Angry Greeks

Since Monday, April 8, when Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic and Macedonian Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frckovski signed a document on the mutual recognition of the two countries, one can travel directly from Belgrade to Skoplje.

Aware of the new political reality, some Greek media published the news about the mutual recognition of Belgrade and Skoplje and jumped to the conclusion that "nothing will ever be the same as it used to be" between Belgrade and Athens. Some over-heated reactions went even further and said that the Serbs, by recognizing Macedonia under that name, "slapped the Greeks in the face," "stabbed a knife in their back," "crucified them." All of this seems to be in accordance with the always present Balkan logic that any improvement of relations between two states in the region must necessarily mean the "stabbing of the knife" into someone else's back.

One of Greek commentators wondered "Why was Belgrade in such a hurry to normalize relations with Skoplje when the normalization of the relations between Serbia and the European Union is scheduled for May." Many reactions in Belgrade (NOT close to the ruling circles) wondered why Macedonia was not recognized much earlier and why Belgrade hesitated so much after Dayton and, by doing so, scored new conditions from the European Union. The official Belgrade, however, is trying to make an impression that the wise policy of the Serbian leadership has led to another major diplomatic accomplishment. In the first reactions of the regime-controlled media the headlines were chosen and certain parts of the agreement stressed in such as to suggest that Macedonia had recognised the continuity of FRY By reading the text of the agreement carefully one can easily discover that the formulation about the continuity of S.F.R.Y and FRY calls for a distinction between the questions of continuity and succession, i.e. that S.FRY was the predecessor country but that FRY is not its only successor. The second day after the normalization of FRY-Macedonia relations Belgrade media started publishing information from many capitals throughout the world, according to which their ambassadors were packing suitcases and buying plane tickets for Belgrade. In addition to France which named her ambassador in Belgrade a month ago, the Foreign Office was the first in the EU to react to the normalization of relations between FRY and Macedonia by raising the level of diplomatic relations with Belgrade. It is only a matter of days when the others in EU will follow Paris and London.

In this kind of atmosphere it was almost impossible to point out that FRY never did have any problems with the Macedonian policy, name and (former) flag and that the situation which could be called: "we are not quarrelling but we are not recognizing each other either" lasted way too long for no particular reason. Ilija Djukic, the FRY foreign minister in Milan Panic's government said that it had not been explained why we had waited that long to recognize Macedonia (as is now being done with the recognition of Slovenia) and tried to explain that the reasons for this kind of behaviour of the Yugoslav diplomacy were strictly political-psychological ones. "This case clearly shows that we do not have a developed foreign policy and that we make the moves we are forced to make," Djukic wrote in a text published by the "Dnevni Telegraf." "It's a pity that the recognition has coincided with our unsuccessful first round of talks with the IMF, with the American Congress's adopting of resolutions on the freedom of the press and opposition activities in FRY, with The Hague tribunal's threats to re-impose sanctions," he said.

The first time Slobodan Milosevic (although this is not in his job description) publicly promised to recognize Macedonia was in his interview to Larry King on CNN in December 1994. He then said that "Macedonia will be recognized as soon as she resolves the disputes with our friends, the Greeks." The Serbian president said something similar again a few weeks later when he told former Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis that Athens could remain calm and that Skoplje would not be recognized unless it resolved its disputes with the Greeks. Since that time many things have changed, Athens and Skoplje are not on such bad terms as they were a year and a half ago, but one could hardly say that they have buried all their disputes. After Dayton, Milosevic was clearly told that he could not get close to EU and the European cashiers unless there was a mutual recognition with all of the former Yugoslav republics and that Macedonia must be the first on the list for recognition.

After this, there was no reason for further hesitation. Especially since the Serbian and Macedonian presidents had met in Belgrade and agreed on all points on October 2, 1995, a day before the attempted assassination of Kiro Gligorov. When Gligorov recovered and returned to his cabinet, Milosevic made occasional phone calls and repeatedly told him that he would soon pay a visit to Macedonia, which would be followed by the signing of an agreement on mutual recognition. However, Milosevic's trip to Skoplje was put off several times.

