In a ceremony at the Prespes Lake district in northern Greece on Sunday, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his FYROM counterpart Nikola Dimitrov, signed an agreement to change the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to Republic of North Macedonia.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and FYROM Prime Minister Zoran Zaev described the move as “patriotic and mutually beneficial” stressing that “we have a historic responsibility to ensure this agreement is not left up in the air.”
A referendum will take place in FYROM and a parliamentary vote in both countries before the agreement can be ratified.
“This deal will put an end to the longstanding problems which aggravated our bilateral ties. Our two countries must leave behind the past and look to the future,” Mr Zaev said, adding that both countries “were bold enough to take a step forward.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations Special Representative for the naming dispute between Greece and FYROM, Matthew Nimet, congratulated both countries on signing the “honorable” landmark deal. He said that after 25 years of working on the naming dispute the development that came on his birthday was his “big gift”.
“This is a good example of how neighbours can solve a problem if they really work at it,” he said.
At the same time, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Athens rallying against the signing of the agreement. One group was tear-gassed outside the village of Pisoderi, near Prespes for raising a “Macedonia is Greek” banner and attempting to break a police cordon. In the city of Bitola on the FYROM Greek border, hundreds of smaller protests gathered together to declare their opposition to the official new name. The rally had been organised by right-wing opposition Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE).