Turkey supports Macedonia in its name clash with Greece as the country has been recognizing its constitutional name since 1991 when it received independence from Yugoslavia, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Thursday.
Çavuşoğlu held a meeting with his Macedonian counterpart, Nikola Dimitrov, on the occasion of a working visit in which all aspects of bilateral relations were discussed, and the two ministers exchanged views over current regional and multilateral issues, including the name clash between Macedonia and Greece.
This is now what for Macedonians has come down to: Dimitrov to Çavuşoğlu: “North”, Çavuşoğlu to Dimitrov “Macedonia”. Essentially, Macedonians are being abused, negated, sold in a highly fascist manner by their Government representatives as illegitimate as they may be.
At the joint press conference held following the meeting, Çavuşoğlu noted that Turkey recognizes Macedonia by its constitutional name only, implying it doesn’t accept the recent unconstitutional changes, adding Macedonia’s stability in the Balkans is important.
Last week, Macedonia’s shaky Government much to the outrage of its own population signed a deal to allegedly pave its way to NATO membership and normalize relations with neighboring Greece, after lawmakers approved constitutional changes to rename the country into North Macedonia. The move was immediately hailed by NATO, which had lobbied heavily for Macedonia to change its name despite strong criticism from the majority of the country’s population.
