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http://cohaforum.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 24, 2008
Greek Ambassador to Washington Responds to Op-Ed piece by COHA Senior
Research Fellow Zlatko Kovach
The points made by Zlatko Kovach in Op-Ed piece, Macedonia: Reaching
Out to Win Latin American Hearts and Minds, have been responded to by
the Ambassador of Greece to the United States of America, Alexandros
P. Mallias, in the following letter.( Note: Mr
Kovach's response follows this text)
March 19, 2008
I must admit that Zlatko Kovach's article entitled "Macedonia:
Reaching out to win Latin American Hearts and Minds," published on
February 25, 2008, left me with a strong sense of surprise and
amazement.
Aside from questioning Mr. Kovach's dubious historical references
regarding Greece as well as his own country, the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), the article fails to acknowledge
Greece's significant role in the political and economic stability of
FYROM and gives, I am afraid, COHA readers the wrong impression about
Greece's true role in the Balkan region.
As a longstanding EU and NATO member, Greece is a strong advocate of
these organizations' perspective as well as a supporter of the FYROM's
political, social and economic stability. In fact, Greece is currently
the largest investor in FYROM, with over $1 billion of its capital
invested there, translating to more than 30,000 jobs. Moreover,
through the Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the
Balkans (HiPERB), Greece has pledged the amount of approximately
$112,260,000 of development aid for FYROM.
FYROM joined the United Nations and all relevant UN Agencies and
Bodies under this official international name. UN Security Council
Resolution 817 (1993) specifically provides that "the difference over
the name of the state (i.e. FYROM) needs to be resolved in the
interest of the maintenance of peaceful and good neighborly relations
in the region."
FYROM, therefore, participates in all international organizations and
conferences under this official name. Indeed, it is under that name
that it established relations with the European Union and NATO, and
gained membership to the Organization for the Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
In fact, no single regional or international organization refers to
FYROM by any other name. Greece does abide with UN Resolutions 817 and
845 and seeks a solution to the name issue within the United Nations
framework.
Your article also fails to recognize that Greece's stance has very
strong support in the United States Congress, which can be no mere
coincidence. Senate Resolution 300, introduced by Senator Robert
Menendez, and co-sponsored by Senators Barack Obama and Olympia Snowe,
urges FYROM to cease hostile activities and propaganda against Greece,
and reach a mutually acceptable solution. In addition, over 115
Congressmen have thus far co-sponsored House Resolution 356 on the
same topic in the House of Representatives.
Crucial and delicate negotiations are currently in progress under the
United Nations auspices, and intensive diplomatic efforts are required
on both sides to reach a mutually acceptable solution prior to the
upcoming NATO Summit in April 2008. The Greek government has taken a
significant step towards that direction by announcing Greece's
readiness to accept a composite name for the FYROM with a geographic
qualifier.
It is now time for FYROM and its leadership to reach out and
demonstrate the political maturity, which will bring an end to the
name issue, and clear the path to its European and NATO perspective.
Mr. Kovach may still argue that the current United Nations process, as
provided for by the UN Security Council Resolutions 817(1993) and
845(1993), is unfair to his country. But he will once again have
forgotten that, as an aspiring EU and NATO member, FYROM needs, first
of all, to realize that abiding with international law obligations is
not an "artificial dispute" imposed by Greece, but rather a
fundamental code of conduct, which applies to all.
Jorge Luis Borges once said: "For the longest time, my contemporaries
are the Greeks", which in itself sums up the profound cultural,
intellectual and spiritual bonds between Greece and Latin America.
Greece's longstanding relationship with Latin American countries is
furthermore characterized by strong historic ties of friendship,
solidarity and cooperation. Despite the geographical distance, Greece
and Latin American countries have forged a close bond between their
peoples by sharing and defending precious common values, such as
security, democracy and peace, concepts enshrined in the UN and OAS
Charters.
I am confident that the friendly Latin American countries understand
that Greece greatly respects the identity and culture of others. I am
also confident that they also understand the importance for countries,
which claim to abide by the rules of international law, to also act
so, in order to respect the historic and cultural heritage of their
neighbors, and not systematically engage in provocative propaganda
prejudicial to the fundamental principle of good neighborliness. I am
afraid that at this time, this is the case with FYROM's policies
vis-a-vis Greece.
