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OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
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DE RUEHTH #1569/01 3231552
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181552Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2805
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 001569 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL GR MK EU NATO
SUBJECT: GREEK RESPONSE TO MACEDONIAN ICJ LAWSUIT STRONG 
AND SWIFT 
 
REFS: SKOPJE 696 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED Q PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Greek reaction was swift and forceful to the 
announcement by the Republic of Macedonia that it had 
filed legal proceedings against Greece in the 
International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violating the 
terms of the 1995 Interim Accord by blocking MacedoniaQs 
NATO accession (reftel).  Almost immediately following 
the Macedonian announcement on November 17, Greek MFA 
spokesman Koumoutsakos issued a statement accusing the 
Macedonians of sabotaging the UN-sponsored name 
negotiations, violating the Interim Accord, and failing 
to uphold the principle of good-neighborly relations 
(full text reprinted in para 4 below).  Koumoutsakos 
promised that Greece would participate in the ICJ 
proceedings and use the opportunity to prove that 
Macedonia was the party guilty of violating the Interim 
Accord.  He also said that Greece remained committed to 
the UN negotiation process and affirmed Greece's "well- 
known positions" in the talks. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Main opposition PASOK similarly reacted strongly 
but also seized the opportunity to criticize the 
Karamanlis government for allegedly being caught off- 
guard by the Macedonian announcement.  In a press 
release, PASOK charged that "the Government discovers 
moves that affect our sensitive issues via the mass 
media, just as it did when it learned that the USA had 
recognized Skopje under its constitutional name from 
television."  PASOK, the statement said, had warned since 
last summer that the "nationalist leadership in Skopje" 
was planning to violate the UN-sponsored process on the 
name issue and, thus, lead "the efforts to resolve the 
name problem to an impasse."  Skopje had chosen 
"nationalism over good neighborly relations." 
 
¶3.  (SBU) COMMENT: Macedonia's recourse to the ICJ is 
being seen in Athens as vindication by those who have 
maintained that PM Gruevski and his team are not 
interested in resolving the name dispute anytime soon, 
but are exploiting the issue for domestic political gain. 
While the GOG Q like the GOM -- has publicly pledged to 
continue with the negotiating process under UN envoy 
Nimetz, GOG and PASOK statements, as well as commentary 
in the press, were in general agreement that the 
Macedonian action likely represents a qualitative change 
in the dispute.  At the same time, Greek diplomats and 
legal experts appear confident -- at least initially -- 
that both the force of Athens' arguments and its greater 
experience in international legal fora give Skopje slim 
chances for success at the ICJ.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶4. (U) BEGIN TEXT OF GREEK MFA STATEMENT: 
 
Statement of Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mr. G. 
Koumoutsakos Regarding FYROMQs Recourse to the ICJ 
 
Mr. Gruevski's government, after having rejected the 
recent set of ideas put forward by the Personal Envoy of 
the Secretary-General for the name issue, Ambassador M. 
Nimetz, today continued his delaying tactics, by 
instituting proceedings at the International Court of 
Justice regarding an alleged violation on the part of 
Greece of article 11 of the 1995 Interim Accord. 
 
It initiated this action, concealing the fact that the 
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia itself had earlier 
flagrantly violated a series of fundamental 
articles/obligations explicitly foreseen in this Accord, 
but also the fundamental principle of good-neighborly 
relations. 
 
In the course of the judicial process, we will have the 
opportunity to submit documents and memos, analyzing 
Greece's positions on the undisguised and continuous 
violations of the Interim Accord by the Former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia. 
 
With this action, the government of Skopje once again 
reaffirms that it is not interested in a swift resolution 
of the dispute on the issue of the countryQs definitive 
name, as explicitly stipulated in UN Security Council 
Resolution 845 of 1993. 
 
Greece will participate in this process in a self- 
confident and determined manner representative of the 
comprehensiveness, clarity and substance of its 
arguments. 
 
ATHENS 00001569  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
Irrespective of the abovementioned developments, Greece 
remains committed to the UN negotiating process aimed at 
reaching a mutually acceptable solution on the name 
issue. It further firmly stands by its well-known 
positions. 
 
END TEXT OF GREEK MFA STATEMENT 
 
SPECKHARD