Greece has found a new Denktas
By Alexis Papahelas
Greece is very unlucky and at the same time very lucky in terms of its problematic north neighbour. Unlucky, because at the wheel of Skopje there is a political leader, who suffers from micropolitical myopia when dealing with issues of external policy and who, according to a west veteran diplomat's words, “probably wouldn’t even be suitable for Mayor in a mid-sized Greek city”. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for somebody to see how Mr. Gruevski will be able to escape from the corner he constantly squeezes himself into.
At the beginning he made the gaffe with regard to the airport’s name, convincing the Greek Prime Minister that “you cannot deal with them”. He continued with his insistence on the referendum for the name, although he knew that this way he excluded himself from becoming the Skopjan… Nixon who would visit Athens and make history through an honest conforming solution. And of course now with his letters about ethnic minorities he has entered the sphere of picturesqueness.
Mr. Gruevski just isn’t interested in a solution and would rather prefer to wait in the hallway of NATO and EU, as long as he is the “first in the village”. Maybe this is somehow reasonable, provided that we talk about a new generation of politicians with no experience and no wars on their experiential substratum. If, indeed, one considers how many mistakes our politicians have made, who are supposedly much more seasoned and Europeanized, why should anyone expect more from Skopje?
Hence, Greece is unlucky, because it has no man to talk or deal with in Skopje. It is also lucky though, because Mr. Gruevski and his friends behave that much grossly, that now everyone knows their intentions. Even their American mentors, like Dan Fried, have understood that by cultivating the arrogance of Skopje’s leadership they have probably shot themselves and their interests. Of course, now it is too late for tears, because they will enter the timecloset of the bureaucratic footnotes of history after January 2009, while Mr. Gruevski is playing his own game ignoring their delayed recommendations.
At this time it is exceptionally difficult for someone to predict what will happen with the naming issue. Most probably nothing will be done and, together with the Cyprus dispute, both issues will be filed in the list of affairs to be solved after a couple of generations of diplomats, negotiators and journalists have retired. Greece, whatsoever, has the comfort to wait, because after Bucharest has gained the advantage and much more sympathy from its fellow partners by means of Gruevski’s gruffnesses. In other words, we found a new Denktas, a fact, which at least in the short-term, is in our favour.
Published on the 23rd of July 2008 in Greek in the newspaper “I Kathimerini” (English edition).
Translated by me.
Read also "The colorful Mr. Gruevski" by Stavros Lygeros, published on the 24th of July 2008). And in Greek.
