European Union Forums

[55° N - 13° E]

What are you trying to get to?

You still don´t know? Read Hellen, read!

[Hellenicoz]

What are you trying to get to?

You still don´t know? Read Hellen, read!

I dont read your books. Your people have brainwashed you to hate Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Serbians & maybe others. Your books try to change history.

FYROM's "hostile activities and propaganda" mentioned in the resolution include the renaming of the Slavic country's main airport to "Alexander the Great", creating maps for school and military textbooks showing a "Greater Macedonia" that reaches well into Greece and Bulgaria and teaching school children that parts of Greece, including the Greek region of Macedonia, are rightfully part of the FYROM.

[55° N - 13° E]

It´very funny that the FGPC (Former Greek Province of Cyprus) is using a false map on their flag. The FGPC is occupying only the southern half of the island. The northern half is the country of TURKEY. The people of Greece have very bad geography. Don´t they study georagphy in school?

The Greeks must be the only people on this earth not proud of their roots/background that they are using other countries names, ethnicity, language, religion, national flag and history. Are they not intelligent enough and proud enough to have their own identity?

[55° N - 13° E]

It is good that you are interested in Makadonia, Helen. Here is the flag:
It´s a beautiful flag, yes?

[Hellenicoz]

It´very funny that the FGPC (Former Greek Province of Cyprus) is using a false map on their flag. The FGPC is occupying only the southern half of the island. The northern half is the country of TURKEY. The people of Greece have very bad geography. Don´t they study georagphy in school?

The Greeks must be the only people on this earth not proud of their roots/background that they are using other countries names, ethnicity, language, religion, national flag and history. Are they not intelligent enough and proud enough to have their own identity?

Are you reading those books of yours again? Cyprus & Greece are not the same country & never was part of Greece. The majority are of ethnic Greek background & speak the Greek language. Cyprus was in fact formerly British. Cyprus have their own flag & have nothing do with Greece. Its like the people of Bulgaria & FYROM speak the same language but are not the same country. The only difference is the people of Cyprus are proud of their background & dont hide it. There is no such language as Cypriot. They speak Greek or Turkish. In regards to what Cyprus does with their maps has nothing to do with Greece & I dont really care what Cyprus does. Do you care what Bulgaria does just because you speak the same language? Does England care what New Zealand are doing because they speak the same language? Does Portugal care what Brazil are doing because they speak the same language?

[Hellenicoz]

It is good that you are interested in Makadonia, Helen. Here is the flag:
It´s a beautiful flag, yes?

I thought your flag was different when you first got your independence? Why did you change it? They have changed their name a few times already maybe there due for their next name change now.

[55° N - 13° E]

what Cyprus does with their maps has nothing to do with Greece

It is the Greeks who keep the old flag which has nothing to do with Cyprus because the north belongs to Turkey. And it was Greece that tried to take all of Cyprus for themselves, not only FGPC (Former Greek Province of Cyprus) but even the Turkish north. That is why Turkey came to Cyprus and threw out the Greeks and sent them back to Greece. I suppose the Greek books say it was the Turks who invaded Cyprus!

[Hellenicoz]

what Cyprus does with their maps has nothing to do with Greece

It is the Greeks who keep the old flag which has nothing to do with Cyprus because the north belongs to Turkey. And it was Greece that tried to take all of Cyprus for themselves, not only FGPC (Former Greek Province of Cyprus) but even the Turkish north. That is why Turkey came to Cyprus and threw out the Greeks and sent them back to Greece. I suppose the Greek books say it was the Turks who invaded Cyprus!

Yes the majority of the citizens of Cyprus are of ethnic Greek Background but they are still from a different country. I wouldnt care if Turkey took the whole of Cyprus because I have nothing to do with Cyprus. The Spanish, Portugese, Frence, English, Slavic, Albanian language is spoken in more countries than one. It dosnt mean there the same country or were formerly part of that country.

[Hellenicoz]

“Essential Progress” In Macedonia Name Spat
Skopje | 24 August 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic


Essential progress has been achieved in the Athens-Skopje UN talks over FYROM’s official name, but a final resolution is still a long way off, FYROM's president says.



Greece and FYROM responded last week to the latest set of ideas on the naming dispute put forward by UN mediator Matthew Nimetz.

President Georgi Ivanov’s cabinet released the the statement claiming progress has been made over the weekend.



