FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name to help resolve a dispute with Greece that has held up its prospects of joining the European Union and NATO, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on Tuesday.

Macedonia joined the United Nations in 1993 with the provisional name “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” because its neighbor Greece objected to the one-word name saying it implied a territorial claim to a Greek province of the same name.

“I would like the negotiations (with Greece) to succeed ... We are ready for a geographical qualifier in the name,” he told reporters in the capital Skopje on Tuesday.

He had pledged a speedy solution to the dispute last month during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Most countries refer to the country that declared independence in 1991 from the former Yugoslavia as Macedonia. Diplomats say Northern Macedonia, New Macedonia or Upper Macedonia could be now acceptable to both sides.

Zaev also said his government has renamed the main airport and a key highway, which had both been named after Alexander the Great. That riled Athens as Macedonia was also the name of an ancient Greek kingdom ruled by Alexander.

Zaev said the airport will be renamed “International Airport Skopje” and the highway will be called Friendship.

“With today’s decision ... we are confirming our step toward building friendship and confidence with Greece,” he told reporters in the capital Skopje.

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in northern Greece against any solution that would include the term “Macedonia.”</s>Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev says his country is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name in a bid to resolve a 27-year-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the name of the former Yugoslav republic.

"I want the negotiation process [with Greece] to succeed, we are ready for a geographic designation and I will stop here since I know this is a sensitive issue," Zaev on February 6 in the Macedonian capital, Skopje.

Greece's objections to Skopje’s use of the name Macedonia since the country's independence in 1991 has complicated bids by the former Yugoslav republic to join the European Union and NATO.

Athens says the use of the name Macedonia suggests Skopje has territorial claims to Greece's northern region of Macedonia.

Leaders of the two countries have said progress has recently been made in settling the dispute, with indications that any agreement could include Macedonia adding "Upper," "New," or "North" to its name.

The Macedonian government on February 6 officially renamed the country’s main airport and a north-south highway, both previously named after Alexander the Great, the famed ruler of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia who is also celebrated in Greece.

The capital’s airport was renamed International Airport Skopje and the highway became the Friendship Highway.

"With today's decision ... we are confirming our step toward building friendship and confidence with Greece," Zaev said.

The Macedonian prime minister was speaking after tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Athens on February 4 against any solution that would include the name Macedonia.

The Greek government has said it is prepared to accept a composite name that is clearly distinct from Greek Macedonia.

Matthew Nimetz, the UN envoy dealing with the matter, voiced optimism on February 1 that the Balkan neighbors could end the dispute during 2018.

At the UN, Macedonia is formally known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

However, the Security Council has agreed that it is a provisional name.

Macedonia has also been admitted to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund under the FYROM moniker.

Most countries, including Russia and the United States, recognize the country's constitutional title, the Republic of Macedonia.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters</s>Macedonia, is ready to make a concession over its name by adding an extra geographic designation, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Tuesday, in a bid to end a long-running row with Greece.

"We are ready to accept a geographic designation for the name" of the country, Zaev told reporters in Skopje.

Zaev refused to elaborate saying he did not want to undermine the ongoing talks with Greece over the issue.

"I want the negotiation process to succeed, we are ready for a geographic designation and I will stop here since I know this is a sensitive issue," he said.

Macedonia media speculated about several possible options, including changing the name to Upper Macedonia, Northern Macedonia, Vardar Macedonia, Macedonia-Skopje or New Macedonia.

The Macedonian prime minister was speaking two days after tens of thousands of Greeks staged a mass rally in Athens urging the government not to compromise in the row.

Athens objects to Macedonia's name, arguing it suggests that Skopje has claims to the territory and heritage of Greece's historic northern region of the same name, going back to when Alexander the Great ruled in the fourth century BC.

The dispute has remained unresolved since the former Yugoslav republic's independence in 1991.

Because of Greece's objections, Macedonia in 1993 joined the United Nations as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

The government on Tuesday also officially renamed Skopje's Alexander the Great airport, which becomes International Airport Skopje. The north-south Alexander the Great motorway, at the Greek border, similarly becomes the Friendship Highway.

A resolution of the name issue is needed before Macedonia, home to some 2.2 million people, can join NATO or the European Union.</s>FYROM’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said that his country was ready to accept a geographical definition in its name. Mr Zaev added that the FYROM’s cabinet today decided to rename the airport from “Alexander the Great International Airport” to “Skopje International Airport” and to change the country’s national road leading to the border with Greece from “Alexandros of Macedon” National Highway to “Friendship Highway”.

