Macedonia Burning – American Macedonian Civil Rights Leader George Atanasoski speaks out against the attacks on native ethnic Macedonians. no holds barred interview -(English and Macedonian version)… on Team Uzunov blog…
George Atanasoski is a successful businessman in the United States, running a hi tech company Microflex which lists NASA, the US space program governing body, amongst many as of its high profile clients. Atanasoski also owns a Macedonian television station and magazine called Makedonsko Since (Macedonian Sun) as well as being the leader of the Macedonian Alliance. He has been a tireless worker in strengthening US-Macedonian relations. In 1994 he made an unsuccessful tilt at the Macedonian Presidency against popular incumbent Kiro Gligorov (1991-99).
English version:
Question 1: You’ve come out strongly opposed to name “negotiations” with Greece. Why is that?
George Atanasoski: This standpoint of mine isn’t new. Since the beginning of the 1990s, I have publicly called for the termination of negotiations with Greece. The passing of time has not change my view, but confirmed my point of view. What did Macedonia gain from the negotiations? Nothing but enormous humiliation. A past generation of politicians changed the Constitution, the flag, removed the Kutlesh sun, accepted the embarrassing reference FYROM, and signed an Interim Accord [in 1995]. Greece, headed by [Prime Minister] Karamanlis and [Foreign Minister] Bakoyannis, going against the USA’s interests, vetoed the invite for our membership into the NATO Alliance at the Bucharest Summit in 2008. Now, 10 years later, the Macedonian government is trying to appease [Greek Prime Minister] Tsipras and [Foreign Minister] Kotzias with a servile foreign policy.
[Macedonian Prime Minister] Zaev and [Foreign Minister] Dimitrov (pictured above with Kotzias) renamed the highway and the airport, publicly accepted a geographic qualifier to be part of the name, distanced themselves from modern Macedonians’ ancient roots. The Greek radicals will not budge an inch from their positions. Look at the public sentiment in Greece. The results are devastating. A huge number of Greeks, about 70 percent, are opposing the option of the term Macedonia even being part of the name solution. The opposition party New Democracy headed by Bakoyannis’ brother, Mitsotakis, who has a highly radical attitude towards Macedonia, is leading Syriza in all polls and is an almost certain winner in the forthcoming elections. Especially that almost all State representatives and political officials in Greece are unanimous in the blackmail towards the Macedonian people, either you will accept a new name and a new identity as a Constitutional solution or no EU and NATO–humiliation for nothing.
Therefore, instead of falling for the tricks of Athens, now we need shock diplomacy. Until the implementation of the verdict of the Hague Tribunal that condemned Greece for violation of the Interim Accord is secured, through which Macedonia would immediately receive an invitation to join NATO, we should not have any further negotiations. Negotiations are pointless. No politician in Greece has any legitimacy to propose a new bilateral international treaty when they fail to comply with the valid Interim Accord. International justice must apply equally to all. And Macedonian politicians must understand that none of them, not any party or government coalition, is above the Macedonian people. The only sovereign ruler of the name and identity is the Macedonian people who will never forgive high treason or selling out national interests. We are not after something that is not ours, we are only protecting our universal democratic right of self-determination. We were, are and will remain Macedonia, because generations of Macedonians have given their lives for this country.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Question 2: Are you alarmed by the inroads that Bulgaria has made into Macedonia in undermining its distinct identity? Who do you blame for this?
George Atanasoski: I do not overlook the fact that Bulgaria recognised Macedonia under the Constitutional name and therefore I have always advocated good neighbourly relations, but on a reciprocal basis. Macedonia and the Macedonian people must not be humiliated or be the victims of a one man’s dreams for San Stefano Bulgaria. The government of [Bulgarian Prime Minister] Boyko Borissov felt the moment of weakness of incumbent Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who does not hide and is publicly showing fondness for Bulgaria, even openly nourishing the Bulgarian thesis that “we are one people in two countries.”
