A Capital Name
By Biljana Stavrova and Robert Alagjozovski
Transitions Online
SKOPJE, Macedonia | Fourteen years after the dispute between Macedonia and Greece over the former Yugoslav republic’s name erupted, a new compromise proposal is on the table. So far, though, there is little indication it will end the squabble.
Greece objects to the term “Macedonia” because it says it implies territorial demands on the Greek province of the same name, whose capital is Thessaloniki.
To meet Greece’s demands halfway, the country was recognized after independence from Yugoslavia as “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” or FYROM, a solution that satisfied no one.
The new compromise proposal - to change the country’s official name to “Republika Makedonija-Skopje” - was put forward in April by the UN’s special envoy, Mathew Nimitz.
The proposal, laid out in 13 points on eight pages, asserts that no country should have exclusive rights to the term Macedonia since it referred to a geographic region that extends across international borders.
It also urged both countries to restrain from nationalism and suggested that Macedonia reevaluate its history textbooks to avoid nationalist propaganda.
“Republika Makedonija-Skopje” is acceptable to the Greeks because it uses the Slavic form of Macedonia and affixes the name of the capital for good measure.
But Skopje has rejected the name. Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva said the proposal reflected only the Greek attitude towards the issue and insists the country will not drop the name Macedonia, which appears in its constitution. However, she says Skopje will continue bilateral talks with Greece in an attempt to reach a compromise.
Greece wants Macedonia to use one name in all its official business, while Macedonia believes in the “double formula” - one name used in relations with Greece and another, Macedonia, used in relations with all other countries.
Greek diplomats have launched a fresh offensive to convince EU member-states and the United States to put pressure on Macedonia to accept the proposal.
AN OLD DISPUTE
When Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia, Greece blocked not only recognition as “Macedonia” but also the small republic’s borders. An 18-month trade embargo ended only after Macedonia changed its flag, removing a symbol viewed by Athens as a Greek symbol, and altered its constitution to add that the country had no territorial claims on the Greek province of Macedonia.
While the agreement that ended the embargo was only provisional, it still enabled Greece to become a key trading partner and foreign investor in Macedonia.
But repeated attempts by the UN to mediate in the name dispute and to find a permanent solution have come to naught.
EU member-states and the United States stuck to the designation “FYROM,” which had been confirmed in a UN Security Council resolution, while over 100 countries - including Russia and China - recognized the country under its constitutional name, Macedonia.
However, in the past half-year there has been significant movement on the issue, as the United States - otherwise a close ally of Greece - recognized Macedonia under its chosen name on 4 November 2004. Its decision came on the eve of an important referendum that could have provoked a deterioration in the country’s fragile interethnic relations. Washington’s decision was widely seen as a reward for Macedonia’s deployment in Iraq.
At the same time, the U.S. State Department reiterated its support for talks on a solution acceptable to all, which Greece took as a signal to increase its diplomatic efforts to end the dispute.
DOMESTIC ATTITUDES
The new disagreement has given Macedonia’s domestic constituencies another opportunity to reiterate their attitudes.
Most intellectuals and the non-governmental sector are not in favor of any compromise.
Law professor Ljubomir Frckovski, a former foreign minister, called the name dispute a "legal precedent" and a "breach of international law." He considers the name and the flag as "basic rights of each country and no country's name has ever been disputed in the UN.”
The nationalist World Macedonian Congress (SMK) asked the government to leave the negotiating table immediately and to inform the UN that it would continue its activities and membership in international organizations under its constitutional name, Macedonia. The SMK’s Todor Petrov thinks that "no one has the mandate for double, triple or any other formulas."
But Macedonia’s nationalist parties have been surprisingly measured in their response to the latest proposals.
Nikola Gruevski, leader of the opposition Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), only asked for greater transparency on the part of the government.
"This informational black hole has to stop. For over two years now we have been hearing about different suggestions, talks, attitudes, and yet we know nothing about them," Gruevski said.
