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Macedonia naming dispute - issue between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia

The Macedonia naming dispute refers to the disagreement over the use of the name Macedonia between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. Greece opposes the post-1991 constitutional name of its northern neighbour, citing historical and territorial concerns resulting from the ambiguity between it and the adjacent Greek region of Macedonia. Greece also objects to the ambiguous use of the term Macedonian for the neighbouring country's main ethnic group and language. The dispute has escalated to the highest level of international mediation, involving numerous attempts to achieve a resolution, notably by the United Nations.

The provisional reference the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is currently always used in relations involving states which do not recognise the constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia. Nevertheless, all UN member-states, and the UN as a whole, have agreed to accept any final agreement resulting from negotiations between the two countries. The ongoing dispute has not prevented the two countries from enjoying close trade links and investment levels (especially from Greece), but it has generated a great deal of political and academic debate on both sides.

Negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute are ongoing. It had been hoped that a mutually acceptable solution might be achieved by NATO's summit in Bucharest in April 2008. However, the failure to resolve the dispute prevented the Republic of Macedonia from receiving an invitation to join the alliance, due to Greek objections. In return, the Republic of Macedonia referred Greece to the International Court of Justice, accusing Athens of violating the 1995 UN-brokered Interim Accord between the two states

Controversy and conflict

The territory of present-day Republic of Macedonia was formerly part of Rumelia, part of the Ottoman Empire up to 1913. In 1893 a revolutionary movement for the liberation of Macedonia as a separate territorial entity from the Ottoman rule began, resulting in the Ilinden Uprising on 2 August 1903 (St. Elias's Day). The failure of the Ilinden Uprising caused a change in the strategy of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) from revolutionary to institutional. It split into two wings (one fighting for autonomous Macedonia inside the Ottoman Empire or inside a Balkan Federation led by Jane Sandanski, and a second Supremist wing supporting the inclusion of Macedonia in Bulgaria). After the Ilinden Uprising the revolutionary movement ceased and opened a space for frequent insurgencies of Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek squads into the territory of Macedonia. These squads, often supported by the local populations, often engaged the Turkish army, spelling the eventual collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The state of conflict in 1912 resulted in the First Balkan War, and most of Ottoman Europe, including the territory of Macedonia, was liberated from the Ottomans.

In the next year the Second Balkan War began and the aftermath was division in 1913 of most of Ottoman Europe into four parts, between Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania. The present-day Republic of Macedonia was included in Serbia. In 1914 the First World War started and Bulgaria occupied eastern Macedonia and Vardar Macedonia, helped Austria-Hungary in defeating the Serbs and creating a front around the Greek part of Macedonia. Thus the present-day Republic of Macedonia was part of Bulgaria between 1915-1918. After Bulgaria signed a capitulation, the borders returned with small adjustments to the situation of 1913, and the present-day Republic of Macedonia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. This period saw the first recognition of the Macedonian nation, by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia on the third congress in Vienna in 1926 and in 1936 Josip Broz Tito took over the leadership of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its name in 1929 to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the present-day Republic of Macedonia was included together with South Serbia in a province named Vardar Banovina. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ceased to exist in 1941 as a consequence of the Second World War. Bulgaria as part of the Axis powers advanced into the territory of the Republic of Macedonia and the Greek province of Macedonia. The territory of the Republic of Macedonia was included into Bulgaria and Italian Albania.

Macedonia naming dispute

The National Liberation War of Macedonia began officially in 1941 in the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. On the 2nd of August in 1944 (St. Elias's Day), honouring the fighters of the Ilinden Uprising, the assembly of the people constituted the Macedonian state as a federal state within the framework of the future Yugoslav federation. In 1946 the People's Republic of Macedonia was established as federal part of the newly proclaimed Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. The issue of the republic's name immediately sparked controversy with Greece over concerns that it presaged a territorial claim on the Greek coastal region of Macedonia (see Territorial concerns below). The US Roosevelt administration expressed the same concern through Edward Stettinius in 1944. The Greek press and Greek government of Andreas Papandreou continued to expressed the above concerns confronting the views of Yugoslavia during the 1980s and until the Revolutions of 1989.