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You can comment on the letter by Mallias at the following link:
http://cohaforum.blogspot.com/
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ZLATKO KOVACH RESPONDS:
The Greek ambassador's response to my article left me neither
surprised nor amazed. In the spirit of peaceful and good neighborly
relations that he invokes, and that I also sincerely desire, I would
urge him, his government, and all those who endorse this goal —
including my country, the United States — to seriously question
whether forcing the Macedonian people to renounce their name and
ethnic identity can be a means to achieve that end.
Safeguarding the right to nationality and to identity is a fundamental
principle of international law, a central tenet of the international
order. The demand on Macedonia to negate itself, in effect, is
without precedent and any justifiable cause. None of Greece's
welcome
investments in Macedonia can compensate for a corresponding lack of
respect for what Macedonia is — a sovereign country.
True, because it was under the gun from Greece, the previous
Macedonian government did commit to adhere to a UN process to discuss
a possible solution to the "name dispute." But the
solution that
Greece demands is devoid of any dignity, and it is practically
undoable. Submitting to it will very likely (and quite
appropriately)
result in charges of treason in Macedonia and will potentially
instigate violent outcomes and instability — the very results the
ambassador claims that Greece wishes to prevent.
Although the ambassador characterizes my article as Macedonian
government "hostile propaganda" directed against Greece, in fact
I am
expressing my own personal opinion and have no connection to the
Macedonian government. To provide readers with some context for his
charge, a 1995 Interim Accord between Macedonia and Greece prohibits
hostile propaganda directed from one state to the other, yet it does
not define what constitutes such propaganda. Greece thus has been
able to qualify facts as it pleases, and to engage in propaganda
itself with impunity — the effects of which practice can be seen in
Greece's successes in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere.
If discussing the terror of the Pinochet era, for example, does not
constitute "conducting hostile propaganda activities" against
Chile,
but rather revealing unpleasant truths that need to be confronted, I
would offer a brief historical account of recent Greek policies
towards Macedonia and Macedonians. In the past century and a half,
Greek governments could and did terrorize, expel, or assimilate
Macedonians — without, it pains me to add, incurring sanctions from
the international community. In 1913, during the Balkan Wars,
Greece's wholesale destruction of Macedonian ethno-cultural space was
documented by the Carnegie Commission Report on the Causes and Conduct
of War. In 1923, after the Greco-Turkish war, an "exchange of
populations" between Greece and Turkey expelled Macedonians and
imported 640.000 Greeks from Asia Minor. During the Greek Civil War,
under the guise of fighting communism, the West turned a blind eye to
Greek labor camps and to another wave of ethnic cleansing of 300.000
Macedonians. Even the Greek law for national reconciliation between
Nazi collaborators and anti-Fascists was marred by chauvinism,
allowing only expelled partisans who were "Greeks by blood" to
return
to the country, but prohibiting Macedonians from doing so. Even
today, the European Union (EU) turns a blind eye to Greece's (false)
claim that it is the only EU member with no ethnic minorities.
There is no myth (classical Greek civilization fending off wild
"Slavic" tribes), international law, or historical precedent to
justify the current demands being made on Macedonia. One can hardly
reconcile the above-mentioned discriminatory practices with the
philosophy of Plato and Xenon. As for Jorge Luis Borges, whom the
ambassador cites, this cosmopolitan citizen of the world was an
archenemy of virulent nationalism. Argentinian culture, he claimed,
is not limited to one tradition but open to all; would that Greeks
shared that same sense of inclusiveness and humanity.
In the end, there are greater principles and interests at stake here
than Greece's claim to sole ownership and use of "Macedonia."
The
Republic of Macedonia has made maximum accommodations to join the
international community and specifically address Greek concerns i.e.,
changing its flag, foreswearing territorial aggrandizement in its
Constitution, engaging in talks with Greece, and has also met all NATO
membership criteria. Along with the privileges of power enjoyed by
the EU and the United States come obligations: noblesse oblige.
Peace and stability cannot be achieved through continued force,
humiliation, and denial of basic human rights.Might does not make
right.
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Please forward this message to everyone who you think should be concerned
about Macedonia.
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