24.10.08 - Greece is not Macedonia's godfather
Greece has no right to impose name to Macedonia, Bulgaria's former president and current chairman of Balkan Political Club Zhelyu Zhelev said.
In an interview to Radio Deutsche Welle's Bulgarian news, Zhelev stressed that the name and the identity of a nation and a state constitute an existentioanal issue and a sovereign right to individual choice.
"When it comes to existentional and political problems of a nation and a state, another country cannot dictate how the country should call itself. I've told Greeks many times - you simply don't know what you want. On what grounds you deprive the Republic of Macedonia from its right to call itself Republic of Macedonia? The country existed within the old Yugoslav federation nearly half a century with the same name," Zhelev said.
"Furthermore, the provisional name is inadequate. All republics that acquired independence after the break-up of the Yugoslav federation are former Yugoslav republics. Why Greece won't call Croatia a Former Yugoslav Republic of Croatia, then Former Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Serbia...? How come ostracism is applied to Macedonia only?" Zhelev said.
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