Macedonia’s Division was no Accident November 28, 2009
Posted by Yilan in Macedonia.Tags: Macedonia, Makedonya
add a comment
Since the rise of the Macedonian Empire some 2,400 years ago until the 19th century, Macedonia and its people have been embroiled in many controversies but one factor has always remained a constant; their existence and identity were never questioned!
Lesser nations and less famous people today have their own national identities and even their own countries, yet the Macedonians are still an enigma. Why?
Does the world not know about the Macedonians and their contributions over the centuries?
Let us forget about the “world” for a moment and concentrate on those who have followed the age old Macedonian struggle and the Macedonian peoples’ attempt to assert themselves over the years. Shouldn’t they know who the Macedonians are?
Why then have they not become allies of the Macedonian cause and helped the Macedonian quest to self determination? Why have none of these people said, “Wait a moment here; Macedonia is one of the oldest countries in Europe, if not in the world, which has a long and illustrious historical past, long standing traditions and has not only earned the right but deserves to exist.” Has anyone heard these words lately?
To truly understand what is happening to Macedonia and the Macedonian people today one needs to understand Macedonia’s historic relationship to its neighbours and to Western Europe in particular.
Macedonia’s problems with Europe began after Macedonia was defeated by the Roman Empire. The Macedonian peoples’ will to fight for their freedom lead them to fight four horrible and terrifying wars with Rome. These wars terrified Rome to a point where it felt secure after it had “shackled” Macedonia. But shackling Macedonia obviously was not enough; Rome had to divide Macedonia into four pieces and kept the Macedonian people apart for over half a millennium so that they could never reunite again and pose a threat.
So as long as the Macedonians were under someone’s shackles, Roman, Byzantine, or Ottoman, the West could rest easy. But when the Ottoman Empire began to decline and crumble at the edges the Macedonians again came into focus. What should be done with them?
Well as I mentioned above while the Ottoman Empire was crumbling at its edges, someone could have said, “Wait a moment here; Macedonia is one of the oldest countries in Europe, if not in the world, it has a long and illustrious historic past, long standing traditions and has not only earned the right but deserves to exist.” Did anyone, particularly from Western Europe say that (outside of Gladstone)? I don’t think so! But on the other hand it would be very naïve of me to think that anyone who was in power to do something for Macedonia ever cared. Why should they?
The moment Russia liberated Macedonia in 1878, purely for its own interests, the West gave it back to the Ottomans. The Western powers, who at the time decided Macedonian’s fate, had many more options than to just give Macedonia back to its tormentors. But did they exercise those options? No! They didn’t even ask for guarantees to safeguard the safety of the Macedonian people. And why should they have? They could have given Macedonia back to the Ottomans and could have asked the Ottomans to give Macedonia autonomy as an Ottoman province. Isn’t that what the Macedonian people really wanted all along anyway? But that didn’t happen.
When the Macedonian people could take no more and decided to rise against the Ottoman Empire and take their fate into their own hands, what did the West do? Nothing! They did not a thing! They sat around watching the Ottomans pummel Macedonia to pulp and not only did nothing but discouraged others from helping. Then in 1912 and 1913 during the Balkan Wars, when the three wolves Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria attacked Macedonia, instead of stepping in and ensuring the survival of the Macedonian people along with their national identity, culture and language, the West sanctioned Macedonia’s partition and the demise of the Macedonian national and ethnic identity.
Did the Western powers have any other options, outside of allowing Macedonia to be invaded, occupied and partitioned and thus rendering the Macedonian identity defunct, destroyed and therefore non existent in 1912, 1913? Yes they did!
1. The Western powers could have stepped in, saved Macedonia from being partitioned and helped it along to become a free and independent country as per William Gladstone’s call. And now for the sixty-four thousand dollar question, why didn’t they? Was it because they didn’t know that Macedonia existed? Or was it because the Macedonian people were less worthy than the other Balkan people for whom they “made” countries out of the crumbling Ottoman Empire?
2. The Western powers could have stepped in and forced the Ottomans to take Macedonia back, this time as an autonomous province. But again they didn’t.
3. The Western powers could have given all of Macedonia to any one of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania or even Austria-Hungary as a single state and spare it from being partitioned. They could have spared the Macedonian people from the humiliation, torture and exile they endured while being assimilated into three different nations against their will. But still the Western powers did nothing.
