Macedonian PM says name change to be put to a public vote

May 30, 2018 By administrator

Macedonia and Greece are near agreement on a name change that has vexed bilateral relations since the 1990s. Greece has used its leverage within NATO and the EU to block its neighbor from joining those clubs.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on Wednesday that any new name proposed for his country would be put to a public referendum.

His comment came as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece appeared to be nearing agreement on a name change for Athens’ northern neighbor.

“We agree on the foundations and principles of the accord,” Zaev told journalists.

He said more details would be disclosed after a phone call with his Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, on Wednesday evening or Thursday.

“We’ll only reveal all the details afterwards,” Zaev said.

The name dispute goes back to 1991 when Skopje declared its independence from war-torn Yugoslavia, and the new government chose the name “Republic of Macedonia.”

The name choice infuriated Athens. Historically Macedonia or Macedon was a sizable country which included territory that today is northern Greece. Ancient Greek ruler Alexander the Great was also known as Alexander III of Macedon. Concerned that the new country might have territorial ambitions, Greece insisted that its new neighbor be referred to as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM.

That is the name under which it was admitted to the United Nations in 1993.

As a member of both NATO and the European Union, Greece has veto power over prospective members, and has used that authority to block its neighbor from joining either organization.

Some possible names

Athens is demanding that any name change for its northern neighbor be backed by a constitutional amendment and for it to be applied to the “erga omnes” (“towards all”) legal principle, meaning it would be used universally both inside and outside Macedonia.

Several countries, including the United States and Russia, have already recognized the country as “Macedonia.”

Prime Minister Zaev said parliaments in both countries would need to ratify any agreement before it could be put to a public vote. He said that the time between parliamentary approval and a plebiscite would be “around a month,” adding that a referendum would likely be held in September or October.

Zaev also said it was important to resolve the issue well ahead of a NATO summit meeting on July 11-12.

“We want to give Greece sufficient time to send a letter to NATO,” ahead of the summit, he said.

Among the names being rumored are “New Macedonia” and “Upper Macedonia.”

The latter is reportedly a favorite, a senior Macedonian official told AFP. Zaev, however, remained tight-lipped on the possible choices.

“I would not comment on certain benchmarks, adjectives or additions to the name,” Zaev told journalists, “because we are in the final phase of a possible solution for a more than 25-year-old problem.”

bik/msh (AFP, AP)

Macedonian Parliament Ratifies Friendship Pact With Bulgaria

January 15, 2018 By administrator

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (left) and Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev speak to the press in Skopje in November.

The Macedonian parliament has ratified a friendship treaty with neighboring Bulgaria aimed at ending years of feuding and boosting Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union.

Sixty-one lawmakers in the 120-member parliament backed the pact on January 15, with the main opposition party boycotting the session.

The conservative VMRO-DPMNE party opposed the ratification, saying the pact contained “serious faults” and failed to recognize the existence of a Macedonian ethnic minority in Bulgaria.

Ahead of the vote, Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov told lawmakers, “We are sending a message that even in our region we can maintain relations in a European way.”

Speaking during a visit to the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov welcomed the result of the vote in Skopje.

“I hope that all countries, at some moment, will be signing this kind of treaties rather than waging wars,” he added.

Lawmakers in Bulgaria, already a NATO and EU member, had already ratified the pact, which was signed in August.

The treaty recognizes both countries’ territorial integrity and calls for an “objective” reexamination of the common history of Bulgaria and Macedonia, a process that could lead to a review of school textbooks.

Under the accord, Bulgaria, a NATO and EU member, pledges to support Macedonia’s efforts to join both blocs.

Macedonia’s rocky relations with its bigger eastern neighbor have hampered its efforts to join NATO and the EU, although the two countries share close religious, historic, and linguistic ties.

Bulgaria still does not recognize the Macedonian language, which it views as a dialect of Bulgarian.

Both Skopje and Sofia hope the new treaty will help them set aside such differences.

The two countries said they would also improve economic ties, renounce territorial claims, and improve human and minority rights.

The friendship treaty is a “joint contribution to political stabilization between the two countries and in the region,” Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in Skopje after co-signing the pact with visiting Bulgarian counterpart Borisov.

“For the first time, without mediators or somebody telling us what to do, the two states came to a solution,” Borisov said. The treaty “shows the EU that the turbulent Balkans, which have passed through a lot of troubles, can solve problems by agreements without mediators,” he said.

“If you look back, you will stumble and fall,” Borisov said. “So we decided to look ahead. I am convinced that in 10 years the results will be visible.”

EU officials warmly greeted the agreement, which they described as “an inspiration for the whole region.”

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-parliament-ratifies-bulgaria-friendship-pact/28976973.html?ltflags=mailer

Macedonian police clash with Albanians

July 5, 2014 By administrator

Associated Press

SKOPJE: Police in Macedonia fired tear gas and stun grenades Friday in clashes with around 2,000 demonstrators protesting against the jailing of six ethnic Albanians for murder and terrorism.

A Reuters reporter at the scene said several people were injured and others arrested during clashes in the center of the capital, Skopje.

The ethnic Albanian protesters, who pelted police with stones, were angry at the life sentences handed down for the murder of five Macedonian fishermen at a lake near Skopje in 2012.

Described by authorities as Islamists, the defendants were charged with terrorism and accused of trying to destabilize the state.

Macedonia continues to struggle with deep ethnic division 13 years after narrowly avoiding full-blown civil war during fighting between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and government security forces.

Ethnic Albanians, most of them Muslims, make up a quarter of the former Yugoslav republic’s population of 2 million, and say they are discriminated against. The guerrillas laid down arms in 2001 in return for greater rights and representation, and entered politics. Integration, however, has been slow to come about.

During a trial that lasted 18 months, prosecutors said the six accused had intended to use the murders to destabilize the country.

The fishermen were shot at close range by more than one gunman. Twenty people were arrested at the time in raids at more than 20 locations around the capital, involving 800 police officers.

Authorities described the suspects as followers of radical Islam. Defense lawyers said there was no evidence to support the charges.

Friday’s protest appeared to have been organized via social media, with calls going out for Albanians to rally against “politically motivated court cases”

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2014/Jul-05/262718-macedonian-police-clash-with-albanians.ashx#ixzz36cPxwEnn
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)