United Macedonian Diaspora - Views, Actions and Statements

[Soldier of Macedon]

http://umdiaspora.org/content/view/305/51/

...American policy on Macedonia’s NATO admission is in alignment with Article 11 of the Interim Accord, which bars Greece from impeding Macedonia’s accession to international bodies, including NATO, as long as Macedonia accedes under the Provisional Reference. A veto of Macedonia’s NATO admission based on Greece’s objection to Macedonia’s name would nullify the Interim Accord......The 1995 Interim Accord between Macedonia and Greece normalized relations, ended an illegal Greek trade embargo, and allowed Macedonia’s admission to the United Nations under the provisional reference term, “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.........

UMD Letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Regarding Greece, 14 February 2008

Comment: In this letter the UMD make reference to the American policy on having Macedonia admitted to NATO by the 'provisional reference' with the acronym 'f.y.r.o.m', as per the Interim Accord, which the UMD believe had "normalized relations" between Macedonia and Greece. The UMD is using this as an argument against Greece placing a veto on Macedonia, thus supporting the latter's entry into NATO by the 'provisional reference' with the acronym 'f.y.r.o.m'.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Macedo.../message/10536

If the government did not agree on FYROM in 1995, we would have been 10 years behind right now. Macedonia would still be under embargo and 20,000 people would have been without a job.

Denis Manevski, UMD Treasurer, 11 March 2008

Comment: An example of unfounded scare-mongering by the UMD, who are promoting the acceptance of the compromise made in 1995, where the Macedonian government had treacherously agreed to change the name of the state from the Republic of Macedonia to the 'provisional reference' with the acronym 'f.y.r.o.m', for the purpose of becoming a member of the United Nations.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Macedo.../message/10565

We have to be realistic, Macedonia if it wants to join NATO and EU it has to join under a modified name for those organizations ONLY.

How happy are you that we are called "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" in NATO, UN, and EU? I'm not....wouldn't you prefer us to be called something like Democratic Republic of Macedonia instead, IF ALL ELSE FAILS, of course? I sure would. However, until all else fails, our position is double formula.

Meto Koloski, 13 March 2008

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Macedo.../message/10643

I DO NOT SUPPORT ANY NAME CHANGE THAT WILL ENDANGER OUR IDENTITY.

Denis Manevski, UMD Treasurer, 17 March 2008

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Macedo.../message/10643

Let me ask you this? What will you choose? People in Macedonia dying and starving or “Democratic Republic of Macedonia”?

Denis Manevski, UMD Treasurer, 17 March 2008

YouTube - ‪ZMR United Macedonian Diaspora - Macedonia Name‬‏
......"we feel that perhaps a political modifier such as Democratic might be more acceptable only for international use to get rid of this erroneous name the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"..... (1:38 minutes)

Meto Koloski, 31 March 2008

http://umdiaspora.org/content/view/321/53/

The Greek veto violates the 1995 United Nations brokered Interim Accord between Macedonia and Greece, which barred Greece from using the "name dispute" to impede Macedonia's NATO accession........

UMD statement, 3 April 2008

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008...o-reckon-with/

...It was Greece, not Macedonia, that rejected the most recent proposal to resolve the "name dispute". Moreover, Greece's veto violated the 1995 Interim Accord that it signed with Macedonia, which binds Greece's right to veto Macedonia's NATO bid or any other international organization that Macedonia would like to join as long as it joins under the U.N. provisional reference term used to identify Macedonia.....(A name to reckon with, Washington Times)

Meto Koloski, 4 May 2008

http://www.fpa.org/topics_info2414/t...?doc_id=853200

At the April 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest, Macedonia's invitation to join NATO was denied when Greece vetoed it, based on its unilateral objections to Macedonia's constitutional name. This veto directly violated the Interim Accord between Greece and Macedonia, brokered by the United Nations in 1995 following a three-year economic embargo Greece imposed on Macedonia. The accord stipulates that Greece will not block Macedonia from joining international organizations, as long as Macedonia does so under the UN-brokered name, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," pending a UN-facilitated, mutually acceptable name resolution.

