Should "Ethnicity Denial" of Macedonians be Made a Crime?

Can some shit-disturbing, non-conformist, pain-in-the-butt, euro-trash MP in the EU Parliament introduce a law that makes it a crime to promote "Ethnicity Denial" of Macedonians. We need more made to order laws like this one for Armenians in Switzerland.

This Swiss law about Armenians is very interesting. It is specifically designed to be ant-Turkish at a time when Turkey is trying to enter the EU. It seems to be against the law to deny the Armenian genocide, but it is OK to deny the existence of Kurds in Turkey and Macedonians in Greece. If you have enough lobby power and it is in the interests of certain groups, you can get a law made to order, while your country happily ignores the rights of others. Laws for the benefit of Armenians are being passed in France and in the US. It is funny (but not hilarious) that one of the US politicians, Rep. Adam Schiff, who advocated for the Armenians is also denying the existence of Macedonians in Greece. It is a human condition to be a hypocrite but I guess this guy's motto is "you can't be too big of a hypocrite.

My suggestion "take the log out of your own eye before complaining about the sliver in someone else's eye".

Swiss 'genocide' trial for Turk:
BBC NEWS | Europe |


"Swiss 'genocide' trial for Turk Dogu Perincek

Dogu Perincek's case risks straining Swiss-Turkish relations
A Turkish nationalist leader has gone on trial in Switzerland for denying that the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 amounted to 'genocide'.

Dogu Perincek, 65, is accused under Swiss law of racial discrimination.

The Swiss parliament, along with more than a dozen countries, recognises the killings as 'genocide'. Turkey firmly rejects the 'genocide' allegation."

NATO - Turkish Values at Work! Pray for the Kurds of Turkey!

It is interesting to me that the SE Times, funded by the US Defense Department would print this story. What's their motive? I don't know. Maybe we can get them to cover Macedonians in Greece. I could happen!

Turkey sentences pro-Kurdish party leaders to prison for distributing leaflets
(SETimes.com):

"ANKARA, Turkey -- An Ankara court sentenced two Kurdish politicians, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) Ahmet Turk and DTP deputy leader Aysel Tugluk -- to 1.5 years in prison on Monday (February 26th). The two were convicted of breaching the Turkish law on political parties by distributing Kurdish-language political leaflets last year. The material reportedly backed the terrorist organisation Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and praised imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Turk and Tugluk's lawyer denied the charges and said they may take their case to the European Court of Human Rights. (Zaman, Sabah - 27/02/07; NTV - 26/02/07)"

Description Good! Prescription Bad!

These guy want to save the world with a "Grande Theory", but when these guys were in power during the Clinton administration, they were in charge of putting the boots to the Kurds of Turkey and the Macedonians of Greece. If they want the democracies of the world to unite, first expel Greece and Turkey from polite company!

"Democracies of the World, Unite"
Ivo Daalder & James Lindsay
The American Interest: Policy.

The Bush revolution in foreign policy is over. After September 11, the Administration acted on the conviction that an America that dared to shake off the constraints of international rules, laws and institutions could remake the world for the better. What they found instead was that an America unbound alienated allies, empowered adversaries and divided Americans. Faced with an overstretched military and multiplying threats, the Bush Administration in its second term has acknowledged through its deeds what its critics have long argued: The United States, powerful but no"

Green Light for Turkey to Smash the Kurds

This is how the world works. Former US Secretary of State Holbrooke expresses sympathy for the plight of Turkmens of Kirkuk, but not one word about the plight of Kurds in Turkey. Don't expect any Nato general to go to Turkish Kurdistan to apologize for aiding and abetting their oppression for 50 years. US concern for human rights and democracy in Iraqi Kurdistan does not extend to Turkish Kurdistan.There's the rub and there's the cause of instability in the Middle East and the Balkans.

Opportunity For Turks And Kurds?
Richard Holbrooke
Washington Post Post

Whatever happens in Iraq, we must try to limit the terrible fallout from the war. The place to start should be with our indispensable NATO ally Turkey,...

