WASHINGTON -- Robert Menendez has never been known to shy away from a political brawl, even one that is thousands of miles from New Jersey, has its roots in antiquity and touches the raw nerves of two sovereign nations.
From his perch on Capitol Hill, the New Jersey senator has injected himself into a bitter dispute over the name of a small Balkan nation -- a country that since independence in 1991 has called itself the Republic of Macedonia, and which neighboring Greece insists should be known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYROM.
Menendez, siding with Greece and upset that the Bush administration in 2004 recognized the republic by its chosen name, is holding up the president's nominee for U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, Philip Reeker.
Although he won't confirm or deny it, interest groups on both sides and sources on Capitol Hill say Menendez, a Democrat, and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) anonymously placed a hold on Reeker's confirmation to pressure the administration and the Macedonians about the naming issue.
What's in the name? Plenty.
For Greece, using the name of the Republic of Macedonia implies the landlocked country of 2 million people has territorial claims to the northern Greek region also known as Macedonia, and represents a serious threat that goes well beyond symbolism. For its neighbor, it's a matter of national pride, sovereignty and self-identity.
The contentious dispute has led Greece to veto Macedonia's entry into NATO and has been the subject of lengthy but unsuccessful diplomatic negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations that included talks in New York last week.
GREEK SUPPORTER
Menendez, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has supported Greece's interests including on matters involving Cyprus and Turkey going back to his time as a congressman, and was an active member of the House's Hellenic Caucus.He said he has had numerous meetings with members of New Jersey's "significant Greek-American community" and feels strongly that resolving the name issue is important to the stability of the region and American interests.
In an interview last week he said the use of the Republic of Macedonia name has created tension in an important region of the world, and is understandably upsetting Greece, a key U.S. ally.
"Beyond the name, there are significant issues of culture, ethnicity and a breakaway element for other parts of the Balkans who want to be recognized as Macedonia when Macedonia is within Greece," he said.
During Reeker's confirmation hearing last month, Menendez said he has seen "school textbooks and maps that circulate in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia showing parts of Greece belonging to the so-called 'Greater Macedonia.'"
Another affront to the Greeks, he and others have pointed out, involves the recent naming of a Macedonian airport in the capital city of Skopje after Alexander the Great -- someone the Greeks consider to be their warrior king.
"This is risky business," Menendez said. "And the Bush administration has created part of the problem by recognizing the name of the Republic of Macedonia and by not working vigorously to solve the name issue."
Reeker, formerly a counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, testified at his confirmation hearing that he has "seen reports of both sides in the Greece-Macedonia dispute accusing each other of taking actions or making statements that have inflamed the issue of the name.
"It's a difficult problem. It's an emotional problem," he said. "But it is one that can be solved. So we're encouraging both sides to show greater flexibility, creativity, cooperation and do what is needed to find a solution."
Metodija Koloski, president of the United Macedonian Diaspora, an international advocacy organization, maintained that Greece's stance has been unreasonable. He accused Menendez of refusing to meet with Macedonian-Americans from New Jersey, taking a narrow one-sided view, and arbitrarily blocking Reeker's confirmation. Koloski speculated that Menendez was seeking to win Greek-American votes and campaign contributions.
"He should be representing the views of all his constituents, not just the Greek-American community," Koloski said.
NUMBERS DON'T LIE
The U.S. Census estimates nearly 70,000 New Jersey residents have at least some Greek ancestry, and about 5,500 have Macedonian ancestry.Koloski noted that 124 countries recognize Macedonia by its constitutional name.
"Greece wants Macedonia to change its identity. It wants it to change its passports and change its constitution. It's too much to be asked -- one country dictating to another country what its name should be," Koloski said.
The Very Rev. Father Slobodan Petkovski of the Saints Kiril and Metodij Macedonian Church in Cedar Grove said Menendez' attitude is an affront to Macedonia's people and national identity.
"I don't know why he is doing it. He is welcome to work with the Greeks, but why not the Macedonians?" he said.
The same view was expressed by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.), who called Menendez' approach "absolutely appalling."
The Greek-American community sees the matter quite differently.
Nick Larigakis, executive director of the American Hellenic Institute, said Menendez has been "acting in the best interests of the United States to help create stability in a region where Greece is an important player."
"The issue is not just the name. It is what the name implies and how that will be interpreted, which Greece sees as an attempt to claim it territory," Larigakis said.
Yiorgos Chouliaras, a spokesman for the Greek Embassy in Washington, said he could not comment on internal U.S. politics, but added that Menendez' views have been consistent in holding that "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia must stop its hostile propaganda and work for a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue."
He said Greece would accept a "compound name" that included Macedonia. Last week, Macedonia was reported to have rejected four name proposals from the UN negotiator, including the names Northern or Upper Macedonia.
Koloski, the president of the United Macedonian Diaspora, said Macedonia has considered adopting a compound name for use in international organizations like the UN or European Union. But he said it has rejected the Greek idea of changing its constitution and passports or altering its name for dealings with nations that already recognize the Republic of Macedonia.
By Neil MacDonald
Published: July 18 2008
On Saturday, an unusual delegation from the Himalayan foothills bids a quiet farewell to the Republic of Macedonia.
Prince Ghazanfar Ali Khan, his wife Princess Rani Atiqa and their entourage claim descent from Alexander the Great’s conquering army, which reached their Hunza tribal homeland in northern Pakistan 23 centuries ago.
Officials initially rolled out the red carpet for the septuagenarian prince and his entourage, who have toured cultural and historical sites since arriving at Skopje’s Alexander the Great airport on July 11. Nikola Gruevski, prime minister, met the delegation, while a Macedonian Orthodox archbishop blessed it.
Hunza folklore gave a shot in the arm to the ex-Yugoslav country of 2m – still embroiled, 18 years after independence, in a frustrating “name dispute” with Greece, whose northern province is also called Macedonia.
Greece has made sure Macedonia cannot join Nato without a compromise name change. The latest round of United Nations-led talks in New York produced no breakthrough.
Mr Gruevski, who won a landslide re-election victory in June, has raised the ante by this week demanding recognition for a Macedonian (Slav) ethnic minority in officially homogeneous Greece.
But Mr Gruevski’s critics have dismissed the Hunza visit as shallow populism and after ridicule in local newspapers, the youth and sport agency cancelled the princely couple’s planned appearance in Skopje’s main square last night.
The visit’s main organiser was Marina Dojcinovska, a Skopje-based travel journalist who made a film about the far-flung tribe of “Macedonians” in 2005.
“This is a very special occasion for all Macedonians,” Ms Dojcinovska said.
In fact, citizens proved divided about how literally to take their ancient origins. Their Macedonian language is closest to Bulgarian and other South Slavic tongues – pointing to roots in the tribal migrations about a millennium after Alexander.
Ana Petruseva, country director for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, said of the Hunza visit: “Everyone who’s a bit more educated is laughing at this.”
The Hunza of today, who are mostly Muslim, had not heard of modern Macedonia until 12 years ago, when an expatriate Macedonian linguistics professor drew their attention to it.
Ilija Casule, an associate professor at Australia’s Macquarie University, said he recognised common grammar and terms for body parts between the Hunza people’s Burushaski and Indo-European languages.
But there are plenty who question just how robust the links are. Most linguists classify Burushaski as an “isolate” unrelated to other languages. DNA research has also debunked claims of genetic links between Macedonians and the Hunza.
“Macedonia’s doing what other European countries did in the 19th century . . . elevating folk tales to official history,” said Sam Vaknin, an Israeli economic adviser in Skopje. “This belated adolescence has been exacerbated by Greek insecurities bordering on sadism.”
Greece plays the same game, funding cultural centres and schools for the Kalash, another set of Alexander claimants in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the 1930s, scientists in Nazi Germany also combed the Himalayas in search of lost Aryan cousins.
Athens accuses Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslav communist leader after the second world war, of “inventing” Macedonian ethnicity in the hopes of grabbing a piece of the Aegean coast.
