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Petition to reverse the Executive Order by the Bush Administration of 2004, recognizing the country of the “FYROM” as “Republic of Macedonia

 

The basis for the Petition

After Greece achieved the first victory against the Axis in the beginning of WW II, it went through a number of political and military tribulations such as the German/Italian/Bulgarian occupation and a Civil War of Insurrection instigated by the communists between 1946 and 1949. After Greece’s inclusion into NATO, in 1949, the traditional cultural ties between the United States and Greece strengthened becoming strategic imperatives rather than simply political motivations. The contributions of Greece to strengthen those ties lie in the role they played during WWI, WW II, the Cold War, and the Korean Conflict. Moreover, the United States and Greece share values that further the congruence of the two societies.

The new geostrategic environment in the Eastern Mediterranean and the future commercial cooperation of Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, and Greece for the exploitation of all natural resources within their respective EEZ has upgraded the national interests of all countries to another level. Hence, an excellent opportunity now exists to expand the bonds between Greece and the United States even further since both countries could share benefits that strengthen their strategic partnership.

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The Northern Province of Greece, Macedonia, possesses a unique geological morphology which facilitates business and commerce. It allows the importation, exportation, and transit passage of goods, not only throughout the Balkans, but also throughout the Central and Eastern European hinterland. The geostrategic significance of the Northern Province of Greece, Macedonia, increases when one considers the already developed industry in conjunction with its agricultural and mineral wealth, including rare earth elements, and the gold mines of Stratoniki. The second largest port in the Balkans is Thessaloniki and is the gateway for economic development throughout the whole region. The convenient passageways with the combination of water, air, and land transportation make the whole Northern Province of Greece, Macedonia, of vital commercial and strategic military value.

Greece has invested over $20 billion in the countries of the region, thereby creating over 200,000 new jobs and contributed over $750 million in development aid for the region. Greece also invested in recent years, over $1 billion in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, creating more than 20,000 new jobs and  contributed $110 million in development aid.

Despite its economic troubles, Greece’s role in the region is being positively transformed and its contributions to the NATO Alliance is of vital importance. In these difficult times, Greece needs all of its friends and allies, especially the United States, the greatest democracy in the world, to help her overcome the economic difficulties, and to alleviate any future regional instability. One point of assistance that the United States can provide to Greece is in the issue of the name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the FYROM. The name dispute is directly connected to the geostrategic importance of the Northern Province of Greece, Macedonia, and, consequently, it is linked to the national security and territorial integrity of Greece.

The name dispute between the FYROM and Greece is not only a matter of historical accuracy, it is a clear matter of identity theft and identity fraud. The irredentist acts committed by the FYROM against Greece, aimed at the appropriation of Greece’s Northern Province of Macedonia.

The FYROM’s propaganda stems from Stalin’s Comintern in 1944, during an attempt to break away the Hellenic region of Macedonia and attach it to a new communist-held Balkan Federation. In the same year Yugoslavia’s Tito, at the urging of Stalin, renamed the region of Vardarska Banjovina, (previously South Serbia), with the name “People’s Republic of Macedonia”; At that time the, then US Secretary of State, Edward Stettinius, condemned this action as a fabrication and a cloak of aggression against Greece. The FYROM appropriation of the name Macedonia and its derivatives attempts to de-Hellenize the area by rewriting history as a prologue to future territorial claims. Once both the name of the country and the connection of the Slavs to the ancient Macedonians are erroneously legitimized, the next step would be to claim the land of Macedonia, the Northern Province of Greece.

As proof of the FYROM’s intentions, one has only to look at the multi-publicized reconfigured maps, songs, books, and flags of a “United Macedonia” circulating in the FYROM in their schools, government offices, and elsewhere including but not limited to government sponsored events. Also, their government urged their citizens to boycott Greek investments in the country and not to travel to Greece. This kind of propaganda and statements by government officials make the national goal of the Government of Skopje very clear: the ultimate incorporation of the Northern Province of Greece, Macedonia, into their state. To promote good neighbor relations, it is imperative for the FYROM to abstain from all hostile activities and stop violating provisions of the United Nations-brockered Interim Agreement between the FYROM and Greece regarding “hostile activities or propaganda”.