This symmetry of fears has led to semi-secret discussions and even some cooperation between our NATO ally and that charter member of the "axis of evil" on dealing with the PKK, a terrorist group that has conducted raids against both Turkey and Iran from bases just inside northern Iraq for many years. I would not rule out limited Turkish military action against some of those bases -- especially since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under enormous political pressure to show strong nationalist credentials against hawkish rivals in an election year.

After years of mishandling relations with Turkey, last year the administration appointed retired Gen. Joe Ralston, the universally respected former NATO commander, as special envoy for the PKK problem. Ralston's intervention helped avoid a Turkish attack in Iraq last summer, and he is accelerating his efforts to get Irbil to rein in the PKK

... The new Iraqi constitution calls for a referendum this year on whether Kirkuk is to be incorporated into the Kurdistan region. The Turks -- who refer repeatedly to the dangers to the Turkmen, their ethnic cousins who live in Kirkuk -- have said that they will not accept such an event. Avoiding a full-blown crisis will require intense mediation by the United States; unfortunately, Ralston's current mandate does not include Kirkuk.

Is It Time to Screw the Kurds Yet?

I have taken a keen interest in the plight of the Kurds. They face identical struggles for national identity that the Macedonian have faced in the past and continue to face in Greece and Bulgaria. This is a really good article with the notable exception that the role of Nato in repressing the Kurds is totally ignored, not one sentence ... a plot? ... I think so! Christopher de Bellaigue may or may not be a decent fellow, I simply can't tell by this article.

The Uncontainable Kurds
The New York Review of Books

...There are generally reckoned to be about 27 million Kurds in this region, of which some 15 million are in Turkey, 5 million in Iraq, another 5 million in Iran, and 1.7 million in Syria.

... In Istanbul and other places, visiting European politicians deplore Turkey's reluctance to resolve legal ambiguities surrounding the ownership of scores of Christian places of worship. And in the southeast, where the EU has long supported enhanced Kurdish rights—although not the PKK, which it considers a terrorist organization—European officials have on occasion recommended legislation that would make it easier for Kurdish parties that renounce violence to gain admittance to parliament, and would oblige state schools in Kurdish areas to offer instruction in the local language.

... After more than two decades of struggle, in which at least 30,000 guerrillas and sympathizers were killed and an unknown number were imprisoned, tortured, and harassed, the PKK's emotional hold over millions of Kurds remains strong. Even now, in Diyarbakir and other places in the southeast, it is hard to find people who openly criticize the PKK, apart from the "loyalist" Kurds who have been armed and funded by the state.

... Turkey's longstanding fear, that the Kurdish federal region in Iraq will declare independence, adding to nationalist passions among its own Kurds, is shared by Iran and Syria, the other countries that have divided up the ancient region of Kurdistan

... It is not surprising that the US, engaged in a demoralizing struggle against insurgents in Iraq's Arab regions, has balked at starting a new offensive in Kurdistan, the calmest part of the country, against an organization that has never attacked it and at the behest of a country that refused its request for help three years ago. Turkey suspects that Bush's appointment of Joseph Ralston, a retired general, to come up with an anti-PKK policy acceptable to the Iraqi and Turkish governments is a smokescreen

... The US remains officially committed to Iraq's unity, but that could change even before George Bush leaves office. From an American perspective, a new Kurdish state would have much to recommend it. It would be friendly to the US, and as much of a democracy as you are likely to find in the Middle East. But an independent Kurdistan would probably cause Turkey to be even more repressive of its own Kurds, and as a result its chances of entering Europe, which the US has encouraged, will become dimmer. Iran would feel more threatened if there is an independent Kurdistan and would be more likely to intervene secretly and openly in Kurdish affairs. Even if they get hold of Kirkuk, the Iraqi Kurds may find that they have much to gain by putting off their dream of statehood for more than a few years to come.

