Macedonia savours legal victory in bitter dispute over name

MACEDONIA IS celebrating a rare victory over Greece in a long-running and bitter dispute over what the former Yugoslav republic is allowed to call itself.

Greece blocked its neighbour’s bid to join Nato in 2008 because it objects to the country using the name “Macedonia”, which Athens insists should only refer to a northern Greek province of the same name.

Athens says that use of the name “Macedonia” implies a territorial claim on northern Greece, and it accuses Skopje of trying to steal some of the glory associated with the ancient Greek king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great.

To Greece’s fury, Macedonia unveiled a 21m statue of Alexander in Skopje this year to celebrate its 20th anniversary of independence from Yugoslavia.

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled 15-1 yesterday that in blocking Macedonia’s efforts to join Nato, Greece had breached an interim agreement that it signed with Skopje in 1995.

“This historical verdict from the court means that Greece cannot legally oppose Macedonia’s membership of Nato,” the Macedonian government said in a statement.

“This verdict clears a big hurdle for the future negotiations for Macedonia’s membership of the EU.”

Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov said that “instead of blocking, Greece should support our integration into international organisations”.

The court did not prohibit Greece from blocking Macedonian bids to join international bodies in the future, however, and Nato said the ruling did not change its position that Macedonia could only join when the name dispute was resolved.

“With full respect for the ICJ as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, Greece is reviewing the decision,” the Greek foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Greece will continue to pursue negotiations in good faith to reach a mutually acceptable solution,” the ministry said.