This article attempts an analysis of the Greek foreign policy during the dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, from its beginnings up until the 1995 interim accord signed between the two countries. It is to a large extent based on the author's personal research in Greek government archives and other unpublished sources, as well as on interviews with leading Greek politicians and diplomats who were immediately involved in the issue. It traces the origins of the controversy and portrays the current dispute as the latest stage in evolution of the Macedonian Question of the past. The diplomatic strategies of the two countries involved are examined for the 1991-1995 period. In addition, the content and significance of the contentious issues of this debate are put under scrutiny. Finally, the factors which contributed to the diplomatic exacerbation of the issue (causing a failure of both parties to secure a resolution to the dispute that they would consider as "positive") are analyzed and the general repercussions for the Balkans' geopolitical status quo are outlined.

I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

The entanglement between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), over the issue of the recognition of the latter and the name under which this recognition would take place, has served as a potent reminder of the considerable influence that nationalistic divides have always exerted in the Balkan region. For Greece, this dispute animated passions and stimulated a nationalist fervour that had been unseen for decades and, being a not fully resolved issue, it contains a number of elements that could serve as a focus of regional conflict in the future. For the fledgling FYROM, the entanglement constituted a matter of paramount importance not merely in defining its external policy but it was also perceived as a matter influencing both its existence as a nation and its future status in Southeastern Europe.

The focus of the article is the dissection and analysis of the Foreign Policy of Athens regarding the Macedonian question in the post-war period, with particular attention to the years 1991-1995. As such, its ultimate objective is to provide a contribution to the scholarly investigation of the factors influencing Greek Foreign Affairs in the 1990s.

II. "MACEDONIA NOSTRA": THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION

The geographical term "Macedonia" is a Greek word and was used in antiquity to designate the area inhabited by the Macedonians, "the tall ones", apparently on account of the distinguishing physical height of this tribe.1 It was thus the inhabitants who gave their name to the region and not the other way round.

For most of their earlier history, the Macedonians led a relatively peripheral existence and were accordingly slow to partake in the intellectual, social and cultural progress of southern Greece.2 The kingdom of Macedonia reached a peak under Philip II (359-336 BC), when it was enlarged considerably through a series of successful military campaigns and included a large part of the southern Balkan peninsula. At the time of death of Philip's son, Alexander the Great, the Macedonians had created a vast empire in Asia and Africa, after spearheading an astounding military and ideological crusade against the Persians "on behalf of all Greeks".3

The Slavs first appeared in the region in the 6th century AD. during the great migrations of the period, whilst in the Middle Ages various other populations started moving in the area.4 Under Byzantine and Ottoman rule, the term was used in its geographical sense, i.e., it covered the boundaries of the former four Roman administrative regions of "Macedonia".5 This was in fact larger than "historic Macedonia", the core domain of the 4th century B.C. Macedonian Kingdom, and was inhabited by a multitude of different Balkan ethnic groups, Greeks, Turks, Serbians, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Jews and Albanians.

In the crumbling 19th century Ottoman Empire, the increasing breakdown of central authority led to growing interest in occupied Macedonia amongst the surrounding Balkan nation-states. The respective national ideologies of these newly-independent countries, in the form of accurate or arbitrary historical, ethnological and political claims, began to converge on the heterogeneous province and the ensuing tension precluded any hope of consensus when the time to redraw the borders of that "microcosm of Balkan complexities"6 would come. The eventual annexation of the largest possible portion of geographic Macedonia became thus pivotal in the nationalist and irredentist plans of Bulgaria,7 Greece8 and Serbia and a fundamental consideration of their national consciousness. Chronologically, the Macedonian Problem in its original form may be said to begin with the founding of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870.9 This was perceived as an initial step to establish a distinct Bulgarian national identity for the Slav-speaking populace and it was further pursued by the founding of schools and by indulging in vigorous propaganda.lo The growing activity of the Bulgarians alarmed Serbia and Greece, which decided in turn to mobilise in this cultural cold war. By 1900 educational indoctrination had given way to more acute measures as the Bulgarian-backed I.M.R.O.11 embarked on a campaign of terror against the population by armed bands of guerrillas, the komitadjis.12 The other two countries responded by organising combatant groups of their own13, and from 1903 to 1908 a ruthless and protracted struggle took place amongst the Balkan Christians in territory belonging formally to the Turks, who had limited success--and, arguably, equally limited interest--in containing the conflict.14

The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 ended the Ottoman rule. After successfully stripping the Ottoman Empire from almost all her European possessions, the Balkan alliance broke up and Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece in a clash over the spoils. The Bulgarians were severely defeated in the Second Balkan War and the Treaty of Bucharest (August 1913) confirmed the final partitioning of the Macedonian region amongst the Balkan neighbours. Greece annexed 51.5% of geographic Macedonia"5, Bulgaria gained 10.1% and the remaining 38.4% became part of the kingdom of Serbia, under the name Southern Serbia.16

In the meantime, a curious twist to the original 'Macedonian Question' evolved. Until that time the term 'Macedonian' had never been used by any of the three countries involved," or any segment of the actual population, as anything other than a geographic definition.'B In the interwar period however, the term began to be put to use for the first time as an ethnic description,19 serving as a fabrication to promote Comintern's aspirations to increased regional influence.20

The crucial step was taken in 1944 by the Yugoslav leader Tito, when he implemented the decision to create a new federal state consisting of six republics. He gave to the southernmost province, previously known as Vardarska Banovina (i.e., District of [the river] Vardar), the new name of People's Republic of Macedonia.21 This republic was made a constitutive of federal Yugoslavia and its Slavic inhabitants--known until then as ethnic Bulgarians or Serbs--were recognised as its 'titular nation'22 under the name Makedontsi (Macedonians). Their language, which was until then held to be a western Bulgarian dialect, was christened 'Macedonian' and became one of Yugoslavia's official languages.

This was a political masterstroke on behalf of Tito. He managed to safeguard for Yugoslavia a region which had been claimed by Bulgaria ever since the Second Balkan War,23 and at the same time to create a Piedmont that could facilitate the unification of the remaining Macedonian territories into the Yugoslavian federation.24 An extensive 'Macedonisation' process was initiated so as to instil a distinct national identity in the awareness of the population; numerous Greek and Bulgarian historical and cultural elements were appropriated,' whilst the younger generations started to be systematically infused with irredentist views of a Greater Macedonia and of their as yet 'unliberated brothers'. Tito's immediate plans for annexation of the Bulgarian and the Greek parts of Macedonia were respectively thwarted by the clash with Moscow in 194826 and the termination of the communistinduced ferocious civil strife in Greece in 1949.27

At the same time, the reaction of Greece to this attempted provocation was remarkably lukewarm and remained so for more than four decades. The reasons for this lie in the following:

a) From 1944 until 1949, the internal situation in Greece was hardly suitable for the planning and implementation of a coherent foreign policy due to the instability caused by the civil war that was ravaging the country.

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