US ‘Not Against Greece over FYROMacedonia’ Read this bullshit..Who is the U.S. fooling.
US ‘Not Against Greece over FYROMacedonia’
Tom Casey26 June 2008 Skopje _ The US State Department has denounced as absurd the claims in Greek media that the US Consul in Thessaloniki has been involved in ‘anti-Greek’ activities.
In recent days some Greek media have produced a “highly confidential” document they claim was made by the Greek secret service which said the United States diplomat Hoyt Brian Lee recently met with Macedonian and Turkish minority representatives in Greece. Athens does not recognise these ethnic minority groups.
Answering a question relating to these “illegal actions against the territorial integrity of northern Greece,” the US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said it is normal that a diplomat meets with “members of civil society in all forms, including those who might not always agree with the governments of the day.”
Casey rebuffed as “inaccurate, inappropriate, and totally absurd” the allegations that their diplomat in Thessaloniki, the capital of northern Greece was working to destabilise the country.
According to the document that Greek media presented, the Greek secret service warns of a meeting that took place in May between Lee and leaders from Rainbow, a political party led by the unrecognised Macedonian minority in Greece, as well as representatives of the Turkish minority.
Athens officially does not recognise the existence of minorities on its own territory. It only mentions the existence of Muslims as a minority. However a significant number of Albanians, Turks, Macedonians, Vlachs and others are believed to live in the country.
Athens also refuses to recognize the existence of a Macedonian identity different to that of a Greek Macedonian. Greece is pressing its smaller northern neighbour Macedonia to change its name, accusing it of stealing Greek identity.
balkaninsight.com |