The Balkans and Iraq

Neocons Dream Sweet Dreams

Below is a link to Senator Joe Biden's latest plea in the Washington Post to set the stage for the partition of Iraq. He is really starting to annoy me. I'm not sure if Uncle Joe is actually conspiring with the Neocon's or whether he is just too naive for his own good, but I would like to make a prediction, that the future Bush policy in the Middle East will be one of destabilization, not democracy. This is based on my "telepathically communing" with the Neocons in the White House and also based on my knowledge of what has happened in Yugoslavia.

The preview of this new policy was the 2006 war in Lebanon, where the bombing of Beirut was designed to ignite a civil war against the Shia (Hezbollah) by the Sunnis and Christians. Fortunately, the Sunnis and Christians have seen that movie before, knew how it ended and decided not to play the part that was scripted for them by Olmert and Bush.

Even though it didn't really work that well in Lebanon, destabilization will be retooled for Iraq, Syria and Iran.

For Iraq, the first step will be to promote tripartite "federalism" dividing Iraq into three distinct federal units which has been championed by US Senator Biden (NYT Op-Ed, May 1, 2006, WaPo August 24, 2006 ironically named "A Plan to Hold Iraq Together"). This is basically, partition lite, because Iraqis will have to define new boundaries for each of the three provinces. This process, in itself, will be the catalyst for ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.

Pundits will not have to ask whether Iraq is in a state of civil war. Like the war in Bosnia, it will be easy to determine when Iraq slips into civil war. The Kurdish Members of Parliament will leave for Kirkuk; the Shias MPs will leave for Basra; the Sunni MPs will leave for Fallujah. There will be convoys of people on donkeys leaving mixed neighborhoods for ethnically pure neighborhoods. Baghdad will look like Beirut or Sarajevo.

Then American politicians will say "things have changed"! The will ask now ... "who do we support, who do we betray"? (The Kurds had better hold on to their hats because US policy can change on a dime.)

This is the "Lord Owen" solution, which was applied during the Bosnian war when he proposed new internal borders for Bosnia that recognized ethnic cleansing as "the facts on the ground". This in turn led to a new round of ethnic cleansing, especially between Croats and Bosniaks.

For Syria, it means the overthrow, with the aid of some bombs, of Assad regime and his minority Alawite religious group and handing power the Sunni majority. This should pry Syria away from the hold that Iran has on it and stop the shipments of arms from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah.

Iran is the hardest nut to crack. It would be too costly, in terms of manpower and money, for the US to attempt to get ride of the Iranian mullahs by itself. Instead, using Yugoslavia as a model, the US will bomb Iran, giving cover to local separatist groups such as the Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis and you guessed it the Arabs bordering on southern Shia dominated Iraq (where all the Iranian oil is). When Washington makes it known to all concerned that it will break Iran into pieces, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iraqi Kurdistan, and you guessed it the Shia in Iraq will join the US and all descend on Iran to get their part of the spoils. Similar to the German invasion of Yugoslavia during WW2.

See the ethnic map of Iran: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/iran_ethnoreligious_distribution_2004.jpg

Iran's infrastructure will be destroyed, it oil province gone. Its Persian population representing 60% of current Iran will have lost the will to carry on. (Let that be a lesson to those call Bush the evil Satan.)

So what kind of Middle East will we have? There will be no talk about democracy in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Lebanon will have a cowed Hezbollah, which will have lost access to Iranian money and weapons. A Sunni lead Syrian government will be crippled after a civil war with the Alawites. In Iraq, after a protracted civil war three separate states will emerge: Kurdistan, Shia Iraq and Sunni Iraq. Finally there will be a rump Iran that has lost almost half of its territory and population. Everyone will be at each other's throats and all will look to the US to find favour so that each country can get whatever scraps the US will through at it.

Just like in the Balkans. Just like Yugoslavia.

Turkey will be the wild card. Will it try to intervene to stop the emergence of an independent Kurdistan. I don't think so. The US will make it clear that it is in the US national interest that these countries should "liberated". Turkey will be given the option of being with the US or against it. I think that Turkey will go with the US.

