“Athens can put the item namnbråk with the neighbor”
“What is really Greece’s northern neighbour called? The issue has divided the two nations for over 20 years and given rise to major protests. But now the time has come for the parliament in Athens to give its verdict on Macedonia’s name change.”
“Tårgasen low heavy of Athens on Sunday, then a protest degenerated into stone throwing and clashes. Tens of thousands of people had taken to the Greek capital to show their dissatisfaction with the plans to allow Macedonia name change.”
“– the Government consists of traitors, ” said protestor Christina Gerodimoun to the AFP news agency.”
“Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has pushed for an agreement with Macedonia in order to put an end to the dispute over the country’s name. The dispute has been raging since the neighboring country declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, which was a part of Greece to worry about, and that Macedonia would make claims on the Greek region with the same name.”
“it was Not better, when the then nationalist government in Skopje in 2011 erected a large statue of” the
“– The last government in Skopje played a lot of Greek symbols and built a national identity based on the ancient Macedonia. It made the greeks more and more angered and less willing to reach a compromise, ” says Jessica Giandomenico, Balkankännare linked to the Institute for Russia and Eurasienstudier at Uppsala university.”
“the Conflict has blocked Macedonia’s membership in EU and Nato, because the greeks are constantly threatened with the veto. But in 2017, he returned the social democratic SDSM to power in Macedonia and the government pushed for a name change to open membership negotiations.”
“And in the leadership of prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev was agreed by governments last year that Macedonia Nordmakedonien instead.”
“– There is no one in Macedonia that really wanted to change the name. They would probably not have come to the painful point that they went with for it, if not membership in Nato and the EU was in the pot, ” says Giandomenico.”
“For the name change to become a reality, it must be approved by the parliament in Athens. The colleagues in Skopje has already said yes and on Thursday, it applies to the Greek prime minister to get 151 of the 300 members. The vote preceded by debate and may come to pull out on time and carried out early on Friday.”
“the Resistance is, however, widespread among the parties, where many are opposed to a name at all include the M-word that they associate so strongly to the Greek cultural heritage.”
“Nevertheless, Tsipras still like to be able to succeed as a sufficient number of independent members, has pledged its support and his party Syriza has 145 locations.”
“– they Get together it is huge. Especially for Macedonia who can come to the finish in key foreign policy processes, to join Nato and start negotiations with the EU. The geopolitical step to the west also means reduced Russian influence in Macedonia.”
“the name issue has long been a given talking point for the 69-year-old pensioner Spyridon Columbus and his friends in the city of Rhodes in Greece. The discussions have sometimes been hot, because the opinions differ.”
“– Macedonia is and has always been Greek and no one can rewrite history. But I’m okay with that, they call themselves Nordmakedonien. I hope that parliament will say yes, so that the fight can end, ” he says to the TT over the phone.”
“One of Macedonia’s main foreign policy goal is membership in the EUROPEAN union and north atlantic treaties, something that the EU and Natomedlemmen Greece put a stop to with their vetohot. But a solution may be close since the countries agreed that Macedonia should change its name to Nordmakedonien.”
“the rivalry goes back to the time before the first world war, when the historical Macedonia was divided between the mainly Greece and Serbia. After the war was the slavic part of Macedonia in the new polity that eventually came to be called Yugoslavia.”
“When Macedonia became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991, refused to Greece to recognise the new state. The greeks referred to the fact that the name Macedonia belongs to the Greek cultural heritage. Greece protested against the wording in the draft Macedonian constitution, which it was felt could be interpreted as territorial claims on parts of northern Greece.”
“since Then, Greece has insisted that Macedonia change the name before the membership in the EU and Nato can be realised.”
