Atty. Matthew Nimetz
Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Greece-FYROM talks
Dept. of Political Affairs
United Nations
405 East 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10017, USA
Athens, January 25, 2018
Dear Matthew,
Because we know each other for so many years, I felt the need to communicate with you. This time in writing. You know that I have never questioned your capacity and your commitment to be a fair interlocutor in the difficult search for a just solution to the Macedonia name issue. I must admit, however, that your latest public recommendations regarding a possible solution to the “FYROM” controversy with a name which has Macedonia in it, startled me. Not only were the stated recommendations inappropriate, for a supposedly neutral facilitator, but they were also utterly unworkable and represented nothing different from what exists right now.
To be perfectly frank with you, I was surprised to see that after more than 20 years of direct involvement with the Macedonia name controversy, you have failed to realize that the pseudo-Macedonian entity, which the United Nations recognized on April 7, 1993, as an independent nation, with the name “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM,) with a constitution full of expansionist provisions and absurd ethnic claims, can never peacefully exist and prosper. It can never peacefully exist with a population made up by 2% Greek Macedonians and 98% by a collection of nomad Balkan area communists, whom Tito baptized as “Macedonians” in 1944. And with its borders touching the historic ancient Greek Province of Macedonia.
I wonder what were the obstacles in the FYROM name controversy the two sides have been negotiating with you for more than 20 years. Were you negotiating with the two sides the need to, or not to have the word “former” in the name? Were you negotiating with the two sides if the word “Yugoslav” should remain in the name? Or were you negotiating whether or not the word “Republic” should be in the name of “FYROM.” From what I know, the only purpose the United Nations appointed a “Special Representative” for the naming dispute between Greece and “FYROM” is precisely what the title says: “The Name”! And when the “Special Representative” with his official public statements proposes names, which are similar to the one he is negotiating about with both sides, then the “Special Representative” should expect the end result to be unacceptable.
The governments of Greece from 1993 until now have refused to consider the entrance of FYROM into the European Union and NATO, because the name of the newly-recognized nation with the name “FYROM” has the word “Macedonia” in it.
I remind you that the European Union as a political entity has never, ever voted to recognize the southernmost part of the former Yugoslavia, known as former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as an independent nation with a name, which had the word “Macedonia” in it.
In fact, on three different occasions, the Council of Europe voted to refuse recognition of that entity, because the name they applied for recognition had the word “Macedonia” in it.
On January 22, 1992, the “Council of Europe” met to consider the application of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to be recognized as a new independent nation, with the name “Republic of Macedonia.” The Council of Europe rejected the application because the name had the word “Macedonia” in it. The official statement of the Council of Europe issued on January 22, 1992, was perfectly clear. The position of the Council of Europe and later the European Union has never changed.
“January 22, 1992:
The European Council reiterates the position taken by the Community and its member States in Guimaraes on the request of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to be recognized as an independent State. It expresses its readiness to recognize that republic within its existing borders according to their Declaration on 16 December 1991 under a name which does not include the term Macedonia.”
You should know that in January 1995, I met with the then Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, Dick Holbrooke, at the American Embassy in Athens. At that meeting, I told Secretary Holbrooke, that the experiment the United Nations had concocted in haste, which recognized the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia as an independent nation, with a fundamentalist Muslim government at its helm, and a constitution full of nonsensical provisions, would wreak havoc in the Balkans, unless it was promptly and properly addressed and corrected. And you know well, what happened in the area of the former Yugoslavia between January and November 1995, which caused the “Dayton Peace Conference,” to take place. A conference, in which I participated as an official member, as the “political advisor” of the then President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic.
I also told Secretary Holbrooke that the UN experiment called “FYROM,” which recognized the southernmost part of Yugoslavia as an independent nation with Macedonia in its name was fraught with the danger for eternal instability in the region. Recognizing the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as an independent nation with Macedonia in its name, would never, ever work, I told Holbrooke then, and I am telling you the same thing now. It will never work!
The term Slavo-Macedonian is an oxymoron. The term Albanian-Macedonian is an oxymoron. The term Bulgarian-Macedonian is an oxymoron. The term Serb-Macedonian is an oxymoron. Anything other than Greek-Macedonian is an oxymoron. A casual perusal of ancient world history will confirm that claim. A myriad of historic documents will attest that Macedonians are only Hellenes.
I am certain, you know that the sciences of sociology and ethnology define a “nation” as the emergence of related races. The Greek nation throughout its illustrious history has been made up by the related races of Epirotes (Epirus), Thessalians (Thessaly), Macedonians (Macedonia), Thracians (Thrace), Cypriots (Cyprus), Pontians (Pontus), Peloponnesians (Peloponnese), Cretans (Crete), Athenians (Athens) and several others. Thus, if Macedonians are absent from the Greek ethnic mix, the Greek nation will forever be half-empty. And so will be the history of the world.