Yet Skopje’s popular identification with Alexander did not blossom until after the 1990s Yugoslav break-up, Macedonians argue.
Sensing threats on all sides, Macedonian patriots have become more stubborn on identity, calling themselves “Alexander’s descendants” even though the ancient conqueror personally had no known children.
Aleksandar Dimiskovski, a business consultant in Skopje, says: “The [Hunza] visit provides affirmation of our ties to the former Macedonia of Alexander the Great. Approval from these people confirms that the legacy of ancient Macedonia belongs to the Republic of Macedonia, not just to Greece.”
That is a view that remains very much in contention.
Bulgaria refuses to recognise a separate Macedonian language. Serbia’s church keeps Macedonians out of the worldwide Orthodox communion. And an ethnic Albanian minority of roughly 25 per cent challenges the young state’s internal stability.
By David EdendenThe Aegean question emerges in name dispute (SETimes.com):
Southeast European Times is funded by the US Pentagon. Unlikely as it seems, it is a model of how the Balkans should be covered since it includes both Greece and "European Turkey". This is the first article about the status of Macedonians in Greece.
As I have said before, Greek values regarding minority rights are Nato values. Nato officials should be held to account for Greece's democratic deficit.
Good for Nimetz for putting this issue "on the table"
The re-emergence of the so-called Aegean question, which the Macedonian government now insists on discussing with Greece, has raised anger in Athens and hopes among refugee children.
 Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis warned on Tuesday (July 15th) that Macedonia would risk reaping "a whirlwind" with its "extreme nationalism". [Getty Images] |
The desire by the Macedonian government to expand the agenda of the Skopje-Athens name-dispute talks has sparked emotions in both countries. Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski wrote on Monday (July 14th) to his Greek counterpart, Costas Karamanlis, expressing his determination to discuss the grievances of those refugees and of the ethnic Macedonian minority remaining in Greece.
In an angry response, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis warned on Tuesday that Macedonia would risk reaping "a whirlwind" with its "extreme nationalism". Athens is still preparing a more official response.
Paris, the current holder of the EU presidency, has spoken out in favour of Athens, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying on Tuesday, "We stand in solidarity with Greece."
On the other hand, the Association of Refugee Children from Aegean Macedonia (ARCAM) praised the move, asserting it is the only path to solving issues such as refugees' claims on properties they left behind 60 years ago. Ethnic Macedonians suffered reprisals as the Greek civil war wound down, with the victorious government accusing them of siding with defeated communist partisans and of favouring an autonomous state of their own.
Risto Nikovski, former Macedonian ambassador to Britain, agrees that the time has come to discuss the sensitive issue. "Objectively, knowing the Greek position in the name dispute, we should not expect a solution of the problem soon. ... [Greece] does not have a problem with the Macedonian name; it cannot stand the Macedonians."
Despite objections from a surprised Greece that previous Macedonian governments had not raised these grievances, UN mediator Matthew Nimetz said that he would put them on the table.
The controversy is heating up as ARCAM prepares to observe the 60th anniversary of more than 28,000 ethnic Macedonian children's exodus from war-wracked Greece. The gathering in Skopje at the weekend will have a humanitarian goal, according to Georgi Ajanovski, chairman of ARCAM's conference-organising committee. Participants will denounce war and its attendant suffering, as well as exile and violence against children.
Several thousand Macedonians from the Diaspora will participate in the forum, some now living in the United States, Canada and various European countries. There will be exhibitions of books about the Greek civil war and World War II and a scholarly symposium. The event opens in Boris Trajkovski Sports Hall on Friday. Representatives of countries that accepted the refugee children, diplomats based in Skopje and Macedonian government leaders all received invitations to that ceremony.
Senator Barack Obama prides himself on his theme of 'change we can believe in' and on studying both sides of an issue. As one promising change and a different way of working from Washington's typical business-as-usual approach, Obama could offer a refreshing diversion from the status quo.
It is worth pointing out that Obama has close personal ties with Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer of the State of Illinois and a prominent Greek-American. Obama campaigned for him when he was a little-known, helping him to beat out his opponents and capture the seat. In return, Giannoulias now heads up Greeks for Obama and is encouraging the well-financed Greek community to pay up. That they expect something in return is obvious and that is coming through even now in the Senate resolution.
