The article was sent exclusively to Publishing House Balkani


Regarding the Name


To discuss the name of our country in the context of the problems of our bilateral relations with Greece is a taboo. From all the politicians so far only Gligorov and Crvenkovski were allowed to deal with this issue, even though, as you know, we were renamed the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia quite not so recently. At present, when “in our relations with Greece we are once again at the brink of victory, when they are the most unnerved, when we have the full support of our politics, and the only thing left is the formality of the final triumph” it is even harder to reflect on this issue.

Still, I’d like to once again consider this anything but small problem.

Macedonia and NATO

Macedonia is faced with a dramatically severe situation due to the awareness that the upcoming establishment of Kosovo will directly influence the fate of the Macedonian state. The portent of this has already been seen even by Branko Crvenkovski and Branko Gerovski. Considering this situation and having in mind Macedonia’s full capacity to deal with the years of crisis ahead, I believe that entering NATO is perhaps Macedonia’s last chance to protect its security. Not because NATO countries could not collapse (the latest events in Belgium), but because I believe that personal tragedies and bloodsheds could be avoided.

I’d like to again remind you of my personal conviction that Macedonia’s entering NATO and the European Community does not depend either on the problem with the name or the number of reforms which we have to implement by April. I find international observers’ analyses funny when they say how much further ahead Croatia is compared to Macedonia when it comes to reform implementation since for the last 4 years (proclaimed to be the most successful) Croatia’s foreign debt has increased by EUR 2.5 billion annually. Thus having reached its present staggering amount of EUR 30 billion, or 80% of its gross national product. This makes Croatia the country deepest in debt in Europe. Presenting such a state of affairs to be the paradigm of success is truly a demonstration of bad political taste. So I think that Macedonia’s joining NATO depends neither on name nor on reforms, but is rather a matter of a political resolution directly connected with the national cause of Great Albania. Our role for 15 years now has been reduced to a factor in solving the equation of the Albanian issue. Whether Macedonia enters NATO or not is directly related to the supposed outcome of the Kosovo scenario and the tempo with which the new western Balkan crisis will apparently be resolved.

But even if the situation were such, despite my opinion, let’s accept, for the sake of argument, the position of the official politics that Kosovo does not matter and that we will succeed in implementing all required reforms. In that case the only remaining problem is Greece’s veto.


Who got us there?

Very little attention is paid to the most painful of our problems, namely how did we get to the point of discussing Greece’s veto. If I remember correctly, fifteen years ago Macedonia changed its flag and adopted the name of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and in return received an interim agreement in which Greece clearly stated that it would not block our country’s entering any organization under the name of FYROM. But present events point completely to the contrary. It is precisely the Greeks who say they will block a possible acceptance of the country under the name of FYROM, while our media euphorically claim all will be all right but we’ll be accepted under the name of FYROM, and assure us that this is good news. So despite all concessions we've made, we are now faced with a veto, and the name of FYROM stands.

Who got us into this mess?

I will remind you of the policy of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) in relation to Greece after the Union’s return to power in 2002 and the second cold war in our relations with Greece, of the continuation of this policy by VMRO-DPMNE (Democratic Party of Macedonian National Unity) and the incredibly stupid decision to name Skopje’s aiport after Alexander the Great. Thus we gave a formal cause to be accused of being the first to break the interim agreement and the proposed idea about the registration plates only exacerbated things.

Why didn’t anybody pose the question had we continued with the good international relations established between 1998-2002 would there have been a veto problem at all? Therefore, unequivocally, the present state of affairs is the result of the actions of certain political masterminds.

A little bit of this problem’s history

Macedonia has the odd ability to create fata morganas of many things. Since we turned our whole history into a fata morgana, why shouldn’t the name problem work too?!

Anticipating the new victory we forgot that even if the Greeks gave up on their veto, the name of FYROM remains (the circulated information we need three more countries to also guarantee our victory in the UN is erroneous). The reality is far from it! Namely the fact that for fifteen years now we’ve been known to the international community by the name of FYROM, and this will most probably continue for the next fifteen years too.