 Petition

The recognition of the FYROM as “Republic of Macedonia” by the Bush Administration on November 4, 2004 was misguided. That decision deprived Washington of being an honest broker in the matter of the name dispute, so important to the prospective regional stability since it has officially sided with one side of the dispute, which, since 1991, has not relinquished its expansionist goals at the expense of Greece. From the beginning of the dispute, Greece has declared that it is willing to compromise on the name with no positive response from the FYROM, who continues to provoke Greece.

Taking into consideration the above, we, the undersigned American citizens interested in advancing American interests in Southeast Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and regional stability, petition the Obama Administration to:

Immediately reverse the Executive Order by the Bush Administration of 2004, recognizing the country of the “FYROM” as “Republic of Macedonia”.  

 

Προς Προέδρους Ομογενειακών Οργανώσεων

Αγαπητοί κύριοι & κυρίες,

Η Παμμακεδονική Ένωση Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών ξεκινά τη διεξαγωγή δημόσιας έκκλησης (petition) προς την Αμερικανική κυβέρνηση για το Μακεδονικό θέμα με στόχο να ανακαλέσει την αναγνώριση του κρατιδίου των Σκοπίων (FYROM) με το όνομα ‘Δημοκρατία της Μακεδονίας’.

Για τον σκοπό αυτό τα μέλη του προεδρείου μας τους τελευταίους τρεις μήνες πραγματοποίησαν μία σειρά επαφών, συναντήσεων και συσκέψεων με Αμερικανούς και Ελληνοαμερικανικούς παράγοντες στην Washington και σε άλλες περιοχές των Η.Π.Α. για να διερευνήσουν τις δυνατότητες υποστήριξης του εγχειρήματος τόσο σε ηγετικό επίπεδο όσο και σε ευρύτερο λαϊκό (Grass roots) με στόχο την μεγιστοποίηση των αποτελεσμάτων του. Η ανταπόκριση των παραγόντων υπήρξε ιδιαίτερα ενθαρρυντική.

Γνωρίζουμε όλοι μας ότι η Ελλάδα αντιμετωπίζει την εποχή αυτή πολύπλευρες και μεγάλες προκλήσεις που θα καθορίσουν την πορεία της. Ωστόσο, στην παρούσα διεθνή συγκυρία γνωρίζουμε επίσης την ιδιαίτερη σημασία που έχει για τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες η σταθερότητα σε γεωστρατηγικό, πολιτικό, οικονομικό αλλά και ανθρωπογενές επίπεδο στην Νοτιοανατολική Ευρώπη, στα Βαλκάνια και στην Ανατολική Μεσόγειο.

Στην περιοχή αυτή, η Ελλάδα διαδραματίζει σημαντικότατο ρόλο λόγω της αναντικατάστατης γεωγραφικής της θέσης, των τεράστιων ενεργειακών της αποθεμάτων και του πλούτου του υπεδάφους της. Στην εύθραστη και υπό αναδιαμόρφωση παρούσα διεθνή συγκυρία η Ελλάδα είναι ο κατεξοχήν χώρος ο οποίος μπορεί να προσφέρει μια σημαντική προώθηση των Αμερικανικών στρατηγικών επιδιώξεων στην εν λόγω περιοχή.

Προσβλέπουμε στην υποστήριξη όλων σας αλλά και των οικείων σας ομογενών και Φιλελλήνων. Η επιτυχία ενός τέτοιου εγχειρήματος δεν θάναι επιτυχία της Παμμακεδονικής αλλά συλλογική επιτυχία του Ελληνισμού και της ιστορικής αλήθειας. Είναι μία ευκαιρία και πρόκληση ταυτοχρόνως να καταδείξουμε ότι ο Ελληνισμός της Αμερικής είναι ενωμένος κι ισχυρός. Μία θετική εξέλιξη θα τονώσει το ηθικό μας αλλά και το ηθικό των συμπατριωτών μας στην γενέτειρα. Μπορούμε και πρέπει να στείλουμε ένα ηχηρό μήνυμα με

πολλαπλούς αποδέκτες.

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