Greek parliament agrees to new name of 'Republic of North Macedonia'

Macedonia has agreed to officially change its name to the 'Republic of North Macedonia' effectively ending the 28 year old dispute with its neighbor Greece. The landmark decision now opens gate for the former Yugoslav republic to join European Union and NATO.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras worked on the deal with his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev last year, was able to secure a parliamentary majority today to get the deal approved with support from independent and opposition lawmakers.

“North Macedonia was born today. It will be a friend and an ally of Greece in its efforts for security, stability and mutual development” tweeted Tsipras shortly after the announcement was made.

He added that in writing the “new chapter in the history of the Balkans” and end to nationalist hatred, disputes and clashes will hopefully be replaced by friendship, peace and cooperation.

28 years of fighting
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, came the breaking-up of the former Yugoslavia.

This was met by the declaration of independence by the Republic of Macedonia in 1991.

Immediately Greece objected to the use of the name 'Macedonia' as there has always been the Greek province of Macedonia, the country's second most populous area with its provincial capital Thessaloniki.

Geographically, the province itself also shares the border with its northern friend, the country with its namesake.

And for that reason, Athens did what it could to delay international recognition of its name and its accession to the United Nations.

Instead, a compromise was agreed upon: 'the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' or FRYROM.

Many countries adopted an abbreviated version of this official name, referring to the new country as FRY of Macedonia.

Greece still refused to recognize its neigbhour and imposed a trade embargo that lasted until 1995.

Given the country is landlocked, with no access to Greek ports, the embargo had negative impacts.

Finally in 1995, an Interim Accord was reached whereby neither country is mentioned by name, which led to a functional normalization of relations.

FRYROM agreed to change its flag that had included the Vergina Sun, which had been adopted by the Greek parliament in 1993 as an official national symbol.

Despite such changes, in 2008 Greece rejected all proposals by the Macedonian government for an acceptable name and vetoed its entry to NATO, and then in 2009 it vetoed the start of Macedonian membership negotiations for the EU.

Nationalism uses
To many outside Greece, the name war may seem trifle, but to Greeks it's not trivial. “It's a hearts and minds issue with a large segment of the conservative population on both the right and left” says Asteris Masouras, a freelance journalist based in Thessaloniki.

In exchanges with RFI, he explains that the name issue was “chronically exploited by nationalist politicians” as a means to influence more votes.

As of late, it has also been used as means to exploit the issues by the extreme-right and “to radicalize protesters”.

Just last year in February, a major rall y was held in Athens outside the parliament to protest against the use of the term Macedonian in any settlement the government was pursuing with the time with the former Yugoslav country.

Moving ahead
Greece's European Union allies have also welcomed the ratification and this will faclitiate its entry onto the international stage in a big way, via its membership into the EU and NATO.

But in the end, it hopefully will put to rest an itch that has kept Athens awake for the past 28 years.