Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI)

[Vangelovski]

This is a fantastic initiative. I think it should apply even more urgently to the Macedonian Government.

[PRODUCTOFMACEDONIA]

as far as I know. if it gets approved by the government for us to be called upper republic of Macedonia, it then has to go to a referendum and be voted by the people.
I am not a fan of the name but somehow I think the people of Macedonia will vote for it.
also why are we negotiating for our name and what do we get in return from Greece.to me MACEDONIA is non negotiable.

[The LION will ROAR]

MHRMI asks Nimetz to Resign, Denounce Name Negotiations

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/23141/45/

As the first UN mediator for the name dispute, Robin O'Neil, has said, "Macedonia must not and will not change its name in order to appease Greece. 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."


Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) and the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) call on the current UN mediator, Matthew Nimetz, to publicly come to the same conclusion as his predecessor, resign his post and denounce the nonsensical name negotiations.


As MHRMI and AMHRC have stated in the Our Name is Macedonia campaign, which calls on Macedonia to immediately stop the name negotiations, "Would any other country negotiate its own name?"


Instead of entertaining ridiculous suggestions such as the recent "Upper Republic of Macedonia", apparently for the "privilege" of entering the European Union and NATO, Macedonia, and the international community, must put an end to the name negotiations. Despite claims to the contrary, any change to the bilateral name used between Macedonia and Greece would change Macedonia`s name internationally.


Macedonians worldwide are vehemently against the name negotiations and rightly so, as it is common sense to see that there is no "solution" when one country is being asked to change its name to appease another country's racist notion that it has no right to exist.

[julie]

There more things change, the more they stay the same
Stupidity still abounds

[julie]

As the first UN mediator for the name dispute, Robin O'Neil, has said, "Macedonia must not and will not change its name in order to appease Greece. 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."

and we have prostituted Macedonians negotiating our identity

[George S.]

Just stooge for the greeks and their bidding.

[MHRMI]

This is a fantastic initiative. I think it should apply even more urgently to the Macedonian Government.

Thanks Tom. We've done this through the Our Name is Macedonia campaign and we call for it again in the press release that we just issued about our meeting with Ivanov. We included contact information for the Macedonian parliament.

http://macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?p=142803#post142803

[Vangelovski]

Thanks Tom. We've done this through the Our Name is Macedonia campaign and we call for it again in the press release that we just issued about our meeting with Ivanov. We included contact information for the Macedonian parliament.

http://macedoniantruth.org/forum/sho...803#post142803

I've always believed that the Macedonian Government is the problem ere and pressure needs to be applied to them, rather than have them deflect it onto Greece and the "international community".

[The LION will ROAR]

No Name change,.."NEVER"... But couldn't Republic Of Macedonia push the agenda towards the greeks to change the occupied part of Macedonia to "Lower Macedonia'...see how they like it.. .. I guess that's just common sense that MKD don't have...?

[MHRMI]

MHRMI and AMHRC Applaud the Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria for Demanding...

MHRMI and AMHRC Applaud the Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria for Demanding Equitable Treatment for the Republic of Macedonia by the European Parliament

Toronto, Canada and Melbourne, Australia (April 24, 2013) - Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) and the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) applaud our partners in the struggle for Macedonian human rights, Vinozhito and OMO Ilinden PIRIN, for demanding equitable treatment for the Republic of Macedonia by the European Parliament.

According to the letter sent to the European Parliament by Vinozhito and OMO Ilinden PIRIN, "We, as representatives acting on behalf of members of the Macedonian communities, whose very existence is denied and actively negated by the authorities in Greece and Bulgaria, wish to express our deep dissatisfaction with a significant number of the amendments proposed by the Greek and Bulgarian MEPs, in regard to the progress report on the Republic of Macedonia – a country which the EU does not even have the decency to refer to by its official and democratically chosen name."

The entire letter will be available in the upcoming issue of the Macedonian Human Rights Review.

Help Macedonians overcome the human rights abuses that they face on a daily basis by joining the MHRMI Human Rights Fund or the AMHRC's Macedonian Minorities Support Fund. MHRMI and the AMHRC are the only organizations in the Macedonian diaspora that finance and organize Macedonian human rights activities in the Balkans. Your donation will go directly to funding vital Macedonian human rights activities.

###

Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. For more information: www.mhrmi.org, twitter.com/mhrmi, facebook, [email protected], 1-416-850-7125.

Established in 1984 the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) is a non governmental organisation that advocates before governments, international institutions and broader communities about combating discrimination and promoting basic human rights. Our aspiration is to ensure that Macedonian communities and other excluded groups throughout the world are recognised, respected and afforded equitable treatment. For more information please visit www.macedonianhr.org.au, email [email protected] or via +61 3 93298960.

The European Free Alliance – Rainbow/Vinozhito is a political party struggling for the rights and recognition of the Macedonian minority in Greece. The party has offices in Florina/Lerin and Edessa/Voden. For more information please visit www.vinozito.gr, or by email: [email protected] or on +30 23850 46548.

OMO “Ilinden” PIRIN is a political party supporting the rights of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. It has been banned since 2000, despite a 2005 European Court of Human Rights Judgement ruling that the decision was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. For more information please visit www.omoilindenpirin.org.

[George S.]

something good is cominig our way on a positive note.ut one thing these countries are supposed to be in the un and i'm not sure if they guarantee hunan rights in their constitution,But they are in the eu are governed by the eu councill.

[MHRMI]

AMHRC, MHRMI & Vinozhito Condemn US State Department’s Negation of the Macedonian...

AMHRC, MHRMI and Vinozhito Condemn the US State Department’s Negation of the Macedonian Minority in Greece

Melbourne, Toronto and Lerin/Florina (April 26, 2013) - This week the US State Department released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012. In its report on Greece, under the sub-heading ”National/Racial/ Ethnic Minorities”, the following was stated about the situation and treatment of the Macedonian minority:

“The government did not recognize the existence of a Slavic dialect, called “Macedonian” by its speakers; nevertheless, a small number of its speakers identified themselves as “Macedonian,” a designation that generated strong opposition from other citizens. These individuals claimed that the government pursued a policy designed to discourage the use of their language. Government officials and the courts denied requests by Slavic groups to identify themselves using the term “Macedonian,” stating that approximately 2.2 million ethnically (and linguistically) Greek citizens also use the term “Macedonian” to identify themselves. The government has long refused to recognize an association with the name “Home of Macedonian Culture,” objecting to the use of the term “Macedonian.” The association took the case to the ECHR in 2009. In August the ECHR informed the government that it had accepted the case for judgment and requested the government to submit its position by January 15, 2013.”

The terminology used in this passage; namely “Slavic dialect”, “Slavic groups” and the use of quotation marks for the term Macedonian, represent nothing other than a negation of Macedonian ethnicity and language in Greece and a perpetuation of Greek racist stereotypes which have resulted in Macedonians in Greece being denied their basic human rights since 1913. It is important to point out that the US State Department has consistently used such insulting terminology when describing Macedonians in Greece in its Human Rights Reports for several years.

The Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee, Macedonian Human Rights Movement International and the European Free Alliance - Rainbow/Vinozhito condemn the US State Department for its use of such terminology and calls on it to respect the inalienable rights of the Macedonians in Greece to use the term Macedonian in describing their ethnicity and language.

We also call on Macedonians throughout the world to contact the US State Department at http://contact-us.state.gov/app/ask in order to express their opposition to the use of such degrading terminology.

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Help Macedonians overcome the human rights abuses that they face on a daily basis by joining the MHRMI Human Rights Fund or the AMHRC's Macedonian Minorities Support Fund. AMHRC and MHRMI are leading the defence of Macedonia's name and human rights in North America, throughout all parts of Macedonia and worldwide. MHRMI and the AMHRC are the only organizations in the Macedonian diaspora that finance and organize Macedonian human rights activities in the Balkans. Your donation will go directly to funding vital Macedonian human rights activities.

Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. For more information: www.mhrmi.org, twitter.com/mhrmi, facebook, [email protected], 1-416-850-7125.

Established in 1984 the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) is a non governmental organisation that advocates before governments, international institutions and broader communities about combating discrimination and promoting basic human rights. Our aspiration is to ensure that Macedonian communities and other excluded groups throughout the world are recognised, respected and afforded equitable treatment. For more information please visit www.macedonianhr.org.au, email [email protected] or via +61 3 93298960.

The European Free Alliance – Rainbow/Vinozhito is a political party struggling for the rights and recognition of the Macedonian minority in Greece. The party has offices in Florina/Lerin and Edessa/Voden. For more information please visit www.vinozito.gr, or by email: [email protected] or on +30 23850 46548.

[MHRMI]

The United Nations - Spreading Hypocrisy Throughout the World

The United Nations - Spreading Hypocrisy Throughout the World

The United Nations General Assembly must realize the irony in recently electing, as it refers to it, the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2014-2016. In Macedonia, the UNHRC is getting a member-state that is incapable of defending its own most basic human right, that of self-identification, by continuing to participate in the ludicrous UN-sponsored name negotiations.

As a member of the UNHRC, Macedonia will be expected to aid in “…strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe…” while, of course, simultaneously giving in to immense pressure by many UN member-states who demand that Macedonia end the so-called “name dispute” with Greece by changing its name. The hypocrisy abounds.

The UN has made a mess of this situation since Macedonia declared independence in 1991. Because it succumbed to pressure from Greece, the UN would only allow Macedonia entry if it changed its flag and accepted the so-called “temporary reference” of “FYROM” or “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. While this measure was supposedly to be used only within the UN, it cascaded to almost every other organization and international body imaginable. The excuse being that any agreement in the United Nations takes precedence.

The International Olympic Committee, for example, has Macedonian athletes marching between Finland and France, behind the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” sign and waving bastardized versions of the Macedonian flag as to not offend Greece, the country that is trying to wipe it off the map. It must be every Macedonian athlete’s dream to, one day, walk in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies under “F” and represent the great country of “FYROM”.

