[Speech by Dr. Thalis Mylonas , President of the Institute of Inter-Balkan Relations, with special consultative status with ECOSOC of United Nations, in the Reception for the New Year 2011, in the Hotel of Great Britain ,in honor of the Ambassadors and diplomatic representatives of the West Balkan Countries and Cyprus]

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Board of the Institute of Inter-Balkan Relations and my self, I welcome all of you tonight, for the cutting of the 2011 New Year Cake and I wish you happy for the new year ,progress, democracy and economic development for your countries.
This year, is the seventeen anniversary, since 1994 the year of the establishment of our Institute. Tonight we gathered in order to honor the ambassadors and the diplomatic representatives of the Balkan countries and Cyprus who are appointed in our country.

On this occasion, I would like to inform the new Ambassadors that the Institute of Inter-Balkan Relations, is recognized by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, as its Special Counselor, since 1988, and operates according to the provisions of the United Nation Charter and the decisions of the ECOSOC, which means that our main principles, among others, are as follows :
1. Respect for the right of sovereign equality and political independence of Balkan countries.
2. Refraining from making threats or the use of violence as a way to achieve legal rights ,because war is out of law and does not recognized legal rights.
3. Respect for the inviolability of frontiers and the territorial integrity of the Balkan countries.
4. Concentration on peaceful and in good faith settlement of differences.
5. Respect for the historical and cultural heritage of Balkan peoples.
6. Respect for the principles of non-intervention in other countries’ internal affairs.
7. Respect for Democracy, Human Rights and Liberties of the Balkan peoples.
8. Protection of the environment and
9. Protection of the natural flow of rivers and waters in the Balkan countries.
The above principles ,as you know, constitute for us, the condition sine qua non for our cooperation ,our mutual support in economic, social, cultural and political sectors and the presuppositions for the accession to European Union, according the Copenhagen decision .
The Purpose of the Institute, is the promotion ,the strengthening of the close ties and the development of the relations among the Balkan countries ,based on solidarity, collaboration and unity, in the intellectual, economic, cultural, political and environmental sectors etc.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The fact that the geopolitical and geoeconomic strategic position of our countries ,is faced by the architects of the New Order, by using the method of colonialism such as the < divide and conquer >, obliges us to face them with reservation in order to safeguard our interests, because the big powers ,for a period of time ,may favor a country against another ,but in the long run this favoritism ends up against all and on this point it is too late for regression.
According to my opinion, the leaders of the Balkan states have the duty and the obligation, due to our cultural tradition, our common interest to the European Union and neighborhood, to form one unified Inter-Balkan policy ,far from the influence of the Big Powers ,which will help our countries to decide about our own issues autonomously and independently ,according to the interest of the Balkan peoples.
As it is well know Greece, from the first moment of the collapse of the so-called socialistic system, started contributing positively towards the direction of democratization of the Balkan States and has provided all kinds of assistance in order to support its neighbor countries. Greece as you know, offered also five hundred million euros, for the economical support of the Balkan countries, provision of technical help and all the necessary assistance to them towards their accession by the European Union ,NATO and the others Organizations .
Besides that Greece has approved and financed the installation of thousands of enterprises in Balkan countries in order to support their economic development. As a matter of fact respectively this caused in Greece the restriction of entrepreneurship, productivity and the raise of unemployment.
Ladies and Gentlemen
In our contemporary era, unfortunately some of the Balkan countries ,have created among them ,a lot of frictions and problems ,about which we have commenced several times in the past, we have written articles in the press, and mainly, in our magazine published by our Institute the International Tribune, .Our constant effort is to persuade the governments to proceed to peaceful solutions according to the role we have to play, as it is imposed by the regulations of the ECOSOC of the United Nations, to which we are Special Counselors .
On this point I would like to mention that Greece has also differences with some of its neighbors countries, the solution of which should be based on the rule and principles of the International Legality, as it provided by the International Common and Conventional Law, the U.N. Charter ,the resolutions of its organs, ,the Helsinki Final Act, the Paris Charter etc. and we as special consultants to ECOSOC are obliged to promote and respect the legal aspect, of the facts, according the directions of the ECOSOC of the U.N. Charter and to demand the respect and the application of International Law, which is the only organ resolves international differences.
So, and on this point allow me to give you a general overview of the situation of the Balkan Countries and Cyprus in their international relations.

1] Turkey in relation to Greece, is acting on the borderline of international legality and has violated many times the rules of peace and stability in the region. Of these actions, as you know, our Prime Minister George Papadreou made reference a few days ago in Erzurum of Turkey.
2] Turkey in relation to Cyprus. There is condemnation by the international community for the continued occupation of the northern part of Cyprus by the Turkish army. Also Turkey, refuses to apply the European Union regulations when these concern Cyprus .This is why the Chancellor of Germany, Mrs. Angela Merkel, condemned the above illegal actions of Turkey, few days ago, when she visited Cyprus.
3] Kossovo in relation to FYROM. Kosovo as we all know has declared its independence, by using violence and war, which violates International law. Also Kosovo has declared its claims of Tetovo, after it was established, in their effort to create the Greater Albania, and consequently there is a very unstable situation in the region. So, if Tetovo is detached from FYROM , this country will collapse , because of other claims which will be raised by the neighboring countries, setting of a big domino effect, such as the issue of Northern Epirus which was suspended by the Committee of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Great Powers at the Paris convention in 1945..
4] FYROM In relation to Greece . Unfortunately FYROM continues to jeopardize the relations between our people, and in spite of the fact that even the United Nations involved, no solution has been found, on the issue of their name, because of the unwillingness of its leaders to compromise and have arbitrarily and illegally self-defined its name as<Macedonian Republic >,in violation of the customary and conventional law, the Charter of United Nations and the decisions of the international courts.
According to International law and the decisions of the Courts , the Domestic Rules or the Constitution of any country, do not allow them to ignore their international obligations .
FYROM in spite the treaty, which both countries have signed in New York of 1995, the treaty of UNESCO of 1970 and the Hague Treaty of 1954, about the protection of the history and the civilization products etc. of any country, FYROM in violation of the provisions of the above treaties, continuous to use the term Macedonia Republic and to usurp the Greek history, the products of our civilization and our historical personalities, such as Philippos and Alexander the Great etc.
Therefor and in view of the intentions and actions of Kosovo in relation to Tetovo, I have a proposal to make to the Skopjan leaders that they should be more co-operative, if they want to secure their entity and since they are so eager to call themselves Macedonians, in other words Greeks, they may proceed to the unification with Greece, as they had done with Yugoslavia before. Also, they can agree with Greece, to create a Dual State, something that Albania had requested from Greece in 1944,during the departure of the Germans occupation army...
Under these circumstances FYROM will by accepted automatically ,by the European Union, since in any case this is the direction for all the Balkan States and finally I expect that they very soon all the European States, in order to overcome the economic crisis ,will establish the European Confederation.
So, if this will be realized, prime minister Nicolas Gkrouefski, will associate his name with a historical event.
Finally, I would like to say that the presence , in our celebration tonight, of so many prominent Ambassadors, Diplomats and political personalities, shows the support to our purposes towards the spirit of collaboration and solidarity amongst our peoples which demands from our leaders to direct us to a permanent ,peaceful and secure word with justice and prosperity ,within the frame of the European Union, by applying the International Law and Order.
Finishing by speech, I wish you all again a happy, peaceful and creative New Year, and I think you all for responding to our invitation, and let me now to invite all of you to cut the New Year cakes.