Press Releases

AHI Requests Secretary Clinton to Clarify Inflammatory Article on FYROM in State Department’s Official Publication

WASHINGTON, DC—The American Hellenic Institute (AHI) released a letter it sent today to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressing the Institute’s discontent with State Magazine’s April 2010 cover story “Skopje, Ancient Macedonia builds modern democracy,” by Stephanie Rowlands. AHI’s letter identified five points of contention with Rowlands’ article.

“We respectfully request clarification of certain inflammatory and irredentist content of the article,” wrote AHI President Aleco Haralambides and Executive Director Nick Larigakis.

The five points of contention demonstrate “serious flaws” with the article in the areas of 1) Geography, 2) “Macedonian” Identity, 3) FYROM as a “Tolerant” Player in the Region, 4) FYROM’s “Peaceful Development,” and 5) the U.S.-FYROM “Strategic Partnership.”

“As published, ‘Skopje, Ancient Macedonia builds modern democracy’ will only contribute to FYROM’s ongoing intransigence to solve an issue of vital importance to U.S. interests,” wrote Haralambides and Larigakis. “Furthermore, it leads one to question if the content of State Magazine is to be taken as official policy of the Obama Administration.”

To view AHI’s letter to Secretary Clinton, please visit www.ahiworld.org/press_releases/pdfs/pr29/letter.pdf (1.7 MB PDF).

To read Rowlands’ article, please visit http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/138927.pdf (9.5 MB PDF).

The American Hellenic Institute is a non-profit Greek American think-tank and public policy center that works to strengthen relations between the United States and Greece and Cyprus, and within the Greek American community.

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For additional information, please contact C. Franciscos Economides at (202) 785-8430 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For general information about the activities of AHI, please see our website at http://www.ahiworld.org