The facts say that the name Republic of Macedonia was replaced with the consent of the Macedonian state then led by Kiro Gligorov – President, Branko Crvenkovski - Prime Minister, Stojan Andov – Assembly Chairman, Stevo Crvenkovski – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ljubomir Frckovski – Minister of Internal Affairs, etc. with the mass support of the Macedonian media then led by a whole bunch of editors and famous journalists.

The fata morgana is that the mentioned institutions have for the past fifteen years successfully built the illusion they had nothing to do with this and on top of that are fervent champions of the status quo which we still refuse to see rationally and it is the undeniable existence of the humiliating name of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia.

We should not also forget that by signing the interim agreement the government of SDSM committed itself to actively negotiate and seek a solution regarding the name. And in 2005, when we acquired a candidate member status, the documents clearly stated that Macedonia’s acceptance into the EC is directly related to the outcome of the negotiations with Greece regarding the name. And that’s it as far as facts go!

Regarding the Greek position

For years we’ve listened to the claims that the name is problematic for Greece (while all along we’ve called ourselves FYROM); the claims that we’ll not negotiate about the name because it’s a sacred issue (while we’ve negotiated for the past 15 years); the claims that the problem is irrational (while all along we’ve lived surrounded by irrationalities) and anything and everything else! I do not wish to be their advocate but if for 15 years the Greeks have had a problem with the name, why don’t we ever analyze their arguments, since the problem is far from simple as we present it to be.

According to what I’ve seen so far, the problem lies in three things. First, they own 51% of the geographic area of Macedonia, we own 39%. This is a fact they’ve pointed out repeatedly as an argument. Second, in the 90s they were fearful of the problems stemming from the partitioning of Macedonia in all their aspects, more specifically: security and legal property relations, refugees, minorities. But I think it’s clear today there’s no one to fear. And finally, they’ve persistently indicated the third problem too (but we, of course, have no ears to hear it, but only worsen it). It’s the matter of appropriation of the cultural heritage of Ancient Macedonia. In the 90s this issue was almost ephemeral, but today it is a predominant government policy – from the Academy through its teachers to the masses. It’s a fact that you’re less and less likely to meet Macedonians of Slavic origin. So there is more and more procreation of the ancient Macedonians. That is yet another of the myriad of fata morganas of the Macedonian reality. Persistently running away from our own belonging taught by the Miladinov brothers, Prlichev, Krcovski, Zografski, running away from our teachers Gotse Delchev, Dame Gruev, Gjorche Petrov and what their disciples taught us we naturally turn into grandchildren of Amyntas II. Whether we want to or not this is a serious problem for the Greeks themselves.

So the problem is neither funny, nor irrational, nor is it theirs alone. And while we treat it thus we’ll most likely suffer new blows.

Is there room for a solution?

If the quoted proposal by Mr. Nimitz is true, something for which we’ve received very little information, it contains two pieces of news. The uncorroborated information we have is that his proposal mentions two changes – one on our part – in the part of our acceptance in international organizations, which means that our constitutional name will remain Republic of Macedonia and the bilateral agreements we’ve signed will remain. And if the Greeks agree to this it will mean a change in their position which has thus far been an explicit change of the name everywhere it appears. The second point I’d like to make is the publicized information, in at least three Macedonian media that they are now prepared to accept also the name Northern Macedonia, i.e. a name different from our current name. If all this is true, an agreement would mean that Macedonia will keep its name constitutionally in its bilateral agreements, while the change would refer only to contacts with international organizations and the name then would be Northern Macedonia! I personally find this the most favorable option for the past 15 years. We should not let this opportunity pass us by creating a victorious attitude. This is perhaps the first chance to change the humiliating name of FYROM with nothing threatening the nation, our existence or even our historic complexity.

At the NATO summit our state’s most responsible people Mr. Crvenkovski and Mr. Gruevski will have a hard task before them. They have to cross the finish line but they have to know that this time too it will be hard to rely on political bluffs. If they have a sure guarantee that we’ll be included in the new expansion, then let them finish the game in the manner they’ve played until now. Otherwise they have to be aware of the consequences for our country. The mentioned expansion could be the last one. And it will be hard for us to get another chance!


Translated from Bulgarian into English by Nadia Toromanova