New Name for Macedonian Airport

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

By David Edenden

I have never read a report from a Macedonian journalist in which a member of the US/EU diplomatic parade through Skopje is asked a question about ethnic rights for Macedonians in Greece.

This is just another case in point. Mirceski is probably a nice guy, but the story misses the whole point of the Macedonian-Greek conflict .. that is human rights for Macedonians in Greece!

If they exist, I wish someone could take the stories and quotes from these diplomats and put them on the web!

"Macedonian Airport Lifts Name Dispute to New Heights
BIRN:18 01 2007

Decision to rename terminal after Alexander the Great marks new phase in tug of war with Athens.

By Vladimir Mirceski in Skopje (Balkan Insight, 18 Jan 07)

The UN mediator for resolving the dispute between Greece and Macedonia flew into trouble last weekend - literally - after touching down at an airport whose new name has brought the conflict to new heights.

Matthew Nimetz landed at Skopje airport just as the Macedonians were about to formally rename it after Alexander the Great, the 4th century BC warrior whom Greeks see as the epitome of classical Greek heroism.

Although the airport still bore the old name Airport Petrovec when he landed, as Nimetz drove towards the Macedonian parliament he could hardly miss the sight of new road signs to the airport proclaiming the name of the mighty conqueror whose empire stretched practically all the way to the Punjab.

Nimetz brought an angry message from Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis, complaining that the move violated the Interim Agreement regulating relations between the two countries.

After a two-hour meeting in Skopje, Nimitz maintained the move was “not a major event here”, adding, however, that the issue was “between two neighboring countries and has to be dealt with great sensitivity”.