Are people having difficulty pronouncing the word "new?" these days?

Greece has every right to preserve for itself the use of the word Greek Macedonia especially in organizations such as NATO and the EU of which it is already a member. Giving Macedonians univocal right to the usage (which is what happens when a country named Macedonia enters these organizations) deprives Greeks of its use. As the Greek FM spokesman said today: Greeks are perfectly fine with Macedonians using the name Macedonia. The key is, legally, there needs to be an adjective there that would distinguish the nation from the wider region of Macedonia which belongs also to Greece and Bulgaria. This would allow all these ethnic peoples to use the name, for instance, in applications for region of origin products.

Plus, it would also help if Macedonians stopped referring to Greek Macedonia as Aegean Macedonia which was Tito's term for the "unliberated" land around Thessaloniki. But I've never heard or read of a Macedonian using the term Greek Macedonia. Not once.

The truth about the genocide and Macedonia in Balkan Wars, World War I and II

The Balkan Wars

The imminent collapse of the Ottoman Empire was welcomed by the Balkan states, as it promised to restore their European territory. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 proved a nationalistic movement thwarting the peoples' expectations of the empire's modernization and hastened the end of the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans. To this end, an alliance was struck among the Balkan states in Spring 1913. The First Balkan War, which lasted six weeks, commenced in August 1912, when Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire, whose forces ultimately engaged four different wars in Thrace, Macedonia, Northern and Southern Albania and Kosovo. The Macedonian campaign was fought in atrocious conditions. The retreat of the Ottoman army from Macedonia succeeded the desperate effort of the Greek and Bulgarian forces to reach the city of Thessalonica, the "single prize of the first Balkan War" for whose status no prior agreements were done. In this case possession would be equal to acquisition. The Greek forces entered the city first liberating officially, a progress only positive for them. Glenny says: "for the Greeks it was a good war" .

The first Balkan War managed to liberate Balkans from Turks and settled the major issues except Macedonia. In the spring 1913 the Serbs and Greeks begun the 'Serbianization' and the 'Hellenization' of the parts in Macedonia they already controlled, while Bulgarians faced some difficulties against the Jews and the Turkish populations. Moreover, the possession of Thessalonica was a living dream for the Bulgarians that were preparing for a new war. For this, the Bulgarian troops had a secret order to launch surprise attacks on the Serbs. Greece and Serbia acknowledging the Bulgarian plans signed a bilateral defensive agreement (May 1913) . Consequently, Greece and Serbia decided to attack Bulgaria in its moment of maximum weakness, exhausted by its sacrifice the previous winter. Besides, they had to fight also the Romanians who were claim Bulgarian lands.

The treaty of Bucharest (August 1913) took off most of the Bulgarian conquests of the previous years. Large part of Macedonia became Southern Serbia, including the territory of what today is the Republic of Macedonia and Aegean Macedonia became Northern Greece. Greece almost doubled its territory and population size and its northern frontiers remain today, more or less the same since the Balkan Wars. However, when Serbia acquired 'Vardarska Banovina' (the present-day Republic of Macedonia), it launched having expansionist views aiming to descend to the Aegean, with Thessalonica as the highest ambition. However, Greece after the population exchange with Bulgaria, soon after its victory in the Balkan wars, managed to give national homogeneity in the Aegean and any remaining Slavic-speakers were absorbed.

The Financial Times quotes a senior European diplomat saying "Macedonia needs [Nato membership] for its stability, it deserves it, and has done all of the things they should, although not always very quickly or efficiently ..."They do not go around making stupid threatening noises about their neighbours. But they are the people probably most disturbed by the Kosovo story, which potentially divides their society."

I agree that NATO membership is not only a symbolic issue for Macedonia. The territorial claims hidden behind this absurd naming game has almost always lead to war in history. It is much cheaper to preserve peace than to make it. Since NATO is the biggest peace-keeper in the region it should be also very unhappy about the Greek national veto.

Dániel Antal

Despite Macedonia’s hopes, NATO is not Macedonia’s friend

It has become clear at the NATO’s summit in Bucharest that NATO is not willing to stand for the freedom, the right of self determination and the territorial integrity of Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian people. So what’s the point of Macedonia joining NATO? Instead of standing up for justice and human right, NATO has taken the side of the Greek’s nationalists and bigots and their fight for exclusive right to the thousands of years of history of the Macedonian region. Which is of course just a cover up for the Greek’s real agenda: to kill the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian nation. This agenda is centuries old. The torture, the killing and the ethnic cleansing of the Macedonians in the Macedonian region is well documented and available to whoever wants to research this matter, instead of listening to the Greeks’ juicy lies and propaganda. This Greek agenda will continue until there is no more Macedonians and Republic of Macedonia. And despite all the claims of friendship and support, NATO has betrayed Macedonia and the Macedonian people in the most cynical and humiliating way. It has led the Macedonians all the way to Bucharest just to give them a slap in their face. And their cynicism continues with a claim that despite all NATO is somehow still supportive of Macedonia’s membership, if and when Macedonia ceases to be Macedonia. How absurd and how insulting can NATO get? And how and what can justify NATO’s behavior? Are Macedonia and the Macedonian people disposable and can be treated with no dignity and respect? Why is it okay to address the Macedonians with racial and nationalist slurs? Why is it okay to ask the Macedonians to give up everything that they identify with? The Macedonians are deeply insulted and hurt by this treatment, but they have no other option but to endure, just like other peoples have throughout history endured torture, humiliation, segregation, slavery, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

