Athens ire at FYROM land claim
Angered by what it described as the «serious issue» of the existence of schoolbooks in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) which contain material implying claims on Greek territory, Athens yesterday called on the neighboring country to put an end to its «dangerous propaganda.» Reacting to questions about a story in Tuesday’s Kathimerini revealing that the textbooks implied that part of FYROM’s territory was under Greek and Bulgarian control, Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos slammed Skopje. «The time has come for answers to the question of irredentist and dangerous propaganda. Not only does Greece want these answers, it is also a key demand of European political reality,» he said. Koumoutsakos said the books were published in 1998 but remain in circulation. FYROM’s Foreign Ministry last week removed a link on one of its websites which pulled up a map showing parts of the country as allegedly occupied by Greece, a day after vociferous complaints from Athens. The two countries have yet to agree on a new name for FYROM.