In addition to this is the request of some of the Macedonian Orthodox Church leaders, namely the Strumica Bishop Naum–who has close relations with the Zaev family–that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church should become a “mother-church” of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. This is absurd because our Ohrid Archbishopric is one of the oldest Orthodox churches and we do not need such an approach. But this is clear indication that some of the so-called Bulgarophile structures in Macedonia have awoken. It is not by chance that a new party led by and consisting of Macedonians with Bulgarian passports has been formed and is publicly supported by Bulgarian MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] who are the biggest deniers of Macedonian identity. The Bulgarian Government, headed by Boyko Borisov and Krassimir Karakachanov (pictured below), insisted on signing the Treaty of Good Neighbourly Relations, imposing it as a condition for our Euro-Atlantic integration. Moreover, Bulgarian authorities have never had a frank approach in trying to close the open issues that have burdened our bilateral relations for decades.
-Ultra Bulgarian nationalist Kressimir Karakachanov, Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and also the Defence Minister, denies the existence of a Macedonian identity.
Otherwise they would have explicitly recognized the Macedonian national identity and accepted the obligation to implement the verdicts of the European Court of Human Rights and to register OMO Ilinden-Pirin [ethnic Macedonian political party in Bulgaria]. But they continue to consciously deny that in the Pirin part, unjustly taken away with the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, there are Macedonians who speak Macedonian.
Unfortunately, the current Government in Macedonia, by signing and ratifying such an agreement on good neighbourly relations with Bulgaria, conceded disproportionately and took on obligations with which it shot itself directly in the foot, causing great damage to the Macedonian identity. The obligation to re-write and revise history textbooks in Macedonia is a disaster.
We cannot fabricate history and lie that Bulgaria was not on the right side of the anti-fascist struggle during the Second World War. Just as we could never accept that Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev are Bulgarians, and that Ilinden is a Bulgarian holiday, as claimed by Bulgarian nationalists and radicals. Due to some of the unfortunately accepted provisions in the Agreement, in the future when we react to someone in Skopje trying to make a memorial service for Mara Buneva [controversial historical figure claimed to be Bulgarian], the Bulgarian Government will consider the Good Neighborly Agreement violated.
What is further worrying is that the provocations from the Bulgarian side have been going on non-stop. Their great nationalistic and assimilationist policy of denying the Macedonian national identity resulted in the Bulgarian MEPs Andrey Kovachev and Angel Djambazki pressuring the European Parliament, which made a cowardly resolution of acknowledging that in the Albanian regions of Prespa, Golo Brdo and Gora, where only Macedonians are live, also live non-existent Bulgarians. This is like claiming that the planet Mars has a Bulgarian colony. My position is clear, the Macedonian Alliance will fight with all political means for Macedonia to unilaterally terminate the Agreement, referring to its Article 13, item 3. – more on the Bulgarian-Macedonian Agreement at this link here
– Statue of Xhem Hasa, a leader of the Nazi Albanian quisling militia known as the Balli Kombetar during World War II. Location: Simnica, near the town of Gostivar, Macedonia.
Question 3: Albanian neo facism in Macedonia is on the rise. A number of World War II Albanian Nazi collaborator statues of the Balli Kombetar (Albanian Nazi quisling militia involved in ethnic cleansing of Macedonians and the the Holocaust) have been built by the Albanian political bloc, including DUI party led by Ali Ahmeti, in Macedonia. In Germany the birthplace of Nazism there are no Nazi statues. Will you be raising the issue of Albanian Nazi statues in Macedonia with US foreign policy makers as well as US politicians?
Ordinary Albanian citizens are increasingly waking up. They are becoming aware that the same political structure of Albanians that has been in power for 15 years and is a partner of both SDSM and VMRO DPMNE [ethnic Macedonian parties] abuses them to make money off of them. What both the Albanians and the Macedonians value most is economic prosperity, living standards and safe future for their children. Look at just how many Albanians are emigrating and pursuing happiness in European countries or in the United States. They simply disagree with the nationalism and blackmail of their politicians in Macedonia.