During the First World War the borders of Europe were dissolved and again redrawn in 1919. Here again the Western powers France and Britain, the two Great Powers that brokered that peace treaty, had yet another opportunity to “do something” for Macedonia and for the Macedonian people. But in spite of Italy, the United States and to some extent Great Britain’s call for creating an independent Macedonia, it did not happen. Worse, “no one” in power even took the time to ensure the survival of the Macedonian identity. To top it all, the Western powers went along with Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria and silently agreed that “Modern Macedonians did not exist” and that they never had existed. Why?
Now one century later Western Europe silently sits behind Greece while Greece is demanding that the Macedonian people “sign their own extinction warrant” and for what, for joining a defunct and dysfunctional club?
And what exactly does this “club” have to offer a tiny country like Macedonia anyway? Has anyone ever looked at the pros and cons of joining this club?
The most logical reason why Western Europe wants Eastern European countries to join its “club” is because Western Europe has exhausted its own raw materials and markets and is now looking to expand its imperialistic desires eastward. War, imperialism and occupation by force are no longer options available to it so now it offers “invitations” to prospective members to join its club so that they can be exploited willingly. If Western Europe truly cared for its Eastern counterpart as it claims and wanted to “help”, it should have welcomed all of “Eastern Europe” to join its club as a whole instead of this piece meal approach “inviting” one country at a time and then placing ridiculous conditions on each country separately to willfully “negotiate” its own surrender.
But it’s neither here nor there for me to question Western Europe’s methods. It’s a “buyer beware” and “everyone for himself” situation and each country must decide for itself if it wants to join or not. My motivation for writing this article is not to question why Western Europe has chosen this particular method but rather to question why it is imposing conditions of the “national identity” type only on Macedonia and on no other country. Is this a coincidence or am I missing something here?
Why is Western Europe “asking” Macedonia to “give up” its Macedonian historic name and historic identity, a condition which is not even part of the application, in order to join this union?
Furthermore why is the European Union breaking its own “rules” and also going against international norms by asking Macedonia to “change” its name for the sake of negotiating entry into its union? Why can’t a Macedonian be part of the European Union as a Macedonian? I believe the world and particularly the Macedonian people deserve an honest and simple answer to this question. Or are we to assume that the European Union operates under different conditions; one for the elite and one for the rest?
Again it is for the naïve to believe that there is only one rule for all and there is no favouritism, cheating and corruption in great and small institutions. So again I have to remind the reader that this is a “buyer beware” world so be wary of what you buy and, in this case, in what you join.
This brings me back to the Macedonian people’s desire to join the European Union.
It is obvious, at least to me, that Western Europe does not want Macedonia to join its union as “The Republic of Macedonia” and if the Macedonians hang around long enough expecting to be invited in, they will realize that Western Europe will not want them to join their union as “Macedonians” at all. My question to Western Europe therefore is why? Why don’t you want the Macedonian people joining your union as Macedonians? An honest and simple answer would be appreciated! Please none of that Greek propaganda garbage!
As for those in Macedonia who do want to join the European Union, it’s time for you to do the math or as my baba would say “da si go napraet esapo”. Western Europe does not want you in their union; just look around you. Look at our mutual historic relations with Western Europe and you may understand why. Look at what they have done to us in the last century.
How many people truly believe that Western Europe wants Macedonia in its union because it wants to improve our lives?
Macedonia and every other ex-Yugoslav country in the last two decades of the 1900’s could not wait to get out of the Yugoslav union. Does anyone remember this? Why do you suppose they wanted to “exit” this union so badly; to a point of risking war? Was it maybe because each republic felt powerless, dysfunctional and unable to guide its own destiny under the weight of the others? I guess some people didn’t learn anything from that experience and now want to join another, bigger and more bureaucratic union, a union that supports members who love to see the Macedonians become extinct. The members of this union do not want Macedonians for who they are and would have them change their name before they are allowed in their club. Aren’t these the same Europeans who, only a century ago, allowed their “preferred” members to occupy and parcel up our homeland? What has changed since then to make us really think that “things” might be different this time? Why join a union which does not want you because of who you are?
Has anyone bothered to find out how others, particularly other small countries that have joined this union fare? I haven’t seen any reports, have you? What could Macedonia possibly be able to offer the union, economically, politically or otherwise stacked against giants like Germany, France, Britain and others? Are we not the same people who could not follow the dictates of Belgrade only decades ago and are now prepared to follow the dictates of Brussels, in a union where we are not even welcome? And so soon after our independence from Yugoslavia?
