Foreign press on the Macedonian issue

[Morphesau]

And what about Miss Universe 2008 !!! they are missing I thinks ? Is it because they have two contestants already ? Serbian and one Bulgarian perhaps ?

[Astoria]

FYROMacedonia will not be able to start negotiations with EU



16 July 2008 | 14:39 | FOCUS News Agency



Skopje. Greece cannot change the identity of the FYROMacedonian nation, the European Parliament Rapporteur for FYROMacedonia Erik Meijer has stated as quoted by the FYROMacedonian Dnevnik daily.

According to Meijer FYROMacedonia is to start negotiations for EU membership in the first half of 2009, in the frames of the forthcoming Czech presidency of the EU. According to him FYROMacedonia will not be able to start negotiations till the end of 2008 because the currently EU presiding state – France, in the face of its President Nikola Sarkozy, is against further enlargement of the Union.

[Astoria]

A1: Kostas Karamanlis to complain of FYROMacedonia’s demands



16 July 2008 | 19:11 | FOCUS News Agency



Skopje. FYROMacedonian issue had been the main point in Greek government meeting besides the serious economic challenges that Greek Prime Minister /PM/ Kostas Karamanlis has faced, FYROMacedonian A1 television reports. Athens authorities have prepared to answer to the newest FYROMacedonian initiative for solving the issue with children refugees from Aegean Macedonia.
Kostas Karamanlis will complain of FYROMacedonia’s demands to the Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon, NATO and EU. FYROMacedonia wants from Greece to give back the properties and the citizenship of the chased FYROMacedonian citzens, television pointed.

[Astoria]

NATO’s Scheffer demanded FYROMacedonia to be more flexible in name dispute



16 July 2008 | 14:35 | FOCUS News Agency



Skopje. The solution to the dispute between Skopje and Athens is based on the flexibility of both sides and to a great extent the solution is in Skopje’s hands, NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer said, as quoted by the FYROMacedonian Utrinski Vesnik daily.

Skopje wants to join NATO. Greece is NATO’s member, and Skopje is not. In other words, both countries have to be flexible but the fact that one of the countries wants to accede NATO do not have to be should not be neglected. It is hard to say but may be that is the point, Scheffer stated.

[Boreas]

FROM THE EDITOR: MACEDONIA
10:00 Fri 18 Jul 2008

Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is correct to call for flexibility to enable a resolution to the dispute between Athens and Skopje over the use of the name Macedonia.

Not only is the issue a deeply emotional one for both sides, it appears to have become entangled in extraordinary political stunts.

Without taking sides, to the disinterested observer it appears that Skopje is behaving in a way that is not orientated towards a solution, as evidenced by the letter from Macedonia’s Nikola Gruevski to his Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis raising a range of issues that are unhelpful in creating a mood of compromise. It is abundantly clear that on the name issue alone, a compromise will be elusive enough.

Matthew Nimetz, the special envoy of the United Nations charged with mediating a compromise, has become a veteran of travel and talks on the name issue. He is not the only one, given that others are working behind the scenes to help.

For leaders in capitals in South Eastern Europe, not to mention Brussels and Washington, frustration must be building about an issue about which, it seems, some lack a genuine sincerity to resolve. It is not as if this region of Europe has nothing else on its agenda to consider.

It is to be hoped that the words of the Nato secretary-general, who hinted that the onus to achieve a compromise is greater on Skopje, will be heeded. Emotions need to become calmer and political will stronger, so that all the countries involved can move on to dealing with issues of great importance.

http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/fro...30593/catid_27

[Astoria]

US lawmakers holding up vote on US envoy to Macedonia due to its squabble with Greece



WASHINGTON: Two U.S. senators are holding up the Bush administration's nominee for ambassador to FYROMacedonia, which has been engaged in a dispute with Greece over its name.

The senators have not been identified, but aides on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee identified them as Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe and Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez. Aides from the committee spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press about the nomination.

The two lawmakers' offices refused comment, and it is unclear whether they intend to block the nomination of Philip Reeker or simply to delay it.

