Professor Igor Janev is on a personal mission against Greece. He has attempted to talk the Macedonian Government into pursuing legal avenues at the UN for more than 10 years. Most recently, Professor Janev was one of the initiators that helped Serbia win their case at the UN in questioning the legality of Kosovo's declaration for independence. Professor Janev advises Macedonia to follow Serbia and question Greece at the UN's General Assembly. While Macedonia has so far rejected/ignored professor Janev's recommendations, foreign countries ask for and follow his advice.

Few decades ago, in 1948, Portugal was not allowed to be admitted at the UN without prior recognition by the then USSR. The ICJ stepped in and formed a law prohibiting the UN in setting new conditions on countries being admitted to the UN.  Yet similarly to Portugal, under bizarre and illegal circumstances, Macedonia was asked to use temporary name in order to become a member? 

Below is an excerpt of an interview Professor Janev gave Macedonian media.

How do you grade the present Macedonian position, the process in Hague, Nimetz...
- Someone ought to explain to Mr. Nimetz that Macedonia has no intentions to solve someone else's problem, a problem illegally created by the UN, thus creating an ultra vires act. Macedonia can't be a hostage of someone else's mistakes. The UN will fix their error by transferring the case to the ICJ.

 Why MANU gives no support in the 'name negotiations'
- MANU is not well informed about the problem and has lack of experience when it comes to international laws tied to the name negotiations. If different, MANU would long ago recommended stoppage of all negotiations with Greece! Because of its lack of experienced intellectuals, MANU in its agenda gave no statement on the existence of lawful way to terminate negotiations and move discussions at the UN's General Assembly. This is a huge omission by a high institution such as the Academy.

How many countries does Macedonia need at the UN to support transfer of dispute at ICJ?
- The number of non-aligned countries is 118. Tabling this question at the UN will require the support of minimum 41 countries. In Kosovo's case, it was the Non-Aligned nations who gave an overwhelming support to Serbia, which received 77 votes.
What this means for Macedonia? With minimal to no lobbying effort, Macedonia will receive at least 60 votes at the UN.
UN's court is aware the UN has broken articles 1, 4, 7 of the UN's Charter when admitting Macedonia to the UN. This case is identical to the 1948 Portugal case which we should call upon.  
There is no doubt the General Assembly will vote in favor of Macedonia after it hears the opinion of the court, thus cementing the "Republic of Macedonia" at the UN.

Why talks on Language, Identity?
- This is the result of complete incompetence demonstrated by Macedonian diplomats. This is the only reason why things such as culture, linguistics, going as far as and comparing the 'historical' identity of Greece is being negotiated. According to SC resolution 817, GA 47/225) the talks are only for the state's name. The legal identity is an integral part, with essential character, and is used for legal identification or in legal cases.  The legal identity can not be forced onto or taken away from someone. It is also illegal to ask a country (with conditions) to endlessly negotiate over its legal identity. Furthermore, it is nonsense to discuss culture or linguistics as both are not mentioned anywhere in the UN resolution.

This situation clearly shows the Macedonian side has tremendous lack of knowledge on the legality of this problem by putting the legal identity, cultural and national identity in the same basket. The Greeks understand this, being helped by the fact that Macedonian delegation continues to say the 'dispute' is a bilateral problem.
Not the case, this is a multilateral problem, we are not discussing, we are Negotiating. The Greeks understand that the Macedonians, in fact, do not understand the legal nature of this problem.

Any Legal ways left ?
- Referendum, can always be put in front of the citizens. I have no doubt the Macedonians will say "NO" to any change.
The question is whether we even need a referendum? We have already voted for independence, and it was then that we decided Macedonia to be Macedonia. There is no need for another referendum, especially not one instigated by Greece.
My stance is that Macedonia should not change the name. Instead should consider legal avenues at the UN and the ICJ.

What do you think of Branko Crvenkovski and his work as president, prime minister?
I believe our former president Crvenkovski is not an individual of low morale or a traitor. He is an individual with zero qualifications in the matter of international relations, politics, state affairs. It is only in this sense that I understand his unprofessional and amateurish statements in regards with the name dispute.
One thing stands. This man, with known lack of qualifications and basic knowledge lead Macedonia for many years in the international field and contributed for zero problems to be effectively solved or brought to a conclusion.

