Among the letter´s current 364 signatories are luminaries in the field of classics including

Stephen Neale, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics, John H. Kornblith Family Chair in the Philosophy of Science and Values, City University of New York (USA)

David Gordon Mitten, James Loeb Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, Harvard University (USA)

Robert A. Kaster, Professor of Classics and Kennedy Foundation Professor of Latin, Princeton University (USA)

Hans-Joachim Gehrke, Prof. Dr., President of the German Archaeological Institute Berlin (Germany)

Dr. Florian Knauss, associate director, Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek Muenchen (Germany)

Karol Myśliwiec, Professor Dr., Director of the Research Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw (Poland)

Francois de Callatay, Professor of Monetary and Financial history of the Greek world, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris/Sorbonne) and Professor of Financial history of the Greco-Roman world, Universite libre de Bruxelles (France and Brussels)

John M. Fossey FRSC, FSA, Emeritus Professor of Art History (and Archaeology), McGill University, Montreal, and Curator of Archaeology, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Canada)

Christof Schuler, director, Commission for Ancient History and Epigraphy of the German Archaeological Institute, Munich (Germany)

Prof Stephen G. Miller, Professor of Classical Archaeology Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley (USA).

The classical scholars protest that this decision by George W. Bush became a catalyst for other bilateral recognitions of the country as “Republic of Macedonia”. It was a move the Skopje authorities had cultivated after the populist right-wing VMRO party came into power. Paradoxically, the ruling VMRO party in Skopje had been until relatively recently considered a terrorist organization by the USA. According to the US National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3636)

“The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Macedonia for the Macedonians (VMRO-MNM), is a racist/nationalist political party and terrorist group operating in [FYR] Macedonia. The name Vnatresno-Makedonska Revolucionerna Organizacija (VMRO) was first used in the late 19th century by [Slav] Macedonian rebels opposed to Ottoman rule. The group remained active after the First World War, seeking to undo the partition of Macedonia ordered by the Treaty of Versailles. After being successfully suppressed by the USSR during the Cold War, [FYR] Macedonian nationalism has experienced a resurgence in the years since the Iron Curtain fell, as the Balkans has again become a hotspot of ethnic tension. In [FYR] Macedonia today, the VMRO name is attached to many different political parties, including the ruling party, the Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), and the leading mainstream opposition party, the VMRO-VMRO. However, the name is also used by the extremist VMRO-MNM, which believes that a greater Macedonia should be established, incorporating “ethnic Macedonians” from Greece, Bulgaria, and elsewhere.”

The ultranationalist rhetoric and the subversion of history remind one of past historical mistakes and it is indeed surprising that the EU and the USA appear willing to sit on the fence in an effort to appease the Skopje government so as to safeguard stability in FYROM, as recent news from Brussels have it. A joint release by the missions of the EU, NATO, OSCE and the U.S in Skopje on Tuesday (April 27th, 2010) affirms their support for the full implementation of the Ochrid Peace Accord that ended the 2001 conflict in the country, adding: “We have taken note with concern of recent statements by political leaders and other individuals that point in the opposite direction: talk of separatism, conflict, and abandonment of the Ohrid Framework Agreement”. The propping up of the VMRO government policy in Skopje unfortunately has a knock-on effect in its continued irredentism. The rewriting of history and the inventions of past grandeur and of present ethnic injustice are the very cause of the social unrest and the real threat to regional stability, as the US Senate resolutions have noted.