Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SKOPJE301
2008-05-02 14:33:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Skopje
Cable title:  

MACEDONIA: CHARTER FLIGHT BARRED FROM GREEK

Tags:  PREL PGOV NATO EAIR MK GR 
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PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBW RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSQ #0301/01 1231433
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021433Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7306
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE 0293
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUESEN/SKOPJE BETA
RUEHSQ/USDAO SKOPJE MK
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2261
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000301 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO EAIR MK GR
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: CHARTER FLIGHT BARRED FROM GREEK
AIRSPACE; OTHER BILATERAL IRRITANTS

REF: ATHENS 596

SUMMARY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000301

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO EAIR MK GR
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: CHARTER FLIGHT BARRED FROM GREEK
AIRSPACE; OTHER BILATERAL IRRITANTS

REF: ATHENS 596

SUMMARY


1. (SBU) On April 28, an Egypt-bound Macedonian Airlines
(MAT) charter flight was denied overflight rights for Greece
without any explanation. This first-ever denial of
overflight rights, coupled with other irritants such as the
lack of a Greek government reply to Macedonia's request to
purchase a building for its consulate in Thessaloniki and the
alleged harassment of Turkish exporters to Macedonia by Greek
border officials, has further poisoned the atmosphere between
the two neighbors (reftel). Some observers in Macedonia
believe these developments suggest a de facto trade embargo
by Greece, and have called for reciprocal measures. Others,
who believe that an escalation will only hurt Macedonia, are
calling for a calm response and are looking for ways to
adjust to Greek actions. End summary.

EGYPT-BOUND MACEDONIAN CHARTER PREVENTED FORM ENTERING GREEK
AIRSPACE...


2. (SBU) On April 29, Macedonian media reported that late on
April 28, a Macedonian Airlines (MAT) charter flight with 86
tourists and four flight crew bound for Egypt had been
prevented from flying over Greek airspace. On April 30,
MAT's Commercial Director Nicolas Kuemmerle (a Swiss
national) confirmed the media reports. He said that, minutes
after takeoff on April 28, the MAT pilot asked for clearance
for a 15-minute overflight over Greece, which was immediately
denied by a Greek air controller without any explanation.
Since the pilot had followed the usual overflight procedure,
he again asked for permission, and received the same negative
answer. Following that, the pilot made a 180-degree turn and
returned to a "holding area" in Macedonian airspace. In the
meantime, MAT received clearance for the plane to overfly
Bulgaria and Turkey, which allowed the flight to continue to
its destination in Egypt.

FIRST-EVER DENIAL OF OVERFLIGHT RIGHTS


3. (SBU) Kuemmerle added that the Macedonian media had
confused the situation by conflating Greece's long-standing
denial of MAT's repeated requests for air charter landing

rights in Greece, and the first-ever denial of overflight
clearance for a MAT plane. He clarified that, despite
Macedonia's willingness to grant air charter landing rights
to Greek airlines and Greece's obligations under the European
Common Aviation Area (ECAA) agreement, Athens consistently
has refused to grant the same rights for Macedonian flights.


4. (SBU) Regarding overflight rights, MAT had never had
problems overflying Greek territory until last Monday,
according to Kuemmerle. He said that the April 28
Egypt-bound flight had followed the usual procedure of
applying in advance for a regular flight plan that included
overflight permissions for all transit countries. The whole
procedure was completed through Eurocontrol in Brussels, just
as had been the case for the last three years when MAT
operated an average of 40 charter flights per summer to Egypt
and Tunisia that required Greek overflight permission.
According to Kuemmerle, MAT understood, and carried out in
practice, the requirement that, while in Greek airspace and
taking into account Greek sensitivities on the name issue,
its flights use the call sign "MAK," rather than MAT's
official international call sign, "Macedonia."


5. (SBU) Zaneta Stanoevska, a senior official in the
Macedonian Directorate for Civil Aviation (DCA),told us
April 30 that, as a rule, the DCA was not involved in the
process of applying for overflight permission. She stressed,
however, that Chapter II, Art. 5 of the Chicago Convention on
International Civil Aviation obliges every signatory country
to approve requests for overflight or landing for non-travel
purposes (i.e. for refueling, security-related issues, etc.).
Since both Macedonia and Greece are signatories to the
Convention, Stanoevska asserted that Chapter II of the
Convention allowed Greece to deny permission to the MAT
flight only "in a state of emergency or war," and only if
that denial was applicable to all other states. Neither
condition was true at the time Greece denied the MAT

SKOPJE 00000301 002 OF 002


overflight request, Stanoevska said, so Macedonia "would have
the right to file a complaint against Greece" at the
International Court of Justice.

TURN THE OTHER CHEEK?


6. (SBU) Both Stanoevska and Kuemmerle said that some 70
Greek commercial flights receive overflight clearance for
Macedonia daily. While Stanoevska suggested that Macedonia
could impose reciprocal bans on Greek carriers, Kuemmerle
said that "nothing could be gained from such an escalation,"
noting that a Macedonian ban would result in a daily loss of
overflight fees amounting to as much as 35,000 euros.
Kuemmerle said that, regarding MAT's plans for its remaining
40 summer charters to Egypt and Tunisia, the company had
decided against trying to fly over Greece for the meantime.
Instead, the planes would keep flying through Turkish and
Bulgarian airspace, which would result in fuel-cost losses
for the company of up to 6,000 euros per flight. Resigned to
the fact, Kuemmerle conceded that the added expense would
simply mean price hikes for MAT's Macedonian clients.

...AND OTHER IRRITANTS


7. (SBU) In an April 30 meeting with P/E Chief, MFA State
Secretary Ilievski reported that the GOM is becoming

SIPDIS
increasingly frustrated over the lack of a Greek government
reply to Skopje's November 2007 request to purchase a
building in Thessaloniki to house the Macedonian consulate.
Ilievski said similar purchases in Austria, Hungary and the
Czech Republic had been approved by the host governments in
one month or less, but that the GOM had tried repeatedly over
the past six months, without success, to get Athens to reply
to its request to purchase the building. As a result, the
GOM planned to raise with the Greek Ambassador in Skopje the
fact that the paperwork for the current Hellenic Liaison
Office premises (occupied since 1976) was incomplete. The
GOM would demand, on the basis of reciprocity, that Athens
approve the GOM's request to purchase the consulate building
in Thessaloniki, in exchange for which the Macedonian MFA
would approve and finalize the paperwork for the Greek
premises in Skopje.


8. (SBU) Ilievski also complained that Greek border
authorities are forcing Turkish exporters sending goods here
to alter customs documents showing "Macedonia" as the country
of destination for the exports. The Greek officials directed
the Turkish exporters to cross out "Macedonia" and write-in
"Skopje" as the country of destination, which Ilievski
claimed was a violation of international customs practices.

COMMENT


9. (SBU) Added to the bilateral irritants noted in reftel,
these recent developments will make it more difficult for
Skopje to demonstrate the additional flexibility it will need
to reach a solution to the name dispute with Greece anytime
soon. Macedonians, fed by local media reports (including one
recent unconfirmed report that Athens is now prohibiting
Western Union wire transfers between Greece and Macedonia),
increasingly see Greek moves as constituting an undeclared de
facto trade embargo. That is likely to reduce the GOM's room
for maneuver in the name talks, especially given the election
campaign dynamics here as the country prepares for
parliamentary elections on June 1. End comment.
NAVRATIL