Pan-Macedonian Association On Holbrooke
   Pan-Macedonian Association of America Supreme President, Ms. Nina Peropoulou in a letter to former US ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke expressed the strong discontent of the Greek-American community regarding the content of the speech he delivered to Johns Hopkins University in Washington on the situation in the Balkans.
   Ms. Peropoulou mentions that according to the Skopje newspaper Outrinski Besnik, Mr. Holbrooke urged Greece to recognize FYROM with its so-called constitutional name.
According to the newspaper, Mr. Holbrooke called on Greece to adjust to the new situation and recognize FYROM with its constitutional name Macedonia, while responding to a question made by members of the audience, he stated that the citizens of FYROM should be called simply Macedonians.
   On behalf of the Pan-Macedonian Association of America, which has an active presence of 56 years in the US, Ms. Peropoulou expressed the strong concern of the Greeks regarding the US mass media propaganda on the true identity of the Slavs living in FYROM who want to be called Macedonians.
   Ms. Peropoulou points out that the issue of the name is not just political for the Greeks, as it is for the international community. She said that for the Greeks it is cultural, historical and national and has to do with their national identity, which is non-negotiable, and their past that cannot be copied.
   Ms. Peropoulou cites statements made by FYROM officials who maintain that the people living in the country are of Slav origin and are not Macedonians. She also calls on Mr. Holbrooke to retract his statements and use the name FYROM whenever he wants to refer to the specific country.
 

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