Name proposals, irredentism, international and regional relations of Macedonia and measures for positive agenda are four points of the draft agreement which Greece is to forward to Macedonia by mid-February, Greek FM Nikos Kotzias told Greece's state broadcaster ERT, MIA reports from Athens. Kotzias said that the agreement is still in formulation phase and firstly will be presented to the Greek, and afterwards to the Macedonian government. If approved, it will be the basis for solving the problem, and it should get green light fro…
It is very good news that the UN name mediator Matthew Nimetz is visiting the region, because the best solutions can be found only through dialogue, EU Ambassador to Macedonia Samuel Zbogar said Tuesday answering journalist question about the EU's expectations from Nimetz’s visit and from the name dispute negotiations between Macedonia and Greece. “In the past several months there were many contacts between the governments of the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece and I think that we can call it a warm-up period for…
Macedonia's lawmakers voted Tuesday in favor of abolishing the 'national artist' title. Under changes to the law on culture, adopted in 2011, the title (which brings a life-long national pension) was bestowed as a recognition to prominent Macedonian artists. In spite of today's vote for the title's abolishing, five of the six recipients, namely Simon Trpceski, Milco Mancevski, Boris Trajanov, Ana Durlovski and Nikola Madzirov will keep enjoying the status of national artist. The sixth one, Esma Redzepova, passed a…
Macedonia and Turkey will boost economic cooperation and exchange of goods that has marked an increase in the past several years, most notably an increase in export of Macedonian goods in Turkey. It is envisaged by a decision of the mixed committee of the Free Trade Agreement between Macedonia and Turkey, signed by Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bektesi and his Turkish counterpart Nihat Zeybekci. Under the decision, signed during Bektesi's visit to Ankara, Protocol 2 is amended to pave the way for provisions to implement the Reg…
Macedonian communities in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain are holding protests today on a common and unitary Macedonia, the World Macedonian Congress said. Macedonian community in Switzerland begins the protest at 12.00 pm at Quai Wilson 47 - 1201 Geneve - Palais Wilson. The meeting will continue along the Avenue de France from 12.00-13.00, to the United Nations Plaza at 13.30-14.00, where the organizers will have greeting speeches. Macedonian community in Germany starts the protest with a gathering at 13.00 …
The opposition DPMNE submitted amendments to the Law on the Use of Languages, but the same amendments ended up in the trash after SDSM and DUI officials instructed their secretaries to dump them outside. The amendments, as announced by the party, are aimed at harmonizing the law with the Constitution of the state. The deadline for submitting the amendments expired at 4 pm, and immediately after the amendments were found in the thrash. Grce Gjorgjievski, member of the DPMNE’s EC at today’s press conference noted that the submitt…
The name issue to be closed according to the model of the friendship treaty with Bulgaria, with a consensus reached by the two governments, followed by a ratification in the assemblies of the two countries, DUI leader Ali Ahmeti proposes in Sunday's interview with Greece's newspaper Kathimerini. There is no better time than now to solve the issue, he says adding the government will be negotiating with the purpose to reach a deal, MIA reports. "Both the government and the opposition share a historic responsibility to f…
The leader of the largest political party in Greece, New Democracy, after a meeting with the Greek PM on Saturday rejected any possibility of providing support to the current administration to muster a wide national consensus over the name issue. Opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis after meeting PM Alexis Tsipras lambasted the way in which the Greek government has been handling the matter in question, MIA's correspondent reports from Athens. "The way in which negotiations are being intensified is a cause of serious co…
MRT, the national broadcaster of Macedonia has announced today that it will be selecting its 2018 Eurovision act and entry via an internal selection. The broadcaster has opened the submission window for artists/composers to submit their applications. The submission window for artists wishing to represent Macedonia at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest is open until 8 February. Herafter a special committee will evaluate all submitted entries and make their deliberation. Once the committee selects the Macedonian representative/s for Lisbo…
The Football federation of Macedonia arranged two friendly matches for the senior national team. Both will be played in the March FIFA international week that all countries around the globe will use for test games. Macedonia will play against Finland on the 23rd and against Azerbaijan on the 27th. Both games will be played on neutral ground in the Turkish city of Antalya. The country’s biggest international sea resort is very popular among European clubs including the Macedonian. This time the national team will go there on preparat…
Instead of ignoring anti-Macedonian hate as per its previous policy, Facebook is now actively engaging in it. Nik Petrovski, a Macedonian from Sydney, Australia, recently created a Facebook frame at facebook.com/RiseUpMKD in defence of the constant bombardment by Greeks against our Macedonian ethnicity. Facebook issued a 3-day ban to Mr. Petrovski for “violating community standards”. How is it possible that defending one’s most basic of human rights, self-determination, goes against Facebook standards? See MHRMI’s press release of J…
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.
