Macedonian Foreign Minister formally requested the government of Greece for help in Macedonia’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union.
Why Macedonia is approaching Greece?
Greece was stonewalling all efforts by Macedonia to join the two organisations for a long time.
In 2004, the Republic of Macedonia had submitted its application for membership of the EU.
The EU accepted the application in 2005.
But Greece objected saying Macedonia’s name implied a territorial claim on the northernmost Greek province of the same name.
Membership negotiations cannot start until all EU governments agree, in the form of a unanimous decision by the EU Council, on a framework or mandate for negotiations with the candidate country.
Why Greece was objecting?
Over the past three decades, Greece has been accusing Macedonia neighbour of “cultural theft”.
Macedonia seceded from Yugoslavia and became a sovereign state by a popular referendum held in September 1991.
Greece immediately demanded from the international community not to recognize the country under its name Macedonia.
Greece alleges that -
The Macedonians should not be recognized as Macedonians because the Macedonians have been of Greek nationality since 2000 BC.
Those Macedonians whose language belongs to the Slavic family of languages, must not call themselves Macedonians because 4000 years ago, the Macedonians spoke Greek and still speak nothing but Greek.
Macedonia has no right to call itself by this name because Macedonia has always been and still is a region of Greece.
In the early 1990s, Greece blockaded Macedonia’s southern border, in part to protest Macedonia’s use of the symbol - Vergina Sun in their national flag.
Greece lodged a claim for trademark protection of the Vergina Sun as an official state emblem.
