HELLENES WRITE TO AHI : “GEOGRAPHICAL QUALIFIER” FOR MACEDONIA?
12 Ιουλίου 2009
For Immediate Release: July 11, 2009
NEW YORK—The Hellenic League of America (HLA) alerts the community about support for the false historical revisionist “geographical qualifier” for Macedonia. Several statements by the American Hellenic Institute AHI –one of the oldest establishment institutions purporting to support Hellenism in America – indicate AHI support for legislation supporting the “geographical qualifier” for Macedonia in Congress. This expresses a split between historical truth and community opinion and the false historical revisionism supported by the Greek political establishment or Greek ruling class in Greece, and its lobbies or allies in Washington DC.
The “geographical qualifier” was originally dreamed up by the US State Department and was supported by Ms. Dora Bakoyiannis, scion of the Mitsotakis family, a leading Greek political caste in the establishment , and head of the Greek foreign ministry.
The “geographical qualifier” attempts to bestow the name “Upper Macedonia” or “Northern Macedonia” on the former Yugoslav state buttressing Greece with its capital as Skopje.
The American Hellenic Institute AHI webpage, showing links supporting “geographical qualifier” legislation in Congress , can be found on the AHI website here:
http://capwiz.com/ahiworld/issues/bills/
The American Hellenic Institute AHI also seems to support the “geographical qualifier” , in its 2009 Policy Statement, available here:
http://ahiworld.org/pdfs/Policy_Statements/2009_policy_statements.pdf
Several community activists have written to AHI’s new President , Alexandros (Aleco) Haralambides, about the “geographical qualifier” and other issues of community concern, thus far there has been no reply from AHI, not a statement from AHI that they are unequivocally AGAINST the “geographical qualifier”
