Reports in some Greek media allege that Greece capitulated and agreed to FYROM using the name ‘’New Macedonia” during this week’s negotiation talks between the two countries and UN mediator Matthew Nimitz.
The sensational claims first broken by a report on the Star channel have been faithfully reproduced by many known Greek media outlets, adding fuel to the fire of speculation about the shocking new name.
As there are no official statements from the Greek Foreign Ministry regarding the ‘agreed’ name of New Macedonia, Greek City Times cannot confirm the veracity of the reports but our own investigations would suggest that ‘’New Macedonia’’ was one of many names proposed but not that it was officially agreed to.
It must be noted that the name of ‘’New Macedonia” was proposed by the Skopje government in 1992 but was rejected by the Greek government at the time and was soon followed by the proposed “Northern Macedonia” only to be rejected as well by Greece.
A week before Monday’s UN mediated negotiations, Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias clarified that “next six months will show whether my friends in Skopje will put their hands on their hearts and decide to compromise. An honest compromise, not a rotten one. They can do it. They only need to believe in it and be supported by their friends. I also think the confidence-building measures have contributed to this end.”
FYROM’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov has previously stated that ‘’we are not going to argue here that the history of Ancient Macedonia is part of Greek history, as anyone with some degree of historical knowledge is well aware of that’’.
