GREEK RESPONSE TO MACEDONIAN ICJ LAWSUIT STRONG

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