FYROM ready to give up claims on Alexander the Great
The left-wing prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) says he is ready to renounce his country’s claim to the legacy of Alexander the Great to help solve a 26-year-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the country’s name.
“I give up (the claim) of ‘Macedonia’ being the sole heir to Alexander. The history belongs not only to us, but also to Greece and many other countries,” Zoran Zaev, in power since the spring, said in a TV interview late Friday.
Since its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, FYROM has claimed at least part of the heritage of the most famous ruler of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia, infuriating Greeks who also view the name “Macedonia” itself as hiding expansionist claims against the Greek region of Macedonia.
Greece has vetoed FYROM’s NATO membership as a result. [AP]