 Meanwhile, European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn told Athens News Agency that were no thoughts of FYROM’s accession to the EU in the initial phase, but for an initial stage of negotiations”, adding that if the name dispute between Greece and FYROM was resolved, the small Balkan state met all the preconditions for EU membership?”</s>Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Premier Zoran Zaev said his country is ready to end a 26-year-long dispute with Greece and accept a qualifier such as Northern, Upper or New – as long as the word “Macedonia” kept.

FYROM joined the United Nations in 1993 with the provisional name FYROM because Greece objected to the one-word name saying it implied a territorial claim to a Greek province of the same name.

“I would like the negotiations [with Greece] to succeed… We are ready for a geographical qualifier in the name,” he told reporters in the capital Skopje on Feb. 6, the news agency Reuters reported.

“With today’s decision… we are confirming our step towards building friendship and confidence with Greece,” he said with his country making almost no significant concession in getting Greece to bend.

Greece’s ruling anti-nationalist Radical Left SYRIZA wants to give the name away for good after it was allowed by a New Democracy government in 1992 for the emerging Balkan neighbor breaking away from Yugoslavia.

The acronym FYROM was supposed to be a temporary solution until a permanent name could be agreed for all uses, including internationally, but more than 140 of the world’s 195 countries already call that country “Macedonia” and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said Greece has no choice but to give in.

That’s despite Greece having vetoed FYROM hopes of getting into NATO and the European Union but with pressure building to relent with United Nations Envoy Matthew Nimetz, an American lawyer who has failed for more than two decades to find a solution picking up talks between the countries after a three-year break.

The US wants to get FYROM into NATO as a bulwark against Russian interests and Tsipras, elected on promises that included taking Greece out of NATO and removing American military interests has ironically picked up the baton and championed those causes, further reneging on his vows, including pledges to reverse austerity.

Zaev said FYROM has already changed the names of its international airport and major highway named for Alexander the Great, the Greek conqueror it claimed along with Greek lands, heritage and culture, including the real Macedonia in Greece and the second-largest city and port of Thessaloniki.

Zaev said the airport will be renamed International Airport Skopje and the highway will be called Friendship but didn’t say whether a statue of Alexander in the capital would be taken down too.

Tsipras and Kotzias said they didn’t care that hundreds of thousands of people marched in protest in Thessaloniki and Athens against their plans for the name giveaway, dismissing them as irrelevant or nationalist and that they would proceed anyway.

Ironically, the qualifiers that FYROM said it will now accept have been on the table for years, including from another former New Democracy government ten years ago but only now is being accepted.

Nimetz had included those in his list of suggestions that Kotzias said Greece was willing to accept because it was in the national interest, without explaining why giving away the name of Macedonia was.

Tsipras said he wants to pave the way for FYROM to get into NATO too even though that country isn’t willing to change its Constitution to renounce claims in Greek lands and other irredentist stances.

Zaev and Tsipras met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January and pledged a speedy end to the name feud even though Greece could have hung tough and kept FYROM out of NATO and the EU until another name other than Macedonia was agreed.

The Greek newspaper Kathimerini said that if a deal is sealed that Kotzias will fly to FYROM in the first direct flight from Athens in years instead of having Zaev come to Athens for the agreement.

The Greek Foreign Ministry welcomed FYROM’s move to rename the airport and highway, referring to a “positive step toward reversing what has happened in the past decade and created tensions in the relations between the two countries.”

It also referred to an “important development in the direction of dealing with irredentism,” even though Alexander’s statue remains and FYROM hasn’t agreed to change its Constitution or give up claims on Greek lands.

“We hope that it marks the start of a new chapter in the relations between our two countries and peoples,” the ministry said.

Zaev also denied claims by Kotzias that FYROM authorities delayed briefing the public about the progress of negotiations.

“The public has been fully informed,” Zaev said. “A solution is reachable and it is to this purpose that negotiations are under way,” but he he didn’t say whether he would keep his word to hold a referendum with Tsipras unwilling to do so in Greece as polls show up to 68 percent of Greeks are opposed to his decision to relent.</s>SKOPJE, Macedonia — Macedonia’s left-wing government has renamed the country’s main airport and highway, both previously named after the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great, in a goodwill move toward neighbouring Greece.

Government spokesman Mile Boshnjakovski told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the airport was renamed Skopje International Airport, after the nation’s capital. The main highway will now bear the name “Prijatelstvo,” meaning friendship.

Macedonia and Greece have been at odds for a quarter-century over the name Macedonia, but have pledged to resolve the dispute by the summer.

Greece says the country’s name implies claims on its own province of Macedonia — home of ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great — and wants it changed. That charge is denied by the Macedonian government.</s>Greece has welcomed an announcement by the Macedonian prime minister that his country is willing to change its name, in a sign that one of the world’s most vexing disputes could soon be solved.