On Friday, FYROM's negotiator Zoran Jolevski handed Skopje’s response to Nimetz in New York.



Although the details of FYROM's response were not officially disclosed, local media speculated that Skopje had largely accepted Nimetz’s idea to add the term Northern to the state’s official name, Republic of Macedonia.



In post-meeting comments, Jolevski sufficed with pointing out that his country continues to participate in efforts to end the dispute.


Greece reportedly had some complaints about the latest set of ideas in its official response, passed on earlier in the week.



Last year, Greece blocked Macedonia’s NATO entry over the row. Athens argues that Skopje’s name implies that it is making territorial claims on its northern province of Macedonia.


While FYROM's authorities fear that Athens could seek to delay the negotiations - due to possible early Greek elections - they believe Athens is unlikely to veto their country's EU accession negotiations, should the European Commission propose a date for the start thereof this autumn.

[55° N - 13° E]

Hurrah for Makadonia!

[Hellenicoz]

Hurrah for VETO.

The Hellenic Republic's leaders are waisting their time with these talks as long as Nikola Gruevski is FYROM's leader.

VETO= Still no Offical UN name. Just the country with a Provissional Name.
VETO= No security from Nato.
VETO= Becoming a 3rd world country. No help financilly from EU.
VETO= Ethnic Albanian's not happy. Civil war will return.
VETO= Extiniction (The Former Country Former Yugoslav Republic of Makedonija)

[55° N - 13° E]

Makadonia will prevail. Time is not only on her side but something which Makadonia has geat abundance, whereas Greece has so little.


Greece is occupied argueing with all of its neighbours so their people won´t think about all the problems inside Greece - and the world is laughing at the Greeks (as always)

[Hellenicoz]

FYROM’s Economic Trends are "Catastrophic"
Skopje | 27 August 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic


FYROM’s ongoing industrial output contraction plumbed new depths in July, the State Statistical Office revealed.

A record near 20 per cent output plunge was registered, when compared to July 2008. This is the tenth month in a row that industrial output has shrunk.



FYROM’s flagship metal industry was the hardest hit, experiencing a staggering 63 per cent drop in production. Textiles production also fell away badly, down 36 per cent and iron ore extraction fell by 24 per cent.


Overall, FYROM's economy contracted by 13 per cent from January-July this year.


“These trends are catastrophic and their effects are yet to be seen,” former finance minister Xhevdet Hajredini told local daily Utrinski Vesnik.


While companies are constantly pleading for state help, the cheap credits that are supposed to keep the economy afloat are late in coming due to procedural problems.


This year the government has already been forced to shave the state budget once, and is preparing for a second round of cuts



Despite a decrease in tax revenues, the government said it recently recorded the first signs of economic recovery.



The government still believes that industrial output will grow by one per cent this year, but the IMF is more pessimistic, forecasting a drop of around two per cent.

[Hellenicoz]

Makadonia will prevail. Time is not only on her side but something which Makadonia has geat abundance, whereas Greece has so little.


Greece is occupied argueing with all of its neighbours so their people won´t think about all the problems inside Greece - and the world is laughing at the Greeks (as always)

Very funny to hear someone from FYROM saying "Greece is occupied argueing with all of its neighbours". Let me remind you FYROM's arguments with Greece on the name issue. Bulgaria with the ethnicity & language. Serbia about the Religion/Church. Austria about business contracts. Kosovo about their independence. Albania about the ethnic Albanian problem. All in the last 2 to 3 years.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/78494

[55° N - 13° E]

... Very funny to hear someone from FYROM saying "Greece is occupied argueing with all of its neighbours". .....

Very funny to hear someone repeat the same absurdity over and over again. It is what I call "selective ignorance".

Makadonia will prevail over the Greeks. It´s only a matter of time and Greece will find something else to complain about. The Greeks ALWAYS have something to complain about. There must only be women or that other thing in Greece. Why do they NEVER stop complaining?

The name of the country of Makadonia is MAKADONIA. Makadonia is a country.

Here is the national flag of Makadonia.

[Hellenicoz]

Ok, if you think so, you call it what every you like. To me Macedonia is the northern province of the Hellenic Republic.

[Hellenicoz]

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Fears Second Greek Veto
Skopje | 01 September 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic


Greece has toughened its stance in the dispute over FYROM's official name, making it more likely to block its neighbour's EU membership bid, Macedonia's Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said.



