An important NATO summit will take place next week in Bucharest, Romania. Our discussion will focus on two main issues: the first, NATO enlargement and developments in the Western Balkans; the second, an evaluation of the Alliance's operations in Afghanistan (ISAF) and Kosovo (KFOR). In both of these U.N. mandated operations, there is an important Greek contribution of 2,000 men.
Greece, for over 15 years now, has held the position that the future of Southeastern Europe lies in its integration into the Euroatlantic Institutions. On the basis of this strategic choice, we support NATO's "open door" policy. An open door policy, however, must be based on the principles of good neighborly relations and allied solidarity.
Greece supports the enlargement of NATO in the Western Balkans, with the invitations to Croatia and Albania. Ιt is ready also to welcome the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), provided that our northern neighbor shifts from their nationalistic logic and agree to a mutually agreeable name for international use that differentiates the new Balkan state from the Greek province of Macedonia; a name that will not be a vehicle for propaganda and irredentism against a neighboring NATO member.
Athens has shown its good will towards Skopje in many ways. It has supported its neighbor, both politically and economically, ranking as the number one foreign investor in that country, with $1 billion invested capital that has generated 30,000 new jobs. Most recently, we went the extra mile, or rather the most important mile, when we expressed our readiness to agree to a composite name with a geographic qualifier. This is a major shift from Greece's initial position, which excluded any use of the term "Macedonia", in the name of our neighbor.
Some have questioned our stance on the name issue and the possibility of a Greek veto at the NATO summit, if the name issue is not resolved by then. Some are suggesting that we are re-fighting old battles, not seeing the "big picture", that we are drawn into the past.
My answer to these claims is that the name issue is not a bilateral one. It is an international issue, which concerns our broader region. Directly, or indirectly, it concerns NATO and the U.N. And, if not resolved now, it may fester to poison future generations, undermining stability and cooperation in the 21st century.
We hope that with active U.N. mediation and U.S. involvement, a resolution of this issue will be achieved before the Bucharest summit.
On this issue, we are not alone. 115 members of the U.S. Congress, from both parties, support House Resolution 356, expressing the "sense of the House of Representatives that FYROM should stop hostile activities and propaganda against Greece, and should work with the United Nations and Greece to find a mutually acceptable official name".
A similar resolution, S.R. 300, was introduced in the Senate by Senators Menendez, Obama, Snowe.
The immediate settlement of the name issue before the NATO Summit in a mutually agreeable way, will allow Greece, the U.S.'s strongest ally in the Balkans, to support FYROM's membership to NATO and ultimately to the European Union, a strategic goal also shared by the U.S.
A prerequisite for a proper relationship as allies and partners is that of good neighborliness. We have lived together through good and bad times, we have shared tragedy, but also share hope for a bright future. Let's leave behind the former and invest in the latter.
Greece has called upon FYROM's leadership to act responsibly and show political courage and meet Greece half way. It will be a responsible move on the part of an aspiring candidate, a move that will win them a European future, a future of stability, peace and economic prosperity, based on the principles upon which NATO and the European Union are founded.
Alexandros P. Mallias is Ambassador of Greece to the United States.
This is an argument of the Americans and Europeans, because you have no history so we do not understand the value of history and the names, and everything is calculated on the basis of your interests. But for us the biggest argument to not labeled Skopje to Macedonia, is that history is our greatest wealth and Nations without a past did not have a future.
Foreign Relations Vol. VIII
Washington D.C.
Circular Airgram
(868.014/26 Dec. 1944)
US Secretary of State Stettinius
The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic and Consular Officers*
The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. "This Government considers talk of Macedonian "nation", Macedonian "Fatherland", or Macedonia "national consiousness" to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece".
The approved policy of this Government is to oppose any revival of the Macedonian issue as related to Greece. The Greek section of Macedonia is largery inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek people are almost unanimously opposed to the creation of a Macodonian state. Allegations of serious Greek participation in any such agitation can be assumed to be false. This Government would regard as responsible any Government or group of Governments tolerating or encouraging menacing or aggressive acts of "Macedonian Forces" against Greece.
Vlatko: Is the US State Dpt a Nazi force too?
