Response from Mr. Huibert
Crijns (EUROCLIO secretariat) to Mr. Alexis Dimitris from Greece,
concerning the use of the name Macedonia in the materials of EUROCLIO
Thursday, 06 Jun 2002 17:00:38 +0200
Dear Mr Alexas,
Thank you for your remark on the use of the name Macedonia in our
materials and publications and the thorough investigation of the website
and the ideas of our organization.
Of course we are fully aware of the problem you mention and we discussed
this issue in our organisation. For several reasons, which are purely
pragmatic and not political, we decided however to use the name Macedonia
instead of F.Y.R.O.M.:
- In normal conversation and communication the name FYROM is never used.
Most people in the world, including diplomats and officials speak and
write about Macedonia. Only in official papers and publications they are
forced to use FYROM. In the community of international affairs the name
FYROM is less and less used. There is a strong tendency to use Macedonia
instead, despite the decision of the UN. Most (international)
organisations and institutions consider FYROM an artificial name which is
not serving any useful aim. Our organisation is not especially a
forerunner in that. To your regret I expect this tendency will continue in
the future. I expect the name FYROM will not be used anymore in a few
years, or maybe only by Greece.
- If we speak about FYROM hardly anybody in Europe, or the rest of the
world, who is not especially interested in the sensitivities of
international politics and diplomacy, knows which country is meant by
that. If we call this country Macedonia people usually know. The use of
the name FYROM is as a result only confusing for people and not very
constructive for our work. As communication is important for us we made
this pragmatic choice.
FYROM is a political construction for the name of a country which, as part
of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was called Macedonia for a long
time already. I do not need to tell you that this name was constructed
because of the strong objections of Greece against the use of the name
Macedonia. For other countries the name Macedonia is not problematic.
The existence of a province which has the name of another country is not
unique in the world. For example there is the country Luxemburg and the
neighboring Belgian province of Luxemburg. Of course we are aware of the
existence of extreme nationalism in Macedonia. And I have seen the maps of
these nationalist who claim that Greek Macedonia including Thessaloniki (Salonika)
and the Chalcidian Pensinsula, as well as parts of Bulgaria, Serbia,
Montenegro and Albania should be part of Macedonia. Luckily this movement
is not dominant at the moment in Macedonia, as most Macedonians quite
clearly understand that this approach will only bring them problems, if
not war, and will immediately alienate the international community from
their country. They have problems enough already with the Albanian
community in their country and are not interested in a big conflict with
their bigger neighbor Greece. Greece is moreover a full member of the two
important power blocks NATO and EU, of which Macedonia will be fully
dependent in the next decades, and would also like to become a member of.
So I think Greece doesn't have to worry very much of extreme Macedonian
nationalism in the coming decades. Especially not if Greece works to
develop good and constructive relations with Macedonia. The Macedonians
are interested in this.
But as an organization working for the aims you mentioned in your mail, we
nevertheless take the problem of (expansive) nationalism very serious. Not
as a specific Macedonian problem, but as a general problem for many
countries in Europe and beyond. For this reason we are at the moment,
apart from many other activities, executing a project in which history
educators from Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia work together in the
development of innovative educational material on modern history which
emphasizes similarities between people instead of differences. Until now
this project runs very successful, especially because of the very good and
fruitful cooperation and understanding between the people from these three
countries.
In my personal opinion the Greek demand to apply the name FYROM was
diplomatically not very wise. Although I understand the initial worries of
the Greek government and society for political agitation and claims on
territory, the change of name changed nothing in the real situation. It
only made a lot of Macedonian people angry and was as a result worsening
the situation. The use of the name FYROM, although correct according to
the official international agreements, is at the moment hardly in use
anywhere and creates more problems, irritations and misunderstandings than
the name Macedonia. In our organization, which is a democratic
international association, till now none of the member organizations ever
made any objection against the use of the name Macedonia. At the same time
this name is not in any way used as a means of propaganda or anti-Greek
policy in our organization. Our Macedonian member organization is
politically very nuanced and critical and works hard and seriously to
develop good relations with history educators from the countries
surrounding them with the main aim of creating and reinforcing peace,
stability and mutual understanding.
I realize I might have disappointed you with my answer, but I hope to have
explained our reasoning behind our use of the name Macedonia.
Yours sincerely,
Huibert Crijns
D. Alexas wrote:
Dear Sirs,
It
is a pity that an Association with such a grand name and scope as
yours does not respect and does not follow the UN's decisions concerning
the name of Macedonia.
Though the people of Macedonia want a
grand name for their country, and respectively a grand past and a bright
future for their nation in a dim present according to them, till the the
issue of the name is being resolved officially, their country is called
F.Y.R.O.M. in English (that is Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia)
and it is to my opinion that under that name they should have been members
of your Association.
Furthermore I doubt whether the Council
of Europe or United Nations or UNESCO have in their ranks a country called
Macedonia. Anything else is nothing but an attempt of re-enforcing and
strengthening the nationalism of "Macedonians" in an age where nationalism
in Europe is doing nothing but causing troubles and wars, cultivating
fascism and hatred towards the "others".
As you yourselves, rightly to my opinion,
claim that "history education is frequently used as a vehicle for
political propaganda, hatred and aggression", I strongly doubt that using
the term "Macedonia" for a country still officially called FYROM does
nothing towards fostering integration, peace and stability in Europe as
you claim in your opening pages of your web site.
Personally, I have no objection of any
country to be called whatever name their people like, even though a name
like Macedonia does nothing but fostering nationalism and expansionism and
nothing else BUT it is not up to me or up to you or up to the
"Macedonians" to decide the name under which the international community
will accept this new-born state into ins ranks. That will be the result
of talks and mutual agreements and compromises between the nationalists
of the two ruling classes of Greece and FYROM. Until then fostering one
nationalism against the other DOES NOTHING to "foster integration, peace
and stability in Europe", don't you agree?
Sincerely yours,
Dimitris
Alexas
|
