TO:	AHI Chapter Presidents, Congressional Contact Team Leaders, Members and Friends
FROM:	Nick Larigakis, AHI President
DATE:	April 10, 2012
Re:	CONTACT PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA — ENCOURAGE THE ADMINISTRATION TO MAINTAIN ITS CORRECT POSITION ON FYROM/NATO MEMBERSHIP

BACKGROUND

A NATO Summit in Chicago will be held May 20-21, 2012.

Although the upcoming Summit is not an enlargement Summit, there has been action taken in the U.S. Congress intended to pressure President Barack Obama to extend a formal invitation to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to join NATO at the upcoming Summit in Chicago.

STATUS

• 54 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter to President Barack Obama to “strongly urge your Administration to make sure that NATO finally offers the Republic of Macedonia its well-deserved formal invitation to join the Alliance during the Chicago Summit.  
  • Click here to view the letter and see the list of signatories. (1 MB PDF)

• The “NATO Enhancement Act of 2012” has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate (S.2177) and U.S. House of Representatives (H.R.4243). Language in both bills calls on President Obama to invite or provide a clear roadmap for inviting the “Republic of Macedonia” to NATO.
  • Click here to view H.R.4243 current status.
  • Click here to view S.2177 current status.

The Positions of NATO and the Obama Administration

• Jan. 15, 2010: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated at a press conference with FYROM Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, “An invitation to start accession talks will be extended as soon as a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue has been bridged, and we hope to see a proactive stance from Skopje to find a compromise.”

• Oct. 18, 2010: Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon stated, “Macedonia will join [NATO] once the dispute over its name is resolved” in a speech at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Nitze School Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.
  
  
• July 17, 2011: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an interview with SKAI TV said, "The government in Skopje needs to know that it will not be able to move forward on its European integration until it does resolve this (issue).”

ACTION

We urge you to contact President Barack Obama and encourage the Administration to maintain its correct position on a FYROM/NATO invitation for membership.

• Click here to submit a comment to the President of the United States. 
• Write a letter to the President of the United States. 
• Click here to call the White House. 

NOTE: Please send a copy of your correspondence, or provide notice of a phone call made, to Demetra Astaloglou at demetra@ahiworld.org.

TALKING POINTS

• The Greek American community welcomes the position of the Obama administration as articulated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon and NATO’s position as articulated by Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
• NATO’s position has been reaffirmed at recent NATO Summits in Strasbourg (2009) and Lisbon (2010).
• Greece strongly supports the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of FYROM having not only acquiesced to but also supported its status as a candidate country for accession to the EU and to its joining the Membership Action Plan.
• FYROM’s irredentist and provocative acts toward Greece are clear violations of the 1995 Interim Accord between Greece and FYROM and these acts demonstrate that FYROM is unwilling to demonstrate good faith toward its neighbor Greece; a condition which must exist for the two countries to come together and resolve the name issue, and ultimately, for FYROM to attain NATO membership.
• Simply stated, FYROM cannot join NATO until it resolves its differences with NATO Alliance members Greece, Bulgaria, and Albania.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE

• Review AHI’s Policy Statement on FYROM.

QUESTIONS?

For further information or questions, please contact AHI, (202) 785-8430, or email demetra@ahiworld.org.

THANK YOU!