MHRMI And AMHRC Condemn Macedonian Government’s Continued Name Negotiations
By Macedonian Human Rights Movement International
On January 15, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said “I was pleased to see the dynamics created last year by direct dialogue between the two prime ministers of Greece and FYROM. Now it’s time to move toward decisions that will settle this issue.”
The reference to “FYROM” follows the United Nations recent removal of all references to the Macedonian language and the latest European Commission report that removed references to the Macedonian language and used the term “state language” instead. Macedonia had to demand reinstatement.
In response, European Union ambassador Erwan Fouere said, “The EU is not involved in changing the identity of people. Identity is something sacred and it should not be negotiable.”
So why is the EU demanding that Macedonia change its name in order to gain membership?
More to the point, how does the Macedonian government justify negotiating its own name?
The United States and Western Europe have repeatedly called on Macedonia to find a “solution” to the name dispute. The only reason is because Macedonia indicates its willingness to compromise by continuing the nonsensical name negotiations.
131 countries have recognized Macedonia, including four of the five permanent UN Security Council members. As MHRMI and AMHRC state in the Our Name is Macedonia campaign, “We are winning. We have the power to end this. Stop negotiating our own name”.
The Our Name is Macedonia campaign, which demands that Macedonia end all negotiations with Greece over its name, includes billboards throughout Macedonia, ads in print and online editions of major newspapers, television commercials, press conferences, radio interviews and the distribution of hundreds of thousands of flyers throughout the country.
This is the most crucial issue facing Macedonia and Macedonians. How can you help?
- Contact Macedonian government officials and demand an immediate end to the negotiations. Contact information is on the Our Name is Macedonia webpage.
- Sign on to the campaign, as an individual or organization, by visiting www.mhrmi.org/our_name_is_macedonia
- Every Macedonian website should have an Our Name is Macedonia banner – www.mhrmi.org/our_name_is_macedonia/web
- Promote the campaign in Macedonian communities worldwide. For ad campaign posters or more information, please contact us.
- Demand support from the international community. We will provide contact information for government officials and media.
- Make a donation. Join the MHRMI Human Rights Fund (www.mhrmi.org/donation.asp) or the AMHRC Minorities Support Fund (www.macedonianhr.org.au/03getinvolved)
This is an opinion article and does not represent the opinions of Eurasia Review
The Europe cherished creation seems still well supported by its creators(the Great Powers). Even though they have misused and mislead them. It is a wander how on earth Greece has become a EU member and even more peculiar how on earth Greece continues with its lies and propaganda. This only proves that Europe is loyal to its creation, until when?
The demands from Greece is actually a century long dispute and interference in Macedonian affairs. Europe is the biggest contributor – Greece does not care of the name Macedonia, in fact they tried in the past destroying the very same name. The current situation have them change its policy towards the name. Only because they new of Macedonia emerging as a separate country thus the straggle to name destroying would be lot harder and challenging. So, they quickly changed the view and renamed the territory Northern Greece to the province of Macedonia and Thrace in 1998 two years prior to the independence of the Republic of Macedonia. If they really cared then why not utilizing on that name since the begging when they annexed the territory in 1913.
They have not just annexed the territory but also exiled and assimilated the Macedonian people and changed the names of places and people. To the very current day Greece is still oppressing the Macedonians in what is today Greece. This is why Greece is finding some irrelevant excuses,instead of focusing and finding a real solution to what have they done and mislead their people, in contrary they are just focused on deepening their propaganda and lies.