Ivanov Freezes Relations with Advisors

Skopje | 18 June 2009 |

Georgi Ivanov

Macedonia’s President Georgi Ivanov will temporarily freeze relations with two of his advisors, Dimitar Mircev and Risto Nakovski, following their public statements on solutions over the "name" row with Greece, an unnamed source from his cabinet says.

According to unnamed cabinet sources speaking to local Dnevnik daily on Thursday, the two advisors acted unilaterally by appearing on TV with speculations about what would be acceptable name compromise for the country.

Nakovski said in an interview for local A1 TV that that the possible name “Republic of Macedonia (Vardar)” would be far better solution that the one currently being mooted, “Northern Macedonia.”

He argued that the first name containing in brackets the name of the largest Macedonian river Vardar would be more historically and geographically correct.

Mircev previously pointed out that the name “Northern Macedonia” would be unacceptable for the country.

The president has dismissed these stances as personal and that he would opt for a “reasonable compromise” that would not harm the identity and dignity of the country.

Macedonia’s Preimer Nikola Gruevski, yesterday speaking in front of his party members, called the local political leader to unify regarding this issue. This happened after Parliament failed to forge a joint strategy for the name row.

Local media says that the confusion over the country’s stance is more evident as the date for the fresh round of UN sponsored talks approaches.

The mediator in the row, the US diplomat Matthew Nimetz, has summoned both sides on talks in Geneva on June 22 after a stall of the process due to the elections in both countries that took place earlier this year.

Last year, the row gained further tension after Athens blocked Skopje’s NATO accession because of it. Athens argues that Skopje’s official name, Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims towards its own similarly-named northern province.

(Reporting by Sinisa-Jakov Marusic)

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Comments:

it's a yugo thing...
2009-06-18 15:36:57

how do you "freeze" relations? Is this some type of "yugo" thing? You either fire some one, make them resign or reprimand them, publicly or otherwise. No such thing as a "freezing"

It's freezing here
2009-06-19 17:05:58

To freeze somebody suggests a period of suspension. Any reprimand would and should stay within the confines of the employer employee relationship... It's a simple concept used by the west for quite a while now.

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Ivanov Freezes Relations with Advisors