Athens News FRIDAY , 02 DECEMBER 2005 No. 13159
http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=&t=01&m=A10&aa=1 Greece stresses Kosovo interest Foreign Minister Molyviatis will lead a Balkan delegation to Pristina andBelgrade, signalling regional concern over final status process GEORGE GILSON WHEN Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis travels to Pristina and Belgrade on December 6-7, he will not be alone. Molyviatis will lead a representation of the South-East European Cooperation Process - including Greek, Romanian and Croatian foreign ministry delegations - which hopes to underscore to both the regional actors and international players that neighbouring Balkan countries should be included in the process of determining Kosovo's final status. Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos told the Athens News on December 1 that the trip has a triple aim. "It is intended to stress the intense interest of regional countries in the Kosovo issue. Secondly, the delegations want to be briefed on the ground by the immediate parties to the issue. Thirdly, they want to underscore that the process toward achieving a solution should include periodic consultations with other regional countries." While Koumoutsakos confirmed that Molyviatis will meet with Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova in Pristina and with Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuc Draskovic in Belgrade, a series of other meetings had not been firmed up as the Athens News went to press on December 1. Molyviatis recently briefed parliament's foreign affairs committee on Greece's positions on the negotiations to determine the final status of Kosovo, noting that there is no room for regional complacency. Molyviatis noted that the international community abandoned its principle of achieving political standards in Kosovo before discussing final status, opting instead for tackling both at once. He cited a recent resolution of the Kosovo parliament, which he said indicated "the intention of pre-empting the outcome of discussions in favour of independence". Greece is concerned about the possible repercussions that a volatile confluence of events could have on the entire Balkan region. That includes a planned spring referendum in Montenegro on secession from Serbia, a prospect that the European Union has sought to avoid. In addition, discussions on a new constitution for Bosnia is liable to rekindle ethnic tensions in a region that has always been at the centre of the Balkan tinderbox. While Greece has long been fond of declarations on its leading role in the Balkans - largely due to investments and its membership in the EU and Nato - on the Kosovo issue, where the UN Security Council rushed to push forward the final status issue, Athens appears destined to be at best an engaged observer. Over the past few months, Greek diplomacy has avoided taking a clear stance on Kosovo independence - which many view as unavoidable, especially given apparent US support - choosing at times to speak only about the need to uphold international law and at others simply to call for a mutually agreed solution, not imposed from outside. "Our underlying position is that finding a settlement and achieving stability in Kosovo cannot be at the cost of destabilising the rest of the region," Molyviatis told parliament in late November. Speaking on the final status process, he again said that a solution should not be rushed and not be "the fruit of imposition". Viewing the prospect of EU membership as a crucial incentive for Balkan countries, Athens has stressed that the EU must play an "essential role" throughout the final status process and that the solution must be compatible with UN resolutions and European values, promoting the "European prospects of the entire region". Greece has also shown a heightened interest in the protection of Serbian Orthodox religious and cultural monuments in Kosovo, which have come under fierce attack from the Albanian majority. Dozens of Serbian Orthodox churches and other cultural monuments have been torched or destroyed, despite the presence of international KFOR troops. The Greek foreign ministry on December 1 denied reports in two Serbian papers that Athens intends to reduce its KFOR contingent. ATHENS NEWS , 02/12/2005, page: A10 Article code: C13159A101 ##### http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=&t=01&m=A99&aa=8 Greek victory, Balkan magnanimity 'Closure', a cautious revision of the historical record with modestmaterial or moral compensation, has become good US politics. Closure with itsnorthern neighbours would be prudent politics for Greece as wellDiplomat among the ruins JOHN BRADY KIESLING* AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL watching the Vouli's television channel could be forgiven for inferring from the rhetoric that Greece was fighting for its life against a ring of implacable foes. On November 1, President Papoulias beat an ignominious retreat rather than run the gauntlet of 200 Cham protestors to meet with Albanian President Moisiu in Sarande (Agia Saranda). The "non-existent" Cham issue was too grave a threat to the national dignity. The Chams were Muslim Albanian landowners who stayed