	1. 25-08-2009 00:10
	I'm changing my name. I'm changing my name to Michael Jackson. Yes, this way I can move into his house and enjoy all the things that I don't deserve to call mine. Guest

MJ

	2. 14-08-2009 13:58
	Qustions for the Athenians 1) What year was Macedonia divided between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia?  2) What year was the Macedonian language suppressed by the Greek government?  3) What year were the Macedonian toponyms changed by the Greek government?  4) What year were the first and last names changed from Macedonian into Greek?  5) Since what year you are not allowed to baptize a Macedonian baby in Aegean Macedonia with a Macedonian name?   6) What year did the Greek government in Aegean Macedonia erase the Macedonian writing from the church icons and replace them with Greek letters?  7) If Aegean Macedonia was Greek why do the farm names still have Macedonian names?  Why do the old Macedonian people not know how to speak Greek? They speak their mother tongue which is Macedonian.  9) According to the Greek government, Macedonians and Macedonian language in Aegean Macedonia does not exist. I'm asking the Greek authorities, why, in 1925 did the Greek Government print a primer in the Macedonian language?  10) What the Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) want is human rights, Macedonian schools, to restore our original Macedonian first and last names from Ioannis Patsopulos to Jovan Pachev.  11) With no fear from the Greek government to declare ourselves that we speak Macedonian and we are Macedonians, we do not have to lie and pretend that we are Greeks by descent, yes we are Greek citizens, but are still Macedonian Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	3. 13-08-2009 17:34
	Born in Aegean Macedonia I was born in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) but I was born on Macedonian territory. The Greek government says that a person who was born in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) is a Greek. I would like to know how it is Aristotle Onnasis was born in Turkey, but according to the Greeks he is not Turkish but Greek! Also, according to the Greek government, Pavlos Melas was born in France he is not French but Greek.   The Greek government thinks that if born to Greek parents you are a Greek no matter where you are born. So why is it that according to the Greeks, again, I am not Macedonian even though I was born on Macedonian soil to Macedonian parents?  In Turkey there are less than 2,000 Greeks and there are Greek schools. Also there are Greeks living in Albania and there are Greek schools. But in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) there approximately 1.5 million Macedonians and Macedonian schools and churches are not allowed by the Greek government.   In Greece there are more than 2 million Albanians and they, just the same as the Macedonians, do not have Albanian schools. Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	4. 13-08-2009 01:30
	Not in Athens If a Macedonian wants to baptize his child with a Macedonian name the Greek church will not allow him to do this. This is true not only in Greece but in Great Britain, USA, Canada, Australia and some other countries where Greeks are immigrants. The Macedonians living in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) and in the Diaspora are not allowed to give a Macedonian name to a child.   The Macedonians and the Greeks have the same religion, which is Eastern Orthodox. Yet the rules are changed for Macedonians because this suits the Greeks. Even the Muslims let you name your child with a Macedonian name or any other for that matter. You need two witness to say that your child is going to be a Muslim and you can name your child with any kind of a Macedonian name. The Greek democracy, with the same religion, does not let you baptize your child with a Macedonian name.   The European Union keeps turning a blind eye and stays mute so as not to hurt Greece which is a member of EU. The Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) lack human rights. The Greeks suppressed the language, do not allow Macedonians to restore their original first and last names, do not allow to open a Macedonian cultural home, do not allow Macedonian newspapers and radio. And they lie to the world that Macedonians and the Macedonian language does not exist in Greece or elsewhere. Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	5. 11-08-2009 00:43
	Not in Athens To "greeks", shh... we won't tell anyone that your identity is created for you by philhelene imagination! Problem is the world already knows! A people with a false identity can never be happy. This is the problem of "greeks" today, they are lost and hence trying to control the outside world, and others. That is the outcome of a legacy of genocide, ethnocide through colonizing other territories, guilt, denial, murder, terror etc. Guest

