Internal Consultations of Greek and Macedonian Leaders Ahead of Naming Dispute Negotiations

The Prime Ministers of Greece and Macedonia are engaged in consultations with their politicians ahead of next week's negotiations to resolve the naming dispute between the two countries regarding 'Macedonia'. Internal meetings and consultations on this matter took place on Saturday, January 27, and a United Nations envoy is expected to meet with the leaders of both countries in the coming days. Following a meeting between Zoran Zaev, the Prime Minister of Macedonia, and Alexis Tsipras, the Prime Minister of Greece, on the sidelines of the Davos summit, he announced two new decisions that are seen as a gesture of goodwill towards Greece. According to him, the name of Alexander the Great will be removed from the airport in Skopje, and the highway leading from Macedonia to Greece will be renamed from Alexander the Great to Friendship Highway. Macedonia retained its name from the communist era after gaining independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. This decision angered Greece, which claims that the choice of this name implies a claim of ownership over a region of the same name in Greek territory and distorts the history of Greece. The Prime Minister of Greece (left) met with the President of Greece on Friday as part of consultations with politicians in the country regarding negotiations with Macedonia. Greece has insisted that the country should be referred to as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and has blocked Macedonia's accession to NATO and the European Union. Officials from both countries have stated their intention to resolve this dispute this year and have agreed to increase negotiations on this issue. Negotiations between representatives of the two countries, mediated by the United Nations, did not yield a clear outcome on January 17 in New York, but several names were proposed for consideration in future negotiations, according to media reports. Greece wants Macedonia to clarify that it has no ownership claims over the Macedonian region of Greece by adding a distinguishing adjective such as 'Northern' or 'New'. Although it seems that the leaders of both countries are moving closer to resolving this dispute, they face strong opposition from nationalists in their respective countries. On January 21, tens of thousands of people protested in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, to express their opposition to including the word 'Macedonia' in any potential agreement. Organizers of this movement told the Associated Press that they expect about one million people to participate in a protest scheduled for February 4 in Athens against conceding to Macedonia. At the same time, nationalists in Macedonia have accused the Prime Minister of their country of conceding without receiving anything in return.