UN secretary-general in Skopje
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) for talks with the country’s leaders over its long-standing name dispute with neighbor Greece.
Ban arrived late Tuesday on the eve of scheduled meetings with FYROM’s president, Gjorge Ivanov, at the lakeside resort of Ohrid before talks in the capital Skopje with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
FYROM and Greece have been locked in a name dispute since the former Yugoslav republic gained independence in 1991. Athens has blocked FYROM’s membership of NATO, arguing that the name «Macedonia» implies a territorial claim over its over northern region of that name — a claim rejected in Skopje. [AP]
