28.11.08 - 16:55 Greek proof

Macedonian names on the Athens Parliament house!!! EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS!!!



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27.11.08 - 16:25 Uncle Sam: J need ....





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23.11.08 - 17:00 Rainbow - for greek blindness




RainbowRainbow - a political party of Macedonians living in Greece - will hold its second Congress on Sunday, which as announced is to review the activities for improving the status of Macedonian minority in the Greek society.

The Congress will assemble delegates from all local party organizations in northern Greece and of the European Free Alliance (EFA), as Rainbow has been its member or several years.

The event is expected to send a message to Greece's leadership, calling it to respect the rights of the Macedonian minority in compliance with all international conventions.

Organizers of the event say there have been no announcements yet by Greek ultranationalists for obstructing the party's congress as it was the case four years ago in Thessaloniki.


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21.11.08 - 20:00 EU - "welcome"






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17.11.08 - 22:00 Macedonia: International Court of Justice....

Macedonia files legal proceedings against Greece at International Court of Justice

The Republic of Macedonia has filed legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Greece. Macedonia has filed an Application with the Registrar of the Court to bring Greece into compliance with its legal obligations under the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995, which binds the two countries., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday in a press release.

Article 11 of the 1995 Accord obliges Greece not to object to Macedonia's application to join NATO. At the NATO Summit held in Bucharest in April 2008, however, Greece objected to extending NATO membership invitation to Macedonia, thus flagrantly violating its obligations under the Interim Accord.

Antonio Milososki, Foreign Minister and Macedonia's representative before ICJ, says that protection of Macedonian rights under the Interim Agreement is the only reason for filing the Application.

- We have given a lot of thought before initiating this case, but we see no other way for justice to be done and our rights to be protected. We hope this action might encourage Greece to bring its actions into compliance with its international legal obligations, and that it might also encourage our two countries to reach a final settlement on outstanding issues in the spirit of good-neighbourliness and cooperation envisaged by the Interim Accord, Milososki said.

He expressed belief that ICJ would help in settling this legal dispute, considering its just and prompt actions.

- We are not asking the Court to deal with other political issues, so that the dispute over the name is not the subject of our Application. We also want to stress that we remain strongly committed to all aspects of the Interim Accord, in particular to the process of negotiations with Greece, mediated by the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General, Milososki said.

The Application requests the International Court of Justice to adjudge and declare that (Greece), through its State organs and agents, has violated its obligations under Article 11, paragraph 1 of the Interim Accord; to order that (Greece) immediately take all necessary steps to comply with its obligations under Article 11, paragraph 1 of the Interim Accord, and to cease and desist from objecting in any way, whether directly or indirectly, to (Macedonia's) NATO membership and/or any other 'international, multilateral and regional organizations and institutions' of which (Greece) is a member, in circumstances where (Macedonia) is to be referred to in such organizations or institutions by the designation provided for in paragraph 2 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 817 (1993).

ICJ is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations.Established in 1945 by the UN Charter, the Court began work in 1946 as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice.

The Court's workload is characterised by a wide range of judicial activity. Its main functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by member states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international organs, agencies and the UN General Assembly.

(MIA)

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15.11.08 - 22:55 Greece: The forbidden verity

Why Critics of Greece’s Macedonia Policy Keep Silent



Takis Michas The Greek establishment still punishes people who deviate from the official line on Macedonia, as one former PASOK official discovered to his cost.
Takis Michas

By Takis Michas in Athens

The legal prosecution and state-inspired harassment of people professing different views on “national issues” that took place during the early 1990s has left deep marks on Greek society.

Thus, today, even those few persons that have more critical views on the Macedonian issue, for example, prefer to keep them to themselves, fearing that such views will not improve their career prospects. As recent events show, their fears are not unjustified.

Grigoris Valianatos had been employed since 1985 with the leading left-wing opposition party PASOK as a political communications advisor. His job was to “package” the political message of the party and help disseminate it. He did not have any say in the contents of the message.

But when Valianatos was asked about his views on the “Skopje” issue and the Macedonian minority in Greece during a TV interview last Thursday, he replied that the country had every right to be called “Macedonia” and that a Macedonian minority existed in Greece.