If I were one of those Macedonians who wants to join the European Union at any cost I had best listen to my baba and do the math for myself first before I even consider joining this union. I would not want to make a mistake I will later regret.
Rushing to join the European Union without doing your math and without having all your questions answered to your satisfaction is like marrying a person you have never met, know nothing about and are relying on others for advice. It could be a union made in heaven, but what are the chances of that? Or it could also be a nightmare of epic proportions made in hell, so why take chances?
Macedonia can afford to be a bachelor for a while. After all there are many more prospective brides out there to court; the USA, China, Russia, to name a few, so what’s the rush?
Finally, how would the vast unemployed in Macedonia, even those who exist in the gray economy, survive when they have to pay in Euros for goods at “world prices”? Has anyone thought about that? Has anyone done a thorough analysis of what would happen to the unemployed, the poor and the small companies, including the micro economies existing all over Macedonia, when Macedonia joins the EU and the big multinationals invade and take over the Macedonian markets? What would happen to the small farmers who use their land and gardens to grow and sell organic food in order to subsidize their incomes? Maybe someone has done the analysis and I just have not seen it? Have you seen it?
Swedish FM discounts Greek EU veto on Macedoni November 28, 2009
Posted by Yilan in EU, European Union, Macedonia, Turkey.Tags: EU, European Union, Makedonya, Turkiye
add a comment
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Friday he did not expect a Greek veto on Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union because of an 18-year-old name dispute between Athens and Skopje.
“I don’t think things are going in that direction,” Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said at a press conference during a visit to Macedonia.
On Thursday he met Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki, the government said in a statement earlier, adding that a “name issue dispute” was on the agenda along with reforms needed for Skopje’s integration into the EU.
State news agency MIA also reported that Bildt came to “discuss a way of avoiding a possible Greek veto on the beginning of accession talks with Brussels.”
Greece, which has been opposing international recognition of its northern neighbour under the name Macedonia since the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991, already blocked Skopje’s membership of NATO last year.
Athens considers the name Macedonia part of its Greek heritage because a northern Greek province has the same name and has also threatened to block Skopje’s accession to the EU unless the name dispute is settled.
United Nations-led negotiations on the issue have also proved fruitless.
Gruevski later Friday met his Greek counterpart George Papandreou, but reported no breakthrough.
“There has not been any progress on the question of the name but these sort of meetings are useful as they boost relations between the two countries,” he said after the meeting on the sidelines of a regional environmental summit in northern Greece.
For his part, Papandreou said he had the political will to try and find a solution and the EU was going to support the efforts.
The EU granted Macedonia candidate status in 2005 and last month proposed to open membership negotiations with Skopje, without specifying when they would begin. Macedonia hopes for them to start by the end of the year.
On November 4 Macedonian President George Ivanov invited his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias to make a first official visit for talks to resolve the row.
Plotters planned to overthrow government by using us, says Bartholomew November 26, 2009
Posted by Yilan in Turkey.Tags: Bartholomew, Government, Turkiye
add a comment
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew has said dark forces planned to use minorities to overthrow the government as revealed in the investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine organization accused of attempting to create chaos and undermine the stability of the country in order to trigger a coup d’état.
Based in İstanbul, the spiritual leader of the world’s approximately 300 million Orthodox Christians, Bartholomew was referring to the latest revelations of a devious plan, called the Cage Operation Action Plan, by a group of members of the Naval Forces Command aimed at intimidating the country’s non-Muslim population by assassinating some of their prominent figures and in this way undermine the power of the ruling party. Recent incidents in İstanbul’s Kurtuluş neighborhood and Adalar district suggest that the alleged plan had already been put into operation. Speaking on Tuesday, the Orthodox religious leader recalled that a meeting of the Association of the Zoğrafyon High School Alumni was raided about four years ago.
| Patriarch Bartholomew is hopeful that the revelations related to the ‘Cage Operation Action Plan’ aimed at pitting the country’s non-Muslim population against nationalist forces will lead to solving more problems in the country |
“When the Cage Plan was revealed, we thought that the raid could be part of that plan,” he said. “At the time we thought that they were just trying to scare us.” The patriarch said nobody was detained in relation to that incident. Patriarch Bartholomew is grateful to the security forces which uncovered the “dark plans.” “It is a very satisfactory development that the Turkish police and the prosecutors have been revealing those dark plans so the responsible people are captured and tried.”