Milososki's comments came in an interview with Reuters on Monday, held on the sidelines of a regional security conference in Slovenia.

"The only shift was for the worse in Greece's attitude. They have toughened their position. We are concerned [at the] possibility of a second Greek blockade related to our opening EU accession talks," Milososki said

He said talks with Greece had resumed with "new dynamics" this year and that Athens appeared to have toughened its stance since the 2008 NATO summit.

"We in FYROM are ready [...] to come to a solution. It is worth noting that there has never been a single security incident between FYROM and Greece, while trade, investment and tourism are improving. Business people are more pragmatic than the government," he said.

Last year Athens blocked Skopje's NATO acession process, insisting that the country change its formal name, Republic of Macedonia, before joining the alliance. Greece argues that the name implies that Skopje maintains territorial claims on its northern province of Macedonia. Athens has warned that it could also move to stymie Skopje's EU accession if the row is not settled.

Milososki believes that the risk of a fresh Greek veto is heightened by the shaky internal political situation in Greece. There is speculation that Greece could be going to early elections, which would put the government of Premier Kostas Karamanlis to the test. Milososki fears that this could prompt Karamanlis to harden his stance in the naming dispute for domestic political gain.

Milososki said he hoped that the UN mediator in the dispute, Matthew Nimetz, will soon come up with a new compromise proposal.

Last month, both countries conveyed their official replies to Nimetz's most recent proposals for settling the spat. There has been considerable speculation in the media that variations on the name Northern Macedonia were proposed by the UN mediator as a potential compromise solution.

In the last two months, several high-ranking EU and US officials have reiterated that the time is right to settle the long-standing quarrel, which dates back to the early 1990s when FYROM declared its independence from the former Yugoslavia.

[55° N - 13° E]

Ok, if you think so, you call it what every you like. To me Macedonia is the northern province of the Hellenic Republic.

It is very simple to understand if you open your eyes and read ....

The Republic of Macedonia is a COUNTRY and this is their flag:


The PROVINCE of Macedonia is in Greece and this is their flag:

You see - it isn´t so difficult.

[Hellenicoz]

Greek Opposition Vows to Resolve Name Spat
Skopje | 02 September 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic


Greece's main opposition party, the Panhellenic Socialist Party, PASOK, will take a different course in resolving the naming dispute with neighbouring FYROM should it win fresh polls.


"When PASOK comes to power we will solve the issue .We will be sending a message of reconciliation, not of confrontation,“ PASOK's Andreas Loverdos, told Greek news portal Newstime.gr on Wednesday.



Loverdos, who served as deputy premier from 2002 to 2004, blames the ruling conservative New Democracy party for transforming differences over the naming issue into a full-blown confrontation with Skopje.


Last year, Athens blocked Skopje's NATO entrance over the long-standing dispute, seriously damaging bilateral relations. Athens argues that its neighbour's official name, Republic of Macedonia, implies that Skopje is making territorial claims to Greece's northern province of Macedonia.


Loverdos says that Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis is making a mistake by not engaging in direct talks with Skopje and instead leaving the matter of finding a mutually acceptable compromise to UN mediator Matthew Nimetz.


As a sign of good will, "PASOK will accept the return to Greece of Slavmacedonian refugees who left the country after the civil war", Loverdos added. Slavmacedonians is the name used by some Greek officials to refer to Former Yugoslav Macedonians.



Skopje demands the return of the refugees, who fought on the side of the Democratic Army of Greece, the military branch of the Greek Communist Party, which lost the 1946-1949 civil war.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis recently told voters to prepare for early elections on September 16, which he hopes will see New Democracy secure a fresh mandate to overhaul Greece's financial and social systems.


The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia fears that Greece could move to block its EU accession process due to domestic political considerations. Athens has openly threatened to do so, pending a solution to the row.

[Hellenicoz]

Archaeologists unearth lavish Macedonian burial site in ancient ruins in northern Greece
By: NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Associated Press
09/01/09 7:00 PM EDT ATHENS, GREECE — Archaeologists said Friday they have unearthed a lavish burial site at the seat of the ancient Macedonian kings in northern Greece, heightening a 2,300-year-old mystery of murder and political intrigue.

The find in the ruins of Aigai came a few meters (yards) from last year's remarkable discovery of what could be the bones of Alexander the Great's murdered teenage son, according to one expert.