The republic in 1963 was renamed the "Socialist Republic of Macedonia", when the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but dropped the "Socialist" from its name a few months before declaring independence from Yugoslavia in September 1991.

The newly independent republic's accession to the United Nations and recognition by the European Community (EC) was delayed by strong Greek opposition. Although the Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on the former Yugoslavia declared that the Republic of Macedonia met the conditions set by the EC for international recognition, Greece opposed the international community recognising the Republic due to a number of objections concerning the country's name, flag and constitution. In an effort to block the European Community from recognising the Republic, the Greek government persuaded the EC to adopt a common declaration establishing conditions for recognition which included a ban on "territorial claims towards a neighbouring Community state, hostile propaganda and the use of a denomination that implies territorial claims".

In Greece, about one million Macedonians participated in the 1992 "Rally for Macedonia" (Greek: Συλλαλητήριο για τη Μακεδονία), a very large demonstration that took place in the streets of Thessaloniki in 1992. The point of the rally was to object to "Macedonia" being a part of the name of then newly established Republic of Macedonia. In a following major rally in Australia, held in Melbourne and organized by the Macedonians of Greek diaspora that has a strong presence there, about 100,000 people protested. The major slogan of these rallies was "Macedonia is Greek" (Greek: H Μακεδονία είναι ελληνική).

Greece's major political parties agreed on 13 April 1992 that the word "Macedonia" could not be accepted in any way in the new republic's name. This became the cornerstone of the Greek position on the issue. The Greek diaspora was also mobilised in the naming controversy. A Greek-American group, Americans for the Just Resolution of the Macedonian Issue, placed a full-page advertisement in the 26 April and 10 May 1992 editions of the New York Times, urging President George H. W. Bush "not to discount the concerns of the Greek people" by recognising the "Republic of Skopje" as Macedonia. Greek-Canadians also mounted a similar campaign. The EC subsequently issued a declaration expressing a willingness "to recognise that republic within its existing borders... under a name which does not include the term Macedonia."

Greek objections likewise held up the wider international recognition of the Republic of Macedonia. Although the Republic applied for membership of the United Nations on 30 July 1992, its application languished in a diplomatic limbo for nearly a year. A few states—Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Belarus and Lithuania —recognised the republic under its constitutional name before its admission to the UN. Most, however, waited to see what the United Nations would do. The delay had a serious effect on the Republic, as it led to a worsening of its already precarious economic and political conditions. With war raging in nearby Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, the need to ensure the country's stability became an urgent priority for the international community. The deteriorating security situation led to the UN's first-ever preventative peacekeeping deployment in December 1992, when units of the United Nations Protection Force were deployed to monitor possible border violations from Serbia.

``Compromise solutions``

The president of the Republic of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov, also opposed the proposed formula. In a letter of 24 March 1993, he informed the President of the United Nations Security Council that "the Republic of Macedonia will in no circumstances be prepared to accept 'the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' as the name of the country." He declared that "we refuse to be associated in any way with the present connotation of the term 'Yugoslavia' ". The issue of possible Serbian territorial ambitions had been a long-running concern in the Republic of Macedonia, which some Serbian nationalists still called "South Serbia" after its pre-World War II name. The government in the Republic of Macedonia was consequently nervous of any naming formula which might be seen to endorse a possible Serbian territorial claim.

Both sides came under intense diplomatic pressure to compromise. The support that Greece had received initially from its allies and partners in NATO and the European Community had begun to wane due to a combination of factors that included irritation in some quarters at Greece's hard line on the issue and a belief that Greece had flouted sanctions against Slobodan Milošević's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The intra-Community tensions were publicly exposed on 20 January 1993 by the Danish foreign minister, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, who attracted the ire of Greek members of the European Parliament when he described the Greek position as "ridiculous" and expressed the hope that "the Security Council will very quickly recognise Macedonia and that many of the member states of the Community will support this."

