If you have any Greek friend let them sign it too send it to to: Jim Jatras
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hello Everyone: Read below, then please immediately send via email your
name / city/town to: Jim Jatras [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Tomorrow he is sending
Appeal to the Greek Govt. and would appreciate many more to sign on. Please
also spread the message and send this Appeal to others so that they can sign
on today.
Liz
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Dear Friends:
As explained in the following Appeal to the Greek government, there are
disturbing indications that Athens -- one of the EU countires that has so
far refused to bow to State Department pressure to recognize the illegal
separatist declaration of independence by the Albanian Muslims in Kosovo --
may be about to reverse that course. This would terribly undermine the
other countries, especially Cyprus, that have categorically said OXI to
that illegal action.
This appeal from Americans of Greek descent and American Philhellenes,
addressed to Prime Minister Karamanlis, Foreign Minister Bakoyannis, and
Ambassador to the U.S. Mallias, insists that the government in Athens make
it clear that Greece will not change its position on Kosovo. The appeal
points out the devastating consequences this would have on Greek and Cypriot
security and the rule of law.
This needs to go out as soon as possible. There is every reason to believe
that Greek officials may be working to weaken the resolve of their
counterparts in Spain, Romanian, etc. We need to raise the outcry now. The
appeal is dated February 21 and will be sent out by 10 AM Eastern Standard
time. It will also be released to Greek, American, and international media.
If you wish to sign on, please email me your name, affiliation (if any,
including local chapter position in any organization), and city and state,
as follows:
(your name)
President, Such-and-such organization
City, State
Or if no affiliation:
(your name)
City, State
Please email me as soon as possible at [EMAIL PROTECTED] to add your name!
Thank you for your support!
Jim Jatras
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Open Appeal to the Government of the Hellenic Republic
February 21, 2008
Prime Minister Konstandinos Karamanlis
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis
Ambassador Alexandros Mallias
Your Excellencies:
We the undersigned Hellenes and Philhellenes in America address ourselves to
you with respect to the policy of the Hellenic Republic towards the illegal
separatist movement by Albanian Muslims in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
Until recently, the Greek government has been clear: Greece would not
recognize any unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence, which would
violate all accepted standards of international law and set the stage for
further threats to the safety of Orthodox Christian Serbs in that province.
However, on February 18 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a highly
disturbing statement reading in part:
"Greece has always believed and continues to believe that the best solutions
to differences and problems arise from mutually acceptable arrangements.
>From dialogue and negotiations. Not from unilateral actions and accomplished
facts. This position, founded on respect for the principle of the peaceful
resolution of differences, also determined our policy on the Kosovo issue.
Yesterday's decisions in Pristina undoubtedly shaped a new reality in the
particularly sensitive region of the Western Balkans. . . .
As regards the issue of recognition of the new state of affairs - which can
in no way serve as a precedent - Greece will take its decisions at a coming
stage, when it has examined all of the developments in depth; all of the
dimensions and consequences these developments have for regional security
and Greece's interests."
There is no way to read these words without concluding that the Greek
government believes that its earlier support for solutions based on dialogue
and negotiations has been overtaken by the "new reality" of the Kosovo
Albanians' illegal declaration on February 17. The phrases "recognition of
the new state of affairs" and "Greece will take its decision at a coming
stage" can mean only that Greece is considering reversing its previous
position and may recognize the illicit, separatist administration in
Pristina.
Your Excellencies, with all due respect, as Americans and as Greeks we
insist in the strongest possible terms that Greece must not depart from its
previously defined position and must state categorically and unalterably
that it will not now, or at any time in the future, grant recognition to
Kosovo or support any settlement of the Kosovo question imposed on Serbia.
Contrary to the language of the February 18 Foreign Ministry statement,
dialogue and negotiations within the rule of law are not the "best"
solutions to differences and problems, they are the only acceptable
solutions. Recognition of the separatist Albanian regime in Kosovo would
mean precisely acceptance of an imposed settlement based on "unilateral
actions and accomplished facts." The declaration in Pristina on February 17
and its recognition by some countries, including the United States and
certain members of the European Union, created no "new reality" or "new
state of
affairs," only the anticipated illegal action by the Kosovo Albanian
separatists encouraged by Washington. And of course, despite any soothing
suggestion to the contrary, recognition of Kosovo's separation from Serbia
without an agreed settlement would establish a precedent with a profoundly
destabilizing impact in many regions in the world, not least in areas
directly affecting Greece and Cyprus.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from
Serbia would undermine the courageous and principled stand of Cyprus, Spain,
and the other EU countries that have refused to recognize Kosovo despite
heavy pressure from Washington and from certain EU capitals.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from
Serbia would inflict a devastating wound on the principal of the territorial
integrity of sovereign states under the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act,
and other binding commitments. This would be very harmful to Greece in the
face of ongoing threats including Albanian irredentism in southern Epiros
("Çameria"), suggestions from Turkey that the 1947 return of the Dodecanese
Islands to Greece was invalid, and nascent separatism of Muslims in Thraki.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from
Serbia would weaken the security of Greece's sister republic, Cyprus, by
validating the principle that outside powers may dictate the amputation of a
state's sovereign territory. Such claims have already been made by
supporters of the so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" and would
increase in intensity if a Kosovo pseudo-state were consolidated on Serbian
soil.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from
Serbia would heighten the threat to the lives and safety of the remaining
Orthodox Christian Serbs in Kosovo, two-thirds of whom already have been
driven from their homes and prevented from returning. Despite further empty
promises from the international community, they could count on no protection
in any independent Kosovo. The remainder of their churches and monasteries
would face destruction or desecration.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from
Serbia would help add a new link to the "Green Transversal" project of
Islamic strategic advance into Europe from European Turkey, along the
heavily Muslim Greece-Bulgaria border, into an unstable FYROM, and on to
Kosovo, Sandjak, and Bosnia. Creation of another new Muslim state to
Greece's north would give impetus to what has been called a
re-Ottomanization of the Balkans.
The risk of these consequences cannot be justified by superficial political
considerations. Why should Greece adjust its policies to its own detriment
because the U.S. State Department demands it? Why should Greece bow to the
will of the "big" countries of the EU when there is no common policy and
every member country, big or small, has a right to its own opinion and the
safeguarding of its own interests? Why should Greece be tricked into taking
an action harmful to its interests because someone, somewhere may have
falsely hinted to Greece some flexibility on the FYROM name issue?
We should remember that in 1941, when Hitler demanded passage south to
attack Greece, which was then soundly defeating his collaborator Mussolini,
the Serbs said No, we will not betray our ally. They could have said Yes to
Hitler, but they refused. Their refusal cost them a million lives.
Today, no one is demanding a million Greek lives, or even one, in support of
Serbia. But for her own security and that of Cyprus no less than Serbia's,
Greece must say OXI to the demand to ignore the rule of law, ignore the
command of conscience, and ignore the mortal danger to our Orthodox
Christian brothers and sisters in Kosovo.
Again, with all due respect, we insist that the government of the Hellenic
Republic must state categorically and unalterably that it will not now, or
at any time in the future, grant recognition to Kosovo or support any
settlement of the Kosovo question imposed on Serbia. We await your prompt,
definitive, and public action on this matter.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