Archaeologists are puzzled because both sets of remains were buried under very unusual circumstances: Although cemeteries existed near the site, the bones were taken from an unknown first resting place and re-interred, against all ancient convention, in the heart of the city.

Excavator Chrysoula Saatsoglou-Paliadeli said in an interview that the bones found this week were inside one of two large silver vessels unearthed in the ancient city's marketplace, close to the theater where Alexander's father, King Philip II, was murdered in 336 B.C.

She said they arguably belonged to a Macedonian royal and were buried at the end of the 4th century B.C.

But it is too early to speculate on the dead person's identity, pending tests to determine the bones' sex and age, said Saatsoglou-Paliadeli, a professor of classical archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

She said one of the silver vessels is "very, very similar" to another found decades ago at a nearby royal tumulus, where one grave has been identified as belonging to Philip II.

Alexander was one of the most successful generals of all times. In a series of battles against the Persian Empire, he conquered much of the known world, reaching as far as India.

After his death in 323 B.C., at the age of 32, Alexander's empire broke up in a series of wars by his successors that saw the murder of his mother, half brother, wife and both sons.

Archaeologist Stella Drougou said the new find is "very important, as it follows up on last year's."

"It makes things very complex," she said. "Even small details in the ancient texts can help us solve this riddle. We (now) have more information, but we lack a name."

Drougou told The Associated Press that the fact the funerary urns were not placed in a proper grave "either indicates some form of punishment, or an illegal act."

"Either way, it was an exceptional event, and we know the history of the Macedonian kings is full of acts of revenge and violent succession."

Drougou, who was not involved in the discovery, is also a professor of classical archaeology at the Aristotle University.

Saatsoglou-Paliadeli believes the teenager's bones found in 2008 may have belonged to Heracles, Alexander's illegitimate son who was murdered during the wars of succession around 309 B.C. and buried in secret. The remains had been placed in a gold jar, with an elaborate golden wreath.

"This is just a hypothesis, based on archaeological data, as there is no inscription to prove it," she said.

At a cemetery in nearby Vergina, Greek archaeologists discovered a wealth of gold and silver treasure in 1977. One opulent grave, which contained a large gold wreath of oak leaves, is generally accepted to have belonged to Philip II. The location of Alexander's tomb is one of the great mysteries of archaeology.

The sprawling remains of a large building with banquet halls and ornate mosaics at Aigai — some 190 miles (300 kilometers) north of Athens — has been identified as Philip's palace.

The city flourished in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., attracting leading Greek artists such as the poet Euripides. The Macedonian capital was moved to Pella in the 4th century B.C., and Aigai was destroyed by the Romans in 168 B.C.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/world ... 63022.html

[Hellenicoz]

‘Communist Landlords’ and Political Refugees from Greek Macedonia

The calls for the repatriation of people deported or forced to emigrate during warfare have always found a listening ear in the West. This is a fact well known by all the organisations of Egejski Makedontsi (i.e. Aegean Macedonians), Slav-Macedonian ex-Greek citizens, residing in F.Y.R.O.M., Australia or elsewhere since the end of the Greek Civil War in 1949. As one is informed from the "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" (MILS), "Vecer" or "Nova Macedonia" the UN, the OSCE, various NGOs and the governments of Greece, both F.Y.R.O.M. and Australia are constantly and heavily bombarded by letters, petitions, leaflets, and booklets submitted by Egejski Refugee organisations requesting the unconditioned repatriation of all those "who were forcefully evicted from their land" and the return of their state confiscated property.

Amidst endless negotiations about the future name of F.Y.R.O.M. -due to Athens' steady refuse to accept a Skopje-owned monopoly of the name "Macedonia"- the "unconditional" return of persons who define themselves as "ethnic Macedonians" would be a contradiction in terms. As recent progress has shown the question is not without a solution, but still a lot of relative issues must be clarified in advance.

Slav-speaking peasants in Western Greek Macedonia were indeed the backbone of the Communist led Democratic Army in the last year of the Greek Civil War (1948-49). Either communist by belief or forcefully conscripted, in any case they were compelled to leave the country along with the retreating communist fighters of the "Democratic Army" in 1949. In their ranks were World War II collaborators of the German, Bulgarian, and Italian occupation armies, as well as Slav-Macedonian communist activist of the Civil War. The latter were inspired either by the Yugoslav dream to annexe Greek territories or by the prospect of a united Macedonian state within a Balkan Communist Federation. All had to flee to avoid persecution for high treason.

