The Former Macedonian Province of Greece

Say: Macedonia: Recognized by Macedonia as FMPG:

If a Macedonian car enters Greece, the customs officials will put this sticker on its back:

A sticker put by the Greek customs, on top of the official country code "MK" of this Macedonian car. The sticker reads: "Recognized by Greece as FYROM". Photo courtesy On.net.

This is obviously done with a malicious intent to humiliate the owners of the car, especially considering that MK and MKD are the official abbreviations for Macedonia.

Now, is this something that "a good neighbor" does? What if Macedonia did the same to the former Macedonian Province of Greece? Where would such an attitude and disrespect lead us?

The map displays FMPG as the name of Macedonia's southern neighbor. This is a quid pro quo mockery of the name which does not seek offense, but an illustration of the methods that Greece uses towards Macedonia during all these 15 years that they have an issue with our name. Map courtesy CIA World Factbook.

While Greek diplomats talk about Greece trying to be a good neighbor (of course, at the same time claiming that Macedonia allegedly isn't), the official Greek institutions (e.g. their customs) are insulting Macedonians with these stickers and the accompanying "service" they give at the borders.

It is such a shame that a member of the European Union in the 21st century bases its aggressive foreign relations on events that occurred more than 2.000 years ago. And even worse, insults tourists from Macedonia by insisting that this sticker is worn, like this is Berlin in 1939 ({1}, {2} and {3}).

Well, sticker or no sticker, my country's name is always going to be Macedonia because only WE have the right to name it.