The Minimum Necessary
By Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Wahsington Post
Sunday, November 19, 2006

First, Baker-Hamilton must tackle the issue of U.S. troop deployments. Most Democrats believe we should begin the phased redeployment of our troops in the coming months but not set a hard deadline for their withdrawal. We would refocus the mission of those who remain on counter terrorism, training, logistics and force protection.

The Lost Opportunity of Vasil Tupurkovski

Oct 3, 2006

To: Vasil Tupukovski,
From: David Edenden,


Vasil, when you broke with Kiro Gligorov and indicated that you would write a book about "Ancient Macedonia" I was speechless. I could not understand why you would waste your time with this subject which has been beaten to death by better writers and better historians, when you could have written,
intelligently, about the collapse of the former Yugoslavia and gained a wide audience among the opinion leaders of the US/EU. Among the Western elites, there was a genuine desire to try to understand the collapse of Yugoslavia, which was the most advanced and liberal communist country in Europe.

You were well thought of by the western media and with your command of English would have gained a large sympathetic audience for the Macedonian cause. I had the thought that the position of President of Macedonia should have been ceremonial and real power should have rested with the Prime Minister. Vasil, you should have been President and spent most of your time outside of Macedonia promoting Macedonian recognition. As Macedonian President, world leaders would have been more likely to meet with you, than with some foreign minister whose command of English was limited. Gligorov would have been Prime Minister.

As the Macedonian member of the last Yugoslav "Presidency", you were in an enviable position to write about the collapse of Yugoslavia, which would have found a large audience in the English speaking world. Instead Macedonians have had to content themselves with writers (some more sympathetic than others) like Loring Danforth, Robert Kaplan, Misha Glenny, or Hugh Poulton With your roots in Greek Macedonia, you could have influenced a generation of writers about the Macedonian question.

Its not too late to share your experiences. If you do write a book about the collapse of Yugoslavia, please concentrate of on why the Germans thought Croatia deserved independence while the Kurds of Turkey were being suppressed. Was US/EU/Nato promoting human rights, if so why no action on the plight of Macedonians in Greece.

Pseudo-Human Rights Group - National Democratic Institute (NDI)

This is one of the many pseudo-human rights groups that have reproduced like rabbits after the collapse of the cold war. It studiously avoids mention of Macedonians in Greece, Kurds in Turkey and nothing on Saudi Arabia. It is chaired by Madeleine K. Albright, so you know that it is going to part of the US effort to destabilise various governments around the world that piss off the US. Macedonia can't do anything about this group, but if I was Putin, I would show these guys the door … pronto.

NDI - National Democratic Institute:

"In Macedonia, NDI support has made parliament one of the strongest in the region through public legislative hearings, constituent relations offices, and a flagship internship program. "

American Neocon Dreams and the New Middle East

I would like to make a prediction, that the future Bush policy in the Middle East will be one of destabilisation, not democracy. This is based on my "telepathically communing" with the Neocons in the White House and also based on my knowledge of what has happened in Yugoslavia.

The preview of this new policy was the 2006 war in Lebanon, where the bombing of Beirut was designed to ignite a civil war against the Shia (Hezbollah) by the Sunnis and Christians. Fortunately, the Sunnis and Christians have seen that movie before, knew how it ended and decided not to play the part that was scripted for them by Olmert and Bush.

Even though it didn't really work that well in Lebanon, destabilisation will be retooled for Iraq, Syria and Iran.

For Iraq, the first step will be to promote tripartite "federalism" dividing Iraq into three distinct federal units which has been championed by US Senator Biden (NYT Op-Ed, May 1, 2006, WaPo August 24, 2006 ironically named "A Plan to Hold Iraq Together"). This is basically, partition lite, because Iraqis will have to define new boundaries for each of the three provinces. This process, in itself, will be the catalyst for ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.

