Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The Near East and Africa, Volume VII

501.BB/12–446: Telegram

The United States Acting Representative at the United Nations (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

secret
urgent

New York, December 4, 1946—7:30 p.m.
[Received 8:02 p.m.]

921. The following letter of the Greek delegation was received by the Secretary-General last night:⁵⁸

“3 December, 1946.

Mr. Secretary-General,

Under instructions from my government, I have the honour to request you, in virtue of Article 34 and of Article 35, paragraph 1, of the Charter, to be so good as to submit to the Security Council, for early consideration, a situation which is leading to friction between Greece and her neighbors, by reason of the fact that the latter are lending their support to the violent guerrilla warfare now being waged in northern Greece against public order and the territorial integrity of my country. This situation, if not promptly remedied, is, in the opinion of my government, likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.

In particular, the Greek Government desires to draw the attention of the Security Council to the urgent necessity for an investigation to be undertaken on the spot, in order that the causes of this situation may be brought to light. They are confident that in this way the charges brought by them may be confirmed authoritatively, and means provided for the settlement of the question.

A detailed memorandum in support of this request is submitted herewith, duly substantiating the Greek Government’s complaint, but I should like to refer at present to the meetings of the Security Council at which Albania’s application for admission to the United Nations and the Ukrainian complaint against Greece and the United Kingdom were considered, as also to the various communications subsequently addressed to the Secretary-General by the permanent Greek delegation, for the purpose of informing him of developments in the situation.

Information which has reached the Greek Government, and which has been carefully verified in every particular, shows that the position is as follows:

(a) The guerrilla warfare now being vigorously conducted in western Macedonia, and particularly in the mountainous regions of Kaimakchalan and Paikon, is supported by the seditious organization N.O.F., which is recruiting volunteers and supplying arms. The organization is under foreign leadership and has its headquarters at Skoplje.

(b) At the camp of Bulkes, in the Voivodina district of Yugoslavia, there is operating a military establishment at which picked men are undergoing training for guerrilla activities in Greece. These men have been chosen from those members of ELAS to the number of 2,500–3,000, who, following the Varkiza Agreement, sought refuge in Yugoslavia; they include many persons whose arrest had been ordered for offenses under the common law.

It may be mentioned in this connection that the Belgrade newspaper Politika, in its issue of 1st October, 1946, stated that the camp at Bulkes had recently received a contingent of “Aegean Macedonians,” i.e. Slav-speaking inhabitants of Greek Macedonia, who have become the tools of those directing subversive activities from Skoplje.

It has been ascertained that the inmates of this camp make frequent incursions into Greek territory by way of Albania and Bulgaria.

(c) The battalions which for long existed in Yugoslav Macedonia and comprised Slav-speaking Greeks who similarly had sought refuge in Yugoslavia, following the Varkiza agreement, in order to escape prosecution in the Greek courts, were disbanded and the men attached, in small groups, to various units of the Yugoslav Army. Men from the battalions in question, which had been commanded by Elias Demakis (known under the assumed name of Gochev), are permitted to enroll on a voluntary basis in the armed bands operating in northern Greece.

There is conclusive evidence that the whole guerrilla movement against Greece is receiving substantial support from the countries adjacent, to Greece’s northern boundaries, and particularly from Yugoslavia, and that this support takes the following forms:

(a) Groups of men are being trained and organized in foreign territory; they are then sent into Greece, together with consignments of war material;

(b) Armed bands or isolated members of such bands are crossing the boundary-line in both directions under the protection and guidance of the frontier authorities of the neighbouring countries;

(c) Greek fugitives from justice and anarchists are being received and cared for in foreign territory, and are being incited by propaganda to carry on subversive activities in Greece.

It is to be noted that Bulgaria and Albania bear a similar responsibility for the activities of the hostile bands operating on Greece’s northern frontiers.

The permanent Greek delegation has already drawn your attention to the inimical attitude towards Greece of the official Yugoslav press, as also to the statements made in August last at the first congress of the “Popular Front of Macedonia” by MM. Dimitri Vlachov, Vice-President of the Yugoslav National Assembly, Kulichevsky, Prime Minister of the “popular Macedonian Republic” and other official spokesmen, in which statements the union of the three sections of Macedonia was demanded.

It may be added that statements of a similar tenor were also made at the Paris Peace Conference by MM. Dimitri Vlachov and Pijade, and that various Yugoslav representatives have since expressed themselves in a like sense.

The evidence thus afforded confirms the view of the Greek Government that the guerrilla warfare that is being conducted on the northern boundaries of Greece enjoys official Yugoslav support.

The situation to which the events referred to have given rise is seriously hampering the Greek Government’s efforts to promote the economic rehabilitation of the country, and is tending to create causes of friction with neighbouring countries with which Greece desires, and is firmly decided, to live in peace and in a spirit of sincere collaboraton.

I avail myself of the opportunity to renew to you, Mr. Secretary-General, the assurance of my highest consideration.

(sgd) Th. Aghnides
Acting Chairman of the Greek Delegation to the General Assembly.”

Attached to this letter was a long memorandum a copy of which we have not yet obtained.⁵⁹ In addition to these two documents, the Greek delegation submitted certain photographs.⁶⁰

The Secretary-General informs us he is making the above letter and memorandum public either tonight or tomorrow morning, as soon as copies have been forwarded to the members of the Security Council. The photographs are being copied but will not be available for 3 or 4 days.

Johnson

58. For the official text, see SC, 1st yr., 2nd series, Suppl. No. 10, p. 169.
59. For text of memorandum, dated at Athens on November 25, 1946, see SC, 1st yr., 2nd series, Suppl. No. 10, p. 172.
60. Photostatic exhibits, including photographs, submitted in connection with the memorandum of November 25, are reproduced, ibid., as Suppls. 10A and 12A.