HMG LOOKING FORWARD TO BUILDING ON GAINS OF NATO BUCHAREST SUMMIT

HMG LOOKING FORWARD TO BUILDING ON GAINS OF NATO BUCHAREST SUMMIT

Passed to the Telegraph by WikiLeaks 9:06PM GMT 04 Feb 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/wikileaks-files/london-wikileaks/8305019/HMG-LOOKING-FORWARD-TO- BUILDING-ON-GAINS-OF-NATO-BUCHAREST-SUMMIT.html

Ref ID: 08LONDON1017

Date: 4/9/2008 15:46

Origin: Embassy London

Classification: CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN

Destination: 08LONDON4|08LONDON845

Header: VZCZCXYZ0028PP RUEHWEBDE RUEHLO #1017 1001546ZNY CCCCC ZZHP 091546Z APR 08FM AMEMBASSY LONDONTO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8205INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVERUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV 0075RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE 0141RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI 0281RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDCRUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDCRUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC

Tags: PREL,PGOV,NATO,EU,UK

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 001017 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/WE AND EUR/RPM E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2018 TAGS: PREL, PGOV, NATO, EU, UK SUBJECT: HMG LOOKING FORWARD TO BUILDING ON GAINS OF NATO BUCHAREST SUMMIT REF: A. LONDON 0845 B. LONDON 4/8 DAILY REPORT Classified By: Political Counselor Rick Mills for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d)

1. (C/NF) According to FCO Deputy Director for Security Policy Chris Holtby, HMG shares U.S. views that the results of the NATO Bucharest Summit were better than expected going in, and looked

forward to working closely with us to move forward soon on the outcomes which fell short of expectations. At the top of the list for the UK is Macedonian accession. PM Brown was deeply disappointed that the Greeks would not move on a compromise name, and wants to re-energize UN, Brussels and bilateral processes. The UK agrees with the U.S. position that the invitation does not have to wait for another summit; it can be extended at any NAC as soon as the Greeks agree. HMG is also determined not to let the name issue interfere with Macedonian progress towards EU membership.

London Wikileaks Cables

HMG WILL CONTINUE TO ENGAGE WITH ATHENS AND SKOPJE ON MACEDONIA NAME/NATO ACCESSION ISSUE

Passed to the Telegraph by WikiLeaks 9:06PM GMT 04 Feb 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/london-wikileaks/8305022/HMG-WILL-CONTINUE-TO-ENGAGE-WITH-ATHENS-AND-SKOPJE-ON-MACEDONIA-NAMENATO-ACCESSION-ISSUE.html

Ref ID: 08LONDON1112

Date: 4/18/2008 14:00

Origin: Embassy London

Classification: CONFIDENTIAL

Destination: 08STATE40462

Header: VZCZCXYZ0000OO RUEHWEBDE RUEHLO #1112 1091400ZNY CCCCC ZZHO 181400Z APR 08FM AMEMBASSY LONDONTO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8305INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITYRUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE PRIORITY 0145

Tags: PREL,NATO,EU,MK,GR,UK

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 001112 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT. FOR EUR/RPM, EUR/SCE, EUR/WE E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2018 TAGS: PREL, NATO, EU, MK, GR, UK SUBJECT: HMG WILL CONTINUE TO ENGAGE WITH ATHENS AND SKOPJE ON MACEDONIA NAME/NATO ACCESSION ISSUE REF: STATE 40462 Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Maura Connelly for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (C) HMG has been engaging, and will continue to engage with, senior Greek leadership to encourage Athens to be more flexible in its position on the Macedonia name issue. FCO Balkans Group Deputy Director Adam Bye said that the British Ambaasador (HMA) to Greece had met with Foreign Minister Bakoyiani on April 14, stressing many of the points contained reftel. Bakoyiani's reaction showed little movement from that of the Greek position we have heard over the past few months - that it was Skopje refusing to be flexible, and that Greece has worked as hard as it could within the UN mediating process. According to Bye, Bakoyiani also added that progress was unlikely before the June 1 Macedonian elections. Bye said the FCO would summarize the points contained reftel for HMA in Athens, advise him of the other countries the USG has requested to assist, and ask him to approach the FM once again. HMA may also contact Ambassador Speckhard to discuss joint approaches to the Greek government.

