WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17 -- "Greek-Americans across the country upset by the recent U.S. announcement that it will refer to FYROM as `the Republic of Macedonia' have an excellent opportunity to make a difference on this issue - by getting their two Senators and their Member of Congress to sign letters, being circulated for signature in the U.S. Congress, expressing great concern to the Administration over this policy change," said CEH leaders today.

"While letters and petitions sent by our community to the Administration are an important form of communication, expressions from large numbers of key Senators and Members of Congress carry much more weight and have even more influence on the actions of this Administration."

"If any of your three representatives in Washington, D.C. are not on the list of signers below, please call them and strongly urge them to do so before these letters are sent on Friday, November 19. Senators and Members are in Washington, D.C. this week. You can reach their offices by calling 202-225-3121 and asking to be connected with their office," said CEH leaders.

The letter in the U.S. Senate is being circulated by Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD). The letter in the House of Representatives is being circulated by Congresswomen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Shelley Berkley, of the House International Relations Committee, as well as Congressman Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the co-chairs of the Hellenic Caucus.

We are writing to express our deep concern over the Bush Administration’s unilateral decision to recognize the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as the Republic of Macedonia. This counter-productive departure from long-standing U.S. policy is ill-advised and ill-timed and we urge you to reconsider this decision.

Greece and FYROM have been deeply engaged in a mutually beneficial process of strengthening bilateral relations on numerous fronts. Only recently the Greek and FYROM foreign ministers jointly announced their intention to accelerate U.N.-sponsored efforts to resolve the differences over the FYROM name, and the two countries are moving forward with plans to establish reciprocal economic and trade missions.

Our policy objective should be directed at supporting the strong and stable bilateral and multilateral relations that democratic countries in the Balkan region are developing between and among themselves. This abrupt shift in U.S. policy with respect to Greece and FYROM introduces negative dynamics into the situation and runs counter to that objective.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

We are writing to express our great concern with the decision that the State Department will now refer to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as “the Republic of Macedonia.” This sudden, unilateral departure from the long-standing US, UN, EU and NATO policy is counterproductive. Such actions interfere with the very successful efforts of our long-time ally, Greece, to bring economic prosperity to FYROM and bring peace and stability to the Balkans. Greece is the number one investor in FYROM and these two countries have been strengthening bilateral relations on many fronts.

This is more than an issue of a name for the Greek people. As you may recall, over 50,000 Greek-Americans attended a May 31, 1992 memorial service in Washington, D.C. for the 42,000 Greek citizens who lost their lives at the hands of people living in what is today FYROM. When those lives were lost, our Secretary of State, Edward Stettinius, Jr., called “talk of a Macedonian nation…unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality” and “a cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece.”

The momentum of this incendiary movement had, in recent years, been dampened down by U.S. intervention and by U.N.-sponsored efforts to resolve differences over FYROM’s name. In fact, recently the Greek and FYROM foreign ministers jointly announced their intention to accelerate these U.N. efforts. This unilateral U.S. action mitigates away from peaceful, constructive efforts to negotiate this issue. As well, it contradicts the historical facts about Macedonia and unnecessarily injures the culture of our faithful ally, Greece.

We respectfully request that the State Department return to the long-standing policy of referring to FYROM as such. In addition, we strongly urge you to work hard to assure that no other UN countries break with this UN policy and to strongly support, as we understand Archbishop Demetrios has requested, UN-sponsored efforts to reach a solution on the name that is acceptable to both the people of Greece and FYROM.

Sincerely,