Pundits will not have to ask whether Iraq is in a state of civil war. Like the war in Bosnia, it will be easy to determine when Iraq slips into civil war. The Kurdish Members of Parliament will leave for Kirkuk; the Shias MPs will leave for Basra; the Sunni MPs will leave for Fallujah. There will be convoys of people on donkeys leaving mixed neighbourhoods for ethnically pure neighbourhoods. Baghdad will look like Beirut or Sarajevo.

Then American politicians will say "things have changed"! The will ask now ... "who do we support, who do we betray"? (The Kurds had better hold on to their hats because US policy can change on a dime.)

This is the "Lord Owen" solution, which was applied during the Bosnian war when he proposed new internal borders for Bosnia that recognised ethnic cleansing as "the facts on the ground". This, in turn, led to a new round of ethnic cleansing, especially between Croats and Bosniaks.

For Syria, it means the overthrow, with the aid of some bombs, of Assad regime and his minority Alawite religious group and the handing of power the Sunni majority. This should pry Syria away from the hold that Iran has on it and stop the shipments of arms from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah.

Iran is the hardest nut to crack. It would be too costly, in terms of manpower and money, for the US to attempt to get ride of the Iranian mullahs by itself. Instead, using Yugoslavia as a model, the US will bomb Iran, giving cover to local separatist groups such as the Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis and you guessed it the Arabs bordering on southern Shia dominated Iraq (where all the Iranian oil is). When Washington makes it known to all concerned that it will break Iran into pieces, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iraqi Kurdistan, and you guessed it the Shia in Iraq will join the US and all descend on Iran to get their part of the spoils. Similar to the German invasion of Yugoslavia during WW2.

See the ethnic map of Iran:

Iran's infrastructure will be destroyed, it oil province gone. Its Persian population representing 60% of current Iran will have lost the will to carry on. (Let that be a lesson to those call Bush the evil Satan.)

So what kind of Middle East will we have? There will be no talk about democracy in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Lebanon will have a cowed Hezbollah, which will have lost access to Iranian money and weapons. A Sunni lead Syrian government will be crippled after a civil war with the Alawites. In Iraq, after a protracted civil war three separate states will emerge: Kurdistan, Shia Iraq and Sunni Iraq. Finally there will be a rump Iran that has lost almost half of its territory and population. Everyone will be at each other's throats and all will look to the US to find favour so that each country can get whatever scraps the US will throw at it.

Just like in the Balkans. Just like Yugoslavia.

Turkey will be the wild card. Will it try to intervene to stop the emergence of an independent Kurdistan. I don't think so. The US will make it clear that it is in the US national interest that these countries should "liberated". Turkey will be given the option of being with the US or against it. I think that Turkey will go with the US.

Kurdish Lessons for Macedonia

Below is a link to a Washington Post op-ed piece regarding how the US should repair its relations with Turkey which have become hostile since the Iraq war. Nothing too radical about this analysis with the exception that the discrimination faced by Turkish Kurds is not mentioned. All Macedonians will recognize the quote below as being similar to the Greek fears about their "Slav minority".

My suggestion is that Bush go to the largest city of Turkish Kurdistan and pray at the cemetery of the Kurds that were killed by Turkish troops during the last fifteen years and beg for forgiveness for the US role in helping Turkey cultural genocide against Its Kurdish minority.

Building a New Era in U.S.-Turkey Relations:

"Ankara wants the United States to honor President Bush's principle of "you are either with us or against us" and destroy the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) -- which Washington designates a terrorist organization -- prevent Kurdish control of Kirkuk and the oil rich region surrounding that city, and ultimately check the emergence of an independent Kurdistan. The Turks fear that a Kurdish state in northern Iraq would stoke nationalist sentiment among Turkey's own large Kurdish minority."

Steven A. Cook is Douglas Dillon Fellow and Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall is Adjunct Senior Fellow for Alliance Relations at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Iraq Partition Plans and Implications for Macedonia

Below is my letter to Anthony H. Cordesman, CSIS, on the proposal to partition Iraq into three federal units. The debate over dividing Iraq demonstrates the difficulties that face the peoples of the Balkans, in general, and Macedonians in particular, when dealing with the behemoth superpower known as the United States of America.

