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Parts of Alexander the Great's statue being assembled at Skopje square
15. June 2011. | 07:27 
14:09
Source: Emg.rs, MIA, ANA
Reports on the beginning of work for the placing of a statue of Alexander the Great in the central square in Skopje drew strong reaction from the Greek Foreign ministry.
Parts of the statue of Alexander the Great - made out of bronze and almost 13 meters tall - are being assembled at the "Macedonia" square in Skopje. A concrete 10 meter pedestal will be also erected.
The artwork titled "Warrior on a Horse" was cast in Fonderia Artistica Ferdinando Marinelli, a well known foundry located in Florence, Italy. It was designed by sculptor Valentina Stefanovska.
It is not know how long it will take to erect the monument, because the process of assembling depends on the weather conditions.
Reports on the beginning of work for the placing of a statue of Alexander the Great in the central square in Skopje drew strong reaction from the Greek Foreign ministry.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras made the following statement in reply to questions about information regarding initiation of the assembly and placement of a statue of Alexander the Great – under the alleged official name of “warrior on horseback” – at a central square in Skopje:
“Under other conditions, we would be honored by the decision of the government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to spend nearly €10 million to honor Alexander the Great, placing a statue of the Greek army commander at a central square in Skopje.
But the ‘archaization policy’ that this action is part of is – beyond being risible – essentially based on the effort to usurp Greek history with a view to cultivating nationalism and conflict. This policy is in violation of the spirit of the Interim Accord, is provocative and condemnable, undermines our bilateral relations, and hampers the negotiations under the UN. It directly opposes the principles of good neighborly relations and will have unavoidable repercussions for FYROM’s Euroatlantic perspective.
What’s more, this action belies the recent assurances of the FYROM political leadership to the UN and the international community that they intend to work sincerely toward resolving the name issue.
Greece will inform its partners and allies, as well as the international organizations, of this provocative action, about which we had warned them.
Mr. Gruevski obviously feels increasing pressure – both at home and internationally – to achieve a solution. A name with a geographical qualifier for use in relation to everyone is the solution that will allow the building of good neighborly relations, will contribute to regional stability, and will free up FYROM’s European perspective.
While Greece is pursuing the achievement of a solution consistently and in a constructive spirit, Mr. Gruevski is making provocations to avoid reality, undercutting his fellow citizens’ European future. He needs to get back to reality right now and work sincerely and seriously towards achieving a solution. Otherwise, he will bear responsibility for his country’s backsliding.”
Comments (10)
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15. June 2011. 10:58:19
| Ime
3
so what... its just a copy......they admire us!
15. June 2011. 10:58:19
| Ime
4
My husband (Messinian) and myself (Arcadian) would like to thank the people of Skopje on behalf of all of Greece and the province of Macedonia for honouring one of our greatest generals in our long history. Hopefully this will bring the Greek and Skopjian people a little closer...
15. June 2011. 14:02:50
| Martin MKD
4
Greece has a territory that Madison and the Republic of Macedonia under the Treaty of Bucharest 1913th The contract clearly states that a period of 100 years, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia trebda to return the territories of the Republic of Macedonia. Greece Aegean Macedonia, Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria today .. Macedonia or Vardar Macedonia and the fringes of Albania and Serbia.Everyone knows that Alexander was Macedonian born in Pella former ancient Macedonia, is now northern Greece or Aegean Macedonia.All know that Greece is stealing the history of Macedonia.
15. June 2011. 16:23:48
| GJ
4
There are statues of Alexander all over Europe and Asia. Let's not forget this was an Ancient Warrior that conquer large areas over 2000 years ago. Current Modern Greece & Macedonia have evovled without this Ancient History and peolpe have migrated all over the Balkans including Greece. Recent History has a current Region of Macedonia that was divided among Greece Bulgaria & Serbia. The current Greek govenment has now succumb to this realization and ackowlegde this fact. That's why they want the Republic of Macedonia (which became independent from Serbia) to add a Geographical term to determin it's part of Macedonia. So at the end of the day Greece and the uneducated people in this forum must get off their high horse and leave this small nation to do what ever it likes as they have rights as well and rights of self determination. It seems the History in this region has constantly been determined by bullies with privlidges but arrogantly without any appreciation of human dignity. Btw there are so many countries in the world more powerful than Greece that has town & Cities called Macedonia,and has statues of Alexander the Great without any challenge from Athens??