Dimitar

	6. 10-08-2009 17:57
	Education for the Grkoman Manolis On September 7, 1938 legal Act No. 2366 was issued banning the use of the Macedonian language. All Macedonian localities were flooded with posters: \\\"Speak Greek \\\". Evening schools were opened in which adult Macedonians were taught Greek. Not a single Macedonian school functioned at the time or ever since. Many Macedonians were fined, beaten and jailed for speaking Macedonian.   Adults and school children alike were further humiliated by being forced to drink castor oil when caught speaking Macedonian. LAW 1418 was enacted to reinforce previous laws on renaming people\\\'s names and toponyms. Even with this atrocities the European Union still allowed Greece to become a member. Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	7. 10-08-2009 17:39
	Hellenic and Greek two different languag Manolis my last name is Nikolov not Nikolof, I took the English word go to the Greek dictionary here is the answer.  ¤ż »µľąşĚ ˛Á®şµ 57 »­ľµąÂ.  The dictionary found 57 words.    go = Ŕ·ł±Ż˝É   pigaino   So you are a compulsive liar again as always Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	8. 10-08-2009 12:40
	nikolof Mr Nikolof is so ignorant that he doesnt even know that in modern greek language we still use the word Odevo and all the other words that he said are used as synonims. So get a life and try to get your real identity which is (i dont Know really)... Guest

Manolis

	9. 10-08-2009 08:21
	If only If only we in Greece could have somebody who is brave enough to say what he has said. We have much bigger problems than this name issue, but Nea Demokratia and PASOK before them allow it to take precedence over real issues Guest

Stamos Birsimitzoglou

	10. 09-08-2009 23:39
	If only Advice to "greeks"... your identity has been proven to be nothing but HOT AIR... so get with the programme, accept yr Albanian, Asia Minor refugee, ethnic Macedonian, Vlach etc. origins, otherwise ther will be no peace for you! ITS called LIVING A LIE!! BTW our name will never be yours!!!!! Guest

Dimitar

	11. 09-08-2009 22:35
	If only Evenigo iizlezot.. se nadevam deka Makedoncite ke se izvestat, sto pobrgu! Guest