In the early stages of the Cold War this was a serious and real charge no less real than the fear from the Communist North most Greeks felt. A Slav-Macedonian activist in Greece, Mr Papadimitriou, has claimed once in "Moglena", [No.73 (June 1992) p.10] that Slav-speaking partisans declared themselves "ethnic Macedonians" only to conform with the Communist Party line and should not be blamed for this. If true, then Greek Governments should have been more hesitant to reallocate their land, more tolerant for their crimes, and more receptive to petitions by these refugees to return to Greece and be reinstated in their properties. Only veterans now residing in F.Y.R.O.M. can verify if they had actually been black mailed by the party.

How many Slav-speakers fled away? Greek bibliography generally accepts that 30-35,000 plus some 14,000 children, out of 28,000 moved across the border by the "Democratic Army". "Nova Macedonija" (see MILS 5.7.1996) mentioned 65,000 political refugees, a much cited specialist Dr Risto Kirjazovski, an Egejski himself, talks about 80,000 refugees (MILS 26.1.1996). Other Slav-Macedonian sources give different figures: the "Association of the Aegean Macedonians" in Bitola claims 100,000; a similar association in Poland cites 250,000; in the electronic list "Makedon" even the figure of 300,000 was once mentioned. The evaluation of these sources is easier, if we take into consideration that in 1940 the total population in all three prefectures of Florina, Kastoria, and Pella, Slav- and non-Slav-speakers together, was 275,000; 55,000 of them were interwar refugees from Asia Minor. In 1951 the total population of the same prefectures, which were heavily involved in the War, was 234,000. Apparently the discrepancy is due not only to a tendency of exaggeration by certain Slav-macedonian nationalist or refugee organisations, but also on account of including as Egejski mixed marriage families and descendants born in F.Y.R.O.M. or other countries (Australia, Canada, etc.).

Regardless of numbers it is more interesting to assess the views of some of these refugees towards a solution of the Macedonian Question. According to MILS some Egejski are distinguished members of Slav-Macedonian society in F.Y.R.O.M. and the diaspora, they have formed associations and their annual conferences are addressed and sponsored by president Gligorov and other officials of F.Y.R.O.M. (MILS 24.3.1997). Found usually in the extreme nationalist side, they have been known to oppose strongly Albanian educational rights and the request for a university in Tetovo (MILS 12.12.1994). They wave proudly the banner of United Macedonia (which includes vast parts of Greek and Bulgarian territories), they still use in Australia and elsewhere the "Sun" found in Vergina (Greece) as their national emblem. All in all they are against any reconciliation, even against the new visa formula facilitating their visit to Greece.

This hard line, punctuated by much used "historical" rhetoric against the Greek presence in "their home land" inevitably puts the question: Do the Egejski (or their descendants) really want to return to Greece and for what purpose? The answer has been coined internationally by Chuck Subetic in "The New York Times": the real issue is "Real Estate" (3.11.1994). If so, the question is how much land are we talking about? Risto Kirjazovski has cited 2,000,000 acres which belonged to 30,000 families (sic) (MILS 29.1.1996). "Nova Macedonija" wrote (5.7.1996) that 12,000 dossiers had been submitted by 1991 referring to 6,000 hectares and 5,000 buildings which had been confiscated. It is also mentioned that, between 1985 and 1990, 120 petitions had been submitted to the F.Y.R.O.M. Ministry for Justice concerning 25,000 hectares of land. Again it will suffice to say that 2,000,000 acres equal to 90 per cent of the present arable land in Greek Macedonia, not to mention that in 1940, the total arable land in the region was less than 1.5 million acres. But even if Kirjazovski or "Nova Macedonia" were right after all this would imply a family allotment of 50-70 acres, indeed a vast property by all Greek standards. Either they are grossly misinformed or the Communist Army was manned exclusively with landlords!

Land is not what the Egejski want, at least not the first generation of them. Property can't be that much important for veteran Communist partisans. Had they, the Communists, won the Civil War, they would have confiscated the land to build collective farms, very much like what happened during the same period in Tito's Yugoslavia. What is never told in international fora is that their properties for 50 years now have not been in the hands of Greek gendarmes, civil servants or people with "healthy national consciousness", as they claim, but in the hands of their very close relatives, who know well and say it in public that the land question will not be solved on their expense.