15. June 2011. 17:46:13
| D1112
2
Hello from the Republic of Macedonia! :) Our people here are very aware of what they are, and what they want, and the vast majority of citizens would NEVER agree to changing the name of our country. We have EVERY RIGHT to celebrate our culture, history and live as we like best, so thank you very much Greece but please remind yourself of some basic human rights (like the right of self-determination) and STOP meddling in Macedonia's internal affairs! It is everything but democratic and civilized! And oh yes: we absolutely love the new statue. At last, we are at home with our history. Please leave us be, Greece, and if you don't want to be our friends - then at least - try not to be our enemies! Much love from Macedonia!
15. June 2011. 18:02:27
| Ime
3
It goes like this: Mr'Apple, who changed his name to Mr Tomato in 1944
tries to prove to the world that it now tastes like a Tomato.
Some part of him has started to believe it to.
But the real Mr Tomato, tells the X apple and now Mr Tomato, that it can not keep deceiving the world about how it tastes.
The new Mr Tomato likes the name so much, that now it tries to say that the real Tomato is not actually the real tomato, and that he is the real one.
Mr new Tomato, whatever you do, you will always taste like an apple.
15. June 2011. 22:07:34
| PDS
2
The people in fyrom where self determined Bulgarians before 1944 and communist Yugoslavia. Their territory was never Macedonia. During ancient times it was part of Paeonia and the enemies of Macedonia. During the middle ages it was part of the Bulgarian empire and the enemy of Macedonia. Its people have been indoctrinated for generations. I pity them not knowing about the real history
"We are Bulgarians, more Bulgarians than the Bulgarians in Bulgaria themselves."
Krste Misirkov, "On Macedonian Matters" - 1903
16. June 2011. 09:59:26
| Kiril
1
Gregory Delavekouras, feels that a statue of an "equestrian warrior" is provocative. Well, I'm sure this world shattering event is a welcome distraction from their real problems.
If they regard this as provocation then what do we Macedonians regard "Greece's 20 year war of destabilization" on our small nation? Firstly they would not let us into the UN (illegitimatizing our nation), then they would not let us into NATO (leaving us unprotected) and are now adding road blocks at every step of our EU (keeping us economically poor) intergration. Oh, and I forgot to mention the economic blockade that our good neighbours to the south imposed on us for few years, this is as close that a nation comes to declaring war, but with actually doing so.
Why? Because they never thought we would get this far, they believed that without the POLITICAL & ECONOMIC STABILITY of the UN, NATO and the EU we would disintegrate like Bosnia. As Samaras (the current opposition leader) said in the early 1990's to a Greek parliament, "why do we argue amongst our selves, the Macedonian problem will not exist soon"!
Well, we still exist and long live Macedonia.
16. June 2011. 14:19:39
| Ime
1
Maybe these Slavs can inform us why FYROM hasn't been able to unearth a single piece of archaeological proof in almost two decades that shows Alexander was a Slav like them. Then they can tell us what actual historical proof links the Slavs of FYROM (or any Slavs) to the ancient Macedonians.
They will fail of course but it'll be interesting to read their lame excuses.
17. June 2011. 06:50:09
| Warrior on a Horse
1
1) Macedonians have and will always state we are a mix of the ancient Macedonians that lived in Macedonia and those Slavs that invaded the Balkans, we have stated we are descendants for a LONG time now
2) Before the Megali Idea, Greek historians agreed with ancient historians in that Macedonians conquered Greeks and ended democracy in Greece
3) Only until Macedonia's independence became imminent did Greece change all the names of their airports and universities to "Macedonia", change their province to "Macedonia and Thrace", start using the Vergina Flag, and started erecting statues of Alexander the Great and Phillip II (so, around the time of 1990s). They even changed their TV channel name to "Macedonia"!
4) Macedonia was divided in 1913 by Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. The portion that went to Greece underwent MASSIVE Hellenization... Hundreds of thousands of refugees were brought into Macedonia, only Greek language and religion was allowed in Macedonia, and the "removal" of Macedonians and the evidence of their existence continues to occur! In short: Macedonia was FORCIBLY Hellenized! No matter how many times you repeat it you are not related to the ancient Macedonians, only the Macedonians who have been forcibly Hellenized since 1913 are
5) Macedonians are not and will never be embarrassed of who they are, if the Greeks are unsure of who they are that is their problem, they cannot continue harassing everyone else over it: Albanians and Epirus, Macedonians and Macedonia, and Turkey and Cyprus!
6) Greeks you are in massive debt, quite complaining about Macedonia, it is Greece that you need to fix