27YR DISPUTE ENDS AS ATHENS, SKOPJE AGREE ON NEW NAME FOR MACEDONIA

ATHENS: Athens and Skopje have agreed on a new name for the country of Macedonia to end a 27-year dispute, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday. Greece objects to the country to its north being called Macedonia because it has its own province of the same name. Tsipras said a deal had been struck on a compromise name acceptable to both countries, after speaking on the telephone with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Tuesday. He said Macedonia would take a new “compound name with a geographical designation”. The new name for the former Yugoslav state will be the Republic of North Macedonia, Tsipras and Zaev said at separate news conferences from Athens and Skopje. The agreement may pave the way for the Balkan county to join the European Union and Nato.