when their land became part of Greece in 1913. Embittered by the creeping confiscation of their land, many Chams embraced the Axis occupiers in 1940. Greek collaborators could redeem themselves by becoming fierce anti-communists. The Chams were not given that option. In 1944 when the Nazis withdrew, rape and murder became instruments of national purification as well as personal vengeance. The surviving Chams fled to Albania, where they formed a political group to demand compensation for their lost houses and fields. Until they are satisfied, no Albanian politician will derive much political benefit from good Greek-Albanian relations. Greeks were dismayed to discover in 1912 that the Macedonian provinces they had just seized from the Ottoman Empire were full of Slav villagers. Some of these "locals" were pushed across the border in 1948 as communist bandits. The rest learned Greek and set about becoming anonymous, as befitted their official non-existence. Their relatives across the border in Bitola and Skopje did not have the option of anonymity. Late-comers to Balkan nation-building, they took their name - the only name they know - from the territory on which they have been living for the past few centuries. Now they are Macedonians, and they live in the Republic of Macedonia. Every month or two, the dispute over the name of the country makes some act of neighbourly cooperation between Greece and "FYROM" more trouble than it is worth. Nation-building is an ugly process everywhere. Each Thanksgiving holiday, as Americans commemorate the early colonists' first successful harvest, the liberals among them glance sheepishly over their shoulders at the Native Americans who made the fatal mistake of helping the colonists or the fatal mistake of not helping them. Enough time has passed that American nationalism no longer resents its early victims. "Closure", a cautious revision of the historical record with modest material or moral compensation, has become good US politics. Closure with its northern neighbours would be prudent politics for Greece as well. Why? The ethical reason - that collective punishment was illegal and immoral in the 1940s and remains so today - is not convincing to ordinary citizens. But there is a national interest argument as well. The US government has wearied of its involvement in Kosovo. The US hopes some magical process will make Kosovo independent without triggering chaos in Serbia. As critics of the Iraq invasion point out, "hope is not a plan". When the superpower stirs the smoking embers of Kosovo and disappears, Greece's economic interests will suffer if the incompatible national aspirations of Serbs, Albanians, and Macedonians blaze up again. Greek ability to be a calming influence on its neighbours doesn't come free of charge. Then-foreign minister Papandreou paid a domestic political price for reaching out to the anti-Milosevic opposition in Serbia in 2000. Doing so redeemed Greece as a valid Balkan partner, and not just in American eyes. By announcing an ambitious 500 million-euro Balkan reconstruction assistance package, Greece bought itself enormous access. Greece has further leverage over its neighbours through Greek private investments, its lax visa/migration policy, and its advocacy inside the European Union. What Greece lacks is a domestic political consensus that permits it to use its Balkan leverage efficiently. Instead, diplomatic capital is squandered to appease Greek nationalism - with cancelled visits and EU veto threats. Listening to the politicians, it is clear that Greek fiascos in the Balkans are good domestic politics. Failure gives carte blanche to criticise the prime minister and sanctifies an attitude of general churlishness. Greek victories, on the other hand, would impose an obligation of magnanimity. Chams and Macedonians are not a collective figment of Balkan perversity or irredentism. They are identifiable human beings with the yearning for a personal inheritance that identity implies. Greeks have never forgotten and will never forget a square centimetre of Greek land or a single paragraph of Greek history. Neither will their neighbours, who have considerably less of either to spare. Greeks should remind themselves that they are the winning side and have been for a century. They can afford to be magnanimous, when their weaker, less stable neighbours cannot. Greek, US, and EU interests coincide in wanting Greece to be a benevolent EU elder brother to the fledgling Balkan democracies. Greece is not a brother, however, but instead the local superpower. As such, Greece does not enjoy the benefit of its good intentions without proving them in advance. Granting Macedonia its name and granting the Chams a less dishonourable place in Greek history are two small, affordable steps toward making Greece more persuasive as the metropolis of a peaceful, prosperous Balkan peninsula. * John Brady Kiesling ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is the former political counsellor at the US embassy in Athens. His book Diplomacy Lessons: Realism for an Unloved Superpower will come out in the spring. ATHENS NEWS , 02/12/2005, page: A99 Article code: C13159A998 Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