The patriarch is hopeful that the troubles of the Greek minority and other minorities in Turkey will soon be resolved. And for that he trusts the government’s democratic initiative, which aims to grant more rights to citizens, even though it was mostly associated with the Kurdish initiative since it was one of the first steps. “We are very positive about the initiatives of our government. It is imperative all over the world that minorities should be treated with goodwill.”
In addition, the patriarch said all the initiatives involving Kurdish and Alevi citizens and efforts to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia will help Turkey’s European Union accession process. “It gives us a lot of hope that Turkey is moving toward the West and the European Union with the initiatives. Those moves make us fell better while we are living in Turkey. God willing, the rest of our problems will be solved and we will be treated as equal citizens.”
Records of Greek conference were stolen On Aug. 12, 2006, all the records belonging to the Greek Conference, which was organized by the Association of the Zoğrafyon High School Alumni, were stolen from the association’s Taksim office. The association’s president, Laki Vingas, said nothing but the hard-disc which contained the records of the conference was stolen.“We had three locked rooms in the office. The thieves did not even bother to unlock these doors, they just took the hard disc,” Vingas said.
“There was somebody in the conference room who was constantly recording. I asked the person what television channel he represented. He said he was an official. He recorded the whole conference and asked for the participation list. We gave the list to them. Some people might have broken into our offices to scare us.”
In the conference which brought together Greek people from İstanbul who were dispersed all over the world, the problems of the Greek community in İstanbul were discussed. Patriarch Bartholomew had opened the conference called “Meeting in İstanbul: Today-Tomorrow.”
Bartholomew hopes that the main school of theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Halkı seminary, closed in 1971, will be reopened. The seminary was closed under a law that put religious training under state control. EU officials and the United States have repeatedly called on Turkey to open the seminary, which has trained generations of Orthodox leaders, including Bartholomew.After its closure, the patriarchate tried to train future leaders of the church by sending them to schools of theology abroad.
‘Sevgi Erenerol injured us a lot’
Patriarch Bartholomew said they would like to use legal avenues in order to get three Greek churches given to the self-declared “Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate” run by the Erenerol family back. As part of the investigation into Ergenekon, several people with links to Turkey’s “deep state” were arrested and among them was Sevgi Erenerol, the “media and public relations officer of the independent patriarchate.” She is the granddaughter of Father Eftim, founder of the so-called “Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate.” “Sevgi Erenerol hurt us a lot. She was talking against us. It has been revealed that they had meetings in those churches against us, the state and the [Justice and Development Party] AK Party. It’s a pity that a place of worship was used for such purposes,” the patriarch said.
Father Eftim was a village priest from the Turkish-speaking Karamanlı Greek community of Cappadocia in Anatolia who supported the Turks during the War of Independence. He then became the leader of the “patriarchate” in Kayseri in 1922 under the name of the “Independent Patriarchate of the Turkish Orthodox.”
and his family were exempted from the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, but his small congregation moved out of the country. Without any congregation, Eftim moved to İstanbul in 1924, together with the “patriarchate.” Eftim had some followers in Galata, an area with a large Greek population. Eftim’s son Turgut succeeded his father and called himself Patriarch Eftim II. Then came Turgut’s brother, and then they brought Paşa [Sevgi Erenerol’s brother] from the US to assume the role of the “patriarch.” They have all been excommunicated by the Orthodox Church.
Eftim and his sons call themselves “patriarchs.” Patriarch Bartholomew said nobody elected them.“Father Eftim was married, so it was not possible for him to be a patriarch or bishop. He acted against the Patriarchate. He was excommunicated but he declared himself ‘patriarch.’ Nobody recognizes the ‘Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate.’ They don’t even have followers. But they received state support. Eftim and his men came to the Patriarchate and raided it in the 1920s. After his demise his son took over. Indeed, patriarchs are elected and it is not a position to be passed from father to son. In the end, their relations with Ergenekon have been revealed.”
In the pages 971-980 of the Ergenekon indictment, there are explanations about the actions of Sevgi Erenerol and “Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate.” On Oct. 28, 2005, some platforms such as the Nationalist Businesspeople Association, the Noel Baba Foundation and the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate held a protest in front of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and shouted, “The patriarchate should go to Greece.” Ergenekon suspect Kemal Kerinçsiz and Noel Baba Foundation President Muammer Karabulut delivered speeches at the protest, which were attended by also Sevgi Erenerol and Zeki Yurdakul Çağman. They left a black wreath at the gates of the Patriarchate.