As I said,I am not going to engage with you on prooving and discprooving the historical details. It is pointless. We have very different views on history. I will stick to the present day. Greece is heading toward becoming a second Serbia on the Balkans: a foreign policy based on ancient myths and legends and an internal policy based on turbo-natonalism, disrespect toward its ethnical minorities and threats toward the neighboring nations. At the same time that is combined with opposing its NATO and EU allies and taking counter-productive decisions based on irrational emotions. This is Serbia today. Will this also be Greece tomorrow?
Greece has been huge dissapointment for young Republic of Macedonia. The people in Macedonia expected from Greece as the oldest and reachest Balkan member of NATO and EU to be a regional leader and living example of European values. Instead...look at this blog? Look at the stance of the honorable Greek Ambassador! Greece has swamped itself into the Balkan mud and transformed into something very ugly. Instead of looking at Macedonian heritage as a bridge between the two states, Greece has trasformed the Macedonian heritage today as a serious NATO and EU problem. Greece should turn its view around. The fact that the Macedonians has historical bonds with the Greek Macedonia should be used as a connection on which mutual trust should be build on. Just like Holland and Belgium, Just like Germany, Austria and Croatia; just like Italy and Slovenia ...
Let's agree to disagree then. However I don't think that Italy would have liked it if Slovenia called itself Piemonte-Trieste and claimed that Italy has oppressed Piemontais people. I also disagree with you that Greece is like Serbia and that Greece has a Slavic minority which does not consider itself Greek. We have a slavophone community which identifies itself as Greek. My grandparents also spoke this language which was imposed on them by Bulgarian paramilitaries. They never said that they were anything but Greek. Anyway, if we were like Serbia, we would have killing squads who wear masks and kill whole communities. In fact, isn't that what FYROM did in 2001 to its disgruntled Albanian community? FYROM's government fell because the Albanians pulled out last week. Sorry but we are not Serbia. I hope that our two countries will find a MUTUAL solution to the problem.
Anyway, have a good day.
1) We are not related to the northern Greeks who produced leaders like Philip and Alexander the Great. We are a Slav people and our language is closely related to Bulgarian."
[FYROM's Ambassador to Canada, Gyordan Veselinov in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen, 24 February 1999]
2) "We are Slavs who came to this area in the sixth century... we are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians."
[FYROM'S President Mr. Kiro Gligorov, Foreign Information Service Daily Report, Eastern Europe, February 26, 1992, p. 35.]
3) "We do not claim to be descendants of Alexander the Great. We are Slavs and we speak a Slav language."
[FYROM'S Ambassador in Washington, Mrs. Ljubica Acevshka, 22 January 1999]
Enough revisionist history from a people trying to find themselves. Vlatko, are your people Nazis too? It is lie that Greece renamed its northernmost province Makedonia in 1988. Simply a lie. The region has been known since antiquity as Makedonia and officially a province since independence from Turkey in 1913.
Henry Kissinger
Management Centre Europe
18-19 June 1992, Paris
2/10/92
This is an abstract of the minutes kept during the annual meeting of Management Centre Europe held in Paris on June. During the questions time at the end of Henry Kissinger's presentation one of the questions was:
"What is your opinion for the problem which Greece have to accept the name Macedonia which the Scopia Government is trying to implement?"
Mr Kissiger asked the man who asked the question:
"Are you Greek ?"
Reply "Yes"
"Look, I believe that Greece is right to object and I agree with Athens. The reason is that I know History which is not the case with most of the others including most of the Government and Administration in Washington.
The strength of the Greek case is that of the History which I must say that Athens have not used so far with success."
Vlatko: Is Henry Kissinger a Nazi too?
Although IMRO was predominantly ethnic Bulgarian since its establishment, it favoured the idea of an autonomous Macedonia and preferred to disassociate itself from official Bulgarian policy and was not under Bulgarian control. Its founding leaders believed that an autonomous movement was more likely to find favour with the Great Powers than one which was a tool of the Bulgarian government. When, in addition to these advantages, the Bulgarophil Macedonians started their marvellously-organised revolutionary committee in 1893, the Servian cause received its death-blow. By way of emphasising her antagonism to Bulgaria, official Servia now adopted an openly Turcophil policy, and nothing could be more fatal to the prospects of any Christian race in Turkey. The Macedonian peasantry will bestow their allegiance only on a propaganda which promises them some speedy prospect of release from the Ottoman yoke.
