PART OF THE BOOK “SELECTED PAPERS FOR MACEDONIA” BY SLAVÉ KATIN
The decision of the United States to use the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia in its bilateral relations with Macedonia is certainly of the utmost political importance due to, first of all, the role which the United States plays in interna- tional politics and international relations in general. In addition to Russia and China, the United States of America is the third permanent member (out of the five) of the UN Security Council that has recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name which the Government and people of Macedonia have chosen to be the name of their country. This in itself has particular significance because it supports the fact that the political will of the United States, expressed in that decision, affirms and reinforces objectively the inherent right of each country to choose their name independently.
This means that the additional conditions which were imposed on Macedonia in relation to its accession to the UN (to accept the provisional reference FYROM and to en- ter into negotiations with Greece over the name) have no legal character.
“Weknowverywell who is a friendof Macedo– nia– itistheleader ofthefreedemocraticworld, U.S. PresidentGeorgeBush,”said the leader of the party MacedonianAlliance, Mr. George Atanasoski during the campaign of President Bush for his second term at the White House. These words of our famous businessman, a Macedonian who has been successfully working in the United States for many years, were proved to be true and confirmed in reality.
The promise that President Bush gave Mr. Atanasoski and the delegation of the Macedonian Allianceduring their meeting at the White House in Washington that he would make efforts for recog- nition of Macedonia under its constitutional name was kept. The U.S. Government, or the State De- partment, consider Macedonia a close ally, where- as in past years it wholeheartedly supported its territorial integrity, and considered our state a key factor for stability in the entire region.
“There has been always a close cooperation betweentheMacedonianAllianceandtheRepublican Party, and it shall continue the same way also in the future. Within thepoliticsof a stateor a partythere are certain strategicintereststhat could berealized and implementedonlythrough dialogueand mutual cooperationintheinterestofbothparties,”pointed out Mr. Atanasoski.
In fact, the Macedonians in the U.S. and the Macedonian lobby have got an extremely impor- tant and crucial role for the recognition of Macedonia under its constitutional name because they have always supported the policies of President Bush and they have stood filmy behind his presi- dential candidacy.
As an explanation, the dispute over the use of the name Macedonia emerged after the 1991 referendum on independence, and reached its climax in 1993 after the accession of Macedonia to the United Nations under the provisional reference of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in the period when Greece imposed a trade embargo and closed the border with our country. In compliance with the 817 Resolution of the Security Coun- cil of 1993 both parties were urged to continue to seek a solution to this name issue, but October 1995 is considered as a starting point in the normalization of relations between the two neighbors when, as a result of Hellenic pressures, Macedonia changed its national flag. As a result of the Interim Agreement signed that year, Greece and Macedonia thawed their relations and pledged to start negotiations under the UN auspices. Regretfully, the lengthy negotiations in New York didn’t bring any convergence of opinions about the name.
Following the decision of the United States to recognize Macedonia under its constitutional name, the Hellenic machinery, authority and fanatical opponents of Macedonia remained completely stunned, shocked and nervous. It was difficult to describe the situation in Athens after the State Department officially informed the Greek government that the United States recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name on an international level, and permanently. Titles like “Bush,thegodfather of Skopje”, “A knifein our backfrom the U.S.”, “PoliticalcrimeoftheU.S.” reflected the climate in the Greek newspapers.
Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis had to cancel his trip to Brussels in order of the Central Committee of Rainbow, the party of Macedonians living in Greece, expressed their hope that such recognition would not lead to awakening of ultra-nationalism in Greece and among the ruling party New Democracy.
At that time the newspapers and electronic media in Athens considered the U.S. government a main culprit for the chaos on the Greek political scene. The TV duel between government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos and PASOK Presi- dent George Papandreou made an impression in the public eye that the country was trying to dis- cover who was less guilty for these unpleasant events according to their opinion, rather than face the facts.
The image was made even worse by the statement of President Konstantinos Stephanop- oulos, who said that Greece still had exclusive rights to the name Macedonia, which was an opinion that had prevailed only among the leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church by that time. The ordinary people of Greece were confused and unable to understand how their country could be so weak on a diplomatic level and suffer yet another big defeat from their small neighbor. The Government was so weak that it was forced, regretfully and for shame, to resort to its last weapon to avoid further surprises in the EU – a veto.
