SKOPJE: Several thousand Macedonians took to the streets in capital Skopje on Tuesday to protest against a possible change of their country’s name, as required by Greece to end a long-running row.
Defying freezing temperatures and snow, the protesters, organized by a network of several civic associations, held umbrellas in the colors of the Macedonian flag and chanted “Long live Macedonia!” and “Macedonians!”
The protesters demanded an end to ongoing talks between Macedonia’s government and their Greek counterparts aimed at solving the 25-year dispute.
Athens, which has threatened to veto Macedonia joining NATO and can block its bid to join the European Union, argues its neighbor’s use of the name suggests Skopje has claims to the territory of Greece’s historic northern region of the same name.
But Macedonia has made significant progress recently and the EU has said it is “very confident” the dispute will be settled before July.
“The name of the state must remain unchanged,” Macedonian writer Eftim Kletnikov told the crowd that gathered in front of the EU headquarters in Skopje and marched to the parliament.
Political parties, including the main opposition nationalist VMRO-DPMNE, said they were not behind the protest.
Thousands of Macedonians protest name change
Thousands of Macedonians protest name change
Germany plays down threat of US invading Greenland after talks
WASHINGTON: Germany’s top diplomat on Monday played down the risk of a US attack on Greenland, after President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to seize the island from NATO ally Denmark.
Asked after meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio about a unilateral military move by Trump, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said: “I have no indication that this is being seriously considered.”
“Rather, I believe there is a common interest in addressing the security issues that arise in the Arctic region, and that we should and will do so,” he told reporters.
“NATO is only now in the process of developing more concrete plans on this, and these will then be discussed jointly with our US partners.”
Wadephul’s visit comes ahead of talks this week in Washington between Rubio and the top diplomats of Denmark and Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Trump in recent days has vowed that the United States will take Greenland “one way or the other” and said he can do it “the nice way or the more difficult way.”
Greenland’s government on Monday repeated that it would not accept a US takeover under “any circumstance.”
Greenland and NATO also said Monday that they were working on bolstering defense of the Arctic territory, a key concern cited by Trump.
Trump has repeatedly pointed to growing Arctic activity by Russia and China as a reason why the United States needs to take over Greenland.
But he has also spoken more broadly of his desire to expand the land mass controlled by the United States.
