Greece-Macedonia: Astonishing Improvement of Relations

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Subject: Greece-Macedonia: Astonishing Improvement of Relations

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Greece-Macedonia: Astonishing Improvement of Relations


On the Astonishing Improvement of Greek-Macedonian Relations

Panayote Elias Dimitras
Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group - Greece
(30/11/1998, AIM Athens)

Balkan observers certainly remember the mass rallies held in Salonica
and then in Athens, in 1992 and 1993, to protest against the name
Greece's newly independent northern neighbor wanted to take for
itself, Macedonia. Anyone who would have then forecast that, in late
November 1998,  the first visitor to congratulate the newly elected
Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament would be Greece's official
representative in Skopje (Head of the "Liaison Office") would have
been considered as out of touch with reality. It was not the rallies
as such, but the fact that in them the nearly hysteric crowds were
showing, not a mere opposition to that choice, but a profound hatred
against the dominant nation of their neighbors, the Macedonians.

How could it have been otherwise when the mainstream Greek media had
been using systematic hate speech against Macedonians, or more precise
"Skopjans." The monitoring of the media "Greek Helsinki Monitor" has
been carrying out since 1994 had registered, through 1996,
qualifications for Macedonia such as "a non-viable sorrowful mix of
fluid consciousness," "a statelet" "product of artificial insemination
of Marxist Slavism with Titoist anti-Serbianism =85 artificially
preserved," "a state with embryonic economy, social development and
culture." Macedonians were nothing short of "bare-footed,"
"professionals of servitude," "barbarian embezzlers of blood-stained
territories of Greece," "Slav Gypsies," "a people of criminals,"
"thieves," "hungry," "wretched, ragged, desperate." At the same time,
all foreigners daring calling the state Macedonia rather than Skopje
or "FYROM" [Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia] were branded as
provocateurs if not anti-Hellenes. Indeed, Greeks were led to believe
that, following the various EU declarations on the name of the
country, the "M" word (Macedonia) was banned forever and for all.

Progressively, though, attentive Greeks were noticing that this
intransigent position was not leading anywhere; or, worse, that it was
damaging Greece's vital and real national interests. For example,
Greece's usually not unreasonable arguments on its conflict with
Turkey were not given the appropriate attention by international
public opinion as well as by its European and NATO partners. While
Northern Greece=92s economy was deeply hurt by the closure of the
border with Macedonia as a result of the various implicit or official
embargoes imposed since the beginning of the bilateral conflict. In
fact, the resulting financial loss was mitigated only because some
Greek businessmen were simply defying the embargo and dealing with
Macedonia via Bulgaria or, less, Albania.

Some believe that the pressure of the Northern Greek business lobby
was crucial to help bring Greece to its senses and reach an Interim
Agreement with its neighbor, in September 1995. With it, bilateral
relations were to improve while the "name problem" was to be solved
through future negotiations. In return, Macedonia made an important
gesture to indicate that all possible irredentist interpretations of
its foreign policy were erroneous: it changed its flag, replacing the
controversial "sun of Vergina" -that decorated the burial grounds of
ancient Macedonian leaders found on Greek territory- with a rather
different "sun."
 
However, it was the arrival in 1996 of a new Prime Minister -Costas
Simitis replaced Andreas Papandreou and was confirmed in a snap
election in September 1996- that help set the tone which led to the
remarkable improvement in bilateral relations. It was not just that
people started traveling freely between the two countries. Within a
year, Greece became one of the three leading commercial partners of
Macedonia. Never mind that bureaucratic formalities had to remain
cumbersome as Greece could not recognize any document mentioning the
"M" word: so visas on both sides have still being issued not on
passports but on separate papers; while special stamps and stickers
have been devised in Greece for letters, documents, car plates, etc.
mentioning Macedonia, so as to indicate that Greece recognizes that
country only as FYROM.

The litmus test for the spectacular improvement were the recent
Macedonian elections. For a long time, the three partners of the
post-election coalition were looked upon with suspicion in Greece.
After all, in its first congress in the early 1990s, VMRO had
announced it wished to hold its next one in (Greek) Salonica. DPA
Albanians had been consistently portrayed -in Greece like almost
everywhere else- as dangerous radicals. While Tupurkovski's Aegean
(i.e. Greek) Macedonian roots and authorship of a rather nationalistic
version of Alexander the Great's life had for long be reasons for
concern if not hostility towards him.
 
When it became obvious though that the "moderate" social-democrats
were to lose the elections, Greek media looked to the eventual winners
with near objective curiosity. After their victory, journalists
covering Balkan issues who are known for "faithfully reflecting" the
Greek foreign ministry's line became overnight optimistic about the
future of bilateral relations: one of them, in fact, "reported" a
Gligorov attempt to stage a coup to prevent his opponents from coming
to power! No wonder then that the Greek diplomat was the first to meet
the new Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament to convey to him the
congratulatory message of his (quite nationalist) Greek counterpart.
That was followed by an announcement by Prime Minister Simitis of his
intention to visit Macedonia (and Serbia -the only two countries he
has not visited).

One should not misinterpret this turn of events in the
Greek-Macedonian
relations though. Greeks have yet to come to terms with the name of
the
country, though an increasing number of them prefer the name "FYROM"
to
that of "Skopje" for it. Even more, the existence of a distinct
legitimate nation of Macedonians has yet to be admitted. A major
consequence of this situation are the continuing problems of the
Macedonian minority in Greece. It would not be too simplistic to argue
that the Interim Agreement and the ensuing improvement in the
bilateral relations has hardly had any effect on that minority. In
fact, many interpreted the "coincidence" of the signing of that
Agreement in September 1995 with the sacking of the Macedonian
minority "Rainbow" party=92s offices in Florina as a clear indication
that the minority should not expect anything out of it.
 
In fact, "Rainbow" had put up -outside their offices in Florina- a
sign in both Greek and Macedonian. It was the first time that language
was used in such public form. Soon after, the prosecutor indicted the
party leadership and ordered the sign removed. When it was replaced,
an angry mob led by the city's mayor removed the new sign and, a few
hours later, the offices were burnt down. Three years later, and
following an international outcry, the case against "Rainbow" led to
its acquittal, but the charges its leaders brought against the
perpetrators were "stuck" in the prosecutor's office.

At the same time, the Macedonian minority remains unrecognized and is
consequently denied many of its rights: while signing the Council of
Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities,
Greek authorities have made it clear that, when ratified, it will
concern only the recognized minority of the "Muslims" of Thrace. Greek
media, which, with few exceptions, have stopped using hate speech
against the neighboring country, continue to treat the Macedonian
minority in the same hostile way and to consider its activists as
something like "Skopjan agents" and "autonomists" [which in the Balkan
jargon means separatists]. Even citizens of Macedonia or of other
third countries with Macedonian origin who are in long "black lists"
of the Greek authorities are denied entry even for short visits to
their birthplace. The wounds of the civil war, which had a "Macedonian
component" and plagued the country between 1944-1949, have not healed
for that minority as many nationalists have succeeded in keeping them
open in ways that make it difficult to adapt Greek policy to the
European standards on minority rights.

Greece's Macedonian minority has nevertheless been lucky not to be
"taken up" by the authorities in Skopje, unlike Albania=92s Greeks who
have been patronized by Athens and Greece=92s Turks ("Muslims") who
have been manipulated by Ankara. In doing so, Macedonian authorities
have on the one hand helped bring about the improvement in bilateral
relations. They have also given a chance to the Macedonian minority in
Greece to seek its legitimization in Greece using its own means as
well as the help of still few sectors of Greek society: those which
have managed to be correctly informed about that minority and thus
opened themselves up to a constructive approach to its concerns if not
to an outright defense of its rights.

Should the publicly stated willingness of the new Macedonian
government to further develop bilateral relations be confirmed in
action, one may predict that the conflict between the two countries
will be safely shelved, even though Greece may not accept
Macedonia=92s name. Sustained good neighborliness could eventually
also help Greece come one day to terms with the presence of a small
Macedonian minority.

_______________________________________

Alternative Information Network (AIM) - Athens
P.O. Box 51393
GR-14510 Kifisia
Greece
Tel. +30-1-620.01.20
Fax +30-1-807.57.67
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr
________________________________________

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