The first survey of public opinion in Solun was carried out during demonstrations organized by the ultra-national fascist party LAOS. Less than 2,000 citizens of Solun gathered In front of the statue of Alexander of Macedon, to protest against the act of the U.S. and to declare that Macedonia could only be Greek. Demonstrations that were expected to cause disorder and chaos, turned into a fiasco. The event was so pale and faded into insignificance, so that they caused the organizer George Karadzaferis, leader of the LAOS party, to put an end to it just one hour later and to cancel the march to both the U.S. and to the consulate of Macedonia.
On the other hand, in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, the citizens celebrated this very important event with dignity. Under the motto “Goodbye former Macedonia, goodbye YugoslavMacedonia;GooddayRepublicofMacedonia,” 190 civil society organizations, joined by thousands of various representatives, gathered in the square “Macedonia” to celebrate the recognition of the constitutional name of Macedonia by the United States.
The people that gathered in the square ex- tended their message addressed to U.S. President George Bush and the U.S. representatives in Macedonia, led by Ambassador Butler, expressing their gratitude for this recognition. NGOs also sent a message to Greece to be a good neighbor, friend and front-runner on the Macedonian path towards Europe. Appreciation was extended to all 100 counto present an official protest to Mr. Thomas Miller, U.S. Ambassador to Greece.
On that occasion, Mr. Molyviatis said that the decision of the U.S. government would have manifold adverse effects on destabilizing the region. PASOK, the main opposition party, accused the conservative New Democracy government of destroying the international reputation of Greece. Former Ministers Theodoros Pangalos and Vasos Papandreou were very sarcastic saying that the Macedonian name issue that had led to the 1993 fall of the government of Mitsotakis was causing a similar fall of the government of Karamanlis.
The two smaller parties at the Greek parliament – Communist Party (PRO) and Center- left party – also responded to this act criticizing the U.S. for their action. Archbishop Christodoulos also expressed his deep concern. Former Foreign Minister Pangalos named the decision of the U.S. administration as unfair, while Mr. Beglitis, member of the European Parliament, said that the name recognition would affect the stability and security of the Balkans.
The odds were that, over time, most of the population of Greece seemed to have forgotten that there was a problem with the name, although many of them participated in the 1992 demonstra- tions in Athens and Solun. However, the members of the Central Committee of Rainbow, the party of Macedonians living in Greece, expressed their hope that such recognition would not lead to awakening of ultra-nationalism in Greece and among the ruling party New Democracy.
At that time the newspapers and electronic media in Athens considered the U.S. government a main culprit for the chaos on the Greek political scene. The TV duel between government spokes- man Theodoros Roussopoulos and PASOK Presi- dent George Papandreou made an impression in the public eye that the country was trying to dis- cover who was less guilty for these unpleasant events according to their opinion, rather than face the facts.
The image was made even worse by the statement of President Konstantinos Stephanop- oulos, who said that Greece still had exclusive rights to the name Macedonia, which was an opinion that had prevailed only among the leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church by that time. The ordinary people of Greece were confused and unable to understand how their country could be so weak on a diplomatic level and suffer yet another big defeat from their small neighbor. The Government was so weak that it was forced, regretfully and for shame, to resort to its last weapon to avoid further surprises in the EU – a veto.
he first survey of public opinion in Solun was carried out during demonstrations organized by the ultra-national fascist party LAOS. Less than 2,000 citizens of Solun gathered in fron of the statue of Alexander of Macedon, to protest against theact of the U.S. and to declare that Macedonia could only be Greek. Demonstrations that were expected to cause disorder and chaos, turned into a fiasco.
On the other hand, in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, the citizens celebrated this very important event with dignity. Under the motto “Goodbye former Macedonia, goodbye Yugo- slavMacedonia;GooddayRepublicofMacedonia,” 190 civil society organizations, joined by thousands of various representatives, gathered in the square “Macedonia” to celebrate the recognition of the constitutional name of Macedonia by the United States.
BY DUSHAN RISTEVSKI-MAKEDON