2. (C) Bye underlined that HMG is as concerned as the USG about the Greece-Macedonia impasse, and its impact on the NATO Alliance and Balkan stability and in the longer term, EU unity. He shared a readout of an April 18 video conference which he attended and included representatives from UK Missions to Greece, Macedonia, NATO and the EU: the UK appreciates and will continue to support U.S. efforts to remove the Greek block on Macedonian accession to NATO; the June 1 Macedonian elections represent an additional challenge, and the UK will urge political parties on all sides not to politicize the name issue or appeal to nationalistic instincts to gain support; while the UK shares the U.S. desire that this issue be resolved within the next few weeks, it is more likely to require a "sustained push," at least until the Macedonian elections; and, the UK will lobby other EU members to

exert influence on Athens. Visit London's Classified Website: XXXXXXXXXXXX LEBARON

London Wikileaks Cables

NATO MACEDONIA INVITATION: UK EFFORTS FAIL TO MOVE ATHENS

Passed to the Telegraph by WikiLeaks 9:05PM GMT 04 Feb 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/wikileaks-files/london-wikileaks/8305009/NATO-MACEDONIA-INVITATION-UK-EFFORTS-FAIL-TO-MOVE-ATHENS.html

Ref ID: 08LONDON954

Date: 4/2/2008 15:29

Origin: Embassy London

Classification: CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN

Destination: 08STATE32646

Header: VZCZCXYZ0002OO RUEHWEBDE RUEHLO #0954 0931529ZNY CCCCC ZZHO 021529Z APR 08FM AMEMBASSY LONDONTO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8118INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITYRUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE PRIORITY 0139

Tags: PREL,NATO,MK,GR,UK

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 000954 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/WE, EUR/SCE AND EUR/RPM E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2018 TAGS: PREL, NATO, MK, GR, UK SUBJECT: NATO MACEDONIA INVITATION: UK EFFORTS FAIL TO MOVE ATHENS REF: STATE 32646 Classified By: DCM Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (C/NF) FCO Political Director Mark Lyall Grant told DCM that high-level UK intervention with Greece, including an appeal from FM Miliband to Greek FM Bakoyannis at the March 29 EU Gymnich, had failed to shift Athens off its hard-line position. Lyall Grant has been in close contact with Acting U/S Fried on this issue. The UK's view is that now that Macedonia has accepted a compromise name proposed by UN Envoy Nimetz, maximum pressure must be brought to bear on the Greeks.

2. (C/NF) Lyall Grant said that it was unclear whether Greece is using the name issue to block any Macedonian accession to either EU or NATO, or whether a modifier currently unacceptable to Skopje, such as "upper-Macedonia" or northern-Macedonia" would mollify the hard-liners in Athens. Either way, according to Lyall Grant, it will likely require head of government level intervention at Bucharest to move the issue. Lyall Grant said that Paris could also be problematic, given ongoing French-Greek military contract negotiations. He promised continued UK effort and coordination with the U.S. and other like-minded Allies. Visit London's Classified Website: XXXXXXXXXXXX Tuttle.

Dear reader please take note of the following;

1. “he could not give a stuff what they called their country”, and

2. “The UK's view is that now that Macedonia has accepted a compromise name proposed by UN Envoy Nimetz”

If this information is indeed true, and I have no reason to believe that it is not, then;

a. The Greek side could not care less what the Macedonian people call their country, and,

b. The Macedonian side has accepted to change the name which obviously is not what the Greek side wants.

So the million dollar question here is “What does the Greek side really want?” and what are the two sides “really” negotiating?

6. Is Greece forgetting something?

It has been seventeen years now since the Republic of Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia and Greece is still tormenting the Macedonian people over idiotic issues such as ancient symbols, ancient flags and ancient names.

Even though the Republic of Macedonia is part of geographical Macedonia and by international rights has every right to call itself Macedonia, Greece is adamantly against it.

According to Greece, which has chosen to ignore historic evidence, “Macedonia is Greek” and only the part of geographic Macedonia now under Greece can rightfully call itself “Macedonia”.

Greece chose to ignore what was real when it went in pursuit of the ancient glory associated with Ancient City States and tried to portray itself as the New Athens, modeled after an Ancient culture that died more than two millennia ago. When Greece became a country for the first time in 1829, the only real and vibrant cultures living on its soil were Albanian, Vlach, Turkish and Macedonian but Greece ignored reality and opted for creating a brand new mythical culture totally alien to the people.

