The Greek Parliament has adopted the historical name of the Treaty with Macedonia. After decades of political dispute, the two Balkan countries now hope to be a good neighbor in the future.
The Winter is a little colder and snowy than usual, but that is the only evidence that a deep European and Balkan South-facing Land is suddenly, over night, to the “North”. A group of stray dogs rests under the 30-Meter-high Statue of Alexander the Great in the centre of Skopje, the capital of what is now the “Republic of Northern Macedonia”. You are the only guardian of a project of the late nation-building, this is wrong, financially and aesthetically.
“The monumental Statue of Alexander the Great, which should strengthen the ethnic identity of the Macedonians artificially, is prohibited on the Central square of the capital city, all of a sudden a huge Nothing” of the Macedonian political analyst Gordan Georgiev of the DW. As the monument was erected, were offended Greeks are very about it and saw it as an attempt by the Macedonians, the cultural heritage of Greece Association. Good neighbourly relations are not promoted.
The Parliament in Athens has decided: The name of compromise with Macedonia is adopted
Now, about 700 kilometers to the South, in Athens, the Greek Parliament accepted today the so-called Prespa agreement and, therefore, a 27-year-old name dispute between the two neighboring countries stopped. The Parliament in Skopje on 11. January for the renaming of the country in the “North Macedonia” voted for.
New Policy In The Balkans
What is the most long as one of the most bizarre and incomprehensible to most disputes was in the world, is now oriented as a good example for a new, future-and moderate policy in the Balkans.
Republic of Macedonia or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), as it was called in Greece, add your name with a geographic qualifier to distinguish it from the Northern Greek Region. The historic agreement between the two countries, in which the name issue was settled, signed on 17. June 2018 in the border region of Prespa, the Greek and Macedonian heads of government, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev.
On the one hand, it should be made possible so that Macedonia will become a NATO member and also candidate can pursue negotiations with the EU. On the other hand, the settlement of the name dispute should form the basis for good neighbourly relations in a Region that was blocked in the past, often through cross – border and identity problems in their development.
“This historic reconciliation opened the way to a strategic partnership and close cooperation in a number of areas of common interest”, said the Macedonian foreign Minister, Nikola Dimitrov, the DW shortly after the vote in Athens. He firmly believe that even the opponents of the Prespa agreement “will realize this gradually”. “With our Greek neighbours we are natural allies,” said Dimitrov.
Overcoming the myths
In Gestures and symbolism are very important. As is stated at the Statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje, in the future, that the famous warrior is also part of the Hellenic, and not only of the Slav-Macedonian heritage. And a common Greek-Macedonian interdisciplinary Commission is already working on the clarification of a series of historical, archaeological, and pedagogical questions that have divided the two Nations in the last decades.
Their work still faces many challenges, not least because of the pressure of the nationalists on both sides of the border. Massive, sometimes violent protests against the compromise are held regularly, both in Macedonia and in Greece. The leading opposition conservative parties, Nea Demokratia in Greece, and VMRO-DPMNE in Macedonia reject the agreement strictly.
“In both countries, nationalist and fascist Narrative grew,” says the Macedonian writer Kica Kolbe in a DW interview. “This dispute is only the corrupt have benefited nationalist politicians. And that is precisely why they fight so fiercely against the Treaty. Because it weakens their Propaganda.” As a member of the “Joint Interdisciplinary Commission” was Kolbe often confronted with their own past.
She was born in 1951 in a refugee camp near Skopje, after her parents were expelled during the civil war between 1946 and 1949, from the North of Greece. The author experienced the suffering and the complexity of the long-standing feuds between the two Nations. She encouraged, but only in their willingness to support the reconciliation and compromise between Greece and Macedonia.
From now on, the seat of government of the “Republic of Northern Macedonia” in Skopje
Reconciliation and normalization
“Reconciliation is for the Greeks and Macedonians is important to see that you are not able to choose their first neighbour,” says Kica Kolbe. “If two people are in dispute, can help a facilitator. In this case, the intermediary is a document: The Prespa agreement. And the message of the document is clear: Both sides need to talk to each other about everything that separates them.”
With the vote in the Athens Parliament, but is not done all the work. In the coming days, the Macedonian government to inform the United Nations about the name change. And the Greek Parliament will soon need to vote again, this time about the NATO accession Protocol. To the North Macedonia to full membership in the political and military Alliance.
In the North of Macedonia is convinced that this development is unstoppable. And so be emphasized in the media gradually to other topics, like air pollution, the weak economy, a dramatic emigration of thousands of young and well-educated people. Even the stray dogs around the monument of Alexander the Great suddenly become a major topic in the press as the “eternal” Dilemma: Was the rider high above a Greek or a Macedonian?