Pavlos Voskopoulos

Pavlos Voskopoulos (Greek: Παύλος Βοσκόπουλος; born 25 November 1964) or Pavle Voskopulos (Macedonian: Павле Воскопулос)^[1] is a Greek politician, a member of the collective leadership of the Rainbow party that represents the Slavic–speaking minority (identifying as ethnic Macedonian) in Greek Macedonia.

Pavlos Voskopoulos
Born	(1964-11-25) 25 November 1964 (age 60) Florina, Greece
Education	B.A in Architecture
Occupation(s)	Architect, politician
Political party	Rainbow party

Biography

Voskopoulos, an ethnic Macedonian, was born in 1964 in Florina, Greece,^[2] to a Macedonian–speaking family.^[3] His grandmother spoke no Greek.^[2] He uses the Slavic patronymic Filipov (Филипов), his family's traditional name, which was changed to Voskopoulos (his application to change back was rejected by the Greek government).^[4] The Mayor of Florina, Ioannis Voskopoulos is his cousin.^[5]

Voskopoulos has a B.A in Architecture and is an architect.^[6] He participated in Greek local elections in 1993 representing the organisation MAKIVE (Macedonian Movement for Balkan Prosperity) and secured 14 percent of the vote.^[7]

Voskopoulos was a founder of the Rainbow Party, a political party in Greece representing the Macedonian minority.^[6] He has been one of its leading figures.^[8] The party opened its first office in the Greek city of Florina on 6 September 1995. On 14 September he, along with three other members of the Rainbow Party were charged with "having caused and incited mutual hatred among the citizens" by the local Florina court.^[9] Soon organisations such as Amnesty International came to the support of the members of the Rainbow Party, claiming that they would become "prisoners of conscience" if they were to be jailed for the offence.^[10]

Voskopoulos has sought recognition for the Rainbow Party and Macedonian minority.^[11] He has said the party seeks minority rights for Greek citizens and opposes intervention from North Macedonia or other countries.^[12] Voskopoulos has stated the policies of 21st century Greece lack the recognition of "otherness" within the national myth of homogeneity.^[11] In appearances on Greek TV, he has used the Macedonian language phrase of the Rainbow Party Gore Glavata (keep your head up) in reference to Macedonian socio–cultural affirmation.^[11]

References

1. "Nie Koi Ne Postoime" (PDF) (in Bulgarian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016.
2. "Гърция дискриминира славянското малцинство" [Greece discriminates against the Slavic minority] (in Bulgarian). Deutsche Welle. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
3. Lois Whitman; Jeri Laber (1994). Denying Ethnic Identity. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki. p. 14. ISBN 9781564321329.
4. "HDIM.NGO/430/06". OSCE. 11 October 2006. names were replaced with Greek ones. One of those was the Filipov family whose name was changed to Voskopoulos. In April 2005, Pavlos ...
5. Karakasidou 2020, p. 136. "The situation was very tense those days in Florina. Town mayor, Yiannis Voskopoulos (a cousin of Rainbow supporter Pavlos) started a campaign to collect signatures protesting the Accord."
6. Lalchevska, Vera (2017). The Importance of Being Macedonian: Origins and Consequences of the "Name Issue" between Greece and Macedonia (PhD thesis). Geneva Graduate Institute. p. 345. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
7. Poulton, Hugh (1998). "Linguistic Minorities in the Balkans (Albania, Greece and the Successor States of former Yugoslavia)". In Bratt Paulston, Christina; Peckham, Donald (eds.). Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe. Multilingual Matters. p. 68. ISBN 9781853594168.
8. Van Boeschoten, Riki (2012). "Politicised borders: The case of Greek Macedonia". In Knippenberg, Hans; Markusse, Jan (eds.). Nationalising and Denationalising European Border Regions, 1800–2000: Views from Geography and History. Springer. p. 100. ISBN 9789401142939.
9. Greek Helsinki Monitor
10. Amnesty International will adopt members of ‘Rainbow’ party as prisoners of conscience in case of imprisonment
11. Karakasidou, Anastasia (2020). "Voters and clients: Elections in Florina before and after the Prespa Accord". In Neofotistos, Vasiliki P. (ed.). Macedonia and Identity Politics After the Prespa Agreement. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 9781000281835.
12. Aarbakke, Vemund (2022). "The Identity Question Regarding the Macedonian Nation and Minorities: The Conflicting Views of Its Neighbours and the Implications for North Macedonia's Path Towards the EU". In Costa, Bruno Ferreira (ed.). Challenges and Barriers to the European Union Expansion to the Balkan Region. IGI Global. p. 220. ISBN 9781799890577.