Thousands join rightwing protest against Macedonia name change.
Thousands join right wing demo over ‘Macedonia’ dispute
SKOPJE: Thousands of supporters of Macedonia’s rightwing opposition VMRO-DPMNE party took to the streets of the capital Skopje to protest against plans to change their country’s name, which has been at the centre of dispute with neighbouring Greece.
Zoran Zaev, prime minister of the former Yugoslav republic, said on Wednesday that negotiations with Athens to resolve the 27-year-old dispute were in “the final stages”.
Athens objects to the neighbouring state’s constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia, because Greece has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions.
The contentious issue has stymied Macedonia’s hopes of joining the European Union and Nato, as Greece can veto its membership bids.
The VMRO-DPMNE will not support any constitutional bid to change the name of the country, said Hristijan Mickoski, new leader of the opposition party.
“We are very clear on this subject,” he added during the protest.
Former prime minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski, who governed Macedonia from 2006 to 2016, was absent from the rally after being sentenced on Wednesday to two years in jail by a Skopje court for abuse of power over the purchase of a luxury Mercedes.
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban sent a message of support in which he hailed the party’s “wise and courageous leaders ... who won’t bend under pressure from foreign powers”.
Protests are also being organised for next week in northern Greece where some oppose what they see as a compromise solution being finalised between the Greek and Macedonian leaders.
The agreed new name will almost certainly contain “Macedonia”, an outcome ardently opposed by many Greeks protective over their won northern province of Macedonia – the cradle of the ancient empire of Alexander the Great.