Hellas and FYROM

[akritas]

As the Greek writers mentioned, in ancient times the area west of the Vardar and north of the Epirus was occupied by the Illyrians. About 1100 B.C., Dorian Greeks entered the area of Macedonia and named it "Makednoi." In the seventh century B.C. Macedonia, or Macedon, was known as the kingdom of Greece which entered a period of growth under King Philip II ( Philip of Macedon) and later under his son Alexander the Great, who united all the Greek city-states and expanded his dominion to all the areas below the Danube River, the Middle East, and Asia.

In A.D. 9, Tiberius, the Roman ruler, annexed the area. After A.D. 395, it became part of the Byzantine Empire. Beginning in the sixth century, part of Macedonia was settled by people of Slavic origin. From 1453 onward, it came under the Ottoman Empire.

The population of the republic is about 1.9 million, or 8.8 percent of the total population of former Yugoslavia (Slavs, Albanians, Greeks, and Bulgarians). It produces primarily agricultural goods, such as tobacco, cotton, cereal grains, and fruits. Moreover, sheep and goats are raised, and iron, steel and chromium are the chief mineral resources. Skopje is the capital of the republic. Per capita GDP in 1990 was $3,330.

Elections in 1990 gave a non-Communist government. After a referendum in September 1991, it declared independence from Yugoslavia, using the name "Macedonia," which Tito introduced in 1945, mainly for reasons of expansion into the northern Greek region of Macedonia, Salonika, and the Aegean Sea.

While other names given by Communist regimes changed (e.g., Volgograd from Stalingrad, St. Petersburg from Leningrad), that of "Macedonia" remained, although it was used for the expansion of communism to other neighboring regions.

In May 1993, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia introduced legislation for privatization of state enterprises. Firms with fewer than fifty employees or revenue less than a certain amount were to be sold to the highest bidder, with preference given to the basic buyer who should obtain 29 percent of the capital at the first stage.

For big firms, percent of the capital value is sufficient, provided that this first buyer will eventually obtain the rest of the shares or at least 51 percent of the total. From the rest of the shares, 20 percent are offered to associated persons or companies, 15 percent are free to the pension fund of the firm, and the rest is offered to the general public.

Bulgaria recognized FYROMs independence but has not recognized its people as a separate ethnic group, asserting that they are really Bulgarians.

On October 3, 1995, the then-president of FYROM, Kiro Gligorov, seventy-eight, was seriously injured in a car-bomb attack. The Speaker of Parliament, Stojan Andov, became the second president of FYROM.

CONFLICT OF GREECE WITH FYROM

As mentioned previously, after the split of former Yugoslavia, the Vardar region of southern Yugoslavia, which Tito named Republic of Macedonia for expansionary reasons, was formed into a new state by the Slavic leaders of Scopje and was named "Macedonia." The United Nations recognized it as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Greece objected to the use of the name "Macedonia."

The Greeks claim that the name " Macedonia" was used for future expansion is justified because "during Greece's civil war, from 1946 to 1949, Greek Macedonia was the communist stronghold, and Tito had plans for a broader communist Macedonia that included at least the part of the region that now lies in Greece." Even now there are nationalists in FYROM who believe that all the inhabitants in the region, including those in Greek Macedonia, should belong to one state. From that standpoint, "Greece fears, with reason, that recognizing a 'Macedonia' will stir these irredentist embers." Therefore, "not all of the Greek inflexibility over the name is rooted in antiquity and culture,"

Greek identity goes back several thousand years, even before Aristotle (from Stagera of Macedonia) and Alexander the Great, and continues until now. Although Greece is not afraid from the standpoint of security, small states like FYROM usually find larger champions, such as Turkey, creating alliances which undermine everyone's security. Moreover, in an analogy of what Henry Kissinger said about Bosnia, FYROM never in history has been a nation.

On February 16, 1994, Hellas ( Greece) imposed a trade embargo on FYROM, which led to transportation problems, mainly from the port of Salonika, and shortages in gasoline and other commodities. However, food and medical products were exempted for humanitarian reasons. The embargo was to continue according to the Greek government, until FYROM changes its usurped name, "Macedonia," abandons the use of the Alexander the Great flag, and eliminates the expansionary statements from its constitution.

Through the U.S.--brokered efforts, Hellas and FYROM reached a compromise in New York on September 13, 1995, which lifted the trade embargo Hellas had imposed against FYROM

FYROM a provisional name with which the republic was admitted to the United Nations, changed its flag with a sixteen-pointed star of Vergina used by Alexander the Great and the Hellenic Macedonians. Also FYROM accepted the interpretation of some of its constitutional provisions so that they would not imply claims against Hellenic Macedonia.

Karolos Papoulias, the-then foreign minister of Hellas, and Stevo Crevenkovski, his FYROM counterpart, signed the agreement. Cyrus Vance, the UN mediator, and Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. assistant secretary of state, were instrumental in bringing the two parties together. However, the name "Macedonia," which was usurped by Tito in 1945 for expansionary reasons in Hellenic Macedonia and the Aegean Sea, would be the subject of later negotiations.

source:Nicholas V. Gianaris, Geopolitical and Economic Changes in the Balkan Countries

[preston]

HERE IS THE FULL AGREMENT!
UNITED NATIONS
Interim Accord between the Hellenic Republic and the FYROM
NEW YORK, 13 September 1995
http://www.hri.org/docs/fyrom/95-27866.html