Αχμέτι : H Ελλάδα πρότεινε για ονομασία το “Δημοκρατία της Άνω Μακεδονίας”

in FYROM news, Macedonian news / by D-Mak / on November 3, 2013 at 2:36 pm /

Αρκετό ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζει η πρόσφατη συνέντευξη του Αλί Αχμέτι, στην Σκοπιανή εφημερίδα Dnevnik. Ο Αχμέτι είναι ο ηγέτης του συγκυβερνώντος Αλβανικού κόμματος DUI στην γειτονική χώρα.

Στην συνέντευξη ο Αλβανός πολιτικός υποστηρίζει πως η πρόταση της Ελλάδας είναι “Δημοκρατία της Άνω Μακεδονίας“.

Κατά τον Αχμέτι έχει σημειωθεί πρόοδος στο ζήτημα της ονομασίας καθότι η Ελλάδα υποχώρησε και η λέξη Μακεδονία αποτελεί πλέον “μέρος της λύσης“.

Δημοσιεύουμε μέρος της συνέντευξης μεταφρασμένη στην Αγγλική γλώσσα. Oι υπογραμμίσεις και έντονα γράμματα είναι δικές μας.

Journalist: The Greek positions are well known. Do you believe that a compromise is possible?

Ahmeti: I will answer that yet let me express first my worry that efforts were made, coordinated or not, I don’t know, to not report before the Macedonian (sic) public about my visits.

Journalist: Who do you have in mind?

Ahmeti: I don’t know if it was a political directive. If I knew I would have revealed it in public. But there was a tendency of keeping quiet about our visits.
For the first time there is a concrete proposal from mediator Nimetz and that is “Upper Republic of Macedonia.” Greece disagrees with it as their proposal is “Republic of Upper Macedonia”. This is worth discussing. We should discuss and reach a compromise considering that in the past our positions were very far away from each other. Therefore, I called for greater activity from the international community because we have come to a point of decision of whether we would proceed forward, stay still or turn back. Unless we resolve the relations with our neighbors, who have much greater influence in the decision-making centers, clearly we are going to move backward from the status quo.

I asked our international friends to help us because we are now taking the last few steps of our long-distance race. I am not an amateur in politics and took every step cautiously. I knew I would face questions of the type what do you want from us when you are part of the government, solve your problems yourselves. This issue was tabled and I tried to explain at the meetings that this is not a bilateral issue but an emotional one and where there are emotions there are no rational solutions. I believe we succeeded in explaining our position and making them understand. I expect more intense activity from the international community in the next two months and understanding from Sofia and Athens so we can continue our communication considering our goals are identical –making the Western Balkans part of the EU. The international community should play an active part and we expect involvement from these centers.

Journalist: Both the opposition and the analysts criticized your name issue tour saying you are making tourism trips and conducting an alibi politics.

Ahmeti: Yes, there were such statements. I did not visit any museums in Paris, Brussels or Washington. Instead I had meetings with senior politicians. My trips would have been for tourism pu-poses if, for example, Fule was the curator of a museum and not commissioner or if the director general for enlargement was secretary of the museum and Mr. Kukan its spokesperson. I was received by the highest institutions in those centers.

Journalist: What country the pressure should be put on, Macedonia (sic) or Greece? Should Macedonia (sic) subscribe to being robbed of its identify because of the Greek positions?

Ahmeti: The positions have never been closer to one another. We have come to the point of discussing where to put “upper” in relation to “Macedonia.” We have made progress because Macedonia (sic) is now part of the solution. It is for this reason that the activity from Washington and Brussels should be more pronounced. Macedonia (sic) has other problems too yet they are internal. During my visits, I made sure the stress was laid on the most crucial issue and that is the compromise in the redefinition of the name. I guarantee all citizens of Macedonia (sic) that the Macedonian (sic) language and identity are not tempered with. The other issues, such as that of the passports, remain open and the parties should talk about it.

Journalist: Were other ideas presented to you at your meetings with the Greek officials and do you believe the with such a humiliating proposal as “Slavic-Albanian Macedonia” Greece sincerely wishes to resolve the dispute?

Ahmeti: If sufficient room is left, exchanging ‘tomahawks’ between Athens and Skopje is going to continue. Officially, I have not heard about that proposal. At my meetings in Athens I was told that they supported the proposal “Republic of Upper Macedonia.” Our aim is not leaving too much vacuum space because that could jeopardize Nimetz’ proposal which I believe is not far from reaching a compromise.