The Greek Prime Minister, Constantine Mitsotakis, took a much more moderate line on the issue than many of his colleagues in the governing New Democracy party. Despite opposition from hardliners, he endorsed the proposal in March 1993. The acceptance of the formula by Athens also led to the reluctant acquiescence of the government in Skopje, though it too was divided between moderates and hardliners on the issue.

On 7 April 1993, the UN Security Council endorsed the admission of the republic in United Nations Security Council Resolution 817. It recommended to the United Nations General Assembly "that the State whose application is contained in document S/25147 be admitted to membership in the United Nations, this State being provisionally referred to for all purposes within the United Nations as 'the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' pending settlement of the difference that has arisen over the name of the State." The recommendation was agreed by the General Assembly, which passed Resolution 225 on the following day, 8 April, using virtually the same language as the Security Council. The Republic of Macedonia thus became the 181st member of the United Nations.

The compromise solution, as set out in the two resolutions, was very carefully worded in an effort to meet the objections and concerns of both sides.

Macedonia visa cancelled ( NO COMMENT )

Interim accord

Greece and the Republic of Macedonia eventually formalised bilateral relations in an Interim Accord signed in New York on 13 September 1995. Under the agreement, the Republic removed the Vergina Sun from its flag and allegedly irredentist clauses from its constitution, and both countries committed to continuing negotiations on the naming issue under UN auspices. For its part, Greece agreed that it would not object to any application by the Republic so long as it used only the appellation set out in "paragraph 2 of the United Nations Security Council resolution 817" (i.e. "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"). This opened the door for the Republic to join a variety of international organisations and initiatives, including the Council of Europe, OSCE and Partnership for Peace.

The accord was not a conventional perpetual treaty, as it can be superseded or revoked, but its provisions are legally binding in terms of international law. Most unusually, it did not use the names of either party. Greece, "the Party of the First Part", recognised the Republic of Macedonia under the term "the Party of the Second Part". The accord did not specifically identify either party by name (thus avoiding the awkwardness of Greece having to use the term "Macedonia" in reference to its northern neighbour). Instead, it identified the two parties elliptically by describing the Party of the First Part as having Athens as its capital and the Party of the Second Part having its capital at Skopje. Subsequent declarations have continued this practice of referring to the parties without naming them.

Secretary Cyrus Vance was the witness of Interim Accord as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Flag of the Republic of Macedonia 1991-1995 and now

NATO non-invitation ( VETO )

On 3 April 2008, in NATO's summit in Bucharest, Greece presented (veto) its case on the non-invitation of the republic. NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the mutually agreed text of the NATO members, which included the following points:

• Reason for no invitation was the inability to find solution in the name dispute
• Open invitation to the government of Skopje for new negotiations for the name under the auspices of the United Nations,
• The wish that those negotiations start as soon as possible
• And the further wish that they are concluded as soon as possible, without mentioning a specific time frame

Poster displayed in Skopje - Greek flag with the swastika, as a way of comparing modern Greece to Nazi Germany. and caricatures of Greek PM Karamanlis depicted wearing a Nazi SS uniform.

According to media reports, the Greek position was strongly supported by France and Spain. Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg, Iceland, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Netherlands also showed understanding to the Greek concerns.

The US proposal for inviting the country under its UN provisional reference (FYROM) was backed by Turkey, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Denmark, Bulgaria, and Norway.

Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada were reported neutral.

According to polls, 95% of Greeks consider that the veto was a correct action, while only 1% oppose it. At the same time, Greece maintains its focus on promoting its neighbour's NATO and EU accession as soon as the naming issue is resolved.

Conclusion video