If you have any Greek friend let them sign it too send it to to: Jim Jatras
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Hello Everyone: Read below, then please immediately send via email your name /
city/town to: Jim Jatras [Е-ПОШТА
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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
=========
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
[Е-ПОШТА
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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. Yesterdays
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 Greeces
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 Kosovos 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 Greeces position and recognition of Kosovos 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 Greeces position and recognition of Kosovos 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 Greeces position and recognition of Kosovos separation from
Serbia would weaken the security of Greeces sister republic, Cyprus, by
validating the principle that outside powers may dictate the amputation of a
states 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 Greeces position and recognition of Kosovos 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 Greeces position and recognition of Kosovos 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 Greeces 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 Serbias,
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.
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