Zoran Jolevski, The Macedonian Ambassador to the United States has attempted to reach out to the Senator only to be offered a meeting with a legislative assistant. Despite other attempts at outreach from Macedonian-Americans, to at least offer him the other side of the story, there has been no interest from the Senator in even listening.These dubious ties to those financing his campaign combined with his lack of interest in the other side of the story raise legitimate questions.
Despite numerous financial scandals and economic difficulties facing Karamanlis' Government, Athens spent yesterdays and today's Parliament session dedicated to Macedonia.
All Ministers in the Greek Government were in agreement that Greece must send a stern response to "Skopje's provocations" on raising the issue for the rights and land of Aegean Macedonians.
Greek PM's Cabinet has received suggestions that besides its threats for blocking Macedonia's EU and NATO path, should also threaten with an embargo.
Karamanlis with his closest associates discussed the possibilities of implications regarding Greece's international image if Greek radical groups were to disrupt the Macedonian Ilinden Celebrations in the Forina (Lerin) region.
On Macedonia's request to return Greek citizenships, land and properties of forced out Macedonians from Greece, the Greek Government will send an official complaint to UN's General Secretary, as well as NATO and EU.
In response to the Greek Government, who still stands by its description as a pure homogenous state with no minorities, Macedonian Government Officials say "Athens doesn't have a choice to refuse or accept the topic of the Macedonian minority in Greece".
According to high Government Officials in Skopje, Greece must respect International Law and the Human Rights Conventions it had signed. The statements Greece puts forward of a non-existent Macedonian minority is ridiculous, in a situation when the European Himan Rights Court, European Council and other International Organizations treat the Macedonains in Greece as a national, and ethnic minority.
There is information coming out of Athens that Greek Experts are analyzing UN resolutions brought about during and after the Greek Civil War. We also find that Macedonia in conjunction with the Turkish Government is researching the Turkish State Archives.
The Turkish Government has granted complete access of their massive Archives to several Macedonian experts and historians who are looking at all documents tied to the Macedonians who lived and presently live in northern Greece.
A reform to the so-called Greek nationalism is necessary, says Pavlos Voskopoulos, leader of the RAINBOW Party in his interview to Dimitar Culev in Florina (Lerin) Greece.
Q.: How do you interpret the latest statement of Greek Foreign Ministry’s spokesman in which he called the question concerning the existence of Macedonian minority in Greece “non-existing and ungrounded”?
A.: Kumutzakos’s statement depicts the continual policy of the Greek state against the Macedonian minority since 1912 up-to-date. I would say “ungrounded” and “non-existing” is the claim that Greece is a democratic state.
Greece has a legislative, that is to say a Law from 1981 concerning the repatriation of the “political refugees” of the 1946-1948 Civil War which decisively says who belongs to the “Greeks by origin” category. Why do the state and the Ministry of the Interior mention “Greeks by origin”? Does it mean that the other citizens are not “Greeks by origin”? Does not the state indirectly recognize the existing minority from this Law by mentioning the “non-existing” minority? If Greece clearly declares the expelled Macedonians during the Civil War in Greece as “non-Greeks by origin”, does this mean that their relatives in Greece do not exist? Why does Greece take away the citizenship of members of the “non-existing” minority and forbids the economic emigrants-Macedonians living overseas to enter the villages in which they were born?
Today it takes away the Greek citizenship on the base of the Law paragraph 1 g because our co-citizens declare their Macedonian identity in Australia or in Canada, for example. By mentioning the “non-existing” minority, the Greek state sends a message to the Macedonians, and even to their relatives living in northern Greece. The aim of the modern “sophisticated terrorism” is to intimidate the Macedonians from declaring their Macedonian spirit not only in Australia and Canada but also of their relatives in Greece. Why does not the “self-loving” Greek policy implement a census of the population asking about their identity and language in relation to the “non-existing” minority? Is perhaps the continual denial an expression of fear from the “existing” Macedonians?
