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Academics Take Issue With Prespa Agreement - Letter to the Editor

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To The Editor
As scholars and authors we wish to take issue with the distortion of the Prespa ‘agreement’ in some quarters, and portrayal of opponents as nationalist and extremists.
The agreement does not serve the needs of Macedonia or Greece. It shows no respect for international law, human rights and democratic principles.
An agreement trying to define political, historical and cultural boundaries between “classical Macedonia” and (would be) North Macedonia is a bizarre undertaking in the 21st century. The construction of identities is not for governments. Macedonia is subjected to arbitrary international engineering against the will of the people. With little public support a highly polarized atmosphere deepens internal divisions. The asymmetric ‘deal’ will not lessen regional tensions as only the weaker (Macedonian) side was forced to compromise, to force (North) Macedonia into NATO – itself in an identity crisis.
The deal denies constitutional sovereignty of Macedonia, with fin…
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Stoltenberg: Macedonia must change Name before NATO invitation

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Stoltenberg says Invitation to NATO membership for Skopjes government once the Treaty with Greece is fulfilled.
NATO leaders have formally invited Macedonia to start membership talks with the alliance, while cautioning that it can't be completed until the name issue is resolved.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, if the agreement with Greece will be fullfilled, Skopje will be asked to begin accession negotiations with NATO. 
Stoltenberg stated at Tuesday’s conference ahead of the two-day Summit in Brussels, Macedonia will become a NATO member using the new name Republic of Northern Macedonia.




NATO said on Wednesday also that "solution of the name issue is a condition for a successful conclusion of the accession process.
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Macedonian airports handled over 1 million passengers by mid-2018

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Exactly 1,041,583 passengers were handled at the two airports in Macedonia in the first months of 2018. A annual increase of 21% was registered compared to the first half of last year, TAV Macedonia - the company operating the airports in Skopje and Ohrid - said in a press release.
The number of flights at the two Macedonian airports from January until June marked an annual rise of 16%, it added.
"While airports across Europe have an average passenger traffic increase of 6,1% in 2018, TAV continues to register high double digit increase in passenger’s traffic at the Macedonian airports. This positive trend in air traffic growth confirms that the Macedonian aviation market has big potentials. We will continue to put our best efforts to develop  the airports in Skopje and Ohrid by attracting new airlines and expanding the destinations’ network, in cooperation with all competent state authorities," said Alper Ersoy, TAV Macedonia General Manager.
From Skopje Alexander the Grea…
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FAO, Macedonia to sign framework programme 2018-2020

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A framework programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for Macedonia 2018-2020 and the first project within the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness Programme will be signed in the Government on Wednesday.
The Readiness Programme aims to build capacity in developing countries to access GCF funding to implement country-led national climate adaptation and mitigation plans. The overall aim is for countries to be equipped to fulfill their commitments under the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global temperature rise by 2 degrees, and to support them in adapting their agriculture and food security systems to the effects of climate change. 
Vice Premier for Economic Affairs Koco Angjusev, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Ljupco Nikolovski, and FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, Vladimir Olegovich Rakhmanin are set to sign the agreements.
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Stoltenberg: Invitation to NATO membership once the Treaty with Greece is fulfilled

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expects that following the agreement with Greece, Macedonia will be asked to begin accession negotiations with NATO.
Stoltenberg stated at today’s pre-conference, Macedonia will become a NATO member using the new name Republic of Northern Macedonia.
“I expect that after the historic agreement reached last month in the name dispute, we will invite Skopje to commence membership negotiations. When the agreement is finalized and implemented, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will be invited to become the 30th NATO member under its new name, the Republic of Northern Macedonia. This is a sign that NATO’s doors are and will remain open”, said Stoltenberg, MIA’s correspondent reported from Brussels.
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Shekerinska: We are getting an invitation for NATO the day after tomorrow, lets not miss this chance

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It is quite certain that on 11th of July, Macedonia will receive an invitation for accession talks for the NATO Summit, which is expected to be relatively short – three to six months – a procedure which is identical to the last countries which became NATO members, i.e. Montenegro, Albania and Croatia, and then the Accession Protocol has to be signed, after which its ratification will begin with all member states, and then, we will be “de facto” with NATO, because then we will participate in a big part of the NATO procedures. It remains only to complete the procedure in the country, with the referendum and the constitutional changes, in order to remove the last obstacles. For a long period of time the opposition has been stressing that the EU and NATO are the strategic commitments for Macedonia, and now, it is not serious by the opposition to block this road because of the small political points, said Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska and the national NATO co-ordinator Stevo Pendaro…
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Protest in Greece over name agreement with Macedonia