The world adopted the Hellenic Athenian democracy. Saint Paul sent letters to the “Thessalonians” and to the “Philippians” written in Greek. Thessalonians and Philippians were Greek Macedonians who lived in Greek Macedonia. Saint Paul did not write his letters in the “Macedonian” language that the pseudo-Macedonians of today are claiming to have. The letters that Saint Paul wrote, were addressed to Greek Macedonians and were written in the Greek language. Saint Paul’s letters were written 600 years before the Slavs came to live in the areas of Greek Macedonia. Areas, which the Philippians and the Thessalonians inhabited for thousands of years before.
If the strange theory that the pseudo-Macedonians of the Balkans have been promoting over the last 84 years stands, that when a human race A resides in a geographic area inhabited by a human race B, human race A can transform itself into human race B, then I and my family who have lived in the State of New Hampshire, USA, for over 100 years, can claim that we have been transformed from Greek Americans into native American Abenaki Indians. The Abenaki Indian tribe lived for thousands of years in the area, which the British colonists named New Hampshire 300 years ago. And as a result of that weird transformation, I can claim not to be a Greek-American, but a native American of the Abenaki tribe. And I can change my name and title from “Democratic Leader Spirou”, to Indian “Chief Geronimo”, of the Abenaki tribe.
I am also certain, you know that the genesis of the current pseudo-Macedonian nation called “FYROM” has its origins in Moscow, Russia. The 7th meeting of the “Communist International – COMINTERN” was held in Moscow, Russia, from July 21 to August 25, 1935. It was at that meeting that the COMINTERN passed a resolution declaring the plan for the establishment of a “united independent Macedonian nation.”
The strategy and the plan for the creation of a “united” independent Macedonian nation was the work of the Bulgarian communist leader, Georgi Dimitrov. A devout communist leader, Dimitrov had obtained Russian citizenship and was placed by Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, as the head of the COMINTERN.
Dimitrov chaired the 7th Communist International and he issued the “COMINTERN’s” declaration regarding the creation of a “united” independent Macedonian nation. The official COMINTERN Declaration states:
“DECLARATION OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL FOR THE MACEDONIAN ISSUE AND FOR THE EMEO.”
«The bourgeoisie of the sovereign nations in the three imperialist states, in which Macedonia was divided, is trying to conceal the national oppression, by denying the national peculiarities of the Macedonian people and the existence of the Macedonian nation.
The Greek chauvinists claim that the indigenous Slavic population in the section, which they occupy, is made up of Greeks who turned into Slavs.
The powerful Serb chauvinists, taking advantage of the Serbian evidence in the language of the local Macedonian population, regard this population as one of the South-Slavic nation’s “tribes” and subject it to violent “Serbinization”.
Finally, Bulgarian chauvinism, exploiting the affinity between the Macedonian language and the Bulgarian language, proclaims that the Macedonians are Bulgarians and in this way seeks to justify both their domination in the Petrich region, as well as their expansive policy throughout Macedonia.
Fighting against the division and the enslavement of the Macedonian people, against all forms of national, cultural, social and economic oppression of them, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (EMMEO) is obliged to uncover the true meaning of all sophisms, who refuse to the Macedonians their national identity and is obliged not to allow these sophisms to intrude into its circles.
The fight for the united and independent workers’ Macedonian democracy is a fair cause not only for the working masses of Macedonia, but also for the working class and the peasants who are fighting under the guidance of the communist parties in Bulgaria, in Yugoslavia and in Greece..»
In 1944, Marshall Josip Tito, Yugoslavia’s powerful Communist Party leader, became the undisputed communist leader of the Balkans. For his future expansionist plans, Tito decided to apply Dimitrov’s proposal for a “united” Macedonian nation, by naming the Yugoslav “Administrative Area of Vardarska” as the “Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia.” See attached copy of a Yugoslavian letter stamp dated 1939, which shows the map of Yugoslavia. Notice the area of “Vardarska” in the southernmost part of Yugoslavia, which today comprises the UN recognized nation of “FYROM.”
At the time, Tito appointed Svetozar “Tempo” Vukmanović, Yugoslavia’s chief propagandist to promote the plan for a “united” independent Macedonian nation to the communist fighting forces in the area.
Tempo’s initial written instructions to his communist “comrades” of the region read: “Your units who will pass the territory of Greek Macedonia, must develop intensive political activity among the Macedonian minority in Greece, with the following slogans: 1. The Macedonian minority must, for its own sake, fight with the Greek people against the conquerors and all their servants. 2. The Macedonian minority must stop the fratricidal war that the conqueror, the Bulgarian fascists and Vache Michailov, the traitor of the Macedonian people, instigate. 3. The Macedonian minority together with the Greek people must create a common popular liberation army under the Command of the General Headquarters of HELLAS. 4. Only that way, with the common fight with the Greek people, the Macedonian minority will secure equal rights and exemption from any national oppression.
During their political activity in Greek Macedonia, your teams can claim that after the war, the Macedonian people will conquer their complete freedom, that Macedonia will be free truly. Also, all bilateral issues between the Balkan peoples will be solved on the basis of brotherly cooperation and recognition of the right of self-determination of those peoples. “
A few months later in 1944, Marshall Tito decided to change the name of the area to “Socialist Republic of Macedonia.” Tito took out the word “Yugoslav”, in order to promote the “united” independent Macedonian nation idea, which required the inclusion of the ancient Macedonian geographic areas in Greece and in Bulgaria.