Although he made clear that those were his personal views and by no means the views of the party, this clarification did not help him. The next morning, PASOK issued a laconic statement informing the public that Valianatos’s contract had been terminated because he had expressed “personal opinions” that contradicted the party line.

“I was really shocked when I read the statement,” Valianatos told me when I met him in Athens. “Everybody knew my views all these years and I never had the slightest problem. Indeed when I gave a speech at a PASOK meeting a few year ago and referred to the existence of a Turkish and a Macedonian minority the participants all applauded, including the party leader, George Papandreou.”

The government in Skopje argues that there is indeed a Macedonian minority in Greece, which has been deprived of its basic human rights of cultural and national expression and education in its mother tongue.

Athens, on the other hand, says that the only true Macedonians are the Greek Macedonians. As Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis wrote in his letter to FYROM Prime Minister Gruevski "there has never existed a Macedonian minority" in Greece.

Ever since the break-up of former Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia's name and history has been the object of a dispute between Athens and Skopje.

After Greece strongly objected to Macedonia’s entry in to the United Nations under that name, the country was admitted in 1993 under the provisional term “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” FYROM, pending a solution to the dispute.

The Skopje government insisted it had no territorial claims on Greek territory, while Athens for its part pledged not to block Skopje’s accession to international organizations, as long as it remained under the provisional name.

The so-called “name” row gained in momentum this April after Athens blocked Skopje’s application to join NATO, insisting Macedonia had to change its name first.
Valianatos, meanwhile, is also the author of various books, which until recently appeared on the personal website of Papandreou. After the incident, they disappeared from the PASOK leader’s website.

Valianatos insists his former role in PASOK had been purely technocratic. “My role was not political. I would offer all sorts of ideas concerning how to make PASOK’s message more effective but I had absolutely no influence in shaping the message,” he said.

“That is why I find the decision to terminate my contract incomprehensible. It is like dismissing your dentist because he happens to be a Maoist!”

Papandreou recently attended in Brussels a meeting of the Socialist International, the organization of which he is the current president. What is ironic is that most European socialists would agree with Valianatos on the issue of a Macedonian minority.

Alas, Greece is not like the rest of Europe, and what is considered self-evident in a European context is still too often considered a dangerous heresy in the Balkans.
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Takis Michas is a Greek journalist and author of the book “Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milosevic’s Serbia” (Texas A & M University Press 2002). Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.
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4.11.08 - 20:45 Ha,new greek "concessive" and "principled" offer:Change the name, and you will get all (!!???)



Macedonia's new name should be based on a geographic determinant, said Tuesday in Belgrade Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Petros Dukas.

He stated that Athens would support Macedonia "in every possible way as soon as the name row is resolved".

"Greek Macedonia is larger by territory and population from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and we cannot overlook this. We believe that a geographic name is a good basis for a solution", said Dukas.

He added that "as a result of the friendly settlement of the dispute", Greece is ready to support Macedonia "financially and in every way possible".
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2.11.08 - 22:50 Greek different opinion



We are hoping with our actions in Greece, the Macedonians will form a positive opinion regarding our citizens. We have never had an issue with Macedonia's constitutional name and our initiative is aimed at Greece recognizing your country under the constitutional name.

This was the opening statement from the Greek Radical Democrats, an organization out of Athens who is currently visiting Bitola, southern Macedonia. The organization is said to be undertaking "Anti-Nationalist", "Anti-Militaristic" initiative all over Greece.

At todays' meeting with representatives of the Aegean Macedonians, the Greek radical democrats confirmed they are opening a widespead campaign in Greece to ban and remove the racist laws implemented in the past 20 years which forbids Macedonians born in nothern Greece from entrance in the country and return on their land.

"This is unacceptable, racist behaviour of official Athens. This is, in fact a major crime that is being waged on the Macedonians until present day, even though the very same people gave their lives so Greece can be a free country today," says Nikos Janopoulos, representative of Greek radical democrats organization.

This meeting was seen in positive light from the Aegean Macedonian communities.

"Our meeting with our friends from Athens will bring about positive developments so Greek Parliament can remove the laws brought against us, so we can sooner return to our properties." says Gorgji Donevski, the head of the Aegean Macedonians Association.

MINA finds that Greek resentment by ordinary Athenians against official Athens is growing, particularly in the past two month. Many believe their Government has crossed the line with its policies regarding Macedonia.