Q.: Can the census make any changes knowing that is the quantity side of the problem?
A.: If the Greek-Christian minority in Turkey of about two thousand people in Istanbul is respected and recognized by the Turkish state, how many thousand Macedonians should live in Greece in order to be recognized and respected by the Greek state as a Macedonian minority? Let me not speak about the tortures against Rainbow throughout these years in the elections, in forged figures, manipulations with votes…there is only one official figure from Greece regarding the elections – that 5,000 to 7,500 votes were given to Rainbow. How many more “non-existing” should there be for them to have the rights that the Greeks have in Turkey?
The reports of the commissions of international institutions, for instance the ECRI, the Council of Europe, the condemning decisions of the European Court for Human Rights, and dozens reports of international NGOs have for years clearly mentioned the Macedonian minority in Greece and conveyed strong criticisms against Greece for its non-democratic attitude towards the minority. So, the Greek policy about the Macedonian minority is a totally ungrounded argumentation.
Q.: The Greek president placed the question about the differences over the name, a dispute that Greece itself is creating, in the sphere of “de-stabilization” for the Balkans. Is there anything else behind the dispute that is frightening Greece – not the name but something more substantial?
A.: A part of the destructive general Greek politics in the Balkans there is, first of all, the non-recognition of independent Republic of Macedonia and, normally, the creation of the “dispute” over the name impose by the state. Actually, Greece hopes and wishes to de-stabilize the neighboring state. The denial of the name Macedonia means denial of the national identity and this is clear to all the Macedonians wherever they are.
The reason is the essence of the Greek nationalism. From the position of being a member in EU and NATO, Greece is implementing an aggressive and blackmailing policy, which was demonstrated and evinced in Bucharest and in NATO. Is it not a political nonsense for any Greek politician to claim that the “dispute” over the name is de-stabilizing for the region (a “dispute” that Greece is forcing out), and not the Greek veto against the membership of the Republic of Macedonia in NATO?
Q.: Your party, which is a part of the European Alliance, is trying to push forward the truth about the existence of a different language minority in Greece. How much familiar is Europe with this topic and is it able to understand it?
A.: In the past few years we have been politically active as Rainbow through the membership in the European Free Alliance – European Political Party (ESA-EPP). On the one hand, we have “protective wings”, which means basic protection from the Greek nationalism. On the other hand, we have the opportunity to make Europe familiar with our problems and with the non-recognition of the Macedonian minority.
The member-parties of the ESA-EPP are composed of 30 small minority parties and parties of bigger peoples, for instance the Flanders from Belgium and the Catalonians from Spain. We have made them very well familiar with the essence and the deficit of democracy in Greece. At the same time, we are informing our partners about the destructive anti-Macedonian policy against the Macedonian minority in Greece, the denial of the Macedonian identity or the Macedonian language.
For instance, at the General Assembly Plenary session of the ESA-EPP in the European Parliament and in the presence of hundreds Euro-parliamentarians and others, we imposed official translation from Macedonian into other languages and vice versa. There was “Macedonian language” written on the plates of the European Parliament, which means that we de facto imposed the naming of the language as it is. It seems that we had predicted that Greece would have posed the aggressive question at this time even concerning the language of the Republic of Macedonia and whether it would be called Macedonian language.
Q.: Five years ago, when the 55th anniversary of the exodus of the children-refugees after the Civil War was in preparation, your party tried to initiate the question about the taking away of citizenship of the expelled at that time because they were not “Greeks by origin”.
A.: As Rainbow we constantly pose the question of the Macedonians expelled from the Greek state. Not only the children-refugees, but all the expelled in general. We have asked the European Parliament and the Council of Europe to make political pressure over Greece. We do this in principle on all levels, even in UN commissions and at all OSCE conferences. Unfortunately, mildly speaking the Greek politics is racist and discriminatory against its former citizens because it took away their Greek citizenship and property by force. In 1981 and 1985 Greece decided to give back the citizenship and the property confiscated after the Civil War, including compensations, but only to the Greeks.