The monuments that DUI [Albanian nationalist party formed by ex KLA terrorists] insisted on, unfortunately, are part of the political bargaining that Macedonian politicians often do with Ali Ahmeti [DUI leader] only for the purpose of retaining their government powers and privileges. So it was with the embarrassing amnesty of the Hague cases, due to which instead of being held accountable for his participation in the UCK[KLA] and the massacre of the Macedonian soldiers in Vejce in 2001 [ethnic Albanian uprising / war in Macedonia], 17 years later, Talat Xhaferi is illegitimately performing the function of Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament. Such is the situation now, where in order to attain that damned power, an unconstitutional law for implementing bilingualism in Macedonia has been voted, which completely negates the spirit of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. I am using my contacts in the US Administration to lobby for the Macedonian national interests. I insist, in the shortest possible time, to conduct a census in the country, which will be conducted by the State Census Commission, headed by a person proposed by the Macedonian Diaspora and one that had not taken part in the previous shameful bargaining to the detriment of the Macedonian people and their future. We must once again be counted. Until then all requests of Albanian political radicals should be placed under a moratorium. – more on Albanian Nazi statues in Macedonia at this link here
Question 4: The United States during the 1950s and 1960s bravely confronted racial discrimination through the civil rights movements led by the late Dr Martin Luther King. As a proud and patriotic American citizen of native ethnic Macedonian ancestry and the recipient of the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor are you aghast, horrified at observing the extremist behaviour of some prominent Serbs in Macedonia including the country’s Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska, “activist” turned MP Pavle Bogoevski, leading media pundit Borjan Jovanovski, Skopje city suburban Mayor Sasa Bogdanovic-Srpce and some others who paradoxically refuse to protest against Serb nationalism but deliberately pick on and ferociously attack native ethnic Macedonians, Macedonian statues and Macedonian identity?
– Radmila Sekerinska attacking a native ethnic Macedonian statue in the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
George Atanasoski: Macedonia, throughout history, has always been the target of various radical structures in neighbouring countries that have tried to deny the existence of the Macedonian people and country. We must not forget that the Serbian Orthodox Church persistently denies the right to autocephaly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church and this has been the position for decades. It was not by chance that there was an attempt by [rebel ultra Serb nationalist Bishop] Jovan Vranishkovski’s schismatic church of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric to mislead the Macedonian believers. But this attempt was thwarted because of the wisdom of the Macedonian people. In Serbia, especially some of the members of their former security services are trying to control Macedonian politics in various ways, thinking that this is their inheritance from Yugoslav times. It is a fact that there are Serbian installations in Macedonia. They have a personal interest in destabilising the country by directly working for a greater power that is striving to achieve strategic and geopolitical goals in the Balkans.
As for the specific politicians in Macedonia that you have mentioned, I do not want to comment in this regard, because I do not have any confirmed information that they represent Serbian interests. However, with regard to the fact that they have entered a very dangerous scenario of removing monuments from Macedonian history, renouncing our civilisational right to historically refer to the Ancient past – this current ruling structure will carry the cross of trying to obliterate the identity of the Macedonian people. – more on this theme at this link here
-Pavle Bogoevski, Colour Revolution leader and now Macedonian MP reveals he doesn’t protest against Serbian nationalism or links to corruption between Serb and Macedonian politicians.
Question 5: As a man of science who runs a successful hi-tech company in the United States, would you put a strong emphasis on science and technology, innovation, research and development in the Macedonian education system?
George Atanasoski: The Macedonian people are wise, smart and extremely skilled. It is not a small number of Macedonians who run successful businesses in Europe or the United States, Canada, Australia, or are professors at prestigious world universities. I never did forget the homeland and my native city of Prilep. I am seriously investing in Macedonia and in the media business, as well as in the food industry and hotel industry. I gave my sons the love for their native land. They are often in Macedonia and at certain times live in the country of their ancestors, knowing full-well the Macedonian tradition. My youngest even completed a part of his education in Macedonia, and speaks perfect Macedonian, regardless of being born in Florida. Some time ago, my brother Josif (Joseph) and I wanted to open a Microflex plant in the free economic zone in Prilep, but because of the cancer of Macedonian society – corruption, we did not realize that project. My life and professional motto is constant progress and exchange of knowledge. The program of the Macedonian Alliance envisages a series of measures, steps and policies for improving the Macedonian education system and increasing the quality and competitiveness of our workforce. I am deeply convinced that Macedonia has the capacity to be the most successful country in the region. It is only that the right people need to come into the right places.
MACEDONIAN VERSION: