The Prespes Agreement may expressly leave no room for raising the existence of a “Macedonian minority” of North Macedonia origin living in Greece, however it is open for interpretation for a number of factions and a portion of the press.

A BBC report, titled “Greece’s invisible minority – the Macedonian Slavs”, states that Greece has implicitly recognised the existence of the Macedonian language and ethnicity through its ratification of the Prespes Agreement. 

The article focuses on retired lawyer Mr Fokas, aged 92, – no first name given. He identifies as both an “ethnic Macedonian and Greek patriot” and, in the interview with Maria Margaronis, discusses the rights of “Greece’s unrecognised Slavic-speaking minority.”

Mr Fokas talks of his group’s history in Greece as one of persecution and erasure and adds that they do not appear in school textbooks, are barely mentioned in public and most Greeks don’t even know that they exist. As a group, Mr Fokas said that “Slavomacedonians” became invisible in 1936 when Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas  forced Macedonian speakers to change their names to Greek and forbade their language. As a child, he remembers policemen eavesdropping to ensure that the language was not spoken, and his own mother was arrested and fined 250 drachmas for speaking the language.

The interview with Mr Fokas prompted a statement by the Greek government. A diplomat told the Athens-News Macedonian Agency (ANA) on Sunday that the report contained inaccurate and distorted information about history and the Prespes Agreement.

“The Prespes Agreement leaves no room for raising the issue of a minority,” said the source.

The Greek government is planning to send the BBC a letter in order to refute the reportage.