Greek census (1928) recorded 1388 village inhabitants.[20] There were 55 refugee families (211 people) in 1928.[20]

Meliti had 1511 inhabitants in 1981.[21] In fieldwork done by Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, Meliti was populated by Slavophones and a Greek population descended from Anatolian Greek refugees who arrived during the population exchange.[21] The Macedonian language was used by people of all ages, both in public and private settings, and as the main language for interpersonal relationships.[21] Some elderly villagers had little knowledge of Greek.[21] Pontic Greek was spoken by people over 60, mainly in private.[21]

In the mid 2000s, the village has been described as the "epicenter of Macedonian ethnic activism in Greece".[22]

According to the 2011 census,[1] the population of Meliti was 1,432 people.

Year Population
19131,519
19201,292
19281,388
19401,759
19511,666
19611,756
19711,445
19811,511

Economy

References

  1. 1 2 "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority.
  2. 1 2 "Name Changes of Settlements in Greece: Vosterani – Meliti". Pandektis. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "Македония и Одринско. Статистика на населението от 1873 г." Македонски научен институт, София, 1995, с. 82-83, Петров, Гьорче. Материали по изучаванието на Македония, София 1896, с. 70, Васил Кънчов. "Македония. Етнография и статистика". София, 1900, стр.249.
  4. ↑ Kravari, Vassiliki (1989). Villes et villages de Macédoine occidentale. Réalités byzantines (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Editions P. Lethielleux. pp. 349–350. ISBN 2-283-60452-4.
  5. ↑ Григорович, Виктор. Очерки путешествiя по Европейской Турцiи, Москва, 1877
  6. ↑ D.M.Brancoff. "La Macedoine et sa Population Chretienne". Paris, 1905, p.176-177.
  7. 1 2 Stavridopoulos, Ioannis (2015). Μνημεία του άλλου: η διαχείριση της οθωμανικής πολιτιστική κληρονομιάς της Μακεδονίας από το 1912 έως σήμερα [Monuments of the other: The management of the Ottoman cultural heritage of Macedonia from 1912 until present] (Ph.D.). University of Ioannina. p. 281. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  8. ↑ Mičev, Dobrin (1998). "Bălgarskoto nacionalno delo v Jugozapadna Makedonija (1941–1944 g.)". Makedonski Pregled. Makedonski Naučen Institut. 21 (1).
  9. ↑ ОВЧАРАНИ – ΟΦΤΣΣΑΡΑΝΙ
  10. ↑ "Parliamentary members seek urgent help from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  11. ↑ The Demonstrations in Florina
  12. ↑ The Macedonians in Greece celebrate Ilinden in Ovcarani
  13. ↑ The Macedonians in Ovcarani answer Karamanlis Archived 17 September 2012 at archive.today
  14. ↑ And this year in Ovcarani they celebrate Ilinden Archived 25 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  15. 1 2 3 Τάσος Κωστόπουλος (2008). Η απαγορευμένη γλώσσα - Κρατική Καταστολή των Σλαβικών Διαλέκτων στην Ελληνική Μακεδονία. Αθήνα: Βιβλιόραμα. pp. 364–365. ISBN 978-960-8087-73-6.
  16. 1 2 "Радио на маке донски ќе ечи од Лерин до Солун". Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  17. ↑ "Македонците во Грција го прославија Илинден во Овчарани". Македонска нација. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  18. ↑ Ντιμιτάρ Κούλεβ (21 July 2008). "Македонците во Овчарани му одговорија на Караманлис". Bechuk. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  19. ↑ "Traditional Macedonian Gathering - Trnovo 2011". Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Pelagidis, Efstathios (1992). Η αποκατάσταση των προσφύγων στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1923-1930) [The rehabilitation of refugees in Western Macedonia: 1923-1930] (Ph.D.). Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. p. 74. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 Van Boeschoten, Riki (2001). "Usage des langues minoritaires dans les départements de Florina et d'Aridea (Macédoine)" [Use of minority languages in the departments of Florina and Aridea (Macedonia)]. Strates. 10. para.1. "l’arvanitika (proche de l’albanais)"; Table 1: Réfugiés grecs; Footnote 2: Le terme « réfugié » est utilisé ici pour désigner les Grecs d’Asie Mineure qui se sont établis en Grèce dans les années vingt après l’échange de population entre la Turquie et la Grèce (Traité de Lausanne, 1924); Table 3: Meliti, 1511; S, R, M1, P3; S = Slavophones, R = Refugiés, M = macédonien, P = dialecte pontique"
  22. ↑ Voss, Christian (2005), "The Macedonian/Standard dialect continuum", in Raymond, Detrez; Pieter, Plas, Developing cultural identity in the Balkans: convergence vs divergence, Brusells: P.I.E-Peter Lang, p. 54
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.