Albanians and “Orthodox people”

And how NATO avoids the adjective

First up: Apparently this is official policy from the State Department of the United States of America: in Macedonia, there are Albanians and “Orthodox people.”  Not Macedonians, but “Orthodox people.”

So says U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Gabriel Escobar.

Now, I could act all juvenile and refer to Gabriel Escobar by a different first name, and a well-known name at that.  Seeing as he refuses to call Macedonians by their own, chosen name, I would be justified.  But I won’t.

In early February Escobar gave a wide-ranging interview for a publication called “The Pavlovic Today,” about the countries of the Western Balkans as they are often called.  It was primarily about Serbia and Kosovo but then the interviewer went on to other countries and started with Macedonia. The title of the article is “The view of the Western Balkans from inside the State Department.”

Addressing the issue of ethnic relations between Macedonians and Albanians, Escobar said “….Macedonia is a true example of peaceful coexistence between Albanians and Orthodox people.” Escobar, of course, used the “N” word before Macedonia.

This is really extraordinary and I have not seen anything like it before.  I often see the Macedonian flag emoji used instead of the adjective, Macedonian, and, as a friend puts it, the flag is not an adjective.

I have also seen the butchering of grammar as in this, from Balkan Insight: “…including this year’s North Macedonia’s contestant…”

I have often seen the use of “…the people of North Macedonia,” and the use of “Slavs.”

But to refer to Macedonians as “Orthodox” is really quite audacious.  And dead wrong.

But, as the title of the article states, I must assume that this is the view of the Western Balkans – and Macedonia – “from inside the State Department.”

Let’s break this down.  According to Gabriel’s statement, the following must be true:

There are no Macedonians in Macedonia, only a group of people who are “Orthodox” though what kind of “Orthodox” is left to the imagination.

Albanians cannot be Orthodox, because, well, Albanians are Albanians and the “others” are “Orthodox.”

At the same time, ethnic Macedonians cannot be Muslim.  I am sure that will be news to those Macedonians who do practice the Muslim faith.

Granted, I’m being a bit facetious here.  Escobar knows these things damn well. 

Because Escobar knows this, my question becomes Why?  Escobar is a veteran of the US State Department and a veteran working in the Western Balkans.  He knows about the issues of names and identity, especially as they relate to Macedonia.  And yet he goes off and labels all Macedonians as “Orthodox.”  Why?

Let’s look at the possibilities:

Did Escobar have a momentary lapse of memory?  Is it that he couldn’t remember that the adjective applied to Macedonia is Macedonian? Highly doubtful.

Did Escobar not want to “offend” Albanians as he had just finished a long question and answer interview largely about Albanians?  Probably not.

Did Escobar do this to be deliberately insulting? I think that is the only plausible answer.

Will he apologize?

Definitely not!  He’s a senior member of the United States Department of State and as such, he can do no wrong no matter how many Macedonians contact the United States Embassy in Skopje or the Macedonian Government (hint, hint, wink, wink).  Members of the media: you ought to reach out to the US Embassy and Macedonian Government and ask them about this.

And so it continues: senior members of the US State Department, NATO, various EU member state officials, EU officials, and others a) deliberately calling Macedonians “North Macedonians,” b) using linguistic gymnastics to avoid using the adjective “Macedonian,” c) using the Macedonian flag emoji in place of the adjective, or, this new low, d) calling Macedonians something entirely different.

And now on to NATO: On March 8, NATO’s press department put out a brief press release in which the following line was used: “…the team of experts will assist their North Macedonian counterparts assess recent hybrid attacks…” NATO was called out on the use of the “North Macedonian” phrase but did nothing about it.  On March 22, NATO put out another release with the headline “Visit to NATO by the North Macedonian Minister of Defense.”  Again, they were called out on this but this time, at least, they did the right thing and changed it. The new headline was “Visit to NATO by the Minister of Defense of North Macedonia.”

But did you notice something? NATO cannot bring itself to use the simple and correct adjective “Macedonian” when describing, well, Macedonians. 

And NATO wonders why they can’t build trust with the Macedonians.