Many people around the world condemn the United States and the EU for having a "double standard" with regard to various conflicts around the world. I believe this is wrong. The US and the EU have only one standard, which is "what is in the national interest of the US/EU at this point in time". The sooner we come to accept this fact the better we are prepared to deal with its implications.

Three Iraqs Would Be One Big Problem - New York Times May 9, 2006:

May 9, 2006
Dear Mr. Cordesman

I agree with all your points about the possible partition of Iraq into three distinct federal units as proposed by Joseph R. Biden Jr. (NYT Op-Ed, May 1, 2006)

This is the "Lord Owen" solution, which was applied during the Bosnian war when he proposed new internal borders for Bosnia that recognized ethnic cleansing as "the facts on the ground". This in turn led to a new round of ethnic cleansing, especially between Croats and Bosniaks.

Being a Macedonian from the Balkans, I smell a plot. Like Lord Owen, Joseph R. Biden Jr. is neither a stupid, nor ignorant man. He must know the consequences of his "partition lite" plan for Iraq, but I assume he feels that expanding the civil war within Iraq; between Arabs and Kurds; between the Sunnis and Shites would be in the best interests of the United States at this time.

Nobody war ever fired from the "punditocracy" for proposing "divide and conquer" as an instrument of war.

However, the problem with your "op-ed piece" is that you have not proposed an alternative policy for peace in Iraq. Below is my suggestion.

We should to look to other countries for a model for Iraq. For example, the Kurds in Iraq could be offered the same rights as the Kurds of Turkey, who are known as "mountain Turks", have enjoyed since Turkey joined Nato. Iraqi Kurds would be known as "mountain Arabs" and their language and culture would be banned. These are Nato values since Turkey is a member of Nato.

The Sunnis could be offered the same rights as the Macedonians of Greece, who are known as "slavophone Greeks", have enjoyed ever since Greece joined Nato and the EU. Iraqi Sunnis would be defined as lapsed Shites and officially Sunnis would cease to exist. These are Nato and EU values since Greece is a member of both organizations.

I am sure that your group has the skill to solve the problems in Iraq while totally ignoring the actions of the United States in other parts of the world. Keep up the good work!

ICG = CIA: You be the Judge

Dear Nicholas Whyte,
Europe Program Director
International Crisis Group

When I mentioned in my post to The Macedonian News Service, that your group, The International Crisis Group was a front for the CIA, you obviously took it in a negative light. Nothing could be further from the truth. The CIA is merely an instrument of American foreign policy that purses “the US national interest” without regard to human rights, war or peace, or collateral damage on other countries. I have encouraged the government of Macedonia to develop close ties with the CIA as you can see from the posts below. Lets face it, when someone has got you by the "yatse", you don't have much room to maneuver.

CIA Spy Spills the Beans on Macedonian Adventure
Macedonia Strengthen ties to CIA
Investigation: Macedonia Implicated in “Abduction” Case
CIA Kidnapping With Macedonian Help Gets the Times Treatment
On Lindsay Moran, CIA Spy, From A Macedonian Who Knew Her.
Pseudo-Human Rights : Freedom House on Macedonia

NGO's covering the Balkans that address the issue of Macedonians in Greece or the Kurds of Turkey are "human rights groups". These include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and The US State Department on Human Rights (with input -- and no irony -- from the CIA).

NGO's that ignore the Macedonians and Kurds are what I have come to call "semi-official pseudo human rights groups" groups. These include, The International Crisis Group, Radio Free Europe, and Freedom House (in the case of Macedonians in Greece). I have just searched for any reference in the ICG web site to the plight of Macedonians in Greece ... and what a surprise ... I found none. I searched for compelling analysis of the plight of Kurds in Turkey and found this article, “Iraq: Allaying Turkey's Fears Over Kurdish Ambitions”. You may think that this is your finest hour, I do not.