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Hundreds gathered at a protest against the name agreement in the Greek town of Vergina on Monday, MIA reports from Athens.
Protesters, including church officials and the governor of Central Macedonia region Apostolos Tzitzikostas, waved Greek flags and shouted "Macedonia is Greek".
"If our neighbors are Macedonians, then what are we?" asked Metropolitan Panteleimon in his address before the crowd, saying the name agreement goes against the interest of the Greek people.
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Evergreens

City of Skopje subsidizes pellet heating

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The City of Skopje has paid the subsidies for purchasing a pellet furnace in 2016.
A total of 196 citizens met the criteria envisaged in the subsidy programme according to principle “first-come, first-served”.
The public call for subsidies was released on October 12 and closed on November 4, including 343 applications.
“All applications were reviewed, with 196 accepted as meeting the requirements, whereas others either did not fulfill the criteria or were filed after the programme funds were exhausted”, said the City of Skopje.
The call was issued in order to stimulate citizens in using renewable energy sources as heating in their homes. The funds amounted to 70 percent of the pellet furnace price, but not exceeding MKD 30,000 (EUR 500). The total budget of the subsidy programme amounted to MKD 5,9 million (EUR 95,000).
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New evidence: in the 70’s Greece had no problem with our country’s name Macedonia

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Christopher Purdef, an orthodox deacon from the US state of Ohio, posted on Twitter a map of former Yugoslavia in the mid-1970s, which says Macedonia about the then southernmost republic.

“As I was saying, Greece didn’t have a problem with Macedonia in the 70’s”, he wrote.
A little later Purdeff gave a new argument about the Greek attitude towards the identity of its northern neighbor from four decades ago – an excerpt from a book in which the languages of the then SFRY, including the Macedonian, were listed in Greek.
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More than 30000 Macedonians in Sydney

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Macedonian phalanx closed central Sydney streets! The protest march, which was successfully organized by all the Macedonian social, cultural, social and church associations, began before the Sydney Town Hall and flowed through the central Sydney streets, to Martin Place, where the main, official event took place.
On this grand event, the Australian anthem sang Milica Kiprovska, the Macedonian anthem was sung by Blagojce Petrov, and the Aboriginal blessing for holding the event on the Australian soil was given by the Macedonian son-in-law, the Aboriginist Brett Grogan. Before the audience spoke: Joshua Sherman, Zaklina Mihajlova, Igor Markovski, Dushan Risteski and Chris Karanfilovski.
The address highlighted that MACEDONIAN BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS ARE TAKEN. It should not and must not the world to shut the eyes before the genocide against the Macedonian people that has been in existence since 1912 to this day!
The so-called Macedonian Government has no mandate to discuss and negotiate the…
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Macedonia Marks 10 Years of Tose Proeski's Death

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Macedonia will mark Tose Proeski's birthday with a blood drives in Krushevo and the Army Hall in Skopje, exhibition of photographs and promotion of a new version of one of his songs.
The singing legend who died in a tragic car crash in 2007 was born on this day in 1981 and would have been 36 today. The blood drive in Krushevo will be held in the Memorial House bulit in his honor and citizens can donate blood during the entire day.
At noon, at the exhibition area in the Memorial House, 15 photographs of Toshe which haven't been shown in public before, will be put on exhibition.
An instrumental version of his song "Nikada" will also be promoted. Fans from across the Balkans, and even Russia, are in Krushevo to honor the singer and humanitarian.
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Czech Republic to keep assisting Macedonia in guarding of its southern border

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The Czech Republic will keep sending policemen to Macedonia to help the country to guard its border with Greece, First Deputy Interior Minister Jiri Novacek said after a meeting with Macedonian Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski.
The cooperation between the ministries of both countries has been intensified since the migrant crisis in 2015, Novacek said, pointing out that the Czech Republic has been granting expert assistance to Macedonia on various security matters. The Czech Republic, he added, highly appreciates Macedonia's efforts to join the international organization, in particular the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), as well as the ones for meeting the EU membership standards.
Spasovski extended gratitude for the Czech support of Macedonia's EU-integration process, as well as for the assistance during the migrant crisis.
Spasovski and Novacek also reviewed the possibilities for advancing the bilateral cooperation.
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