Ekathimerini.com: Has Athens Lost "FYROM" Name Fight?

Note: Transferred from old site: The Macedonian Tendency (http://david-edenden.blogspot.com/)

By David Edenden

Whatever happened to Mathew Nimetz? I have not heard from him recently. Did he die of shame for trying to get Macedonians to change the name of their country... The Republic of Macedonia, their church ... The Macedonian Orthodox Church, their language ... Macedonian.

This is a year old article from a Greek newspaper asking whether Greece has lost the "name game". I think it did. Greece just has to decide when it will stop this nonsense and admit to the world its crimes against its Macedonian minority. I suggest contacting Desmond Tutu so he can chair a "truth and reconciliation" committee between Greece and its Macedonian minority.

Has Athens lost FYROM name fight?:
ekathimerini.com (2005)

The latest proposal by UN special envoy Matthew Nimetz to resolve the longstanding name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM, dealt a severe blow to Greek expectations. Last spring, officials at Greece’s Foreign Ministry deemed that, after a long period of inaction, they had finally managed to pressure the government in Skopje into abandoning its intransigent stand on the issue. It was strongly believed that Washington saw Greece as its main ally in the Balkan region and for that reason it would push the Slav-Macedonian establishment into a compromise with Athens.

The Greek hopes were dashed. It now seems that the US recognition of Greece’s northern neighbor as “Macedonia” last November was underestimated here. Skopje did not yield an inch. It wants the name “Republic of Macedonia” to be used internationally, except in relations with Athens, where it accepts the name “Republic of Macedonia-Skopje.” Their intransigence paid off, as Nimetz proposed their demand as a compromise settlement.

Skopje officials will continue to reject any compromise as long as they are given the room to do so. They will only enter serious negotiations if they are forced to — and the best way to do so is to attach a political"