Q.: At which stage is it and are there any possibilities for resolving this question?
A.: This problem is a big political question. Greece ignores any attempts for a positive resolution not only regarding compensation for the property, but also for restoring the citizenship. As a matter of fact, with this it wants to eliminate a part of the Macedonian minority. It does not want to restore the citizenship and rehabilitate the Macedonians, because all this people, their descendants and families are aware that they are Macedonians, with Macedonian identity, and with good knowledge of the Macedonian language. This is exactly why Greece does not want to give back their citizenship, so that they cannot have the right to the status of a Greek citizen, something they had before the Civil War. Under such circumstances, the Macedonians would have the same duties, but also the rights like all the their Greek co-citizens.
Q.: Thousands of children, who were totally innocent, were taken outside the Greek borders.
A.: This is another aspect that is not just a detail of the general question of the discriminatory Greek politics against the Macedonians. Let us, as Rainbow, ask the following question: have all (formerly eastern) states demonstrated decades-long hospitality to these expelled Macedonians who used to be Greek citizens?
It is a fact, for instance, that the then Socialist Republic of Macedonia within the SFRY was hosting the Macedonians for decades, providing condition's for them and spending money from the Budget for Greek citizens deprived of their citizenship. Or, in other words, can any of these states ask for compensation from Greece for spending budgetary funds for over 60 years? Does Greece have to give compensation not only to the expelled but also to the states hosting these Greek citizens?
Q.: Can Greece and Macedonia, in spite of the tense relations, close down the question that burdens their mutual relations?
A.: This is a big and a deep question. The most important of all is to make (and it needs time) a reform in the so-called Greek nationalism. No matter how good a neighboring state is and with good-intentioned people, the problem of good relations with the neighbors depends on the general attitude created by the political elites.
Unfortunately, the Greek society has been closed down for decades, self-loving because of the nationalist myth as a selected people. The dominating views of the majority are anti-Turkish, anti-Albanian, and anti-Macedonian, with negative feelings, with even openly anti-western and anti-American feelings. From the psychological point of view, it is true that most of the Greeks, due to the complex incorporated in them by the system, are developing relations that cannot be called sympathy for the neighboring peoples.
There are exceptions and individuals, small parts in the Greek society, non-parliamentarian political currents, including us from Rainbow, who are trying to work on the elimination of the deficit of democracy in the field of human rights in Greece, for a good quality society for all the others, for all the citizens.This is how I see the future.
Q.: Now the question concerning the properties of the expelled is becoming current...
A.: The key to the question is the citizenship, and not the properties and the compensations. In the end, Greece might accept to give some compensations or return the properties. Substantially, however, Greece is continually doing its best for all of them to die with time, that is to say to exterminate and finally erase the Macedonians.
It is necessary to speak loudly about the restoration of the citizenship. The question of compensations and returning back the properties is secondary. The political emigrants, who were ethnic Greeks, were rehabilitated by the state, they received back their Greek citizenship, and then their confiscated properties were given them back, including construction sites and facilities used by the state institutions, as well as compensations.
And this was not all: they also received favorable construction credits and similar, including pensions, because those who participated in the Civil War had previously participated in the war against the occupiers, that is to say in the anti-fascist alliance. And there are also Macedonians who participated in the Civil War who prior to that had participated in the resistance against fascism. Have they not been discriminated again?
By David Edenden
Balkan Insight is a child of the International Crisis Group, (ICG) a pseudo human rights group that promotes US interests around the world. It sponsors seminars on journalism and one of the main lessons is the "he who pays the piper, calls the tunes". Even though Balkan Insight is run by local people, including Macedonians, this is one of the few articles dealing with the rights of Macedonians in Greece, which until recently has been off limits to the ICG.
It is a testament of the power of the the US and EU that local people can be recruted to work against the interests of their own country and for the interest of foreigners.
Whether this article is an indications of things to come or just an aberration, we will have to wait to see.
14 July 2008 Skopje _ Skopje has sent a letter to Athens asking for the recognition of the Macedonian minority in Greece and the return of property to Macedonian refugees who were forced to flee.