What was it that really happened last weekend, and was Belgrade really running out of time and had to recognize Skoplje? All we can do is guess. The Greek side seems to have made Milosevic's job easier. The Greek-Serbian communication channel has not been functioning in the past three months. At the same time, Athens rejected Belgrade's request to revoke visas and to offer benefits in the port of Thessaloniki. Milosevic took advantage of all these things in order to recognize Macedonia.

The news on mutual recognition was greeted in Skoplje with satisfaction because of the "well done job." Accidentally, the well done job symbolically coincided with the third anniversary of Macedonia's membership in the United Nations, the date on which Macedonia had set its foot on the path of independent development. Three years ago Macedonia was accepted in the United Nations under the temporary and bulky name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and evil comments then said that the recognition was standing on one foot. There were no remarks this time. Three years ago a "dream" about the independent state came true, and at the beginning of last week (although the demarcation of the state border is yet to be done) the problem of the last border which caused subconscious anxiety of official politicians and ordinary people was resolved. Since the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and declaration of Macedonia's independence, an unpleasant draft has constantly been blowing from the north. It came as no surprise that Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frckovski, upon his return to Skoplje after the signing of mutual recognition, said this was a "historic act" and Macedonia's Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski used similar expressions. He added that Macedonia had "completed the first phase in the establishment of her relations with neighbours."

From Skoplje's point of view, a good (historic) deal was made in Belgrade last Monday, especially regarding some key problems which were vital to Macedonia's sovereignty. The fact that official Belgrade does not dispute the political and legal continuity of the Macedonian state since 1944 is considered an extraordinary diplomatic success and is, no doubt, the last step in the age-old search for identity. At the same time, Yugoslavia offered the Republic of Macedonia support to call itself the way it does, which will be invaluable in the forthcoming exhausting negotiations with Greece on the name which Athens considers as disputable. Over the past few days, Skoplje has with pleasure been listening to the whining of the Greek press. The Macedonian opposition which at present is fighting the decisive battle for new elections agrees that the Macedonian diplomacy has done a good job. Even VMRO-DPMNE, the party whose programme is painted in bright nationalist colours, maintains that "a good basis has been made for a good neighbourhood and the establishment of peace in the southern Balkans." The Yugoslav-Macedonian agreement was greeted also by the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia (who until recently have been advising Milosevic not to recognize Skoplje) and said they hoped that the Macedonian authorities would eventually include the Serbs in the Constitution. The high level of unisonance in the assessments of the Belgrade agreement is being harmed only by the representatives of the opposition PDP headed by Arbeb Dzaferi. Dzaferi's party has told VREME that they generally supported peace and good relations, but that there was something in this agreement that bothered them. This is the fact that Frckovski, who also represents the interests of one-third of the Macedonian population consisting of ethnic Albanians did not contact their political representatives before he signed the recognition of the "integrity of the creation which is called FRY". Ethnic Albanians support the independence and neutrality of Kosovo.

And while Skoplje is openly celebrating the diplomatic success, Belgrade is celebrating but is feeling a little uncomfortable (because of the Greeks), Greek media are not hiding their emotions and are even insulting the Serbian policy. Official Athens moderately expressed her dissatisfaction concerning the normalization of relations between FRY and Macedonia. Neither the Greek Prime Minister nor his head of diplomacy, who have been on an official visit to Washington since last Monday, have commented on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Skoplje.

Athens agrees with the recognition of Macedonia, but only under her temporary name FYROM until the completion of the Greek-Macedonian negotiations on the issue. Greeks maintain that the recognition of the "Republic of Macedonia" by Belgrade damages Greece's negotiating positions regardless of the fact that FRY was the last one among several dozen states which had recognized Macedonia.