What is more, some of its younger leaders espoused radical socialist and anarchist ideas and saw their goal as the establishment of a new form of government rather than unification with Bulgaria. Eventually these considerations led the organisation to change its statute and accept as members not only Bulgarians but all Macedonians and Odrinians regardless of ethnicity or creed. In reality, however, besides some Vlach members, its membership remained overwhelmingly Bulgarian Exarchist.
Athens should reconsider its behaviour toward Macedonia. Greece as a NATO member may have the technical right to veto Macedonia's membership, but this won't mask its grotesque rights abuses, in fact it will exacerbate the situation and make people redouble their efforts to expose Greece and the European Union in this debacle. Greece is about to initiate a dynamic in the Balkans that has absolutely nothing to do with regional security or allied solidarity.
Mr. Ambassador, it's time for Greece to stop denying the existence of its Macedonian and Turkish minorities - which everyone knows are there. Stop falsifying the history of today's Modern Greeks, which every historian knows are not related to the ancient Greeks or the ancient Macedonians. Stop using bully tactics to cover up your abuses because I promise you such behaviour will come to no good.
There is not one reputable historian who will support the idiotic notion that today's Modern Greeks are the descendants of the ancient Greeks and ancient Macedonians. That's like saying Hosni Mubarek and today's Egyptians are the descendants of Tutankhamen. Such nonsense is just not on. Ignorant Greek racists.
Stop persecuting your minorities and leave them be. You can start by acknowledging their existence and granting people some basic human rights.
The Greek argumentation aginst the name of the Republic of Macedonia is highly confusing to the rest of the world. the situation between Greece and the Greek province of Macedonia and the Republic of Macedonia is not unique. There is a country calle Luxemburg and a Belgian province of Luxemburg. There is a country calle Brittain and a French province of Brittany.
There is a nation that call themselves "Americans" although technicaly the people of Canada na Mexico are also nations from the continent called America.
The name "Republic of Macedonia" is already differenciating the state from the Greek provinces.
The Greek attempts to put a localize on the civilizational heritage of Ancient Macedonia into the modern-day Greeg state and nation and at the same time to disallow any other modern day nation to praise and share this antient heritage is also highly irrational.
If the word follows Greek logic, then Italy should veto Croatia, because Croatia was once a Roman province. Italy should also ask France to be renamed because Francia was another Roman province. And what should Italy say about a country called "Romania" and a nation "Romanians".
That is why Mr. Ambassador the world cannot "buy" your story and has large difficulty to understand the logic of it. In your text you have failed to mention that the aformentioned resolutions have never been accepted neither by the House of Representatives nor from the Senate.
On the contrary, I lived in Holland and visited Dutch, Belgian and Luxemburg museums. There are different maps all over the place showing different stages of that region and aspirations of each side. No hard feelings today at all. That was history and past. Same goes for Macedonia. The maps that you are refering are historical maps from 1800s and 1900s and I can't see what is the problem. Greek part of Macedonia was part of the national history of Republic of Macedonia. The Macedonian Internal Revolutionary Organization was created in Solun (Thesaloniki) at the end of the 19th century. All famous Macedonian revolutionary figures, poets, intellectuals and activists are born in what is today Greek Macedonia. This is part of Macedonian history, something that happened 100 years a go. Nobody teaches the children today that Macedonia should invade and "liberate" the Greek teritory. It is ridiculos to say that. Republic of Macedonia has an army of 7000 people and 2 (two) planes. It would be like Estonia attacking Russia:-))).
Greece HAS come to the party - we will accept this new nation with a name that includes 'Macedonia' but they need to also come to the party and distinguish their country from the northern Greek province of Macedonia. They need to stop nationalistic propaganda (e.g. renaming their airport after Greek hero - Alexander the Great) against Greece. Macedonia exists in Greece (in fact over 90% of Ancient Macedonia is within Greece) and it would trample on the rights of the Greek-Macedonian population to allow a foreign country to monopolise the name Macedonia at the exclusion to the rightful airs of the
No ethnic Macedonian existed until after the 1940s, when Tito and Stalin created this idea of a Macedonia state to claim Northern Greece for Yugoslavia and to control the Aegean Sea. FYROM need to apologies to Greece for all the wrongful propaganda and lie they are teaching students in FYROM, and to come together with Greece to find a solution and not to great more problems.
Why not welcome these people into a larger confederation like Switzerland?
They want your family name so why not make them a part of your family?
Think of all of the wonderful possibilities!