Skopje 'Shouldn't Overreact Over Greek Chants'

“This issue is closed for us,” Droutsas told Greek Sky radio, noting that his country had condemned the incident immediately and has taken all the measures to investigate who is responsible.

“We would hate to see our neighboring country, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, trying to take advantage of this, I repeat ‘isolated incident,’” he said.

Droutsas reaction comes after yesterday his Macedonian counterpart, Antonio Milososki, said in Skopje that the anti-Macedonian and anti-Albanian chanting of the Greek security forces at last week's military parade in Athens shows the general attitude of Greece towards it neighbours.

Some of the chants captured on video at the parade included: “They are Skopians, they are Albanians, we will make new clothes out of their skins,” and “You do not become a Greek, you are born one,” and “We’re going to spill your blood, Albanian pig” .  

Milososki, in a statement similar to that of Macedonian President Georgi Ivanov one day earlier, suggested that Greece should radically shift its policy to really show that it does indeed have good and friendly intentions.

Bilateral relations between Skopje and Athens are marred by a nearly two decade long dispute over the use of the name Macedonia. Athens blocked Skopje’s entry into NATO and obstructed its progress towards EU membership pending a resolution to the row.

Greece insists that the official name of its smaller neighbor, Republic of Macedonia, implicates territorial claims towards its own northern province which is also called Macedonia. Macedonia on its part fears that it could lose its identity and dignity if it accepts Greece’s terms.