In 2001, Albanian extremists attacked Macedonian police officers and burned villages, demanding more rights in education, employment, and political representation. Through a U.S. - EU brokered agreement, the conflict was resolved and Macedonian-Albanians were accorded full rights, including higher education courses in the Albanian language and a 25% set-aside for the army, police force, and public administration. Today, Macedonian-Albanians fully participate in social and economic development, working with their countrymen to ensure the nation's membership into NATO and the EU. (NATO: The Case for Macedonia, Foreign Policy Association)

Meto Koloski, 12 March 2009

Comment: In the first paragraph, he is complaining about Greece violating the Interim Accord by not accepting Macedonia into NATO by the so-called 'provisional' reference with the acronym 'f.y.r.o.m', which cleared indicates his willingness to see Macedonia join the said organisation with the said 'provisional' reference. The second paragraph is suggestive in a manner which seems to imply that the ethnic Albanian minority wasn't afforded adequate 'rights' before extremist elements within their community took up arms against the Macedonian state and people, with justice being served with the assertion that the said minority are now "accorded full rights".

http://umdiaspora.org/content/view/432/1/

We understand the frustrations that ethnic Albanians feel regarding the mistakes contained within the Macedonian Encyclopedia. However, we remind everyone and Mr. Krasniqi that MANU is reviewing and has promised to correct these mistakes, with input from well-regarded Albanian-Macedonian academics,” said UMD Director of Public Policy, Boban Jovanovski”.

UMD Media Release, 24 September 2009

Comment: Another example of the UMD sympathising with the ethnic Albanian minority. In this instance, certain 'intellectuals' of the latter are acting against the official views of Macedonian history in Macedonia and thus meddling in matters of national integrity. The UMD "understand" their "frustrations" agree that the Macedonians have made "mistakes".

http://umdiaspora.org/content/view/560/1/

With American cooperation and support, Macedonia has emerged as a model of multi-ethnic peace and stability in a region long plagued with strife and well known for its inter-ethnic tensions".

Comment: In this paragraph, the UMD is promoting Macedonia as a “model multi-ethnic” state and thanking the US for their support and cooperation. It was because of US involvement in the internal affairs of Macedonia that the country no longer became a home defined as the nation-state of the Macedonian people and its minorities, but one where Macedonians have been forced to accept a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual model to drive the future of their historical home. The Framework Agreement, in which the US acted as a guarantor, is being promoted and legitimised by the UMD, in disregard of the original constitution of Macedonia which was in place prior to the treacherous FA. According to UMD, prior to the FA, Macedonia was "plagued with strife" and "ethnic tensions" – essentially implying that Macedonia could not control its own destiny as a nation-state and was an undesirable location until the of arrival of US "support".




"Greece alone vetoed Macedonia’s NATO membership at the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit because the “name dispute” had not been resolved to its satisfaction. The veto came despite Greece’s treaty obligation to Macedonia that it would not use the “name dispute” to impede Macedonia’s accession to NATO and the fact that Macedonia had met all NATO membership criteria. The Greek veto and the subsequent Greek threat to veto Macedonia’s EU integration, have strained Greek-Macedonian relations. Macedonia nevertheless remains determined to take its place within NATO andis committed to resolving the bilateral 'name dispute'”.[/color][/i][/font][/size]

Commentary: Here, UMD show’s it considers the Interim Accord legitimate by reprimanding Greece for not abiding by it. It argues that Greece has a “treaty obligation” to Macedonia. Well, that same “treaty” stipulates a number of obligations for Macedonia, including limiting Macedonian sovereignty in a number of concrete ways, obligating Macedonia not to pursue the human rights of Macedonians in Greece and obligating Macedonia to continue negotiations over the name until a solution is agreed to.

Further down, UMD promotes Macedonia’s “commitment” to resolving the name issue. Why would it do this? What exactly is it implying here? One can only guess that UMD actually supports the negotiations and believes that they are essential to finding a “solution” so that Macedonia can enter NATO. But what is this solution? Well, UMD’s President has mentioned a number of name changes, what he refers to as “political modifiers” that may be “acceptable” to the Macedonian people – these include “Democratic Republic of Macedonia”. In a press release after Macedonia was vetoed in Bucharest, UMD also heavily reprimanded Greece for NOT accepting the then proposed “Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)”.

"In past Congresses, resolutions were proposed that inaccurately portrayed Macedonia as unwilling to resolve the “name dispute” and that erroneously referred to Macedonia as the “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” or “FYROM”.

Commentary: Here UMD rightfully states that Macedonia was erroneously referred to as “FYROM”. However, it is also indignant that suggestions have been made that Macedonia was “unwilling to resolve the name dispute”. Again, UMD is promoting the negotiations that Macedonia has engaged in to resolve the name dispute. As UMD’s President has pointed out, the “solution” could involve any number of “acceptable” name changes.

UMD Action Alert Letter to Members of Congress
http://capwiz.com/tca/issues/alert/?...566361&type=CO

...The Prime Minister’s threat shows that Macedonia, or any other nation, cannot rely on the Hellenic Republic to honour its treaty obligations as this threat violates the 1995 Interim Agreement between the two nations...

...Macedonia changed its flag, amended its constitution, and accepted the use of the provisional reference all pursuant to the Interim Agreement and has fully abided by such agreement...

...The United Macedonian Diaspora urges Greece to end its diplomatic blackmail and abide by the rules to which it agreed to in the Interim Agreement...

UMD Media Release
24 February 2008
http://umdiaspora.org/index.php?opti...d=309&Itemid=1

Commentary: UMD directly calling on Greece to implement the Interim Accord.

The Macedonian government has the constitutional and legitimate right to negotiate in our name for the name of our state because the Macedonian citizens elected them constitutionally and legitimately, are you denying this?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Macedo...r/message/1923
6 June 2003

I was not going to bother replying to Jordan Gruev's e-mail but I had to. Who is this Macedonian Liberation Movement? What is their mission statement? Who are they to declare Branko Crvenkovski and his government illegitimate?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Macedo...r/message/3472
1 July 2004

Meto in defence of Reeker before he was made US Ambassador to Macedonia - even back then Reeker was calling on us to be "flexible":

Reeker, formerly a counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, testified at his confirmation hearing that he has "seen reports of both sides in the Greece-Macedonia dispute accusing each other of taking actions or making statements that have inflamed the issue of the name.

"It's a difficult problem. It's an emotional problem," he said. "But it is one that can be solved. So we're encouraging both sides to show greater flexibility, creativity, cooperation and do what is needed to find a solution."

Metodija Koloski, president of the United Macedonian Diaspora, an international advocacy organization, maintained that Greece's stance has been unreasonable. He accused Menendez of refusing to meet with Macedonian-Americans from New Jersey, taking a narrow one-sided view, and arbitrarily blocking Reeker's confirmation. Koloski speculated that Menendez was seeking to win Greek-American votes and campaign contributions.

http://the-macedonian-tendency.blogspot.com/
20 July 2008





UMD Action Alert Letter to Members of Congress
http://capwiz.com/tca/issues/alert/?...566361&type=CO

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/3600/50/

The Macedonian Community from New Jersey states that the decision to not welcome or host President Crvenkovski was made without coordination with the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Church, and without any political or party pressures from Skopje.

Instead of New Jersey, Crvenkovski will be at the Macedonian Cultural Center - Galeria in New York where it is expected to speak with Macedonian Americans for their active inclusion in political processes, as well as their opinion on the name negotiations. The organizer of this meeting is the United Macedonian Diaspora who accepted the request from president Crvenkovski’s Cabine to host the meeting. It’s not the first time for president Crvenkovski to be denied a welcome by Macedonian communities. The president went through a similar rejection back in Macedonia, in the city of Struga when the government announced the new territorial plans for the city. Violent protests followed. President Crvenkovski and then Premier Buckovski were voted as “Persona-non-grata” and have not been allowed in the city since then.

Sunday, 21 September 2008, Mina Article (Greece makes plans, Crvenkovski couldn't find a Host)

Comment: Even though Branko Crvenkovski was known for his compromsing (among other) views, the UMD organised an opportunistic meeting with him - but the Macedonian community in New Jersey rejected the proposal to meet with that treacherous individual just because he happens to be a political figure.

[Vangelovski]

The latest interview with Meto Koloski, President of UMD can be found at the following link:

http://www.makdenes.org/content/article/24450542.html

It still amazes me what I read from Mr Koloski’s UMD. For the last two years he has attempted to convince the Macedonian public that he no longer supports the Interim Accord which handed Macedonian national sovereignty over to Greece and that he no longer supports the name negotiations. Yet, numerous UMD media releases always betrayed that public relations campaign. His latest interview for the Macedonian language section of Radio Free Europe (where he is pictured with the ventilator – see below) demonstrates his true intentions even more clearly.

For example, in response to a question about the latest round of name negotiations, Mr Koloski explained his view was that because of the ICJ’s recent decision (to enforce the Interim Accord and Macedonia’s participation in international organisations as ‘FYROM’) there is greater momentum for negotiations, praising the Macedonian Government’s willingness to negotiate in a ‘constructive’ manner as ‘positive’, and stating that the very fact the two sides are ‘meeting’ (negotiating) to resolve the dispute is also ‘positive’.

After stating this, he contradicts himself by claiming that UMD’s position is that Macedonia should not be negotiating and that the ICJ ruling is now a reason not to be!? On the one hand, he claims that the ICJ ruling provides ‘momentum’ for further negotiations, while on the other, he claims that it’s a reason not to negotiate.

In addition to this, he makes it clear that he considers Greece to have violated the Interim Accord. How is this possible? The vast majority of diaspora organisations reject the Interim Accord outright and do not consider it a legitimate Accord and have called on the Macedonian Government to declare it ‘null and void’. If Mr Koloski believes that Greece has violated the Interim Accord, then he must accept it as a legitimate and valid Accord. One cannot violate an illegitimate agreement that is considered invalid. By considering it as legitimate and valid then by default he accepts the provisions within that Accord and the notion that Macedonian sovereignty be transferred to Greece.

