The Greek people will decide on FYROM’s name: Defence Minister

Greece’s Defence Minister and leader of Independent Greeks (ANEL) Panos Kammenos said the people of Greece will have to have a say in the name dispute with FYROM.

Kammenos made the statements during a media interview which was published on Sunday in 'Dimokratia' newspaper.

The Minister explained that "the inclusion of the term 'Macedonia' in the name of FYROM will mean the shrinking of Greek culture, history, philosophy, arts, etc. for the centuries to follow.

“Such a decision goes beyond the powers of any politician, of any rank,” he added, a statement that clearly hints to a referendum.

Kammenos said that the main opposition's 'incomprehensible' insistence on the government to resign without saying which name it will accept undermines the negotiating procedure as since 2007 its negotiating position is a compound name with geographical qualifier (erga omnes).

"The Greek people will have to decide on the unprecedented concession of history and culture to another people in the history of mankind," said Kammenos.

In his statements for the solution of the FYROM name issue, the Prime Minister has proposed a mutually accepted solution on the basis of a compound name with geographical qualifier, Kammenos noted, adding that "it was not cited that the compound name will include the term 'Macedonia.'"