Macedonia and NATO

[Carlin]

NATO opens probe on France-Turkey naval incident in Mediterranean

URL:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/nato-opens-probe-france-turkey-naval-incident-mediterranean-200618170558971.html

Jens Stoltenberg says alliance authorities are investigating the incident 'to bring full clarity into what happened'.

18 Jun 2020

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said the military alliance will investigate French accusations that Turkey's navy failed to respond to an allied call for inspection this month in the Mediterranean.

Florence Parly, France's armed forces minister, brought up the incident on Thursday during a meeting of NATO defence chiefs at a time when the two allies have traded barbs over the crisis in Libya, accusing each other of supporting opposing sides in the country's war.

Parly said that on June 10 Turkish warships flashed their radar lights three times at the French warship Courbet in the eastern Mediterranean. She said the Courbet was on a NATO mission to check whether a Turkish vessel, the Cirkin, was smuggling arms to Libya after it turned off its transponder, failed to identify itself and did not give its final destination.

She added that Turkish sailors had also put on bullet-proof vests and stood behind their light weapons during the incident.

"There cannot be any complacency with regard to such behaviour. This particularly serious incident must be dealt with and our allies share our concerns because eight European allies gave me clear support today in NATO," Parly told French lawmakers after the ministerial meeting.

Turkish military officials on Thursday rejected the French accusations as baseless, according to state-run Anadolu news agency.

"The Turkish armed forces has the experience to tell the difference between hazardous moves, harassment, friendly activities, cooperation, solidarity, and coordination," a senior Turkish official, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media, was quoted as saying.

The official said France's claim was not backed up by any concrete evidence, and said the French ship was making fast and dangerous manoeuvres that breached NATO principles and navy security rules.

Turkey informed NATO civilian and military officials about the incident, he added.

Stoltenberg told a news conference on Thursday that the incident was addressed at the meeting by several alliance states.

"My message is that we have made sure that NATO military authorities are investigating the incident to bring full clarity into what happened," the NATO secretary-general told reporters.

[Gocka]

They should look to Italy to see how much brotherly love there is within the EU. First sign of trouble and its every country for itself.

[Risto the Great]

Everything will be better now.
Even the Macedonian flying pigs have received the news warmly.

[Carlin]

Macedonia Officially Joins NATO

URL:

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_174589.htm

27 Mar. 2020

North Macedonia joins NATO as 30th Ally

Today (27 March 2020), North Macedonia became NATO’s newest member, upon depositing its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the US State Department in Washington DC. NATO Allies signed North Macedonia’s Accession Protocol in February 2019, after which all 29 national parliaments voted to ratify the country’s membership.

Speaking in Brussels on Friday NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “North Macedonia is now part of the NATO family, a family of thirty nations and almost one billion people. A family based on the certainty that, no matter what challenges we face, we are all stronger and safer together.“ North Macedonia is a long-standing contributor to our Euro-Atlantic security, including by participating in NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and in Kosovo.

A flag-raising ceremony for North Macedonia will take place at NATO Headquarters on 30 March 2020, in the presence of the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, and the Chargé d’Affaires of the Delegation of North Macedonia to NATO Mr. Zoran Todorov. The flag of North Macedonia will be simultaneously raised at the Allied Command Operations in Mons (Belgium) and at the Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk (US).

[Tomche Makedonche]

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/03/17/spanish-parliament-approves-north-macedonias-nato-membership-bid/

Spanish parliament approves North Macedonia’s NATO membership bid

COLOGNE, Germany – The Spanish Senate on Tuesday ratified the accession protocol for North Macedonia to join NATO, clearing another hurdle for the country to become the alliance’s 30th member.
In a session that had lawmakers vote remotely due to fears over the spread of the COVID-19 disease in the Madrid parliament, the move made Spain the last country to approve the former Yugoslavian country’s membership bid.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hailed the news in Twitter message. “With that, all allies have welcomed our soon-to-be 30th member,” he wrote. “Congratulations, North Macedonia!”

The office of Spain's ambassador to the alliance said on Twitter that King Felipe had signed the bill “immediately” after its approval. “In the next 72 hours, Spain will deposit its instrument of ratification in the U.S. State Department,” officials wrote.

North Macedonia's NATO application has been pending for more than ten years due a dispute with southern neighbor Greece, which objected to the country's previous name – Macedonia – because a province named thusly exists there.

It took a name change to North Macedonia, formalized in 2018, to end the logjam. The change also enables the country to apply to join the European Union.

North Macedonia's quest for NATO membership began in 1995, when the country joined the alliance's Partnership for Peace program. The formal membership path was initiated at the 1999 Washington Summit together with other former Soviet bloc members, notably the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe, called attention to the difficult circumstances of the vote in Madrid. “Thanks to our Spanish ally, which has done this despite dealing with the challenges of the Corona Virus there,” he wrote on Twitter. “Perhaps NATO can lean into the virus with collective military medical capabilities as well.

[Carlin]

Сенатот во Шпанија без ниту еден глас против го ратификуваше Протоколот за пристапување на Република Северна Македонија во НАТО, со што е остварена и последната ратификација на Протоколот.

Министерот за надворешни работи, Никола Димитров, на заедничката прес-конференција во Владата со шпанскиот амбасадор, Емилио Лоренцо Сера изрази благодарност до Шпанија што ова прашање беше ставено на дневен ред во околности кога Европа и Шпанија се соочува со пандемијата на коронавирус.

URLs:

https://makfax.com.mk/makedonija/%d0%b2%d0%b8%d0%b4%d0%b5%d0%be-%d1%88%d0%bf%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b8%d1%98%d0%b0-%d0%b3%d0%be-%d1%80%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b8%d1%84%d0%b8%d0%ba%d1%83%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%be%d1%82%d0%be%d0%ba%d0%be%d0%bb/

https://sitel.com.mk/shpanija-go-ratifikuvashe-protokolot-za-chlenstvo-vo-nato

https://mk.voanews.com/a/north-macedonia-nato-prtocol-/5332306.html

https://360stepeni.mk/stoltenberg-chestito-severna-makedonija/

[Carlin]

Macedonia has ratified the NATO membership protocol

Македонија го ратификуваше протоколот за членство во НАТО

URL:

https://nezavisen.mk/makedonija-go-ratifikuvashe-protokolot-za-chlenstvo-vo-nato/

Со постапка невообичаена за зовриената македонска политика, Собранието денеска едногласно го ратификуваше протоколот за членство во НАТО пред да се распушти во наредните денови. За ратификацијата гласаа 114 пратеници и со тоа заврши македонскиот пат за членството во Алијансата, а сега уште Шпанија треба да го ратификува протоколот и Македонија целосно да ја заврши целата процедура.

Пред пратениците и гостите прв се обрати претседателот на државата, Стево Пендаровски, кој нагласи дека со овој чекор државата е пред самиот крај на повеќедецениската определба на сите политички елити за членство во Северноатлатската алијанса. Пендаровски нагласи дека членството во НАТО немаше да се случи доколку не беа компромисните договори со Грција и Бугарија. Пендаровски уште нагласи дека државата сега има многу поголема одговорност за зачувување на мирот и стабилноста во Европа, а и пошироко. Врховниот командант најави дека Македонија ќе направи сѐ да го исполни барањето за издвојување на два отсто од БДП за Алијансата.

По Пендаровски зборуваше техничкиот премиер Оливер Спасовски, кој спомена дека без храбрите договори со Грција и Бугарија (за што особено го пофали Зоран Заев) не ќе можеше да стигнеме до овој момент.

Понатаму зборуваа координатори на пратенички групи, партиски претставници (меѓу кои и Али Ахмети), а последен се обрати претседателот на Собранието, Талат Џафери.

Откако 114 пратеници гласаа за ратификација во Собранието се обрати в.д. претседателот на Парламентарното собрание на НАТО, Атила Местерхази.

Меѓу повиканите гости беа лидерите на сите политички партии, претседателите на највисоките судски институции, членови на дипломатскиот кор, потоа високи претставници од парламентите на повеќе земји од регионот и висок претставник на НАТО.

[Carlin]

Macedonia Hopes for NATO Accession Ratification in March

URL:

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/02/05/world/europe/04reuters-poland-northmacedonia-nato.html

Reuters
Feb. 5, 2020

WARSAW — North Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski said on Tuesday that he expects Spain, the final country needed to ratify its North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO) accession, to be ready to do so in March.

"If everything goes to plan concerning the political process, around March 10 that process should finish. There will remain some technical details that our parliament in Skopje will have to deal with," Pendarovski told reporters during a visit to Poland.

[Carlin]

URL:

https://www.voanews.com/europe/unpredictability-natos-greatest-challenge-stoltenberg-says

Stoltenberg: Recently we updated our basic requirements for the telecommunications to include 5G, which is one of the areas where we really are seeing big changes and where societies will be completely transformed by the move from 4G to 5G. And that’s a way for us to make sure that we have functioning safe and secure critical infrastructure in peace, in crisis, and of course also in conflict.

Q. Is that something that NATO can influence while accepting new members like Macedonia, like Serbia in the future.

Stoltenberg: Well other countries that join NATO they have to meet their two standards. They have to have of course a safe and secure way of communications. For instance, there are requirements for civilian infrastructure and telecommunications as 5G, they also apply for new members like North Macedonia. They do not apply for nonmembers. We cannot force nonmembers.

Why 5G, a battleground for US and China, is also a fight for military supremacy

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2184493/why-5g-battleground-us-and-china-also-fight-military-supremacy

Apart from its tremendous commercial benefits, 5G – the fifth generation of mobile communication – is revolutionising military and security technology, which is partly why it has become a focal point in the United States’ efforts to contain China’s rise as a tech power and its allegations against Chinese companies.
The future landscape of warfare and cybersecurity could be fundamentally changed by 5G. But experts say 5G is more susceptible to hacking than previous networks, at a time of rising security concerns and US-China tensions on various interconnected fronts that include trade, influence in the Asia-Pacific region and technological rivalry.

What is 5G and what will it mean for you?

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44871448

[Carlin]

Senator Murphy Asks Questions at Hearing on Macedonia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDfJubcLUWo

[Carlin]

Турција сепак нема да го блокира македонскиот влез во НАТО

Ние му посветуваме особено значење на членството на државата во НАТО, така што нашата поддршка ќе биде целосна во овој процес, нема да има проблем, порача заменик - министерот за надворешни работи на Турција Фарук Кајмакџи

СКОПЈЕ —

Турција во најскоро време ќе го ратификува пристапниот Протокол за членство на Република Северна Македонија во НАТО, затоа што безбедноста на вашата држава и на Балканот значи и безбедност на европскиот континент, потенцираше турскиот дипломат Фарук Кајмакџи во интервју за Македонската информативна агенција (МИА).

Ваквата изјава е во насока на смирување на македонската јавност, по текстовите во дел од медиумите од почетокот на април, според кои, незадоволни од односот на македонските власти кон проблемот што официјална Анкара го има организацијата ФЕТО на Фетула Ѓулен, турските власти би можеле да го блокираат македонското членство во НАТО.

Full article here:

https://mk.voanews.com/a/turkey-north-macedonia-nato-/4918566.html

[Carlin]

Trump asks Senate to OK North Macedonia joining NATO

President asks Senate to provide advice and consent, saying his administration is ready to brief, assist in deliberations

URL:

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/trump-asks-senate-to-ok-north-macedonia-joining-nato/1465650

30.04.2019

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday asked the Senate to approve North Macedonia as the 30th member of the NATO alliance.

"I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to its ratification, the Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Republic of North Macedonia," Trump said in a statement.

The accession protocol was signed by all member states in Brussels on Feb. 6. The process has since moved to the capitals of all Allies, where the protocol will be ratified according to the national procedures of the member states.

"Full ratification of the Protocol will allow North Macedonia to become a Party to the North Atlantic Treaty and a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)," said Trump.

He praised North Macedonia as the U.S.'s "steadfast security partner".

"I ask that the Senate provide its advice and consent, and my Administration stands ready to brief and assist you in your deliberations," Trump concluded.

[Carlin]

URL:

http://www.ekathimerini.com/239661/article/ekathimerini/news/ankara-puts-squeeze-on-skopje

Ankara puts squeeze on Skopje

Turkey is reportedly threatening to delay the ratification of North Macedonia’s NATO accession protocol if the Balkan country does not extradite 15 Turkish nationals Ankara accuses of taking part in a failed coup in 2016.

According to a report on the Balkan Insight website, Ankara insists that the 15 Turkish nationals are members of a network run by self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who it says masterminded the coup attempt.

Following the signing of the Prespes agreement with Greece in June last year, NATO member-states’ permanent representatives signed a protocol on the accession of North Macedonia to the alliance in February this year.

But Ankara’s threat could now stall North Macedonia’s bid to join the North Atlantic alliance.

The issue was also raised by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar during his visit to Skopje on April 3.

During a recent visit to neighboring Kosovo Akar made extradition requests for other Turkish nationals also accused of being Gulenists.

Balkan Insight said that, for his part, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has rebuffed Ankara’s demands and has received backing from European Union officials, who also called on the government in Skopje to uphold the human rights of the 15 men.

However, according to the website, North Macedonia’s Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska said during a recent television interview that, apart from other members of the North Atlantic alliance, her country also needs Turkey for the ratification of its NATO accession protocol.

Ankara has been ratcheting up tensions with Athens since 2016 with regard to the fate of eight servicemen that Turkey accuses of participating in the coup who have been granted asylum in Greece.

In February of this year, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that the government in Ankara was offering a total of 5.6 million euros for the return of the eight officers.

[Carlin]

Video - the Greeks don't have a problem with the anthem - the military orchestra played the anthem of North Macedonia.

URL - Video:

https://1tv.mk/makedonija/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-%D0%B3%D1%80%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B0%D0%B0-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B0%D1%82-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B1/

With the intonation of the Macedonian and NATO anthems, the military orchestras of our Army and the Armed Forces of Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom and Slovenia held an allied concert in honor of the NATO day.

- It really makes me happy that today in this way we can celebrate the day of NATO, but also the day dedicated to our, now, successfully realized ambitions. We are always stronger together, Shekerinska said.

The members of the combined orchestra, after the intonation of the anthems, continued to perform remarkable compositions from the repertoire of the orchestras of the 5 armies.

[Tomche Makedonche]

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/04/north-macedonia-gets-coveted-seat-at-natos-table-balkans-greece-prespa-agreement-nato-membership-europe/

North Macedonia Gets Coveted Seat at NATO’s Table

The small Balkan country hopes to officially join the alliance by year’s end, the foreign minister says in interview

For years, North Macedonia had watched from the sidelines as neighbors and former Soviet bloc countries came into the fold of NATO and the European Union. Its own bids to join the institutions sputtered and stalled, primarily over a bitter and decades-long name dispute with neighboring Greece.

Now, North Macedonia will get a first taste of membership, following a historic deal that resolved the dispute last June. Its foreign minister, Nikola Dimitrov, will attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Washington on Thursday—ahead of what North Macedonia hopes will be full membership by the end of the year.

“It is quite a privilege to finally be around the table,” Dimitrov told Foreign Policy in an interview. “Those on the inside forget how cold it is outside.”

Dimitrov’s spot at the NATO table is a significant step for the small southeastern European country of 2 million. It also represents one of the few feel-good stories for an alliance embroiled in tense standoffs with Russia and suffering from internal divisions—including regular swipes from the U.S. president.

“I think there is a great measure of enthusiasm and excitement also among the allies,” Dimitrov said.

The deal between Athens and Skopje also brings a new dynamic to the Balkans region, still mired in political tensions two decades after the devastating wars of the 1990s and suffering setbacks to democratic reforms.

North Macedonia’s NATO membership would be a blow for Russia, which has tried to strong-arm smaller Balkan countries into staying out of the West’s orbit. Moscow was reportedly behind a botched coup plot in Montenegro in 2016, ahead of elections there widely viewed as a referendum on the country joining NATO. The plot was foiled, and Montenegro became the 29th member in 2017.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly questioned the utility of NATO and pushed allies to spend more on defense, cast doubt in an interview last year on whether having Montenegro in the alliance was valuable. Some U.S. officials are nervous that he may take a similar view of North Macedonia.

In the interview in July 2018, Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked Trump: “Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?”

“I understand what you’re saying. I’ve asked the same questions. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people,” Trump said. “[They have] very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and then congratulations, you’re in World War III.”

When asked about this exchange, Dimitrov said he believed there was “very strong bipartisan support” in Washington for North Macedonia joining NATO and that the alliance would strengthen its hand by bringing new members into the fold. He added that Trump recently sent his prime minister a letter praising the name deal with Greece as “probably the biggest achievement in the region since Dayton,” referring to the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the war in Bosnia.

Trump has latched onto laggard defense spending in NATO as his top priority. Currently, only eight of 29 NATO members are set to meet their target for spending 2 percent of GDP on defense this year, a fact that has long been a point of contention between Washington and its NATO allies. North Macedonia spends 1.35 percent of GDP on defense, but Dimitrov said it planned to meet the 2 percent pledge by 2024, a target date NATO has set for all its members.

Amid the success story North Macedonia hopes to bring to the Balkans, the specter of Russia still looms large over the region. In July 2018, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats after accusing Moscow of trying to stoke opposition to the Macedonia name deal. The Russian government denied the allegations and expelled Greek diplomats from Moscow in response.

Asked whether Russia had interfered in North Macedonia’s internal affairs ahead of the agreement with Greece and its bid to join NATO, Dimitrov said: “I cannot talk publicly with credible evidence as to concrete forms of interference.” He did cite “nongenuine internet traffic” in the run-up to his country’s vote and parliamentary measures to ratify the deal with Greece. He also mentioned Russian flags at opposition rallies.

“When you compared the reality on the ground, walking on the streets, in the capital, for instance, and the level of emotion and anger that was visible in the internet world, social media, etc., those were hardly reconcilable,” he said.

Russia, for its part, has accused the United States of meddling in domestic affairs in Greece and North Macedonia and questioned the legitimacy of the agreement—charges Dimitrov flatly dismissed.

North Macedonia, previously called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, resolved the nearly three-decade name dispute with Greece last year. Athens saw its neighbor’s name as a historical affront and feared it connoted territorial claims over its own region called Macedonia. After leaders of both countries brokered the landmark agreement last year, Greece ended its opposition to its neighbor joining Western institutions. The deal, known as the Prespa agreement, is named after a lake that bridges the two countries where the two leaders met for the signing ceremony.

Both countries had to overcome domestic political opposition to push through the peace deal. Only about one-third of voters turned out for then-Macedonia’s referendum in late 2018 to change its name, falling well short of the 50 percent turnout required. (Among people who did cast a ballot, about 90 percent voted in favor of the change.) Skopje pressed on with the name change, despite the turnout.

Dimitrov said national polls showed overwhelming support for joining NATO, though he conceded that the deal with Greece didn’t enjoy the same levels of domestic support. “We still have things to do to unify our society. And I think the same applies to the Greek society,” he said.

“It took quite a lot [of] thinking about the next generation and not so much about the next elections, on both sides, to do this,” he added.

Joining NATO requires a yes vote from all current NATO members’ parliaments. The prospective new member country must also enact a series of technical reforms aimed at solidifying democratic practices in its military, political, economic, and judicial sectors.

Dimitrov said nine of NATO’s 29 members have voted to accept his country so far, and he hoped all 29 would do so by the end of the year, when NATO heads of state are expected to meet again in London.

Congressional aides and U.S. officials told FP that they expected the U.S. Senate to vote this fall on North Macedonia joining NATO. The Senate is widely expected to pass the vote. Since Greece lifted its opposition to membership, most Western officials don’t foresee any other major roadblocks to North Macedonia’s membership.

“Of course, we still cannot afford to be complacent,” Dimitrov said. “We have to continue to do what we promised in terms of continuation of the domestic reform agenda on the rule of law and defense issues.”