Greece Expresses Protest to US Over Claims About Lead Role in Macedonia Issue - Reports

ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2018) Greece has expressed protest over the statement made by US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell, who claimed that the US diplomacy "played a lead role" in resolving the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia, media reported.

On June 17, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov signed an agreement to rename the former Yugoslav Republic as the Republic of North Macedonia. Athens and Skopje had been involved in the dispute over the use of "Macedonia," which is also a name of a Greek region, since the 1990s.

According to the Documento newspaper, Kotzias expressed his discontent over Mitchell's remark, which prompted the assistant secretary to apologize to Kotzias.

However, the outlet added that Athens later also stressed that it was unacceptable for Washington to take credit for the dispute settlement, which was resolved thanks to the Greek diplomacy, and that Greece did not want to yield to the pressure of the United States or any other country.