During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln refused to publicly utter the words “the Confederate States of America.” He felt it would legitimize the Southern rebellion.
Unfortunately, the government of the Hellenic Republic gave no heed to Lincoln by endorsing the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s name change to “the Republic of North Macedonia.” The change would be the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s ticket to join the European Union and NATO.
Greek opponents of the agreement say it would embolden other Balkan players to follow the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s example and press their own irredentist claims to Greece’s northernmost state, where Greek-speaking people have lived for at least 3,000 years, compared with the migration of Slavic people only 1,000 years ago.
Indeed, just days after the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s prime minister, Zoran Zaev, reached agreement in principle on the name change with the Greek prime minister, he declared: “Macedonia is a geographic region of the Balkans. We now have the north, eastern Macedonia is in Bulgaria, the west is in Albania, and the south belongs to the Greeks.” He retracted the statement after Greece threatened to cancel the deal.
The Greek Parliament should have said no to the agreement and sent the message that there is only one Macedonia.
John C. Costopoulos, Cary, N.C.