The Report of the “Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM)” concerning their activities, reveals in depth of the propaganda skills of Tito’s communist party leaders. Their activities bring to light also how well the systematic evolution of the pseudo-slavo-Macedonian nation was developing.
“REPORT OF THE ANTI-FASCIST ASSEMBLY OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION OF MACEDONIA (ASNOM) CONCERNING THEIR ACTIVITY FROM THE FOUNDATION UNTIL ITS FIRST SESSION”
August 2, 1944
On this historic day, the day of Prophet Elias (Ilinden) of 1944, which was fatal for the development of the Macedonian people, for the first time in the history of our people, a national council, ASNOM, was convened as a symbol of national emancipation and proclamation of a Macedonian state for the first time in history since the time of Samuel, being a top and decisive turning point in the history of our people, marking the beginning of a new era, a time of creative work, national life, a time of progress.
On this sacred historical moment we have to proclaim that for centuries the Macedonian people have been fighting hard and making superhuman efforts to emancipate the whole Macedonian nation within a free Macedonian state.
At this time, when all the struggling forces in Macedonia have been thrown into battle against the fascist conquerors, we call on the other two parts of the Macedonian people to take part in the great anti-fascist front, since this is the only way to gain the right to self-determination and the passage that leads to the union of the entire Macedonian nation to a free community of the emancipated peoples of Yugoslavia.
The struggling Piedmont of Macedonia has passionately proclaimed that it will offer every help and will not spare sacrifices for the liberation of the other two parts of our nation and for the final union of the whole Macedonian people. When we know that the competing Piedmont of Macedonia is part of Tito’s Yugoslavia, it clearly shows how great our support can be and how firm our desire for the union of our entire nation is.
The fighting Piedmont of Macedonia has fiercely proclaimed that it will not stint on support or sacrifice for the liberation of the other two segments of our nation and for the general unification of the entire Macedonian people. When we know that the competing Piedmont of Macedonia is part of Tito’s Yugoslavia, it clearly shows how great our support can be and how firm our desire for the union of our entire nation is. “
“MANIFESTO OF THE FIRST SESSION OF ASNOM TO THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE”
August 2, 1944
Taking into account the ideals of the people of Macedonia, the first Macedonian National Council proclaims throughout the world it’s just and stable craving for the unification of the entire Macedonian people on the basis of the right to self-determination. This would put an end to the repression of the Macedonian people in all its divisions and would create the conditions for genuine solidarity and peace among the Balkan peoples.”
All of those unfounded, historically inaccurate and outright foolish claims found in the ASNOM August 1944 report and in the manifesto of the “first session” of ASNOM are now embodied one way or another, in the constitution of the pseudo-Macedonian nation, which the United Nations recognized on April 7, 1993 with the name “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM.)”
The concerns of the world for the potential dangers to the Balkan region and to Greece in particular, by the creation of an independent Macedonian nation were expressed and were sealed forever by the words of Secretary of State, Edward Stettinius, in the official US Department of State circular, issued on December 26, 1944.
Secretary Stettinius’ circular was crystal clear. I am including it as issued and as it still exists in the State Department’s archives, for your perusal.
“U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Foreign Relations Vol. VIII
Washington D.C.
Circular Airgram
(868.014 / 26 Dec. 1944)
“The following is for your information and general guidance, but not for any positive action at this time.
The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. “This Government considers talk of Macedonian “nation,” Macedonian “Fatherland”, or Macedonian “national consciousness” to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece”.
The approved policy of this Government is to oppose any revival of the Macedonian issue as related to Greece. The Greek section of Macedonia is largely inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek people are almost unanimously opposed to the creation of a Macedonian state. Allegations of serious Greek participation in any such agitation can be assumed to be false. This Government would regard as responsible any Government or group of Governments tolerating or encouraging menacing or aggressive acts of “Macedonian forces” against Greece.
The Department would appreciate any information pertinent to this subject which may come to your attention.”
STETTINIUS”
I need not tell you of what the then President of the Greek Republic, Konstantinos Karamanlis said when in 1992 he wrote to President George Bush and to the leaders of Europe, about the dangers to the region, if a nation was recognized with “Macedonia” in its name.
Nor will I tell you, what the then Foreign Minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras, told the Foreign Ministers of Europe on February 17, 1992 about the dangers and the consequences to the inhabitants of “Skopje” and of the region would be, if “Skopje” was recognized as an independent nation with “Macedonia” in its name.
And I won’t tell you what the former Prime Minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou said, other than to remind you that he publically stated that “the name Macedonia is the heart of Greece.” I won’t tell you, because you will tell me they are all biased because they are Greeks. So, I will urge you to read carefully what our country’s Secretary of State, Edward Stettinius said about those dangers. Dangers, which you have been called upon to recognize and to help resolve.
I understand you will be in the area at the end of the month. I will also be in Athens at that time. Email me at [email protected] if you have a spare moment, so we can have a drink and catch up on things.
Warm personal regards,
Chris Spirou
