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Indiana Jones Said Macedonia’s Constitutional Name, Disputed by Greece:
Balkan Travellers

Indiana Jones Said Macedonia’s Constitutional Name, Disputed by Greece

Balkan Travellers

30 May 2008 | Indiana Jones mentioned the name of Macedonia in the latest film about his adventures, causing Greece to protest and threaten legal action, Macedonian media reported today.

In the recently released Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the legendary, albeit fictional, archaeologist uttered the constitutional name of Macedonia when speaking of treasures of the Ancient World, which provoked the Greek objection, according to the daily newspaper Vecher.

Indiana Jones should have specified which Macedonia he was referring to – upper or lower, and the sceene should be either changed to accommodate a clarification or entirely deleted from the film, Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyannis, reportedly wrote in a letter to the film’s director Steven Spielberg.

If the demands fail to yield results, Vecher claimed, Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis was prepared to sue Steven Spielberg.

Macedonia’s constitutional name has been a thorn in Greece’s side since the People's Republic of Macedonia was established as federal part of the newly proclaimed Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946.

The dispute resurfaced again when the country became independent in the early 1990s and has gotten even more heated in the past several months. A failure to find a name that is acceptable both to Macedonia and Greece led to Greece’s veto over Macedonia’s candidacy for entry into NATO earlier this year.