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Meliti Μελίτη
Community
Florina city- in the background is the electricity power plant of Meliti.
Meliti
Coordinates: 40°49.80′N 21°34.88′E / 40.83000°N 21.58133°E / 40.83000; 21.58133
Country	Greece
Geographic region	Macedonia
Administrative region	Western Macedonia
Regional unit	Florina
Municipality	Florina
Municipal unit	Meliti
Elevation	680 m (2,230 ft)
Population
• Community	1,212
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Meliti (Greek: Μελίτη, before 1926: Βοστεράνη – Vosterani; 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. The village was called Türbeli during the Ottoman Empire. In 1926, it was renamed to "Meliti" in Greek.

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. During the Ottoman period, the village had a mixed Bulgarian and Turkish population. In 1845 the Russian slavist Victor Grigorovich recorded Vushtarani (Вуштарани) as mainly Bulgarian village. A Bulgarian school stood in the village at the beginning of 20th century.

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. A Muslim türbe (burial monument) on a hill above the village was destroyed.

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. During the Greek Civil War, about 200 villagers joined the Communist-led Democratic Army of Greece. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. Some Greek media has perceived the festival to constitute a threat alleging that the festival represents a "rebellion against Greek sovereignty". 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.

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.

Demographics

The 1920 Greek census recorded 1,292 people in the village, and 370 inhabitants (90 families) were Muslim in 1923. Following the Greek–Turkish population exchange, Greek refugee families in Vosterani were from East Thrace (2), Asia Minor (10), Pontus (24), the Caucasus (20) and one other from an unidentified location in 1926. The 1928 Greek census recorded 1,388 village inhabitants. In 1928, the refugee families numbered 55 (211 people).

In fieldwork done by anthropologist 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. The Macedonian language was used by people of all ages, both in public and private settings, and as the main language for interpersonal relationships. Some elderly villagers had little knowledge of Greek. Pontic Greek was spoken by people over 60, mainly in private.

Anthropologist Loring Danforth (1997) wrote Meliti was populated by Macedonians and Pontians. During the Macedonian naming dispute, internal splits occurred among the Meliti diaspora in Melbourne, Australia and was represented in the choice of village name for community organisations, with the Greek faction using Meliti and Voštarani by the Macedonian faction.

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

Economy

• Florina Power Station, a lignite-fired power station.

References

1. ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
2. ^ Institute for Neohellenic Research. "Name Changes of Settlements in Greece: Vosterani – Meliti". Pandektis. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
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. ^ 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.) (in Greek). University of Ioannina. p. 281. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
8. Mičev, Dobrin (1998). "Bălgarskoto nacionalno delo v Jugozapadna Makedonija (1941–1944 g.)". Makedonski Pregled. 21 (1). Makedonski Naučen Institut.
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. ^ 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. ^ "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. ^ Pelagidis, Efstathios (1992). Η αποκατάσταση των προσφύγων στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1923–1930) [The rehabilitation of refugees in Western Macedonia: 1923–1930] (Ph.D.) (in Greek). Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. p. 74. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
21. ^ 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 (in French). 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. Danforth 1997, p. 121. "the village of Meliti (Ofčarani in Macedonian), a mixed village of local Macedonians and Pontians about ten miles from Florina."
23. Danforth, Loring M. (1997). The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World. Princeton University Press. p. 160. ISBN 9780691043579.
24. 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
25. "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2015.
26. "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority.

• Populated places in Florina (regional unit)
• Florina