The arguments used by Greece to justify its position towards the Republic of Macedonia are four-fold, and could be summarized as follows:

- Greece has exclusive rights, "copyright" to the name Macedonia, and to recognize the former Yugoslav republic with that name would invite territorial expansion into its northern region with the same name. In other words, "Republic of Macedonia", innately and in itself, as original sin, would harbour territorial pretensions against Greece.

- Recognizing Macedonia would encourage aggression in the Balkans.

- Macedonia has never existed as an independent state, rather, it was invented by Tito and the Yugoslav communists.

- To recognize Macedonia would be an affront to Greek history and culture.

Let us address each of these arguments in turn:

- The current facts simply do not support Greece's contention that Macedonia either has territorial claims upon Greece or the capability to act upon those claims even if it had been assumed to harbour them. The Macedonian government has formally adopted constitutional provisions which explicitly renounce any territorial claims upon neighbouring countries, and has also offered Greece a treaty guaranteeing its current borders.

Furthermore, Bulgaria, which has its own Macedonian minority, has conferred recognition upon the Republic of Macedonia without the fear of alleged expansion expressed by Greece.

Finally, an unarmed and economically weak Macedonia can hardly pose a threat to Greece, a NATO country with five times the population of the Republic of Macedonia, and able to mobilize 2 million people during wartime. The Republic of Macedonia is a landlocked country of 2 million people, and its parliament only recently legislated on the formation of its armed forces. In any case, the Republic of Macedonia does not pose a credible military threat to Greece.

Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia to fulfil the conditions set by the Badinter Commission for recognition by the European Community and adopted on January 6, 1992, are as follows:

"These amendments are an integral part of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia and shall be implemented on the day of their adoption.

Amendment I

1. The Republic of Macedonia has no territorial claims against neighbouring states.

2. The borders of the Republic of Macedonia could be changed only in accordance with the Constitution, and based on the principle of voluntariness and generally accepted international norms.

Amendment II

1. The Republic shall not interfere with the sovereign rights of other states and their internal affairs."

The Badinter Commission of the Conference on Yugoslavia assembled by the European Community to apply the criteria of recognition set for the Yugoslav republics found that the case of the Republic of Macedonia for recognition was well based, and recommended its recognition to the European Community in its Opinion No. 11 on January 11,1992.

On the other side, it should also be recalled that the name Macedonia was never used in any official form in Greece until August 1988. Before this date its northern province was called Northern Greece. In August 1988, by a decree of the Prime Minister, the name of this province was changed to "Macedonia".

The Republic of Macedonia emphasizes that it does not have any aspiration for a monopoly over the name Macedonia.

The real source for instability in the Balkans is found in places where minority and nationality rights are suppressed or have not been adequately respected. To leave the Republic of Macedonia unrecognized is to create a political "no-man's land", and to invite territorial expansion by its neighbours. Indeed, the primary source of such territorial expansionism, Serbia, is the very country with which Greece has recently and publicly established its regional alliance.

In the referendum of 8 September 1991, the people of the Republic of Macedonia voted overwhelmingly for independence. In the Declaration of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia on September 17, 1991, it was stated that:

"Article 2: The Republic of Macedonia, as a sovereign and independent state, shall strive for persistent respect of the generally adopted principles of international relations, contained in the documents of the UN, the Final Document of CSCE in Helsinki and the Paris Charter."

"Article 4: The Republic of Macedonia confirms its policy of not expressing territorial claims against any of its neighbouring countries."

"Article 5: Starting from the constitutional provision for the concern for the situation and rights of the parts of the Macedonian people, who as a national minority live in the neighbouring countries, the Republic of Macedonia shall continue to lead a policy which shall be based on international standards and whose basic aim and essence is the recognition and respect of the basic human rights and freedoms, and within these frameworks of the freedoms and rights of the Macedonians, who, as a national minority, live in the neighbouring countries."

A month later the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, which was elected through free and democratic elections in November/ December 1990, declared the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia. On November 17, 1991, the new Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia was passed by the Assembly. On December 19, 1991, the Republic of Macedonia declared that it accepted the criteria and the Draft-document of the Conference on Yugoslavia held in The Hague, and satisfied the conditions adopted by the Council of Ministers of the European Community in Brussels on December 17, 1991. It asked for recognition, which in the opinion of the Badinter Commission was found positive.

Greece maintains that an independent state of Macedonia has never existed and, therefore, it should not now exist under that name. This is not true. Macedonia has existed as a political entity since 1944 as one of the six federal republics of the former Yugoslavia.

Greece says that it feels affronted by the Republic of Macedonia's use of the name Macedonia, yet there is no affront between Mexico and the American state of New Mexico, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the contiguous region of Luxembourg in Belgium, York and New York or Orleans in France and New Orleans in the USA. There are many other examples to be cited.

The Greek government has organized large demonstrations in Thessaloniki and Australia to show that the "will of the Greek people is against the use of the name Macedonia by the Republic of Macedonia." Tens of thousands demonstrated in Thessaloniki, and several thousand turned out in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Many academics, journalists and foreign policy analysts in Greece have now "discovered" that the Vlachs in Macedonia "are actually Greeks", who are not allowed to say so, and advocate that they must be supported by the Greek state. Vlachs are a small group akin to today's Romanians.

Some nationalist intellectuals have begun to argue that the southern part of Vardar Macedonia has always been inhabited by Greeks throughout history, and therefore Greece has to use this argument to counter the alleged territorial claims of the "breakaway Skopje regime".

In November 1991, Mitsotakis threatened the Republic of Macedonia with the Greek Army "if they go too far". One should not forget the fact that "Macedonia is included within the borders of the Greek "Megali Idea", which claims the restitution of all Byzantine territories to Greece".ll

History, like statistics, can be made to say whatever you would like it to say, and be can written and re-written. Whether the ancient Macedonians were Hellenes or not, the discussions on the presence of a Macedonian nation are irrelevant from the standpoint of the recognition of that republic. If the people of the Republic of Macedonia think and express that they are Macedonians, and consider themselves as having a distinct history than that of the Bulgarians and Greeks, and display their political will for international recognition through a democratic process, it is not justifiable on any grounds to block recognition on the pretext that they cannot use the name Macedonia in the official name of their republic because a country has a "historical and exclusive copyright" on it. A similar claim cannot be found in modern history.

On the other hand, latent territorial claims of Greece on the Republic of Macedonia can be seen in the brochure prepared by the "Center of Macedonian Studies".12

"Greeks do not accept the northern boundary of Macedonia, contending that it was drawn arbitrarily on the basis of Ottoman administrative division. Macedonia means the old Macedonia of Classical times. When the Yugoslavs talk of a "Macedonian state" in their country, they are manipulating arbitrarily a name and a state which belongs to the Greek classical heritage. The solution achieved in the second decade of the twentieth century can only be considered the most natural outcome of a long process. Ottoman domination had been thrown off. The mainly Slav northern areas went to the Slav Balkan countries. By a curious coincidence, the southern area that went to Greece was roughly identical in extent with the "historical Macedonia" of the classical period, with the exception of a small strip that remained within the Serbian and Bulgarian territories. This southern zone included, in addition to the Greek-speaking population, the majority of the Slav-speaking inhabitants who had retained a Greek national consciousness."

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