Kammenos draws line at use of term ‘Macedonia’ in name

The right-wing

Independent Greeks (ANEL), which is the junior party in the coalition government led by leftist SYRIZA, appeared yesterday to dampen optimism generated by the revival of United Nations-sponsored talks between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) over the lingering name dispute between the two states.

Speaking at the Dalipi military camp near Thessaloniki, ANEL leader Panos Kammenos, who is also defense minister, said his party will not consent to a name including the term “Macedonia.” He recalled that a 1992 meeting of Greek political party leaders under then president Constantine Karamanlis had agreed that the use of the word “Macedonia” was a nonstarter for Greece. Deciding otherwise would require a fresh meeting under the current president, he added.

However, in 2007, in what was seen as a big compromise, Greece announced it would consent to use of the word “Macedonia” in a composite name.

Opposition from ANEL would mean that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s SYRIZA would have to rely on other parties in the case of a parliamentary vote on the issue.

In a separate development, officials in Athens welcomed a decision by the Albanian government to implement a previous agreement to build cemeteries for hundreds of Greek soldiers killed on Albanian soil during the 1940-41 Greek-Italian war.