The Greek Liaison Office in Skopje has established that unknown persons extensively vandalized the Greek military cemetery in the town of Valandova, in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Head of the Skopje Liaison Office immediately contacted the FYROM Foreign Ministry, expressing his dismay and asking for the immediate investigation of the case, stressing that incidents such as this hurt the relations between the two countries and do not serve good neighbourly relations. A representative of the Liaison Office and the Defence Attaché are travelling to the site. It should be noted that the damage done to the cemetery was significant.
On the instructions of Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, the Head of the Skopje Liaison Office made an official demarche to the FYROM Foreign Ministry, asking that the FYROM authorities condemn the incident and take all necessary measures to identify and punish those responsible and to repair the material damage done.
Unfortunately, these incidents confirm yet again the risks and consequences of nationalism and populism, which is being cultivated in FYROM to the point where the dead are vulgarly insulted and history is disrespected.
March 14, 2013