Marcus A. Templar, National Security Advisor | Macedonian League
Photo credit: Marcus A. TemplarNational Security Advisor, Macedonian League
Call me superstitious if you want, call me suspicious if you so desire; I would even accept the rebuke as being a pessimist, but in this case, I want to declare that I do not want to be right openly. Treaties never mean a solution, unless one believes in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. A solution denotes something final; treaties are temporary lasting until the parties want or the next problem appears. A Treaty with Skopje could be signed by the end of 2018 ONLY if the parties have already agreed to all points relevant to their national interests.
The FYROM has already a name that its Church uses, Povardarie. It is the name of the central area of the country located in the region of the ancient Paionia. It is the name of one of the FYROM Dioceses that expands from north to south alongside the river Axios [Vardar]. Perhaps it should be the basis for negotiations.
Whether the FYROM will include or exclude the name “Macedonia” or whether the derivatives of “Macedonia” are connected with formal or informal institutions, language, ethnicity, religious, heritage is somewhat immaterial under the scope of a treaty. A treaty might cure the symptoms, but it will ignore the causes of an infectious disease which is entirely ignored by Greek politicians, and they are instigated by the Slav politicians and even the Church of the FYROM. Politicians are the root of the problem, and through negotiations, they should be directed to address the cancer of Macedonism.
One must also consider the side effects of the issue on both sides. The less likely an agreement is achieved, the more critical the side-effects are; we all have witnessed them. Often side-effects that continue to flow from the negotiating process they could materialize and may be used to vindicate more careful negotiations.
To those unfamiliar to national security and how countries negotiate, the question that arises is not the treaty itself, but the containment of side-effects as propaganda, intelligence, espionage, deception, cyber-operations, verification and adjudication, the impact of the agreement on third parties and a few others. Negotiations cover future relations of governments, but leave the side-effects of such ties utilizing ambiguous language, as it is article 7.3. of the Interim Agreement raise more problems that contain.
The governments of both countries invoking the role of specificity must concentrate on solving all residual disagreements avoiding any carry-overs for future negotiations unless they are willing to gradually normalizing their relations. Greece will have to maintain the same leverage that she has at present, no final comprehensive treaty means no membership in international institutions.
Politicians understand domestic pressure, or they lose their political position. Demonstrations, lobbying, bringing matters of ethics, and even questioning their patriotism should apply. My question is why all these years since 1992 no events have transpired? If these demonstrations are for the sole purpose to destabilize the domestic political scene, the reasons are misguided. Greece needs domestic stability regardless of who governs since who governs was never an issue; how they govern is.
Some people might not consider the present political situation as being stable. However, the validity of such an assessment depends upon the criteria used to measure the servility to their political affinities. Such people do not serve the goals of the nation but their own.
I just hope the Greek government will not rush to sign a treaty that would look good to some who are ready to declare victory, but in fact will be the beginning of a nightmare and adventures to generations to come.
Politicians who pretend to be the saviors of Greece, before they sign anything MUST remember that the national goal of the FYROM Slavs is the “liberation” of Macedonia proper. I am not he who had made such a profound statement. It was the man who gave his life for Macedonia, Pavlos Melas. He said to George Sourlas, the director of schools at Nymphaion, "Macedonia is the lung of Greece; without it, the rest of Greece would be condemned to death."
The FYROM has already a name that its Church uses, Povardarie. It is the name of the central area of the country located in the region of the ancient Paionia. It is the name of one of the FYROM Dioceses that expands from north to south alongside the river Axios [Vardar]. Perhaps it should be the basis for negotiations.
Whether the FYROM will include or exclude the name “Macedonia” or whether the derivatives of “Macedonia” are connected with formal or informal institutions, language, ethnicity, religious, heritage is somewhat immaterial under the scope of a treaty. A treaty might cure the symptoms, but it will ignore the causes of an infectious disease which is entirely ignored by Greek politicians, and they are instigated by the Slav politicians and even the Church of the FYROM. Politicians are the root of the problem, and through negotiations, they should be directed to address the cancer of Macedonism.
One must also consider the side effects of the issue on both sides. The less likely an agreement is achieved, the more critical the side-effects are; we all have witnessed them. Often side-effects that continue to flow from the negotiating process they could materialize and may be used to vindicate more careful negotiations.
To those unfamiliar to national security and how countries negotiate, the question that arises is not the treaty itself, but the containment of side-effects as propaganda, intelligence, espionage, deception, cyber-operations, verification and adjudication, the impact of the agreement on third parties and a few others. Negotiations cover future relations of governments, but leave the side-effects of such ties utilizing ambiguous language, as it is article 7.3. of the Interim Agreement raise more problems that contain.
The governments of both countries invoking the role of specificity must concentrate on solving all residual disagreements avoiding any carry-overs for future negotiations unless they are willing to gradually normalizing their relations. Greece will have to maintain the same leverage that she has at present, no final comprehensive treaty means no membership in international institutions.
Politicians understand domestic pressure, or they lose their political position. Demonstrations, lobbying, bringing matters of ethics, and even questioning their patriotism should apply. My question is why all these years since 1992 no events have transpired? If these demonstrations are for the sole purpose to destabilize the domestic political scene, the reasons are misguided. Greece needs domestic stability regardless of who governs since who governs was never an issue; how they govern is.
Some people might not consider the present political situation as being stable. However, the validity of such an assessment depends upon the criteria used to measure the servility to their political affinities. Such people do not serve the goals of the nation but their own.
I just hope the Greek government will not rush to sign a treaty that would look good to some who are ready to declare victory, but in fact will be the beginning of a nightmare and adventures to generations to come.
Politicians who pretend to be the saviors of Greece, before they sign anything MUST remember that the national goal of the FYROM Slavs is the “liberation” of Macedonia proper. I am not he who had made such a profound statement. It was the man who gave his life for Macedonia, Pavlos Melas. He said to George Sourlas, the director of schools at Nymphaion, "Macedonia is the lung of Greece; without it, the rest of Greece would be condemned to death."
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