The UN mediator in name talks, Matthew Nimetz, issued a press release late Wednesday officially confirming his intention to visit Athens and Skopje next week. "At the invitation of the Governments of the Hellenic Republic and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Matthew Nimetz, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, will travel to Athens and Skopje from 29 January to 1 February 2018. The visit is part of United Nations efforts to assist the sides in finding a mutually acceptable solution to the 'name' issue,"…
'Would You Look At Her', a film written and directed by Goran Stolevski, won the award for best international short film at the 34th Sundance Film Festival in the United States. The short movie vied alongside 17 films from all over the world in the festival's Shorts Program. The film was picked by a three-member jury comprised of screenwriter, director and producer Sharine Davis, Shirley Manson, musician and frontman of the indie rock band Garbage, and the cartoonist Chris Ware. Presenting the award to Stolevski, Ware …
Zoran Zaev announced that he will change the name of the Skopje airport to help resolve a decades-long dispute with Greece over the republic's name, he said on Wednesday. The name of the airport - Skopje Alexander the Great Airport - will be changed. The new name has "not yet been decided", a Macedonian government spokesman said. Zaev said the north-south Alexander the Great motorway ending at the Greek border will be renamed "Friendship Highway". "To demonstrate, in practice, that we are committed t…
Low cost carrier Wizz Air will replace two of its four Airbus A320 aircraft based in Skopje with the larger 230-seat A321 jets this summer. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline confirmed that the first of the two aircraft will begin operations from the Macedonian capital on May 30 and the second from June 15. They will be deployed on a number of routes from Skopje including Berlin, Beauvais, Bratislava, Cologne, Eindhoven, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg, Hahn, Hamburg, Hannover, Malmo, Memmingen, Nuremberg and Rome. Together, t…
General Atlantic, where Matthew Nimetz held the post of Chief Operating Officer in 2005, invested $ 127 million in the Danish Saxo Bank, which owns its subsidiary bank in Greece - Saxo Bank Hellas, UMD said. Nimetz was a Managing Director and the Chief Operating Officer of General Atlantic from 2000 through 2011 and now works with GA as an Advisory Director UMD says this is a classic example of a conflict of interests for the role Nimitz has as a mediator in the dispute between Macedonia and Greece, and questions his independence and…
One year after the Donald Trump’s inauguration as America’s new president, his US ratings have plummeted in all countries, except four, including Macedonia, wrote Atlantic magazine in an article called, “What do Israel, Liberia, Belarus and Macedonia have in common?” The research on the ratings, which Atlantic magazine refers to, was conducted by the Gallup agency in 134 countries in 2017. Reasons as to why Macedonia finds itself in such company, according to the magazine, can not be found in the White House, but the State Departm…
The rally under the banner of “Macedonia is Greek” in order to prevent the use of the term “Macedonia” as part of the solution of the name dispute that was supposed to take place in Athens on the 4th of February, instead it will take place in Piraeus, writes the Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini. According to the official press release, the organizers that are behind the protest that occurred in Thessaloniki this past Sunday didn’t want to cause a traffic chaos in downtown Athens if the protest was organized at the Syntagma Square. …
French Ambassador Christian Timonie believes he isn't the only one who has failed to understand the law of languages because 'it is a very complicated text, at least in terms of its content, as well as consequences. 'On the other hand, to be completely honest, there is a room for improvement of the text itself, which is possible because it is a matter of debates, as the process has not been completed yet and I would not like to make a comment,' Timonie says in Sunday's interview with Radio Free Europe.
At the protest in Thessaloniki, which “defends” the name of Greek Macedonia, a mischievous incident happened where several extremists burned a Macedonian state flag, Thessaloniki website thestival.gr reported. There are no comments on the perpetrators, except that there was an incident involving the burning of a Macedonian flag. There were no other incidents in the protest which took place in Thessaloniki under the banner of “Macedonia means Greece”, and as requests were highlighted: a general referendum and accusings that giv…
The retail prices of gasoline and diesel will increase by MKD 1 per litre as of Monday midnight, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) told Monday. According to ERC, the price of EUROSUPER-95 is MKD 67.5 per litre, EUROSUPER-98 is to be sold for MKD 69.5, while EURODIESEL (D-E-V) - MKD 60.5 and extra light fuel for household (EL-1) - MKD 49. Under the decision, the price of crude oil M-1 HC also rises and now stands at MKD 29.906 per kilogram. The average price of crude oil at global markets and the MKD-US$ exchange rate were…
No state, nor the United Nations, has the right to impose a change of name on another country, nor deny the existence of the Macedonian language and people, said Vasko Naumovski in a statement for Sitel TV. Optimism to resolve the decade’s dispute is useful, but to be optimistic, there should be a real basis, adds the negotiator from the Macedonian side. Immediately after Naumovski’s statement, Zaev’s led Government were “appalled” by his statement and insisted Naumovski does not represent the Government, instead his views were simply…
Thousands of people, carrying banners with messages 'Macedonia was, will be Greek'; 'The name is our soul', took Sunday to the streets Thessaloniki to 'defend the name', MIA reports. Hardline clerics, far-right leaders and Greek diaspora groups have called for the protest against the use of term 'Macedonia' in any solution to Athens-Skopje name dispute. The organizers have been delivering speeches at the rally, which kicked off about 14:00h, reiterating the message that 'Macedonia is Greek'.…
A Macedonian nation never existed in the period of classical antiquity, as it was the case with the nations of Athenians and Spartans, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says in an interview for tomorrow's edition of 'Ethnos' newspaper, MIA reports from Athens. 'Ancient Macedonia was a great power of the ancient Greek world which, especially in the period of the Alexander the Great's reign expanded far beyond today's geographic region - Macedonia, the Greek PM says. In addition to Greeks and Slavs, Bulga…
Macedonia and Greece have a real opportunity, maybe the best one, for solving the so-called name issue, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Hoyt Brian Yee says in an interview with Bloomberg TV Bulgaria. He believes that there is a political will in both Athens and Skopje for reaching an agreement on the matter for good. A hard work is required to that effect as this is not a simple matter for resolving, Yee says. It would have been good if the issue was settled 25 years ago, but if the two countries k…
The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) supports the #OurNameisMacedonia Campaign, spearheaded by Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) in demanding that the Macedonian authorities end all negotiations and talks to change Macedonia's name. 'We call on the United Nations, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and those nations who have not yet done so, to formally convey full diplomatic recognition to Macedonia under its name - the Republic of Macedonia,' UMD says in a press release on Sa…
The Alliance has no plan 'B' for Macedonia's NATO accession, hence the name dispute must be settled, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday at a joint press conference with Zoran Zaev. 'Agreement on this issue is crucial for your country to join NATO. There is no other way for your country to join NATO. This was also notified at the 2008 Bucharest Summit and reiterated at subsequent ones in 2014 in Wales and Warsaw in 2016,' Stoltenberg said, commending the efforts being made to find a solution to the nam…
The National Assembly in Bulgaria today unanimously ratified the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborly Relatioins and Cooperation between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia. The ratification of the Agreement was supported by 186 MPs, and the Macedonian Ambassador to Bulgaria, Marijan Gjorcev, who was also present in the hall, Bulgarian media reported. On Monday, the Macedonian Parliament, with 61 votes in favor and one abstention, voted in favor of the draft law on ratification of the agreement, which was signe…
Macedonia's handball team scored Wednesday the fifth point at the European Handball Championship after finishing with a draw (25:25) playing against the title-holder Germany. With today's game, Macedonia won the top position in Group C of the European tournament held in Zagreb. After this outcome, Macedonia has a solid chance to advance further in the championship. It would take at least two more triumphs in the coming three games to qualify in the top four teams vying in the semi-finals. Macedonia advances in the tour…
Macedonia’s president Gjorge Ivanov have sent an official note to Parliament that he will not be signing the language law pushed across the entire country by the Zaev’s led SDSM. As the president explained, Macedonia is a unitary and multiethnic state, and this law abolishes this principle and introduces binaryism, which violates the country’s unitary character. He also added that due to the daily political schemes run by the SDSM, procedures are being abused to bring laws that are detrimental to the nation. Ivanov pointed out tha…
Macedonians living in the US staged Sunday a protest in front of Macedonia's Embassy in Washington, voicing their opposition to a potential change of the country's constitutional name. During the protest United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) President Meto Koloski launched a new movement 'We are Macedonia' as a response to worrisome political development in the homeland, MIA reports from Washington. The protesters, about twenty supporters and activists of Diaspora organizations, handed over a declaration to Macedonia…
The World Organization for Social Integration has issued on its website an exclusive feature about Ohrid and Macedonia describing it as 'the world's capital of humanism in honor of St. Clement of Ohrid.' Clement of Ohrid, a disciple of the saints Cyril and Methodius who are considered the 'apostles of the Slavs', had been credited with founding the first medieval school of humanism in Europe. Frédéric Fappani von Lothringen, Head of the World Organization for Social Integration, in his capacity as representati…
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