Macedonia, Greece Celebrate 20 Years of Diplomatic Ties

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The Macedonian Embassy in Greece will host a reception in honor of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 

On September 13, 1995, the foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece went to New York to sign an Interim Agreement that regulated a number of contentious issues between the two countries, ended the crippling Greek economic embargo against newly independent Macedonia, and opened the door for normalization of relations which is still not fully achieved. The agreement is considered as the establishment of diplomatic relations between Macedonia and Greece, even though Greece keeps its diplomatic office in Macedonia at a lower level than that of a full embassy.


Greece reacted with hostility to Macedonia ever since it declared independence from Yugoslavia, demanding that the young republic must change its name and renounce alleged territorial pretensions on the Greek province of Macedonia. The "Macedonian issue" and the perceived threat to Greece from the much smaller country became a rallying cry for Greek nationalists both from the left and the right, who held million strong rallies in Thessaloniki to protest against Macedonia.

The Republic of Macedonia changed its flag, which Greece also objected to, and amended parts of its Constitution to placate Greek anger. In exchange, Greece agreed never to block Macedonia from joining an international body it is a member of, if Macedonia applies under the temporary reference name of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". Macedonia joined the UN, IMF, OSCE, Council of Europe and a host of other organizations under the reference, but in 2008 Greece violated the Interim Accord by blocking Macedonia's membership in NATO at the Bucharest Summit.

Greece also ignored a 2011 verdict by the International Court of Justice that found it violating the Interim Accord with its veto in Bucharest, and also began to block Macedonia from opening European Union accession talks. Political relations remain strained with few official meetings and visits, even at times when Macedonia would insist for cooperation on pressing matters, such as the current refugee crisis.

Months ago the two countries agreed to begin implementing a set of confidence building measures that are aimed at solving some issues of practical importance unrelated to the name issue, in the hope it would generate good will between the two sides. 



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