A much more honest and simple answer to their real motives would be nostalgia. But then, why pursue such exaggerated claims speaking of "hundreds of thousands of refugees", and "millions of acres", deny the visas offered according to a recent agreement between Athens and Skopje, if the real purpose is "only to visit the ancestral graves"? Do such arguments facilitate rapprochement? Certainly they do not. Nostalgia for home, village, and grave is only one side of the coin. However, the other is justification for a lost cause, a lost war, a lost youth, for separation, segregation, sometimes for a whole life spoiled beyond the iron curtain in exchange for new identity and ideology.

Unfortunately this mentality remains well entrenched among some Egejski activists and various political groups in F.Y.R.O.M. and the diaspora. Moreover it is retained as a "vision" by the official state authorities which continue to teach schoolchildren that the ethnic boundaries of their nation extend to the Aegean littoral and Mount Olympus. This national ideology cannot be altered over night. Although flexible diplomats from Athens and Skopje can get round emotive issues and eventually get the job done, some Egejski do not appear ready to come to terms with present realities. Under the circumstances, it is no wonder that the Greeks would be in no mood to accept back persons nurturing maximalistic views, by-products of a 50 year old nationalism and irredentism.

[Hellenicoz]

Athens Accuses Skopje of Fanaticism
Skopje | 09 September 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic

The Greek foreign minister has accused the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonian government of driving its own people toward fanaticism, thus preventing the country from gaining EU and NATO membership.



Instead of having a constructive approach in the Athens-Skopje name talks, FYROM's Premier Nikola Gruevski’s government “thinks that it can rewrite the past”, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis was cited by FYROM's Makfax news agency as saying.


Bakoyiannis accused Gruevski of trying to steal Greek history by claiming his country's association to Alexander the Great and naming roads and sport arenas after him.


“It is pushing the people of our neighbouring country towards fanaticism and intolerance, and this is increasing the distance between them and their Euro-Atlantic perspective,” Bakoyannis said.


Bakoyannis' statement comes as Greece prepares for a snap general election on October 4th.


Last year, Athens blocked Skopje’s NATO accession, arguing that FYROM's official name implies it maintains territorial claims over its own northern province of Macedonia.


Stating that her government has been constructive in seeking a UN-mediated solution to the name dispute, Bakoyannis went on to reiterate the Greek position.


She said Greece wants: “A solution with a compound name, with a geographical qualifier, for use by everyone. A solution that benefits everyone. A solution towards a future of cooperation and security for our region and our peoples.”



Meanwhile, FYROM announced yesterday that it had established diplomatic relations with Botswana under its current constitutional name. FYROM’s official appelation has been officially recognised by over 120 UN countries, including the US, Russia and China.

[Hellenicoz]

Creativity Urged From Greece, FYROM
Skopje | 25 September 2009


Enough ideas are on the table for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece to start thinking creatively and find a solution for their “name” spat, the UN mediator Matthew Nimetz said Thursday in New York after meeting Macedonian President Georgi Ivanov.

“I intend to resume the talks as soon as the new government in Greece is elected. Let's seize the moment and see if a solution may be found,” Nimetz was quoted by local MIA news agency as saying after the meeting.


The early elections in Greece are slated for 4 October.

“I believe that the talks we had during the summer were constructive and both parties demonstrated a serious approach to some of my ideas,” Nimetz added, according to MIA.


Media speculate that Nimetz’s last set of ideas based on the name Northern Macedonia are still in play.


Skopje and Athens are engulfed in a long standing row over the name Macedonia. The conflict escalated last year when Athens blocked Skopje’s NATO accession arguing that the country should first change its constitutional name Republic of Macedonia.


Athens argues that the name, which is the same as the Greek northern province, implies Skopje’s territorial claims towards northern Greece. Greece threatens to block FYROM’s European Union entry as well, pending a solution.


During this week’s meetings with Ivanov at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, both the US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, called for a swift settlement that would open FYROM's way to NATO and the European Union.


During his meetings with US and NATO officials Ivanov reiterated that FYROM continues to insist on the so-called double name formula, that foresees Skopje using its constitutional name in all relations expect with Greece.


