The statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje
Australian Macedonian Advisory Council
July 11, 2011
The Australian Macedonian Advisory Council (AMAC) regrets the recent decision of the newly re-elected FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) government to raise a bronze statue of Alexander the Great, in the main square in Skopje on 14th June 2011. This was viewed as a clear provocation that will further strain relations between FYROM and the Hellenic Republic.
Although the statue is officially called ´a warrior on a horse´, it is clearly a depiction of Alexander the Great, the great Ancient Greek conqueror. Underlining their tie to Alexander, Greeks voting by Internet and recently (2010) elected Alexander as the greatest Greek of all time. The year-long poll organized by TV station ´Skai´ gave the conqueror 127,011 of the 700,000 votes cast. This underlines the importance that Greeks place on this issue, as expressed clearly by a statement released by the Greek government after the raising of the statue: "This is usurpation of the Greek history." "… is a provocation and it undermines our bilateral relations and the negotiation process under the United Nations." The European Union (EU) has also weighed in on the issue, expressing that: "that if FYROM continues to take actions perceived by Greece as ´provocations´ and fails to make faster progress in its reforms, the country could lose its EU candidate status".
The statue was cast in the Fernando Marinelli foundry in Florence, Italy, and shipped to Skopje in parts, where it was finally assembled on June 14. The price of the statue is estimated to be 5.3 million euros ($US 7.7 million) - which is being seen as a waste of resources - particularly since the unemployment rate of FYROM is the largest in Europe, currently at 33%.
AMAC strongly believes that the government in FYROM should start focusing on the country´s reforms suggested by the EU, instead of deflecting domestic attention away by making various nationalistic stunts which provoke Greece and other Balkan neighbours.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/242932
Although the statue is officially called ´a warrior on a horse´, it is clearly a depiction of Alexander the Great, the great Ancient Greek conqueror. Underlining their tie to Alexander, Greeks voting by Internet and recently (2010) elected Alexander as the greatest Greek of all time. The year-long poll organized by TV station ´Skai´ gave the conqueror 127,011 of the 700,000 votes cast. This underlines the importance that Greeks place on this issue, as expressed clearly by a statement released by the Greek government after the raising of the statue: "This is usurpation of the Greek history." "… is a provocation and it undermines our bilateral relations and the negotiation process under the United Nations." The European Union (EU) has also weighed in on the issue, expressing that: "that if FYROM continues to take actions perceived by Greece as ´provocations´ and fails to make faster progress in its reforms, the country could lose its EU candidate status".
The statue was cast in the Fernando Marinelli foundry in Florence, Italy, and shipped to Skopje in parts, where it was finally assembled on June 14. The price of the statue is estimated to be 5.3 million euros ($US 7.7 million) - which is being seen as a waste of resources - particularly since the unemployment rate of FYROM is the largest in Europe, currently at 33%.
AMAC strongly believes that the government in FYROM should start focusing on the country´s reforms suggested by the EU, instead of deflecting domestic attention away by making various nationalistic stunts which provoke Greece and other Balkan neighbours.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/242932