However, after the NATO’s summit in Bucharest, the Macedonians’ aspiration to join NATO has become an absurd. Macedonia should immediately cease any further negotiations with the Greeks on its constitutional name. The Greeks are bluffing. They will not settle for any other option but a complete denial of the Macedonian identity. No Macedonian nation, no Macedonian language and no Macedonia is what the Greeks are after. If they were really after a “geographical distinction between the Republic of Macedonia and their region” they would’ve settled for the last Nimetz’s proposal. Negotiations with the Greeks are just a waste of time, resources and nerves for the Macedonians. It’s a trap; it’s a Trojan horse that’s intended to finish Macedonia. The Macedonians must find another way to establish their place in the World community.

And if the NATO member countries are really well intended and want to separate themselves from this shameful act of injustice, discrimination and an attempt of murder of the Republic of Macedonia and its people, they should recognize the Republic Macedonia and the Macedonians by its own constitutional name as soon as possible, if they haven’t already done so.

Macedonia entry to NATO is delayed because they
are trying to *monopolize* a name that is also the
*identity* of many Greeks (including me). Why
FYROM does not use a name (say N. Macedonia) that
respects both their and our identity?

Like samoil099 above said, does anyone actually realize how hurtful it is for someone to strip you from your honour and your dignity?

Alexander's home was in Macedonia, historically that land has never been called anything but Macedonia. It has always belonged to Macedonians. And now Greece is saying, "No, you are not Macedonia because the land we stole from you during the Balkan Wars is also called Macedonia.

What do you want more than genetic proof? We got different blood to Slavs, to Greeks, to Albanians, to Bulgarians. No mater how much all of you want Macedonia to be part of your small minded countries, we will never be. We are different, in blood, in culture, in national identity, we are who we are.

To threaten political instability of the whole region because your history books say something else is petty, and silly, and (for once agreeing with Bush) downright stupid.

I am outraged that our national identity and pride has to be sacrificed for us to heal from the scars caused by selfish, greedy, and unjust neighbours.

Anrom - Yes Alexander was born in Macedonia - Macedonia( A GREEK NAME) was an ancient Greek Kingdom and Alexander was a Greek - Funny how we forget little things - The Gene pool is pure Greek
As for the Greek Veto - Mate FYROM would have done exactly the same had they been in a position to do and even worse if they could - FYROM would sink Greece in the Aegean if they had the power to do so - All the Greeks are saying is "stop messing with our history" - But you Guys don't get it
Your politicians knew there would be no NATO membership unless the name issue was resolved -I don't know why you are so surprised
The destiny of FYROM is in the hands of its politicians - They know the score -
The people of FYROM are nice people - They just have bad leaders

Dear sirs,
Regarding 'Macedonia' I disagree with your coverage & I would just like to underline 4 points that they are not as simple as you may think.
a) The name is a very sensitive issue for Greece. It is not simply that Athens ”could never accept a neighbor called by the same name as one of its northern provinces”. There is a picture from WWII of 'Macedonians' in Skopjie welcoming Hitler’s army with the picture that includes a map hoping to have Hitler give to them this whole region. If you take a look at the maps of UN, you will realize that the southern part of the map (half of the map) is the Greek territory (Thessaloniki and other cities). 'Macedonians' keep raising issues without any basis & just for impressing others, about “Macedonian” minority in the Greek part of Macedonia(!!!!!). In Skopje, they claim that they live in the free part of Macedonia (meanwhile Greece “occupies” the other part).
b) Greece insists on calling it FYROM because actually, this is its name according to UN agreement.
c) The effort should not only be the “Greek government to reach a reasonable compromise”, because on that issue only Greece compromises and FYROM is stable in its positions. Pressure should be on both sides, not only on the one. Besides, the sovereignty and the benefits of an ally, in this case Greece, should be protected. Instead, NATO and EU put pressure on Greece and leave FYROM in their arrogant position of “we do not change everything”.
d) Last but not least, this joke about the name should stop. There aree many maps (Serbian, Bulgarian, etc) before WWII that show that the name of the area was “Vardarska”. The name Macedonia was given to them by Josef Tito, in order to provide them some identity and history background, not considering that this is not their history and their identity (which is clearly mentioned in world history).
I apologize for taking some of your precious time. My intentions are only to point out that this issue is much more complicated than it appears to people who do not reside in the region. I believe that being a Greek citizen who has spent working/living) in Bulgaria & Serbia (also marginally involved in this issue) for 3 years & having traveled extensively in the region, I can have a concrete opinion about this issue.
Photos are at your disposal, or you can find them at the archive of Greek news paper named “Apogeumatini”
My best regards

Antonios Papadopoulos

"... not only no Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with honors, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent slave" - Demosthenes, Third Philippic, 31.

