Greece and Macedonia reach deal in 27-year dispute over name

Greece and Macedonia reached ahistoric agreement Tuesday to end a bitter 27-year name dispute that had kept the smaller and younger country out of international institutions such as NATO, the two countries' prime ministers announced.

Greece's Alexis Tsipras and Macedonia's Zoran Zaev said theformer Yugoslav republic's new name for both domestic and international purposes would be Republic of Northern Macedonia.

Macedonia will also amend its constitution to reflect the change as part of the deal.

The nationality of the country's citizens will be listed on official documents as "Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of Macedonia."

'A clear distinction'

NATO and European Union officials welcomed the breakthrough, which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said would helpconsolidate regional peace and stability.

Greece had long demanded that its northern neighbour change ormodify its name to avoid any claim to the territory and ancientheritage of the region in northern Greece named Macedonia birthplace of ancient warrior king Alexander the Great.

The current prime ministers' attempts to end the dispute havefaced dissent in both countries, leading to large protests byopponents of a compromise, threatening to split Greece's governingcoalition and provoking a rift between Macedonia's prime ministerand president.

And main opposition parties in both countries rejected theagreement.

Zaev said the deal would be signed this weekend, and a voterreferendum would be held in the fall.

In a televised address, Tsipras said the 140 countries which hadrecognized the Balkan state simply as Macedonia would now recognizeit as Republic of Northern Macedonia.

"This achieves a clear distinction between Greek Macedonia andour northern neighbours and puts an end to the irredentism whichtheir current constitutional name implies," he said. He added thatMacedonia "cannot and will not be able in the future to claim anyconnection with the ancient Greek civilization of Macedonia."

Speaking at a news conference in the Macedonian capital, Skopje,Zaev described the deal as a "historic agreement of the century."

"We have been solving a two-and-a-half-decade dispute thathas been drowning the country," he said, adding that the deal"will strengthen the Macedonian identity."

On the timeline of the deal, Tsipras said that it would be firstsigned by the two countries' foreign ministers and then ratified byMacedonia's parliament.

Greece will then back invitations for Macedonia to join NATO andstart negotiations on joining the EU. However, Tsipras said, thiswill be contingent on Macedonia completing the constitutionalchanges.

"In other words, if the constitutional amendment is notsuccessfully completed, then the invitation to join NATO will be automatically rescinded and the accession talks with the EuropeanUnion will not start," he said.

EU welcomes deal

The deal was welcomed by EU officials.

European Council president Donald Tusk tweeted his "sincerecongratulations" to Tsipras and Zaev. "I am keeping my fingerscrossed. Thanks to you, the impossible is becoming possible," hesaid.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and commissionerJohannes Hahn issued a joint statement congratulating the two primeministers "in reaching this historic agreement between theircountries, which contributes to thetransformation of the entireregion of southeast Europe."

They said they looked forward to accession negotiations beginningwith Skopje in June.

However, both prime ministers faced dissent at home.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, whose right-wingIndependent Greeks party is Tsipras' governing coalition partner,said he would oppose an agreement in a parliamentary vote, meaningthe left-wing prime minister will need to seek support frompolitical opponents.

In Skopje, meanwhile, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov saidearlier in the day that he remained opposed to writing the new nameinto the constitution, a move intended to show the change ispermanent and binding for domestic and international use.

The main opposition party in Macedonia, the conservativeVMRO-DPMNE, accused Zaev of "capitulating" to Greece.

"In essence, the [deal]is acceptance of all Greek positions,"VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski said.

In Athens, conservative main opposition leader KyriakosMitsotakis urged Tsipras not to go ahead with the agreement.

"This is a bad agreement that is in conflict with the majorityof the Greek people," he said.

Organizers of past rallies in Greece's main cities against acompromise with Macedonia also expressed outrage at the deal, withone accusing Tsipras of "high treason."

"He was Skopje's best negotiator," Michael Patsikas told TheAssociated Press.