‘We are citizens of Turkey’
Patriarch Bartholomew, whose initiatives include advancing religious tolerance among the world’s religions have been widely noted, although received with suspicion by some in Turkey, said the number of the Greek-Turkish citizens living in Turkey is decreasing every day.
“Democratic initiatives will prevent the rest from leaving,” the patriarch said.
“It is sad to hear that our foundations have been referred as ‘foreign.’ We are Christians but we are born here and we were raised here. I was born in Gökçeada. I love my country and village. I did my military service for two years. I pay my taxes. Our only difference is our religion. But we are equal citizens under the Constitution.”
US: Macedonia – Greece Meeting Crucial November 26, 2009
Posted by Yilan in Macedonia.Tags: America, Makedonya, Phillip Reeker, US
add a comment
The announced meeting between the Macedonian and Greek Prime Ministers Nikola Gruevski and George Papandreou may prove crucial for a quick settlement to the name row between the two countries, the United States Ambassador to Skopje, Philip Reeker said.
He said that it is important for the two statesmen to break the ice and start discussing this issue.
“We are looking forward to this meeting, which is crucial for name talks,” Reeker told local media. “We believe that Macedonia and Greece can find an acceptable solution,” he added.
When asked whether the USA supports solving name issue in stages, Reeker pointed out that “it’s important both countries to come to an acceptable solution”.
Media speculate that the two prime ministers will first try to find a mutually acceptable name for Macedonia, and will leave other issues such as the identity of Macedonia’s citizens, and the scope of the use of the name for a later date.
The two will meet on Friday at the sidelines of a trilateral climate change meeting between Albania, Macedonia and Greece which will take place on Greek territory near the Prespa Lake.
After the trilateral meeting, Papandreou and Gruevski will have a tête-à-tête to try to find a modality to overcome their differences on the name issue.
Greek Interim Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas has repeated that a veto is possible, and ruled out EU entry talks for Skopje without a prior resolution of the name row. “There cannot be a start of EU accession negotiations without a prior resolution of the name issue,” read Droutsas’ remarks on the Greek foreign ministry’s website.
Last year Athens blocked Skopje’s NATO accession arguing that the country’s constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia implies territorial claims towards its own northern province which is also called Macedonia.
The European Commission last month gave Macedonia an added incentive to resolve the name dispute by recommending the EU gives Skopje a start date for accession negotiations into the bloc, but left the decision on the date for member states who meet on 7 December.
Macedonian PM does not expect name solution November 26, 2009
Posted by Yilan in EU, European Union, Macedonia.Tags: Gruevski, Makedonya
add a comment
Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said he does not expect a solution to the long-standing name row with Greece to be found at his meeting Friday with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou.
Attempts are being made to raise expectations for the forthcoming meeting, he told local media on Wednesday, stating that his remarks regarding the talks are not pessimistic but based on realism.
“I expect pleasant discussion, dialogue, exchange of views and also I expect the meeting to contribute to an overall improvement of the atmosphere between Macedonia and Greece. I don’t have any expectations that the meeting will result in a solution to the long-standing issue, that’s been unresolved for 18 years, but I believe that it will give a positive impulse to our relations,” Gruevski said.
Gruevski reiterated Macedonia’s stands in the row.
“Our country fulfilled the required standards, reforms and criteria, and we will proceed with the same commitments in the future” he said.
“Unfortunately, now we are in a situation when things depend on somebody else, and nobody can guarantee the outcome. We will do our outmost to convince the other side that it is important that we solve the problem together. Nonetheless, I cannot guarantee that the other side will do so,” Gruevski concluded.
Officially, the two prime ministers will meet on the sidelines of a regional meeting on climate change to discuss issues related to both countries.
Macedonia has until 7 December to avoid a second stand-off with Greece due to the unresolved name row. Athens has threatened to block a decision by the EU Council to give Macedonia a date for the start of its accession negotiations with the bloc if there is no breakthrough on the name issue.
Last year Athens stopped NATO from extending an invitation to Skopje to join the Alliance, arguing that Skopje’s official name, Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims towards Greece’s own northern province which is also called Maceedonia.
The announcedmeting between the two PM’s was greeted by high EU and US officials. The US ambassador to Skopje, Philip Reeker said that the parlay might prove curtail n the solution finding effort.
