Greeks take to the streets for names issue Macedonia

athens - Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in Greece to demonstrate against a possible compromise on the name of neighboring Macedonia. Campaigners held demonstrations in 23 cities. They wore banners with inscriptions like ' Macedonia is Greek \u0026 # x27; \u0026 # x27; and ' respect our history \u0026 # x27; \u0026 # x27 ;.

Athens and Skopje have been in the clinch for years about the name issue. The conflict dates back to 1991, when Macedonia peacefully separated from Yugoslavia and continued as the independent Republic of Macedonia. That fell badly in Greece, which has its own region Macedonia.

The name change of Macedonia is extremely sensitive in both countries. Among other things, the possibility of renaming the country to Northern Macedonia was discussed. Earlier this month, thousands of Macedonians took to the streets, on Wednesday demonstrations took place in Greece.

'There is only one Macedonia and that is in Greece, where King Philip and Alexander the Great were born,' said one of the speakers in Pella. He said that Greeks will never accept that another country has the name Macedonia.

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