It seems that everyone in Greece today is suffering from mass amnesia and has forgotten how Albanian the Peloponnesus and Epirus were, how Vlach Thessaly was, how Macedonian Macedonia was and how Turkish Thrace was in the beginning of the 19th century when its capital was Naphplion and its parliamentarians required translators to understand one another. Yes, Greece was indeed a multiethnic state in its humble beginnings but today that is forgotten as Greeks clamber to claim descent from the ancient City States from 2,500 years ago.

Today’s Greece was created from the raw materials of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire from a people that were dominated by foreign rule since Macedonia’s rise to power in the fourth century BC. Greece was conquered by Macedonia, invaded and subjugated by Rome, the Byzantines, the Ottomans and every conqueror, invader and settler that set foot on that soil. Yet Greeks today claim

that their population is homogeneous consisting of 98% pure Greeks and 2% Muslim Greeks.

The truth is it doesn’t matter to me what they think of themselves. According to international law, every nation has the right to self declare and so do the Greeks. What matters to me is the hypocritical attitude some Greeks, including all Greek Governments have taken and that is “while idealizing their mythical identity” they “ostracize that of the Macedonians” calling it “fake non-existent”!

Which culture is more genuine? The Macedonian or the Greek? Let’s examine some facts!

1. While the Macedonians make an ethnic distinction between the various ethnic groups living in Macedonia such as Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Roma and others, Greece claims it has no other ethnicities outside of Greeks even though its composition at its inception consisted of Albanians, Vlachs, Macedonians, Turks, Roma and others. What happened to these people? How did they all become Greeks?

2. While the Macedonians make distinctions between traditions, songs, dances and clothing belonging to the various ethnic groups, Greece claims them all to be Greek including those belonging to the Albanians, Vlachs, Macedonians and Turks.

3. While Macedonia has toponymia that have existed for millennia, toponyms in Greece are no older than at most two centuries. Greece began renaming place names in the Macedonian territories it controls in the 1920’s. There is no Greek history for these place names prior to the 1920’s.

4. While Macedonians spoke many dialects of the Macedonian language, the vast majority of Greeks spoke Albanian, Vlach, Turkish and Macedonian as their mother tongue. Koine or Dimotiki as the Greek language is called today was learned in school.

5. While Macedonians created a literary language based on the most dominant Macedonian dialects Greece adopted the Koine (the ancient international language of commerce) for its people and later

tried to purify it by adopting an ancient dead Attic language (Katharevousa) and failed.

Comparing the Greek identity with that of the Macedonian, one can easily conclude that Macedonians are a lot closer to who they claim to be than the Greeks.

So really, what justification does Greece have for claiming “Macedonia is Greek” when modern Greeks have no connection to the ancient City States or to the so called “Ancient Greeks” and their Modern Greek-ness is dubious at best?

Can Greece reasonably and rationally explain why should “Macedonia belong to the Greeks” and not to the Macedonians? After all Greeks do live south of Mount Olympus, be it historically or today, and Macedonians live in Macedonia, the very same land they lived on more than a millennium ago. An answer to this question would be appreciated!

If I may add, according to history the vast majority of people who we define to be “Greek” or “Macedonian” today, are indigenous to the Southern Balkans and have lived on those lands without borders from 338 BC to 1912 AD. That is from the time Macedonia conquered the Ancient City States in 338 BC until Greece invaded, occupied and annexed Macedonian lands in 1912 AD.

So why is Greece calling its citizens “pure Greeks” and the Macedonians “fake” and non existent” since it can be proven that both countries have virtually the same ethnic composition of people (in different proportions)? What is Greece’s problem with the name “Macedonia”?

If Macedonia is Greek why didn’t Greece name itself Macedonia or even name its northern province that it occupied and annexed in 1912 Macedonia? Why did Greece call its northern province “New Territories” and later “Northern Greece”? Why did Greece wait until the late 1980’s to name its northern province “Macedonia” precisely when it was inevitable that a new Macedonian State was about to declare its independence from Yugoslavia? These are serious

questions that Greece needs to answer. It owes this to the Macedonian people and to the world.

Until Greece answers the above questions we will assume the following: Ever since Greece occupied Macedonian territories in 1912 by force and without the consent of the Macedonian people, Greece is on the hook for illegal territorial grabs.

Since 1912 Greece has tortured, murdered and exiled Macedonians, including 28,000 Macedonian children, and illegally confiscated their lands. It has changed peoples’ names and toponyms and has banned the Macedonian language in an effort to “Hellenize” Macedonia and the Macedonian people. Simply put, Greece made every effort to extinguish the Macedonian identity on the Macedonian lands it occupied, including the name “Macedonia” and turn it into Greek. Seeing that it was inevitable that a Macedonian State was about to emerge from the remnants of geographical Macedonia, Greece concocted the story that there was only one Macedonia and that Macedonia belonged to Greece.

Ever since the Republic of Macedonia’s emergence, Greece has made every effort to negate it. Why? Because Greece is now afraid that since the Macedonian people created their own state they will start asking for rights of their brethren Macedonians living in Greece and in the Diaspora and will start asking Greece for the return of their lands and citizenships.

It has been almost 100 years since the Macedonian people witnessed their country liberated from the Muslim Ottomans only to be occupied and partitioned by its Christian neighbours the Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians. In those 100 years Macedonians have witnessed their villages burned; their fellow Macedonians exiled and stripped of their lands. They have witnessed settlers take over their lands and occupy their homes, their language banished and punishments handed out for speaking it. Their names, surnames, names of their villages, mountains and rivers erased and replaced with foreign names. They have seen entire villages humiliated and forced to pledge allegiance to their occupier.

In 1949 a huge mass of the Macedonian population, including 28,000 children fleeing to save themselves from a war, was permanently evicted, their citizenship stripped and their lands confiscated.

In 1982 Greece passed a law (106841) allowing Greeks by birth to return to Greece excluding Macedonians, even though these Macedonians were born in Macedonia after 1912 and in fact were all Greek citizens. While Greece claims there are no non-Greeks living in Greece it does make a distinction between those of its citizens who support its national myth and those who don’t.

With the emergence of the Republic of Macedonia, Greece again chose the path of self-indulgence refusing the Macedonians their due recognition and right to self declare which leads to the following question: “How long do Macedonians have to wait before they get justice and experience freedom in Greece?”

Where does Greece believe its actions will lead the Macedonian people? Will anyone blame the Macedonians if they start taking matters into their own hands and start looking for recognition elsewhere?

Why is Greece so surprised when yet another country recognizes the Republic of Macedonia by its proper name?

How long does Greece think it can push the Macedonian people around without consequences?

To this date Greece has broken every international minority law in the book. Has it not occurred to Greece that it is not above the law and someday soon these violations will catch up to it?

Greece had best soon start re-thinking its strategy towards its treatment of the Macedonian people because frankly, Macedonians have had enough of Greece. If Greece does not change its attitude and soon manage its Macedonian problem in a fair and equitable way, Macedonians will have no choice but to start very loudly calling for the re-unification of all of Macedonia or for the creation of a Kosovo like Macedonian state out of Greece.

If Macedonia is Greek why didn’t Greece name itself Macedonia or even name its northern province it occupied and annexed it in 1912 Macedonia? Why did Greece call its northern province “New Territories” and later “Northern Greece”?

7. Greek-Macedonian Name Dispute

Ever since the Republic of Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 under the name “Republic of Macedonia” Greece has been waging a propaganda campaign against it promoting the idea that Macedonia is exclusively Greek and that no one except Greece had the right to claim its ancient heritage, including its symbols, flags and name. This is echoed, loud and clear both inside and outside of Greece. Greece’s basis for the so called dispute with the Republic of Macedonia is, according to Greece, “the Republic of Macedonia harbors territorial ambitions toward Greece’s northern province also called Macedonia”.

Even though the Republic of Macedonia made amendments to its constitution to disclaim any "territorial ambitions", removed all disputed symbols and changed its flag, the Greek State still stubbornly persists on its mission to prevent Macedonia from entering international institutions and from gaining world recognition.

The purpose of this essay is to provide the reader with relevant information that;

1. Proves that Greece has no basis for its arguments with Macedonia. 2. Proves that Greece’s arguments are a ruse to sidestep more important issues. 3. Highlight some very important issues that Macedonians living in Greece are faced with, which Greece has so far ignored.