Former UN Mediator tells Macedonia Not to yield a mm to Greece

Saturday, 07 August 2010

Macedonia must not and will not change its name in order to appease Greece - this was a message from the first UN mediator Mr. Robin O'Neil for Ohrid based NTV station as part of a conference entitled "Macedonia, our name, identity and dignity".

Speaking about exclusivity of the name Macedonia, British expert of international law and ambassador, explained that no one exclusively owns the name Macedonia.

According to Mr. O'Neil, if Macedonia succumbs to pressures and changes its name, such events will only give more firepower to Greece until it reaches its final goal - Macedonia to vanish from the map.

O'Neil advised the Macedonian Government to work hard on admission to EU and NATO adding: 'Macedonia already has two names, it doesn't need a third. As time passes, the temporary name will lose its importance and relevance, because it is a temporary name."

Mr. O'Neil believes Greece has broken the rules of the 1995 Agreement because it is blocking the country from accessions to EU and NATO, even though it is clearly stated in the Agreement (UN Resolution 817) it can not do so.

The former UN mediator stressed repeatedly at the conference: "If Macedonia accepts any sort of change, whether it is the silly North, Above, Top, Vardar, Upper... it shall commit a national suicide.

Greek professor Aristotelis Camparis disagrees. The intellectual from the Athens University of Pirea believes there is a rare opportunity for the two countries to solve the name dispute until November in which borth parties will win. He believes there are friendly Governments in both countries that could work things out.

Famous professor and intellectual at Ss Cyril and Methodius Mr. Ljubomir Cuculovski disagrees with his colleague from Athens. Cuculovski believes Greece is just a poodle in the whole name dispute game and is being used by a third powerful nation whose agenda is to remove Macedonia from the map, a sentiment shared by many Macedonian professors.


"According to Mr. O'Neil, if Macedonia succumbs to pressures and changes its name, such events will only give more firepower to Greece until it reaches its final goal - Macedonia to vanish from the map." Correction Mr O'Neil, we want pseudo-macedonia to go away, not the true one.

seen here