Your profile on the Macedonian Students’ Association in the September 14 issue of your paper was fraught with inaccuracies, misleading comments and fallacies.
First, “Macedonia” is formally recognized by certain countries as the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM) and not the “Republic of Macedonia.”
FYROM is not presently militarily involved in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. It has not “suffered” the way Serb, Croat and Muslim refugees have suffered. The only “suffering” FYROM has experienced has been an ongoing trade embargo by Greece because of their dogged resistance to drop territorial claims on Greece from their constitution and dropping the use of Greek symbols as their own.
Your writer quotes MSA president Tony Globocki saying that the Greek Students’ Association protested when the MSA formed claiming that “their group and our group represented the same people.”
The Greek association and the Greek government never made any such claim. The Greek side has stated repeatedly that there is a Greek Macedonia and there are the Skopian people. It is FYROM’s political leadership that has claimed not only that it represents the Greeks living in the northern Greek province of Macedonia, but that Greek territory belongs to the Skopian people and is occupied by Greek invaders.
Just a few errors that needed pointing out. A publication of your esteem should get its facts straight and attempt to present both sides of an issue, especially one that is so complicated and of some significance to us.
Menelaos Hadjicostis
Graduate Journalism 2
(Editor’s note: Greece reached a tentative agreement with FYROM regarding their constitution and use of symbols shortly after this letter was submitted.)
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