[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 23, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE PRESIDENT SHOULD NOT HAVE 
   GRANTED DIPLOMATIC RECOGNITION TO THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF 
                               MACEDONIA

                                 ______


                         HON. OLYMPIA J. SNOWE

                                of maine

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 23, 1994

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. Speaker, like all Americans of Greek ancestry, I was 
extremely disappointed by the administration's recent decision to 
recognize the Skopje regime as an independent nation while it continues 
to insist on calling itself Macedonia. This decision was an insult to a 
loyal and trusted ally, and the only true democracy in the region--
Greece. This misguided decision could further inflame tensions in a 
region already plagued by terrible violence and instability.
  Today, I have introduced a resolution expressing the sense of the 
Congress that the President should not have granted diplomatic 
recognition to the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. The 
resolution also calls on the President to reconsider his decision and 
withdraw diplomatic recognition until such time as the Skopje regime 
renounces its use of the name Macedonia.
  The name ``Macedonia'' is Hellenic in origin, and for thousands of 
years it has been the traditional name of the northern Greek province 
whose capital is Salonika. Archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates 
that the ancient Macedonians were Greek. The Macedonia of Alexander the 
Great was Greek, and Alexander himself was tutored by Aristotle. The 
Slavic people of the Skopje regime have no links to classical Greece 
and are not entitled to use a name that is a fundamental part of Greek 
history and culture.
  It is also an accepted historical fact that, in 1945, Marshall Tito 
gave the region surrounding Skopje the name ``Macedonia'' in order to 
frustrate Bulgarian claims to that territory. It was part of a campaign 
to usurp Greek history and claim it for Tito's communist system. Tito's 
Macedonia was an artificial creation meant to serve only one purpose--
giving communist Yugoslavia territorial access to the Aegean Sea 
through the port of Salonika.
  The Skopje regime has refused to remove from its constitution a 
reference to the 1944 declaration by the then Communist regime calling 
for the unification of neighboring territories in Greece and Bulgaria 
with this false Macedonian Republic. Despite other amendments to that 
constitution adopted over the last few years, this clause reflecting an 
expansionist philosophy remains intact.
  In addition to its flagrant and illegal use of the name Macedonia in 
its constitution, the Skopje regime persists in using the 16-pointed 
Star of Vergina, an ancient Greek emblem, in its flag and state 
symbols. These are just part of that regime's blatant attempt to 
manipulate history for its own purposes and to monopolize the 
Macedonian name to further its territorial claims on sovereign Greek 
territory. Greece, on the other hand, has repeatedly stated that it has 
no territorial claims on the Skopje regime.
  I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. By doing so we will 
send an unequivocal message that the United States should support 
stabilizing policies that promote peaceful coexistence in the Balkans.

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