February 5, 2005
Press Release
The Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada (MHRMC) condemns the statements made by the President of Greece, Kostis Stephanopoulos, regarding the Republic of Macedonia during his recent visit to Belgium.
The President was quoted as saying that "FYROM (Macedonia) threatens Greece culturally and nationally with its theories of a wider Macedonia, part of which allegedly belongs to FYROM while another part belongs unjustifiably and illegally to Greece".
Mr. Stephanopoulos went on to reiterate Greece’s position that it rejects a name for “FYROM which does not belong to it, a name that is purely Greek.”
Mr. Stephanopoulos's unfounded claims are aimed at disguising the real reasons that Greece is opposed to the recognition of the Republic of Macedonia. Greece fears that if the Republic of Macedonia is recognized under its constitutional name, this will undermine Greece’s long-standing position that Macedonians do not exist anywhere and especially not in Greece. Greece particularly fears that recognition of the Republic of Macedonia will force Greece to recognize its own large ethnic Macedonian minority and thus make it accountable for its ongoing human rights abuses against Greek citizens of Macedonian ethnicity.
The MHRMC calls on the international community, and European institutions in particular, to condemn Mr. Stephanopoulos's remarks and to take a stand for the most basic of European values: dignity, respect for diversity, and a recognition that the individual cannot be repressed by the state in which he resides within a free and democratic Europe.
Bill Nicholov, President
Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada
http://www.mhrmc.ca/press/05/stephanopoulos.html