Every barber, every hairdresser, every taxicab driver and every other member is the chattering classes in the Balkans thinks that The International Crisis Group is a front for the CIA and so do I. (not that there’s anything wrong with it!)

This Article is an Example of Why RFE is Anti-Macedonian

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Robert Alagjozovski has written an excellent article for "Transitions (Radio Free Europe)". Robert, keep up the good work and keep writing for Transitions. The bad news is that the assignment given to Robert by the editors of "Transition" was basically anti-Macedonian because it did not include a survey of the use of symbols in other Balkan countries.

I know at least one village in Greece elected a Macedonian mayor from Vinoshito and there are numerous mayors of Turkish speaking villages in Thrace. Are they allowed to fly Macedonian and Turkish flags. How about the Turks in Bulgaria? How about the Kurds of Turkey? How about the Greeks of Albania? By focusing on the deficiencies of Macedonia, without including the context of other Balkan countries, RFE adds to a European drum beat for Macedonia to live up to so-called European standards. Meanwhile, Greece, a member is good standing of both Nato and the EU denies basic human rights to ethnic Macedonians. By definition, Greece's values regarding minority rights are EU values.


Transitions Online: Flagging the Issue: "Flagging the Issue
by Robert Alagjozovski
27 June 2005

A debate on symbols for Macedonia’s minorities exposes rifts within the country – and the ruling coalition.

SKOPJE, Macedonia | Before taking its summer recess, the Macedonian parliament is trying to pass legislation that would fully implement the Ohrid Framework Agreement, which ended the country’s brief civil war of 2001. Any further delay could dampen hopes of the country becoming a candidate for European Union membership by the end of this year.
"

Free Advice: You Get What You Pay For.

Pauline Neville-Jones, who was a member of the International Commission on the Balkans, (as is Kiro Gligorov), is a silly little tart. The main problem with her report and with this op-ed piece is that she assumes that the EU is there to solve the problems of the Balkans. We all know that the EU is part of the problem because it has ignored human rights violations of Kurds in Turkey, Macedonians in Greece. Even as you read this the EU pressures the Republic of Macedonia to change its name, the name of the Macedonian language and the name of the Macedonian Orthodox Church to appease Greece. Pauline has so many plans for so many people in so many countries but she will not admit that Greek values regarding minority rights are EU values. That is the problem.

Yahoo! Groups : RMDigest Messages : Message 4523 of 4609: "A Balkan rethink is required before it is too late

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/914afef0-d5e7-11d9-8040-00000e2511c8.html

By Pauline Neville-Jones

Today, there is no fighting in the Balkans, there is no ethnic cleansing and there are elections. There has been progress in the decade since the Bosnia peace agreement. But, Croatia aside, the former Yugoslavia is drifting. Political development is stunted, unemployment high, growth low and corruption pervasive.

More dangerous is the fact that, as the International Crisis Group recently reported, Kosovo stands on the edge of renewed conflict. Pessimism prevails among suspicious, isolated people who are unable to get visas to travel abroad. The Balkans is becoming ghettoised as the gap between the region and the rest of Europe widens.

The international community continues to pour in money. Almost half of Europe's deployable military force is stuck. Exit is impossible as long as Bosnia is governed by an imposed proconsular figure, the status of Kosovo is undecided and the region lacks a vision of the future.

The European Union needs to fulfil the promise its leaders made in Thessalonika in 2003 to integrate the Balkan countries. This can only mean enlargement of the Union. If the EU reneges, there are two possible outcomes: Europe entrenches empire merely to keep law and order, or it lets go to the revived forces of nationalism and conflict. Both are deeply unappealing.

The International Commission on the Balkans, led by Giuliano Amato, the former Italian prime minister, recently issued a report on the way forward. *The commission is clear that present policy, which evolved piecemeal, will no longer do. A coherent, long-term action plan leading to the establishment of stable and open societies is urgently needed.

The commission proposes three big steps towards integration. First, a summit should be held in 2006 at which the Balkan countries would be set on their respective roads to EU accession. Most countries will first need extensive preparation in which institutions are built and small national markets opened up to the regional free trade that is indispensable to attracting private investors. The region should provide its own security. All the countries should join Nato's Partnership for Peace. The role played by Nato in central and eastern Europe in modernising armed forces and creating the climate of confidence indispensable to stability should be replicated in the Balkans.

Policy on justice and human rights needs adjustment. It is easier for local leaders to refuse to surrender indicted war criminals than to improve their international standing by complying with outside pressure. Balkan
governments cannot escape their obligations to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but the commission considers that co-operation so far has been good enough to move to the stage of 'Europe Agreements' - in which resources would start to flow in the context of countries enforcing standards. In Kosovo, 'standards before status' blocks decisions that are urgently needed to prevent a new slide into violence. The United Nations is right to have instituted a review of its weak administration that is barely in control of local political infighting. The commission advocates an early start on staged moves (which require the co-operation of Belgrade) to full sovereignty realised within, but only within, the EU. Kosovo's independence arouses strong emotions. But neither return to rule from Belgrade or doing nothing is an option. The commission's polling suggests that Kosovo's independence would not lead to the dismemberment of Bosnia but could tempt Kosovo Albanians to seek a 'Greater Albania' that could drive conflict in Macedonia along ethnic lines.

The EU must use its muscle to enforce acceptable outcomes. The EU needs to rethink its thin policy towards Serbia-Montenegro. Managing Kosovo requires this, as does the need either to revive or put an end to the dysfunctional federation.

Finally, Bosnia. Much has been achieved under international administrators but their power now stops local leaders assuming their responsibilities. A special EU negotiator, exercising soft power rather than sovereignty, should replace them - and soon.

The commission has suggested an ambitious accession timetable. Substance must have priority over timing. But the EU should rise to the challenge of bringing the Balkans into the European mainstream not later than a century after the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, which sparked the cataclysms of the 20th century.

* _www.balkan-commission.org_ (http://www.balkan-commission.org/)
Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, who was a member of the International Commission on the Balkans, is chairman of QinetiQ
"

Inhale first before reading, because it will take your breath away.

France wants Turkey to admit guilt regarding the Armenian Genocide.

I call on France to admit its guilt for associating with Turkey in Nato andwith Greece in the EU for complicity in "cultural genocide" with respect to ethnic Kurds in Turkey and ethnic Macedonians in Geece.

BBC NEWS Europe Turkey 'must admit WWI genocide'

France has said it will ask Turkey to acknowledge the mass killing of Armenians from 1915 as genocide when it begins EU accession talks.

Georgie Anne Geyer on the Kurds

Georgie Anne Geyer is a journalist who has been writing articles along the line of "look how nice the West is" even as "the West" destabilize the very countries it is purporting to help. It takes your breath away sometimes. Here she is writing about the good effect of EU membership in Kurdish rights in Turkey. Fair enough. But .... she never mentions that the Kurds have had their rights violated under the watchful eye of NATO, of which Turkey is a leading member. Anyway, below is my post to her story. Read this first, ten read her story.

Yahoo! News - TURKEY MOVES CLOSER TO E.U. MEMBERSHIP

"Ms Geyer

Please write a column on how the denial of minority rights of ethnic Kurds in Turkey and ethnic Macedonians in Greece is by definition a "value" of NATO and the EU.

The fact that the EU can say to Turkey, that human rights for Kurds is essential for membership, while at the same time saying that mistreatment of ethnic Macedonians in Greece is OK. Not only that, but the Republic of Macedonia has to change its name, the name of the Macedonian language and the name of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

If it was Jews, this policy would be called anti-semitism, if it was was Africans, it woould be called racism, if it Native Americans, it would be called "cultural genocide"

Because it is happening in the EU today, Macedonians call it LIFE!

The EU policy in the Balkans has been the most de-stabilizing force since the collapse of the Berlin wall."