Macedonia’s first President Kiro Gligorov has been mentioned in declassified files from the archives of the US intelligence service the CIA confirming this epithet, revealing his careful diplomatic game in the early 1990s, reports the Albanian news agency INA.
According to a CIA file dating from November 1992, it details the direction in which Macedonia was moving as a newly formed state after secession from the former federal Yugoslavia, with a new leader coming from Belgrade.
At a time when the region was drowning in bloodshed, Gligorov managed to maneuver between strong pressures from Greece, the risk from Belgrade and internal ethnic tensions with Albanians. In intelligence reports, he was described as a “wise reformer” with an extraordinary command of strategic details, reports INA.
Gligorov turned down Greece’s $100 Million offer to buy Macedonia’s name
The document reveals a surprising background: despite the urgent need for economic assistance, Gligorov rejected a private offer from Greek officials in the amount of $100 million, on the condition that he changes the name of the country. The Macedonian head of state assessed the Greek demands as completely unreasonable, declaring that Macedonia would never accept them. He insisted that the republic had provided sufficient evidence that it had no territorial claims to its neighbors, while expressing deep disappointment with the European Community, which supported Greece’s veto policy, INA reports.