Ex-Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who is now the informal leader of the nationalist splinter party VMRO-Narodna, commented, "FYROM has been the Macedonian reality for 12 years." He added that "a hardline attitude is not the point but [rather] what can be salvaged in a situation in which U.S. and EU pressure is directed towards Macedonia."
The proposal comes at a time when Macedonia has come under criticism for the conduct of local elections.
The leading party of ethnic Albanians, the Democratic Union of Integration (BDI), supports the ethnic Slav majority in the dispute. BDI leader Ali Ahmeti said, "the constitutional name is the option we support and all our political and diplomatic activity is in that direction."
Only the ethnic-Albanian opposition leader Arben Xhaferi, from the Democratic Party of Albanians (PDSh), struck a different note. “The name should also reflect the multiethnic reality of the country,” he believes. Albanians and Macedonians fought a brief civil war in 2001.
THE EU DIMENSION
Macedonian diplomats have been working hard to avoid any possible repercussions of the name dispute on Macedonia’s EU integration process; some diplomats fear that Greece could block the country’s membership applications for NATO and the EU.
On 22 April, Foreign Minister Mitreva reminded her EU colleagues that the name dispute was explicitly excluded from membership criteria, while re-affirming the countries determination to continue accession talks.
On 25 April, the EU’s Council of Ministers, the union’s highest body, exhorted both sides to find a solution as soon as possible.
Earlier, on 14 April, the European Parliament rejected an amendment proposed by Danish MP Anders Samuelsen that would have recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name.
Nicholas Whyte, Balkans director of the Brussels-based think thank International Crisis Group, looks at the Greek offensive in the context of Greek domestic politics - as an attempt to get public opinion, whipped up by years of nationalist propaganda, used to the idea that the term Macedonia might become part of Macedonia’s official name.
After the U.S. recognition of unadorned “Macedonia,” it appears certain that any compromise solution would indeed include the term.
Whyte also thinks that the EU would pressure Macedonia only if the country rejected a “reasonable” solution.
The coming weeks will show whether “Republika Makedonija-Skopje” can be considered “reasonable.”
Transitions Online
SKOPJE, Macedonia | Fourteen years after the dispute between Macedonia and Greece over the former Yugoslav republic’s name erupted, a new compromise proposal is on the table. So far, though, there is little indication it will end the squabble.
Greece objects to the term “Macedonia” because it says it implies territorial demands on the Greek province of the same name, whose capital is Thessaloniki.
To meet Greece’s demands halfway, the country was recognized after independence from Yugoslavia as “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” or FYROM, a solution that satisfied no one.
The new compromise proposal - to change the country’s official name to “Republika Makedonija-Skopje” - was put forward in April by the UN’s special envoy, Mathew Nimitz.
The proposal, laid out in 13 points on eight pages, asserts that no country should have exclusive rights to the term Macedonia since it referred to a geographic region that extends across international borders.
It also urged both countries to restrain from nationalism and suggested that Macedonia reevaluate its history textbooks to avoid nationalist propaganda.
“Republika Makedonija-Skopje” is acceptable to the Greeks because it uses the Slavic form of Macedonia and affixes the name of the capital for good measure.
But Skopje has rejected the name. Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva said the proposal reflected only the Greek attitude towards the issue and insists the country will not drop the name Macedonia, which appears in its constitution. However, she says Skopje will continue bilateral talks with Greece in an attempt to reach a compromise.
Greece wants Macedonia to use one name in all its official business, while Macedonia believes in the “double formula” - one name used in relations with Greece and another, Macedonia, used in relations with all other countries.
Greek diplomats have launched a fresh offensive to convince EU member-states and the United States to put pressure on Macedonia to accept the proposal.
AN OLD DISPUTE
When Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia, Greece blocked not only recognition as “Macedonia” but also the small republic’s borders. An 18-month trade embargo ended only after Macedonia changed its flag, removing a symbol viewed by Athens as a Greek symbol, and altered its constitution to add that the country had no territorial claims on the Greek province of Macedonia.
While the agreement that ended the embargo was only provisional, it still enabled Greece to become a key trading partner and foreign investor in Macedonia.
But repeated attempts by the UN to mediate in the name dispute and to find a permanent solution have come to naught.
EU member-states and the United States stuck to the designation “FYROM,” which had been confirmed in a UN Security Council resolution, while over 100 countries - including Russia and China - recognized the country under its constitutional name, Macedonia.
However, in the past half-year there has been significant movement on the issue, as the United States - otherwise a close ally of Greece - recognized Macedonia under its chosen name on 4 November 2004. Its decision came on the eve of an important referendum that could have provoked a deterioration in the country’s fragile interethnic relations. Washington’s decision was widely seen as a reward for Macedonia’s deployment in Iraq.
At the same time, the U.S. State Department reiterated its support for talks on a solution acceptable to all, which Greece took as a signal to increase its diplomatic efforts to end the dispute.
DOMESTIC ATTITUDES
The new disagreement has given Macedonia’s domestic constituencies another opportunity to reiterate their attitudes.
Most intellectuals and the non-governmental sector are not in favor of any compromise.
Law professor Ljubomir Frckovski, a former foreign minister, called the name dispute a "legal precedent" and a "breach of international law." He considers the name and the flag as "basic rights of each country and no country's name has ever been disputed in the UN.”
The nationalist World Macedonian Congress (SMK) asked the government to leave the negotiating table immediately and to inform the UN that it would continue its activities and membership in international organizations under its constitutional name, Macedonia. The SMK’s Todor Petrov thinks that "no one has the mandate for double, triple or any other formulas."
But Macedonia’s nationalist parties have been surprisingly measured in their response to the latest proposals.
Nikola Gruevski, leader of the opposition Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), only asked for greater transparency on the part of the government.
"This informational black hole has to stop. For over two years now we have been hearing about different suggestions, talks, attitudes, and yet we know nothing about them," Gruevski said.
Ex-Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who is now the informal leader of the nationalist splinter party VMRO-Narodna, commented, "FYROM has been the Macedonian reality for 12 years." He added that "a hardline attitude is not the point but [rather] what can be salvaged in a situation in which U.S. and EU pressure is directed towards Macedonia."
The proposal comes at a time when Macedonia has come under criticism for the conduct of local elections.
The leading party of ethnic Albanians, the Democratic Union of Integration (BDI), supports the ethnic Slav majority in the dispute. BDI leader Ali Ahmeti said, "the constitutional name is the option we support and all our political and diplomatic activity is in that direction."
Only the ethnic-Albanian opposition leader Arben Xhaferi, from the Democratic Party of Albanians (PDSh), struck a different note. “The name should also reflect the multiethnic reality of the country,” he believes. Albanians and Macedonians fought a brief civil war in 2001.
THE EU DIMENSION
Macedonian diplomats have been working hard to avoid any possible repercussions of the name dispute on Macedonia’s EU integration process; some diplomats fear that Greece could block the country’s membership applications for NATO and the EU.
On 22 April, Foreign Minister Mitreva reminded her EU colleagues that the name dispute was explicitly excluded from membership criteria, while re-affirming the countries determination to continue accession talks.
On 25 April, the EU’s Council of Ministers, the union’s highest body, exhorted both sides to find a solution as soon as possible.
Earlier, on 14 April, the European Parliament rejected an amendment proposed by Danish MP Anders Samuelsen that would have recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name.
Nicholas Whyte, Balkans director of the Brussels-based think thank International Crisis Group, looks at the Greek offensive in the context of Greek domestic politics - as an attempt to get public opinion, whipped up by years of nationalist propaganda, used to the idea that the term Macedonia might become part of Macedonia’s official name.
After the U.S. recognition of unadorned “Macedonia,” it appears certain that any compromise solution would indeed include the term.
Whyte also thinks that the EU would pressure Macedonia only if the country rejected a “reasonable” solution.
The coming weeks will show whether “Republika Makedonija-Skopje” can be considered “reasonable.”