yugoslavias implosion

Greek protests that the new state’s name suggested it had territorial
designs upon Greek Macedonia). 365
Serbian nationalists saw claims on Macedonian territory within
the context of the solution to the Kosovo question. In his memoirs,
Macedonian president Kiro Gligorov quoted Ćosić, who opposed
international pressure to recognize Slovenia and Macedonia: “You
are not aware of what you are doing, it is our people and our land,
we cannot give up the land that our Army throughout history has
bled for. This part of Macedonia belongs to us.” 366 Arkan told the
Greek newspaper Ethnos that the Serbs would “take their” parts
of Macedonia. 367 Šešelj said that a partition of Macedonia would
“finally solve” the Macedonian question and simultaneously sever
the “Islamic arch” being constructed by Turkey in the Balkans with
American help. According to Šešelj, Serbia would take the area
around Kumanovo “populated by Serbs deprived of their elementary
human rights”; the western parts, “inhabited by some 300,000 Albanians,”
could be allotted to Tirana; and the east, inhabited by Bulgarians,
could be allotted to Sofia. He would let Greece have the whole
adjacent region bounded by a line running from Bitola to Prilep and
populated by Greeks and Hellenized Vlachs, or so-called Tzintzars. 368
The primary objective of Belgrade’s constant reference to a
Greater Albania scheme—an idea entertained in some Albanian circles—was
to find a partner for its Greater Serbia project and to
redraw Balkan borders.
On December 27, 1992, intelligence reports on a planned crackdown
by Belgrade on Kosovo prompted u.s. President George H. W.
Bush to send a warning to Milošević declaring that the United States
365 When they did recognize the new state, most countries did so under the name “Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM) because of Greek sensitivities . This issue delayed
Macedonia’s integration into the Euro-Atlantic community and obstructed its consolidation .
366 NIN, September, 13, 2001 .
367 Borba, December 14, 1993 .
368 Borba, November 3, 1993 .
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ChApter 3