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First phase of hearing on Macedonia's suit against Greece ends in Hague
26. March 2011. | 10:15
Source: MIA
The first phase of the public hearing ended with Greece's elaboration on Friday. Team representing Macedonia will have the opportunity to respond to Greece's defense on March 28, and the oral hearing will end with closing remarks by the Greek side on March 30.
Greece has met the obligations, deriving from the Interim Accord, and enabled Macedonia to join the political processes in the Balkan and wider region, Maria Telalian, the Foreign Ministry's legal adviser, said Friday at the public hearing before the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Skopje's suit against Athens for violating the 1995 bilateral document by objecting to Macedonia's application to join NATO.
Macedonia on the other hand has breached several articles of the document by interfering in Greece's internal affairs, encouraging and financing irredentist activities.
According to the Macedonia's Government web portal, a total of 700,000 ethic Macedonians live in Greece, which is not correct, while 4,535 citizens of Greece vote for a political party, which claims to represent the so-called Macedonian minority in the country, Telalian said.
"It is difficult for Greece to comprehend these demographic claims in any other way but as provocation," she said.
Telalian also mentioned the existence of several associations of Aegean Macedonians, which enjoy Skopje's financial and other support for retrieving their properties the applicant claims to be seized by Greece.
Moreover, in 2008 the Prime Minister in Skopje sent a letter to his colleague in Athens, asking him to take care for the Macedonian minority in Greece, which, as Telalian said, doesn't exist.
"It is well-known that minority rights are closely related to respecting the territorial integrity, sovereignty and good-neighbourly relations. This is even more important for the relations between the two countries. The applicant is not some international organization for monitoring, but an independent state that is accusing of a so-called Macedonian minority in and supports irredentist aspirations against Greece," she said.
For Telalian, the usage of the Star of Vergina, erecting of monuments of Alexander the Great, Philip II, renaming the Corridor X and national stadium into Alexander the Great and Philip II respectively, are also some of Macedonia's moves for breaching the Interim Accord.
Closing Greece's presentation of arguments, professor Alain Pellet from the Paris University said there could be no legal security for those who breach agreements, something Macedonia has done by violating the provisions of the Interim Accord.
The first phase of the public hearing ended with Greece's elaboration on Friday. Team representing Macedonia will have the opportunity to respond to Greece's defense on March 28, and the oral hearing will end with closing remarks by the Greek side on March 30.
The ICJ verdict, which is final and binding for UN member-states and parties in the dispute, is expected within six months or by the year-end.
Macedonia took Greece to the UN court seeking a ruling that Athens illegally vetoed its application for NATO membership three years ago in breach of a 1995 agreement to support its membership of international organizations under the name "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."
Comments (11)
Enter text:
30. March 2011. 19:21:51
| Peter
0
In order to make sence of the situation between Greece and Macedonia,one has to understand the reasons Greece opposes the Macedonian name.
98 years ago,Greece entered Macedonia pretending to help the Macedonian people to get rid of the Ottomans.This pretence was not the true reason.
Just look what former PM of Greece in 1903 said to the "New York Times"
On September 3,1903 in the New York Times archives the Greek PM using insolent rhetoric to boast about how Greece helped Turkey to suffocate the Ilinden Uprising."The response is simple,he said.Before us we have a pack of wolves which attcked Macedonia.To destroy them not only we will join forces with Turkey but we are prepaired to do anything to protect our interests"
In a similar New York Times article we read"The Greek stand to help Turkey againts the Macedonian revolutionaries."In another article it said that the Greek government helped the Turkish Sultan through its consul in Macedonia by asking the Greek people to spy on the Macedonian revolutionaries and report them to the Turkish authorities.
The New York Times on May 26,1903 reported;"A Greek spy Betrayed Deltcheffs Whereabouts to the Turks."
Lets face it,Greeces problem is not the name,the problem is the refusal of recognizing the indigenouse Macedonian people.It makes sence for Greece in doing that,because the Greek history has to be revised.By this,Greece relinquishes the claim of the Macedonian antiquity.