Here is the response in question:

Сега поради тоа што пресудата во Хаг од 5 декември донесе пресуда во полза на Македонијa, дека навистина Грција го прекрши член 11 од Привремената спогодба, сега дефинитивно има повеќе моментум за преговорите. Тоа може да се види и во сигналите од македонската страна, особено во последните 6-7 недели се доста позитивни, дека Македoнија навистина е коструктивната страна, но проблемот е што Грција има транзициска влада, која не може да донесува кој знае какви големи одлуки. Позитивно е тоа што се сретнуваат и што се даваат шанси за решавање на спорот, но не гледaме дека нешто ќе се случи на преговорите што ќе се случуваат на 16-ти и 17-ти.

Ставот на нашата организација од секогаш бил дека не треба да се преговара и особено пресудата во Хаг даде причина повеќе да не преговараме .


If UMD chooses to even engage with the public that it pretends to represent it is most likely to reply that Mr Koloski was simply stating a fact. That may have been semi-plausible, had he not made a value statement as to the desirability and appropriateness of the negotiations, judging Macedonia’s willingness to negotiate as ‘constructive’ and ‘positive’.

UMD, and Mr Koloski in particular, have been known to argue that the United Nations Security Council has passed resolutions requiring Macedonia to negotiate its name in an attempt to deflect criticism of their support for the Interim Accord. However, this is a disingenuous and fallacious argument. The UN Security Council has indeed passed two resolutions (817 and 845) calling on Macedonia and Greece to resolve the name dispute, but what validity do these resolutions actually hold?

The United Nations is nothing more than an international club, of which there are many – the United Nations just happens to have many more members than the others. The United Nations claims that its Charter and its Security Council Resolutions form a body of law, known as ‘international law’. This is highly debatable, as the United Nations holds no democratically delegated authority to make any laws, let alone those that presume to govern all of humanity. However, even if what the United Nations claims to be ‘international law’ is legitimate and valid, no law can override inalienable human rights. These Security Council resolutions do exactly that, which automatically makes them illegitimate and invalid.

Secondly, Mr Koloski would have us believe that Macedonia should implement the resolutions of a club which does not even respect our national sovereignty, including the right to name our own state. These SC Resolutions not only violate our inalienable human rights, but they violate the United Nation’s own Charter. Another disingenuous argument from UMD attempting to convince us that Macedonia has to negotiate, with the understanding that it has to change its name. All the while, they claim they do not support the negotiations.

The interview continues with Mr Koloski providing his views on the ICJ’s ruling and its effect on NATO membership. Mr Koloski states that the ICJ case has given Macedonia a legal basis with which to pressure Greece into implementing the Interim Accord. Here, he openly argues that Greece should implement the Accord and that Macedonia has the legal basis with which to force it to do so! Mr Koloski, in addition, forgets to mention under which name Macedonia would enter NATO – FYROM. All the while, he still claims that UMD does not support the Interim Accord.

На самитот во Букурешт се донесе таа одлука од причина што Грција вети дека ќе стави вето на членството на Макеоднија во НАТО. Сега пресудата од Хаг дефинитвно дава адут на Америка и на НАТО-партнерите дека имаме правен изговор да извршиме некаков притисок кон Грција за да таа го спроведе тоа што го потпишала во 1995-та година, каде што ветува дека нема да ја блокира Македонија. Е, сега тоа зависи и од политичката волја на Америка и на НАТО партнерите.


Mr Koloski continues the interview with the preconceived position that the Interim Accord is both legitimate and valid. Here are some further quotes:

РСЕ: Вие сте претседател на Обединетата македонска дијаспора. Македонската лоби група брои 7 члена, грчката 139, сметате ли дека Македонија со овој распоред на силите во Конгресот има шанси да влијае врз администрацијата на Обама?

Колоски:Видете, јас не би го гледал тоа така, поради тоа што групата е група на конгресмени кои цврсто ќе ја подржуваат Македонија без разлика на која тема. Е сега да дадам споредба, во ноември 2010-та година, 19 конгресмени и 4 сенатори испратија писмо до Обама за подршка на Македонија, а истата година само 32 конгресмени испратија писмо до Обама поддржувајќи ја грчката страна, така што, ако го споредуваме тоа, македонското лоби е доволно цврсто за да изврши некаков притисок, но проблемот е што во 2010-та не беше моментот, не ја имавме пресудата од Хаг и мислам дека сега ќе добиеме многу повеќе поддршка, но треба активно лобирање од страна на дијаспората и од страна на дипломатскиот кор на Македонија во сите места.

It does beg the question, what exactly is Mr Koloski lobbying for? The answer is quite obvious – implementation of the Interim Accord and Macedonia’s accession into NATO as FYROM.