Dimitar

	12. 09-08-2009 15:21
	For the Fanatics Athenians "On October 8, 1912, the First Balkan War began. Montenegro, Serbia,  Bulgaria, and Greece attacked the European positions of the Ottoman Empire.  More than 100,000 Macedonians also took active part and contributed in  driving the Turks out of Macedonia. Turkey capitulated soon, but Macedonia  did not free itself. The victorious Balkan kingdoms convened in Bucharest in  August 1913 to divide the spoils.   Greece was awarded Aegean Macedonia and renamed it for the first time "New   Territory" and then "Northern Greece". And then in 1988 "Macedonia".  Bulgaria annexed Pirin Macedonia and abolished the Macedonian name, and  Serbia took over Vardar Macedonia and renamed it "Southern Serbia". The  same year, N. Pasich of Serbia and E. Venizelos of Greece agreed on the  newly formed Greek-Serbian (later Yugoslavian) border, so that there would  be "only Serbs to the North and only Greeks to the South", and no  "Macedonians" on either side. Thus, the politics to assimilate the  Macedonians of Aegean Macedonia had already begun."   Macedonia was recognized as a separate entity. It was this Greater Macedonia   that was divided by the Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbians after the Balkan wars of 1912-13.   No historian, Greek or otherwise, uses any name but Macedonia to describe the  territories that were partitioned. After the division, none of the  controlling powers permitted the use of the name in the portions of  Macedonia that they had taken. The kingdom of the Serbs, Croatians and  Slovenians used the name 'South Serbia'; Greece referred to the 'Northern  Provinces' and Bulgaria used the name 'Western Bulgaria.'  Before the partition Macedonia was one territory which means the independent  Republic of Macedonia has the right to call herself Macedonia because this was the  Macedonian territory that was ruled by the Macedonian King Alexander the Great.   Why did the Greeks disallow the use of the name Macedonia since this   territory of the Republic of Macedonia, Aegean and Pirin Macedonia are one of  the three pieces of Macedonia. The Greeks and the Bulgarians in August 10,1913   received those portions.   Macedonia is the new name of the airport in Salonica (Solun) and in  Kavala the airport is named Alexander the Great. The Macedonian government  from the Republic of Macedonia has never complained to the Greeks. Recently the  Macedonian government renamed the Macedonian airport in Skopje "Alexander the  Great" and the Greeks made a big hullabaloo about this. Since 1991 the Greeks have bullied  the other nations not to recognize Macedonia with it's constitutional name which is absurd.   Greece insists that Northern Greece has the right to be called Macedonia and the people   there are Macedonian. Then why do the people in that province of Greece not have   Macedonian schools? Why are they forced to speak only Greek not Macedonian?   Why does the Greek government not restore their original Macedonian first and last names?   Since 1936 the Macedonian language is suppressed in Greece by the Greek government.   In Greece we want at least two hours daily of Macedonian language to be taught in the schools, not only the Greek language. Macedonia was more than 530 years under the Turkish Ottoman Empire.  They never changed our original Macedonian first and last names. They never changed our Macedonian toponyms and they never suppressed our Macedonian language.  The Greek government did that in 1913 and it remains the same to this day. Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	13. 09-08-2009 14:02
	No minorities in Athens The Greek position is very clear and simple: Macedonians and Macedonian language does not exist. Greece is a racially homogenous State and has no minorities.  I believe Greece is still using this method to this day to count people in its state. How else does one explain the Greek demographic of 98% \"Pure Greek\" and 2% \"Muslim Greeks\"? Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	14. 09-08-2009 13:45
	Education for the Athenians The Greeks insist that Alexander the Great, the King of Macedonia, never spoke Arabic, Slavic, Iranian, Germanic, Latin, Celtic, or Baltic. They also say that Alexander the Great spoke Greek. This is not correct when Alexander the Great reigned the Greek language never existed. He spoke Macedonian which was his mother tongue and was close to the Thracian and Illyrian languages.  Also he learned the Hellenic language which is totally different from the Greek language. At the time of Alexander the Great the Hellenic language was a common language like today\\\'s English. Here is an example between Greek and Hellenic languages.  In Hellenic they say ahos, in Greek ponos, in English pain.   In Hellenic odissomai, in Greek miso, in English hate.  In Hellenic odevo, in Greek pigeno, in English go  In Hellenic ous, in Greek avti, in English ear.  In Hellenic vous, in Greek vodi in English ox.  I can go on and on. The Greek language and the Hellenic are totally different like English and Chinese.  The Kings of Greece were Otto, a German, Paul and Constantine Glyzburg all of them spoke Greek but they were not Greeks. So Alexander the Great was a Macedonian and nothing else. The Greeks are misinformed the word with their nonsense and stupidities. In 1913, Macedonia was divided between Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, and the Greeks changed all the Macedonian toponyms from Macedonian to Greek. The Macedonian language was suppressed in 1936 the first and last names were changed from Macedonian into Greek from Jovan Toshev to Ioannis Tasopulos. The two European Union countries Greece and Bulgaria insist that Macedonians and the Macedonian language in Pirin and Aegean Macedonia in Greece and Bulgaria does not exist. This is like saying in France the French language does not exist. Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov

	15. 09-08-2009 13:34
	This letter for the Athenian government The disappearance of local languages is a marker for homogenization: over half of the world's 6,800 languages are predicted to disappear by the end of this century. This includes the Macedonian language in Aegean Macedonia (Greece). This language was suppressed by the Greek government in 1936. No thanks to Greece for doing that to the Macedonian people.    Also, the Greek government changed our original first and last names from Jovan Tashev to Ioannis Tasopoulos. Also, the Macedonian toponyms were changed from Negush to Nausa from Kukush to Kilkis from Negochani to Niki. Only the farm names still have their original Macedonian names.     What we need from the Greek government is human rights in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) We are in the 21st century and the leaders of Greece Dora Bakogiani and Kostas Karamanlis insist that Macedonian and Macedonians do not exist in Greece.     We have the Vinozhito (Rainbow) Party in Florina (Lerin) Aegean Macedonia (Greece), they can be contacted by the European Union for any information that is needed. I believe that the Greek government has irrefutable evidence that Macedonians and Macedonian language do exist but they keep denying and lying. Enough is enough with the Greek lies.    Greece is the only country in the world that denies the existence of any minorities. This is ludicrous! There are no countries in the world with only one nationality. Why doesn't the E.U. stomp down on Greece once and for all. Guest

Gjorgi Nikolov