Radovan Karadzic, Sarajevo is not your city, and you have no right to say that it is, just as you do not have the right to say in public, even if it’s in court, that someone has dug up bones around Bosnia and brought them to Srebrenica to make a fake graveyard. This is insulting.
Macedonia Leader Hints At 'Name' Solution
| 13 March 2008 |
Skopje _ Macedonia might accept to incorporate an adjective into its constitutional name in a bid to avoid a Greek veto of its bid to join NATO, the country’s president Branko Crvenkovski told media Thursday.
“If we find a formulation using some kind of adjective that would not harm our national identity but instead would perhaps give an additional description to our state’s system, I think that we could achieve both goals to get an invitation for NATO and to protect our national identity,” Crvenkovski said.
In his last proposal for solving the long running name dispute between the two countries, the special United Nations mediator in the dispute, Matthew Nimetz, handed a list of five possible Macedonia names.
One of these included the “Democratic Republic of Macedonia.”
Crvenkovski did not explain whether he was giving backing to that exact proposal.
“Unfortunately, that space for manoeuvring was simply rejected by Greece, at least until now,” the President said.
Athens objects Skopje’s use of its constitutional name, “Republic of Macedonia” saying it implies Skopje's territorial claims over Greece's own northern province of Macedonia.
“No solution for the dispute means no NATO invitation,” senior Greek officials have warned in recent months.
In a last ditch attempt, the United States appointed Washington's ambassador to NATO, Victoria Nuland as their mediator in the dispute to help UN efforts in resolving the issue ahead of NATO's Bucharest Summit in April.
Macedonia is expected to receive an invitation to join the alliance at the summit but Greece has threatened to block this if a solution to the 'name' dispute is not found.
In 1995, the two countries signed an UN-sponsored deal that among other things restrains Greece from using vetoes to halt Macedonia’s membership of international organisations if Skopje joins under its provisional name “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
The next round of talks between the two sides is scheduled for next week.
In his last proposal for solving the long running name dispute between the two countries, the special United Nations mediator in the dispute, Matthew Nimetz, handed a list of five possible Macedonia names.
One of these included the “Democratic Republic of Macedonia.”
Crvenkovski did not explain whether he was giving backing to that exact proposal.
“Unfortunately, that space for manoeuvring was simply rejected by Greece, at least until now,” the President said.
Athens objects Skopje’s use of its constitutional name, “Republic of Macedonia” saying it implies Skopje's territorial claims over Greece's own northern province of Macedonia.
“No solution for the dispute means no NATO invitation,” senior Greek officials have warned in recent months.
In a last ditch attempt, the United States appointed Washington's ambassador to NATO, Victoria Nuland as their mediator in the dispute to help UN efforts in resolving the issue ahead of NATO's Bucharest Summit in April.
Macedonia is expected to receive an invitation to join the alliance at the summit but Greece has threatened to block this if a solution to the 'name' dispute is not found.
In 1995, the two countries signed an UN-sponsored deal that among other things restrains Greece from using vetoes to halt Macedonia’s membership of international organisations if Skopje joins under its provisional name “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
The next round of talks between the two sides is scheduled for next week.