Local media comment that this does not bode well for the resumption of talks as Greece has already rejected this model. Athens insists on a compound name that would be used everywhere and would be distinct the state from their province.


Ivanov's meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, set for Friday will also focused on the name dispute.

[Hellenicoz]

FYROM's Albanians Prepare Protests
Skopje | 28 September 2009


Several ethnic Albanian parties from FYROM, Thursday will stage a protest in front of the government building to express their objections to the new publication of the Macedonian encyclopaedia.

Calling it a “political pamphlet” that “inflicted great evil upon the Albanian population” the parties say they cannot guarantee that all the protesters will take their advice and restrain themselves from burning the FYROM flag as an act of “emotional revolt”.


The organisers from the National Democratic Union and from the Party for Democratic Prosperity, two relatively small parties currently in opposition, said in a press conference they hold the government responsible for the encyclopaedia. The book calls the Albanians in the country “settlers”, who came to Western FYROM in the 16th century, and calls them “Shiptari”, a term that is considered offensive.



Last week the former Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko in a panel discussion on the Tirana based Klan TV said that “the Albanians (in FYROM) have God’s right to burn the FYROM flag in the heart of Skopje”, after the book was published.


The Macedonian Academy of Science that issued the book is funded by the state, and has already said it will revise the problematic passages.


But the Albanian parties, including the junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, as well as high ranking officials from neighboring Albania and Kosovo have asked for a complete removal of the book and an apology from Skopje.


“If (Ali) Ahmeti (The head of DUI) decides, we are ready to leave our posts at once,'' DUI’s vice president, Rafiz Aliti told media on Monday when asked whether his party is considering stepping out of the governing coalition it currently holds with the centre-right VMRO DPMNE party.



FYROM's Prime Minister and VMRO DPMNE head, Nikola Gruevski has distanced himself from the book, and on Sunday blamed retrograde forces in the country for the offensive passages.

http://phantis.com/news/?newsID=2009093075245

[Hellenicoz]

FYROM Condemns Burning of Flag in Kosovo
Skopje, Pristina | 29 September 2009


A banner saying "Monkey Mania, what the f... do you know about the encyclopaedia" was displayed. FYROM’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the burning of the national flag at a football match in neighbouring Kosovo.

The reaction came after FYROM’s A1 TV broadcast pictures of ethnic Albanian football fans setting alight a FYROM flag at a match held two days ago between two Kosovar teams, Vlaznimi and Prishtina.


FYROM's officials in Kosovo urged the authorities there to identify and punish the perpetrators. “We expect Kosovo, as the youngest state in the region, to […] contribute accordingly towards the building of good neighbourly relations and regional stability,” a statement read.


Plisat, the fan club of Pristina, on their website, took responsibility for the September 27 burning of the flag and for the display of an offensively worded banner referring to FYROM’s controversial new encyclopaedia.


Both Kosovo and Albania and FYROM’s large Albanian community expressed outrage last week after the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. MASA, published the encyclopaedia.


The book described Albanians living in FYROM as “settlers” who had arrived in the 16th century and referred to them as “Shiptari” – a term Albanians deem offensive. As a result of the row, the Academy has offered to rewrite the book’s problematic sections. However, Officials from both neighbouring countries have demanded the complete withdrawal of the state-funded book.


The junior partner in FYROM’s ruling coalition, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, has threatened to leave Nikola Gruevski’s centre-right government if the prime minister continues to sit on the fence regarding the book.


Several ethnic Albanian parties from FYROM, Thursday will stage a protest in front of the government building to express their objections to the new publication of the Macedonian encyclopaedia.


Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE party, the senior party in the coalition, condemned the burning of the FYROM's flag but described it as an “isolated incident”, which it said should not affect Kosovo’s and FYROM’s “positive relations”.


However, one of the men behind the flag-burning incident in Kosovo, a member of Plisat, suggested that might not be the end of the matter.


“The burning of the flag was a protest against the encyclopaedia that shows we won’t stay quiet in cases like this,” he said.


“We're ready to go further if need be. FYROM have provoked us, so they’ve got no right to condemn anything. They need to act and remove this encyclopaedia.”


Ethnic Albanians make up about one-quarter of the population in FYROM. In 2001, the country suffered a short-lived Albanian insurgency. The same year, a peace deal was struck granting greater rights to the community. In return, the insurgent leaders abandoned the armed struggle and entered the political process, forming the DUI.