Athens described Zoran Zaev’s readiness to add a geographical qualifier as “a positive step” that would dispel fears of territorial claims over Greece’s adjacent region of Macedonia.

Among the new names being considered are Upper Macedonia, New Macedonia, Northern Macedonia and Macedonia (Skopje), according to well-placed diplomats.

“This is an important development,” said the Greek foreign ministry in a statement released shortly after Zaev said the Balkan state would also rename its airport and national motorway.

“We hope that it marks the start of a new chapter in the relations between our two countries and peoples.”

Compromise is unpopular in sections of Greek society. On Wednesday, the Greek Orthodox church held an extraordinary meeting of its governing synod to discuss the name issue.

Clerics were among the hundreds of thousands of people who protested in Athens on Sunday over the prospect of a solution that would include the word Macedonia.

The region of Macedonia, formerly part of the Ottoman empire, spreads across Greece, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. Athens has objected to its northern neighbour’s use of the name since it proclaimed independence in 1991, arguing that it projected irredentist ambitions.

Addressing reporters late on Tuesday, Zaev said the country’s Alexander the Great airport would henceforth be known as International Airport Skopje, and its main transit route to Greece would drop a similar moniker and be called the Friendship highway.

It is the first time since 1993, when the landlocked country joined the UN under a provisional name, that Skopje has made such concessions. All three moves were described as confidence-building measures by both sides. Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, is as keen as Zaev to reach a settlement.

The two leaders are under intense political pressure to resolve the row, which has held up the Balkan nation’s drive to join Nato and the EU. The 27-year-old dispute is also blamed for endangering western-style liberal politics across Europe’s most historically volatile region, where growing Russian intervention is increasingly a cause for alarm.

Greece used its right of veto to stop Skopje joining Nato in 2008 and has since blocked EU accession talks, despite the country taking significant steps to open up its economy. Efforts to settle the row have often come up against nationalist opposition on both sides of the frontier.

Though a progressive on national issues, Tsipras is in government with the rightwing Independent Greeks party, which has taken a hard line on the name row.

James Ker-Lindsay, a professor of politics at St Mary’s University in London, said: “From the perspective of Skopje, I think we are potentially close to an agreement.

“My big worry is Greece. Although the current Greek government wants to see the issue resolved, it is so politicised it is hard to see how they could push it through.”

Greece’s public order minister disclosed last week that the foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias, and several other senior government officials had received death threats for their conciliatory stance on the issue.</s>People look for souvenirs at a stall at the main square of Skopje on Tuesday.

The prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, said on Tuesday that Skopje is ready to accept a geographical qualifier to its name and that it has already followed through on pledges of good will to Athens.

Zaev said his cabinet decided on Tuesday to rename its capital’s airport “Skopje International Airport” from the current “Alexander the Great International Airport” and to rename a key national highway “National Friendship Road” instead of the current “National Road Alexander the Macedonian.”

If FYROM authorities make good on these pledges imminently, along with Zaev’s promise to accept a geographical qualifier, the momentum in United Nations-mediated name talks could gather pace.

The Greek Foreign Ministry welcomed FYROM’s move to rename the airport and highway, referring to a “positive step toward reversing what has happened in the past decade and created tensions in the relations between the two countries.” It also referred to an “important development in the direction of dealing with irredentism.”

“We hope that it marks the start of a new chapter in the relations between our two countries and peoples,” it said.

Zaev also responded to claims by Kotzias according to which FYROM authorities have dragged their feet in briefing the public about the progress of negotiations on the “Macedonia” name issue.

“The public has been fully informed,” Zaev said. “A solution is reachable and it is to this purpose that negotiations are under way.”</s>SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Macedonia's left-wing government has renamed the country's main airport and highway, both previously named after the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great, in a goodwill move toward neighboring Greece.

Government spokesman Mile Boshnjakovski told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the airport was renamed Skopje International Airport, after the nation's capital. The main highway will now bear the name "Prijatelstvo," meaning friendship.

Macedonia and Greece have been at odds for a quarter-century over the name Macedonia, but have pledged to resolve the dispute by the summer.

A giant Greek flag hangs from a crane waves over protesters during a rally in Athens, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018. Protesters from across Greece were thronging the Greek capital's main square outside parliament Sunday to protest a potential Greek compromise in a dispute with neighboring Macedonia over the former Yugoslav republic's official name. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greece says the country's name implies claims on its own province of Macedonia - home of ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great - and wants it changed. That charge is denied by the Macedonian government.</s>The name Macedonia conjures up a deep nationalistic fervour for both Greece and FYROM - the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

And now, Macedonia or FYROM says it's ready to end the row with its southern neighbours.
Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev states that his country is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name in order to end the dispute. He also says that his government renamed the country's main airport and a key highway.