[ALBSA-Info] Athens alarmed by FYROM crisis

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Athens alarmed by FYROM crisis

Having strong interests in the neighbouring country, Greece wants to avoida 
refugee outflow and preserve the entity of the tiny Balkan state 


BY DEREK GATOPOULOS  

GREECE has thrown its weight behind the West's modest mediation efforts to 
halt fighting in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as the 
conflict threatened to bring renewed instability to the region and prompt a 
potential refugee crisis. 

Foreign Minister George Papandreou met in New York with Yugoslav President 
Vojislav Kostunica and prepared for a May 16 trip to Albania, in a bid to 
further isolate FYROM's ethnic Albanian guerrillas. 

"We are in contact with all our colleagues in the region," Papandreou said 
after meetings with Kostunica and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. 

The fighting in FYROM has brought war, following Yugoslavia's breakup a 
decade ago, to Greece's doorstep. Nato chief Lord George Robertson denounced 
the rebels as "murderers" and warned of "another bloodbath in the terrible 
Balkan tradition" unless the crisis is defused. 

He helped persuade FYROM's leadership - led by 35-year-old Premier Ljubco 
Georgievski - not to declare a state of war, to invite more ethnic Albanian 
political groups into his coalition government and bring elections forward. 

But to some observers, the signs of a looming civil war are becoming 
increasingly evident. 

FYROM's forces hammered rebel-held towns, as ethnic Albanian refugees 
streamed into Kosovo at the rate of 1,000 per day and other acts of violence 
between Albanians and majority Slavs broke out across the country, as far 
south as Bitola (formerly Monastir). 

The events were viewed with quiet alarm in Greece. 

Once fiercely at odds with Skopje over the Macedonia-name issue, Athens is 
now pinning hopes of regional stability on tiny FYROM's survival. Greece 
ended a two-year trade blockade on landlocked FYROM in 1995 and is now the 
country's biggest foreign investor. 

The country's two largest banks are Greek-owned, and FYROM's state oil 
refinery - now also under Greek control - is planning to build a pipeline to 
Thessaloniki. 

Foreign ministry officials briefed Greek businessmen on the crisis, while at 
the United Nations, talks on resolving the name dispute resumed between 
diplomats from Athens and Skopje. 

Greece favours international action over initiatives by individual countries 
as a way of deterring the spread of instability across the Balkans. 

At a Socialist conference in Berlin, Greek Premier Costas Simitis repeated 
the mantra. "We are opposed to any effort to change borders and the creation 
of new states," he said. "We want the peaceful resolution of all disputes in 
the Balkans." In Athens, the interior ministry hastened plans to legalise up 
to 500,000 immigrants living in Greece, in a process starting in June, amid 
fears that tens of thousands more will sneak into the country. 

Many Greeks view Nato's mediation efforts with scepticism. "The (ethnic 
Albanian rebels) have confirmed that, despite the tough rhetoric, the West 
does not have the means, or probably the will, to defend the status quo of 
borders," wrote George Kapopoulos in the Athens daily Kathimerini. 

Dora Bakoyianni, New Democracy's defence and foreign affairs spokeswoman, 
urged Nato and the European Union to take "more determined action". Other 
analysts think the political pressure will pay off. "I still think this 
(crisis) can be handled," Dimitrios Triantaphyllou of the Paris-based 
Institute for Security Studies, told the Athens News. "The rebels have not 
been able to achieve a groundswell of support among the Albanians... because 
ample pressure has been applied on the political elite (in Kosovo). 

"Pressure must also be brought to bear on the Slavo-Macedonians to make them 
realise that both sides must compromise in order for the country to 
survive... They are saying 'this is our country and we're letting you share 
it' - this is not the way to go about it." Triantaphyllou said Greece's 
options in the crisis are limited, but he welcomed efforts to talk to all 
sides. "Greece's concern is to avoid a refugee flow and to preserve the 
entity of Macedonia, or FYROM," he said. 

"Greece has its hands tied. It might be ready to send in troops but it cannot 
because of historical reasons. 

"It is a welcome thing to be talking to all sides. Greece is slowly coming 
out of the notion of Orthodox brethren, even though this was never official 
policy. 

Greece has to come to the realisation that within a decade or two, the 
largest group in the region will be the Albanians. 

"Maybe once the situation is calmer, (Greek) investors should consider 
Albanian areas like Kumanovo and Tetovo and see what opportunities exist 
there."