Now who is more to blame? The UN and its member-states for pressuring Macedonia to change its name, even though the vast majority of them, including four of the five permanent UN Security Council members, have recognized Macedonia using its proper name? Or Macedonia, for agreeing to negotiate its own name? Common sense dictates that a major reason that the West is calling for Macedonia to "compromise" and change its name is because it continues to negotiate it. The mere participation of Macedonia in the negotiations indicates that it is willing to compromise.

Macedonia would have been well-advised to take the offensive with the name dispute, but instead, chose to continuously defend itself against Greece’s ridiculous claims. The prevalent argument is that Macedonia wants to appear diplomatic and “fit in” with the West. Well, name another country that is willing to negotiate its name based on xenophobic stupidity.

Greece claims that it objects to Macedonia’s name because of “confusion” between the Republic of Macedonia and the Province of Macedonia (which Greece annexed after the partition of Macedonia in 1913). If this were true, the Belgian province of Luxembourg would demand that Luxembourg change its name, and the US state of Georgia would declare war on the Republic of Georgia.

As former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis admitted in 1995, Greece initiated the “name dispute” as an excuse to keep denying the existence, and persecution, of its large Macedonian minority and the Macedonian people as a whole. It has been stringing the world along in the claim that Macedonia is trying to usurp an “historically Greek” name. Ironic that Greece now claims that “Macedonia is Greek”, but it was not until 1988, when Greece realized that independence for the Republic of Macedonia was imminent, that it renamed “Northern Greece” to “Macedonia.” Prior to this, Greece’s policy was that Macedonia did not exist.

Instead of investing more time in trying to mediate a solution to an unsolvable problem, the UN, and current UN mediator for the name dispute Matthew Nimetz, should take the lead of the first UN mediator, Robin O’Neil, and denounce the name negotiations. According to Mr. O’Neil, "Macedonia must not and will not change its name in order to appease Greece. 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."

Of course, Macedonia should not hold its breath waiting for the UN to act. It must live up to the UN’s self-proclaimed ideals, and immediately withdraw from the senseless name negotiations.

Bill Nicholov, President
Macedonian Human Rights Movement International

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Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. For more information: www.mhrmi.org, www.twitter.com/mhrmi, www.facebook.com/mhrmi, [email protected], +1 416-850-7125.

[MHRMI]

MHRMI Meets with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, Reiterates Demand...

MHRMI Meets with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, Reiterates Demand that Macedonia End Name Negotiations

Toronto, Canada (November 21, 2013) – On November 20, 2013, Macedonian Human Rights Movement International members met with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki during his official state visit to Canada and reiterated our demand that Macedonia immediately end the name negotiations.

MHRMI President Bill Nicholov and MHRMI member Mark Opashinov met with Minister Poposki, Macedonian Ambassador to Canada Ljuben Tevdovski and Consul General of the Republic of Macedonia to Canada, Dragan Gjurcevski.

MHRMI called on the Macedonian government to go on the offensive with the so-called “name dispute” and expose Greece’s blatant racism and true goals in initiating the nonsensical "name dispute", which is to eradicate the existence of Macedonia and Macedonians. Macedonia must highlight the irrationality of Greece’s ridiculous claims and abolish the notion that it is a “new” nation trying to usurp a Greek name. Greece annexed half of Macedonia’s territory after its partition in 1913 and denied its very existence until 1988. Macedonia has always been known as such. Macedonia must highlight that Greece, in fact, is trying to usurp Macedonia's name.

Furthermore, MHRMI demanded that Macedonia stop playing a diplomatic game with our name and identity and stop trying to “fit in” with the West by continuing the senseless name negotiations. We pointed out that a main reason that the West is calling for Macedonia to change its name is because it keeps negotiating it. Moreover, Macedonia already capitulated by agreeing to the preposterous “temporary reference” of “FYROM” or “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and agreeing to change its flag just to appease the country that is trying to eradicate it. Such concessions only indicate Macedonia’s weakness and willingness to give in and, as first UN mediator for the name dispute, Robin O’Neil, stated “…will only give more firepower to Greece until it reaches its final goal - Macedonia to vanish from the map."

In addition to several other key points in the Our Name is Macedonia campaign, which demands that Macedonia stop negotiating its own name, we highlighted the crucial point that any change to Macedonia's bilateral name with Greece would change it internationally.

Macedonian Human Rights Movement International also called on the Macedonian government to be much more vocal in advocating human rights for Macedonians in Greece, Bulgaria and Albania, just as countries such as Greece and Albania do for their respective minorities in the Balkans.

Finally, we call on Macedonians in Macedonia, and worldwide, to join the Our Name is Macedonia campaign (www.mhrmi.org/our_name_is_macedonia) and demand that Macedonia immediately end the name negotiations.

Contact information for the Macedonian parliament can be found here:

http://www.sobranie.mk/en/?ItemID=3117B2594B76DA4DA19ACBC1D4FAE5CE

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Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. For more information: www.mhrmi.org, www.twitter.com/mhrmi, www.facebook.com/mhrmi, [email protected], 1-416-850-7125.

[Risto the Great]

And the response was overwhelmingly underwhelming I'd imagine.