Republic of Northern Macedonia?

[Evropeos]

Todor Petrov


Macedonia:Anti Name Change Protests Announced

Skopje | 21 November 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic

A string of protest rallies will be staged in Macedonia and abroad in a bid to have the talks with Greece suspended, the so-called resistance movement against changing the state name of Macedonia said.

The movement acts with support of several NGO’s and civic associations including the World Macedonian Congress, and ex-pat communities such as the United Macedonians in Canada and Macedonian communities in the United States, Australia and Europe.

Protests will be staged on 20 November and 27 November in front of the EU Mission in Skopje.

A protest march will also be organised on 2 December in front of the government and parliament buildings, the organisers said.

“The series of protest rallies… are expected to send a strong message for immediate and unconditional termination of negotiations with Athens regarding the state name of Macedonia” the head of the World Macedonian Congress, Todor Petrov told a news conference on Thursday.

The movement plans to stage protests in several cities across the world on 6 December, just one day before the EU Council’s meeting where member states will decide whether to give Skopje a date to start EU accession negotiations.

Last year Athens blocked Skopje’s NATO accession over the 18 years-long spat. Athens insists that Skopje’s official name, the Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims towards its own northern province - also called Macedonia.

Local media speculate that some version of the compound name Northern Macedonia to clearly distinct the state from the Greek province is still on the table at the UN sponsored “name” talks between the two countries.

In 1993 due to Greece’s pressure Macedonia agreed to enter the UN under the provisional reference "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", FYROM, pending a resolution of the long-running dispute.

Since then some 120 countries worldwide, including China, the United States of America and Russia have recognised country’s constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia.

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Macedonia Expected to Resolve Name Dispute in 10 Days
World | November 22, 2009, Sunday


The Prime Ministers of Macedonia and Greece are reported to have 10 days in order to resolve the name dispute between the two countries.

According to Macedonian TV channel A1, which cites diplomatic sources, the EU is expecting that Gruevski and Papandreu will resolve the dispute in the coming days so that on December 7 Macedonia could receive a date for starting its EU accession negotiations.

On Friday, November 20, the Macedonian government confirmed it was ready to hold a direct meeting with the Greek side.

If Macedonia manages to resolve the name dispute with Greece, the authorities in Skopje hope that the country will start EU accession negotiations in April 2010.

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is supposed to tell EC President Jose Manuel Barroso how his country will be called during their meeting on December 2, 2009.

The Macedonian name dispute has been holding back Macedonia in international dealings as the name “Republic of Macedonia” is opposed by Greece because a northern Greek administrative district is also called “Macedonia