The parliament speaker of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) over the weekend sent out letters to his counterparts in major countries including the USA, China, Canada and Australia, as well as senior officials of the European Parliament and NATO, broaching the issue of a supposed Macedonian minority in Greece, a matter addressed in a series of letters sent out by senior officials in Skopje over the past month. In his letter, Trajko Veljanovski calls for support of a purportedly “oppressed” minority of FYROM nationals living in Greece.

Late on Friday, sources in Skopje revealed that FYROM President Branko Crvenkovski has criticized the content of a letter sent by FYROM Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz calling for the recognition of the self-proclaimed Macedonian Orthodox Church and the renaming of Thessaloniki’s Macedonia Airport. According to Crvenkovski, the letter was “counterproductive” and ”damaging.” “By constantly raising new issues, we are giving Greece an excuse to criticize us, which it is doing,” Crvenkovski said.