However, Snowe's office provided The Associated Press with a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, dated July 10, that criticizes Bush administration policy on the question.

The hold on the nomination comes at a time that Greece has been complicating FYROMacedonia's diplomatic relations to exert pressure over the name dispute, an issue that aides say is behind the hold up of Reeker's nomination.

A United Nations envoy has been brokering talks aimed at reaching a name both countries can accept.

Greece argues the name Macedonia implies expansionist claims on its northern province of the same name, which the country of FYROMacedonia rejects. Greece has complained that the FYROMacedonian government has been responsible for hostile propaganda, including maps used in textbooks that show parts of Greece within FYROMacedonian borders.

Snowe's letter criticizes the Bush administration for its 2004 decision to recognize FYROMacedonia as "the Republic of Macedonia." It asks Rice to confirm that the administration is encouraging Macedonia to stop "hostile activities or propaganda."

Athens has vowed to prevent its neighbor from joining NATO or the European Union until the issue is resolved and indeed already blocked FYROMacedonia's invitation to NATO this year. United Nations-brokered talks aimed at resolving the dispute have been deadlocked. The country is listed at the United Nations under the provisional name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM.

Senators can block nominations anonymously. A congressional aide said that when the nomination came up in the Foreign Relations Committee, there were a spate of phone calls from Greek-American groups, who were concerned about recent violence in FYROMacedonia and asked lawmakers to force Reeker to answer further questions before he could be confirmed.

FYROMacedonia has experienced a series of violent attacks among ethnic Albanians. The ethnic minority's two main parties have been locked in a bitter rivalry that led to violent disruptions to the country's parliamentary election last month and forced many areas to hold reruns twice, on June 15 and 29.

Reeker, a career diplomat, was recently spokesman in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The State Department would not comment on the Senate's consideration of the nomination.

[Astoria]

FYROMacedonia: Thousands attend rally to demand minority rights in Greece



SKOPJE, FYROMacedonia: Thousands of protesters held a rally Friday to demand that neighbor Greece recognize the existence of a MFYROacedonian minority.

The protest is tied to a long-standing name dispute between the two countries. Athens is demanding that FYROMacedonia change or modify its name, fearing a potential territorial claim against its own northern region called Macedonia.

Negotiations on the name, mediated by the United Nations, have been deadlocked for years.

Organizers of Friday's rally in FYROMacedonia's capital Skopje said the protest was attended by some 8,000 people, and included veterans of the 1946-49 Greek civil War who fought with defeated rebel forces.

The Greek-born veterans say they were excluded from post civil war amnesties allowing exiled civil war fighters to return to Greece.

"National identity cannot be deleted by decree. It is our civil right to declare ourselves as Macedonians and we will never give up from our identity," parliament speaker Trajko Veljanovski said, addressing the rally.

Earlier this week, FYROMacedonian Minister Nikola Gruevski wrote a letter to his Greek counterpart, Costas Karamanlis, to demand recognition of the minority.

Athens denies the minority's existence and officials there have referred only to "Slavic-language speakers" living in northern Greece.

On Friday, Karamanlis accused Gruevski of attempting to undermine the name negotiations.

"There is no 'Macedonian minority' in Greece. It never existed," Karamanlis wrote in response to Gruevski.

"Your letter is a great distance away from the efforts being made in the (name) negotiations for improved bilateral relations, and raises groundless and nonexistent issues."

[Astoria]

Skai: EC takes seriously Nikola Gruevski complaint about rights of “Macedonian minority” in Greece



21 July 2008 | 16:41 | FOCUS News Agency



Brussels. The European Commission has taken seriously FYROMacedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s complaint that the rights of the “Macedonian minority” in Greece are not observed. The FYROMacedonian PM had sent a letter to the EC President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the Greek Skai radio announced.

Asked by a Skai correspondent in Brussels, EC Spokesperson said that the accusations were under investigation and a position would be formed by Tuesday noon. Gruevski had asked that the EC got involved in the issue. Athens does not recognize the “Macedonian minority” in Greece.

[Astoria]

Menendez takes Greek side in dispute

Monday, July 21, 2008
By ROBERT COHEN
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
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 and Hoboken resident 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 delaying the president's nominee for U.S. ambassador to FYROMacedonia, Philip Reeker.

Although the former Union City mayor 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 FYROMacedonians.

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.

[Astoria]

Athens, Skopje vie for EU support in name dispute
12:51 Wed 23 Jul 2008 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer


FYROMacedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski has attempted to raise the stakes in his country’s name dispute with Greece by writing to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso complaining about the plight of a “Macedonian minority in Greece” – irking Athens and sparking a diplomatic counter-offensive by Greece at European level.

Negotiations between Skopje and Athens on the use of the name “Macedonia”, to which Greece objects because it says that it reinforces Skopje’s territorial claims in northern Greece, appear to be making no progress. Gruevski’s attempts, in letters to Greek prime minister Costas Karamanlis and now Barroso, to introduce other issues have sparked allegations that Skopje is trying deliberately to obstruct the negotiations process.

In his letter to Barroso, Gruevski raises the same issues that he put in his earlier letter to Karamanlis, including the recognition of a “Macedonian minority” in Greece and the granting of rights and compensation to citizens of the former Yugoslav republic who left Greece during the 1946/49 civil war.

On July 23 2008, FYROMacedonian newspaper Utrinski Vesnik said that Greece was setting off on a quest to hamper the consequences of Gruevski’s letter to Barroso, Bulgarian news agency Focus reported.

FYROMacedonian and Greek media noted on the same day that Greek deputy foreign minister Yannis Valinakis has met French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, French European affairs minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet (France currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU) and European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn to tell them that Athens was prepared for talks only on the name of FYROMacedonia, and rejected attempts to introduce other issues.

The online version of Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported that Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis “appeared unconcerned” when asked about Gruevski’s letter to Barroso. “The EU and all its members already have a full and detailed briefing on Greece’s position,” Bakoyannis said.

FYROMacedonian news agency Makfax reported that the EC was delaying responding to the Gruevski letter.

“All I can tell you for the moment is that Commission has received it on Friday last week and currently it’s being looked at, among other things to determine whether any issues raised in the letter are within the competency of the EU or not,” Makfax quoted an EC spokesperson in Brussels as saying.

The same source said that “it’s a Commission policy never to respond off the cuff to subjects that haven’t been looked at in great detail, technically or politically speaking”.

Kathimerini said that diplomats in Athens said they would be surprised if Barroso honoured the letter with a response as “the supposed existence of a ‘Macedonian minority’ – in Greece or anywhere else – has never been debated in Brussels”.

Greece’s main opposition party PASOK criticised the Greek government’s strategy, saying that it had been wrong of Karamnalis to honour Gruevski with a response in the first place.

“The government has managed to open a dialogue on a non-existent issue,” said PASOK’s shadow minister for foreign affairs, Andreas Loverdos.

After Gruevski wrote to Barroso, the Greek media reacted with indignation.

On July 20, Eleftheri Ora wrote: “Gruevski’s letter changes recipient – they were awaiting it in Athens, but the postman took it to Barroso in Brussels. The newspaper said that on the pretext of the name issue, Skopje was bringing to light “its irredentist claims, the territorial demands, the “Macedonian”' language, and everything else entailed”.

The same day, Eleftheros Typos described it as “Gruevski's new, provocative lies against Macedonia, in letter to Barroso,” adding that Skopje was seeking backing in the EU, resorting to “blatant lies and ungrounded claims in speaking of a ‘political assimilation’ of the ‘Macedonians’ by the Greek state, systematic measures prohibiting the use of the ‘Macedonian’ language, and of discrimination”.

Greece has not limited its diplomatic moves to Europe. In Washington, Greek ambassador to the US Alexandros Mallias briefed the White House, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, members of the US congress and the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain on the Greek positions. Greek media reported that a letter also had been sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.