This passage from Demosthenes, the great Athenian orator form the fourth century, clearly shows his thoughts regarding Philip of Macedon and hence his son Alexander. This cannot be simply disregarded as political posturing from him and not representative of the views of the rest of Greece as the polis of Athens put him in charge of the Athenian war-effort against Alexander.Public support for Demosthenes and opposition to Alexander can be seen by PLutarch's account of the statue dedicated to Demosthenes after his death.

'Soon after his death the people of Athens paid him fitting honours by errecting his statue in bronze, and by decreeing that the eldest member of his family should be maintained in the prytaneum at the public expense. On the base of his statue was carved his famous inscription: 'If only your strength had been equal, Demosthenes, to your wisdom Never would Greece have been ruled by a Macedonian Ares' - Plutarch, Life of Demosthenes.

Plutarch in his Life of Alexander also comments that, upon his death in Babylon, the Greeks united together to 'attack the Macedonians and drive them out of Greece'

It would be clear, then, that in the lifetime of Alexander the Greeks did not recognise Macedonia as Greek in territory, ethnicity or in culture. Alexander may have tried to give the impression that he was hellenised, but his propaganda involved presenting himself and Hephaiston as Achilles and Patroklos - hence identifying them as great warriors. Clearly this would involve at least a degree of presentation as being from a Hellenic background. As for his love of the Iliad, that does not identify him as a Greek; many Romans in later years would acknowledge their admiration for Homer, I happen to love the Iliad but I am not Greek, or Macedonian for that matter.

The fact that the border between Greece and Macedonia has moved north so taht now Pella is in Greek territory changes nothing about Alexander. I live in Liverpool, England; if 2000 years from now the border of Scotland moves 200 miles south, making my home city become a part of Scottish territory, then my nationality will not be changed. I will have lived and died as an Englishman and a change of border long after my death would be an irrelevance to my nationality. The same can be said for Alexander the Great, Pella may now be in Greek territory, but at the time it was in Macedon, a kingdom which the citizens of the ancient greek poleis, especially Demosthenes, made very clear was not a part of Greece in the 4th century BCE. Therefore, Alexander the Great was, and is, a Macedonian.

Michael Pierpoint

A Pyrrhic victory for xenophobic Greece which would affect their business in Macedonia and destabilize the region with unhappy Albanian minority.

Best regards from Ljubljana, Slovenia, EU, NATO

Marijan M. Miletic'

Did you know that on FYROM money is the picture of the Tower of Salonica? If you didn't know, the Tower of Salonica is in Thessaloniki, Greece. FYROM has been very aggressive in its tactics and has much greater ambitions. It is no secret that many in FYROM feel they can lay claim to parts of Greece. The currency is just an example. Propaganda in FYROM against Greece is rampant... from what they are teaching in the schools to replacing the Greek Cross on the flag with a swastika which is on a billboard in Skopjia. US Senate resolution 356 strictly prohibits this type of propaganda. If FYROM does not want to play nice with its neighbors, then it will simply be left behind. The fact is this sense of national "identity" was a Tito-inspired formula to keep the diverse ethnic groups within the former Yugoslavia happy. FYROM is searching for a national identity, when it currently has none, at the expense of Greece.

FYROM also renamed the airport in the capital, "Alexander The Great" airport. HAHAHAHA Give me a break! The reason Greece did not make a big deal about Macedonia being Greek before is because it didn't have to... meaning it was understood that Macedonia is Hellenic, and for these people to usurp an identity which is not theirs is a slap in the face for all Greeks. FYROM/ Vardarskans should really be ashamed of themselves.

This is not just the name issue or who claims Alexander the Great. Greece simply denies the use of the therm Macedonia to Macedonians. Why ? - Because they can. Is there a historic reasons or moral reasons or any relevant reasons? probably not. There are different reasons and they are not very high or enlightened. There is a large ethnic Macedonian minority in the Greek part of Macedonia that went under brutal helenisation in the last 90 years. Simply put Greece does not want strong and prosperous country on their north border, country in which their repressed minority will look as a beacon or seek identity with. It is a power play and a nasty one.

Most of the time balkan states learn history the way they want it. Bulgaria and Greece are often found even falsifying historical facts and artifacts. Greece has a secret fund for buying on the black market historical artifacts from wild diggers in sites of Republic of Macedonia and presenting them as Greek. They believe in 3000 years of Greek Macedonia which is shady theory on the level of Young Earth Theory.
Everybody has to believe in something as long we don't fight for it.

Greece did not stick to "its nationalistic guns" as your Zionist-controlled and Soros-supported organization states. Greece for once stood up to UNREASONABLE demands by bully "allies" like Bush's US, a government that consistently has supported policies and actions that are against Greece's very survival! We Greeks, including American citizens like myself, are fed up by this unfair treatment. We DO NOT CARE what LOW LIFE in your organization or in the State Department or in Bush's white house say or do. As I am concerned, you all can GO TO HELL!