Greece Imposes Name Dispute at Meeting of Anti-IS Coalition

Greek media report that the United States have again ignored a request from Greece to list the Republic of Macedonia under the temporary reference name during a meeting on violent extremism, that is part of an American initiative to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Macedonia was invited to participate under its constitutional name, which the United States recognized back in 2004, and not under the temporary reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", MIA correspondent in Athens report that Greek media have been told by their diplomatic sources that Greece tried to have Macedonia take part under the reference, and not under the constitutional name.

"This is the second time American authorities have ignored such request from the Greek Government. In December 2014, FYROM (as Greek media usually refer to Macedonia) was named 'the Republic of Macedonia' in the joint press release during the founding of the so-­called coalition against the Islamic State. Then Foreign Minsiter Evangelos Venizelos sent an official complaint to his American colleague John Kerry and decided not to take part in the meeting", Greek daily To Vima reports.

The paper names Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland as the most culpable one in refusing the Greek request to rename Macedonia for the sake of these two events. Nuland allegedly told Greek Ambassador Christos Panagopoulos that it would be better to focus on the issue at hand ­ defeating ISIS ­ than on the naming dispute.

"The case is further complicated by the fact that Greece is invited at the meeting in New York merely as an observer, after it was absent from the initial meeting in 2014. This means that Greece has no right to speak, or file a complaint on the naming issue", To Vima adds.