WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2020) North Macedonia has become NATO's 30th member as the United States received the nation's instrument of accession to the military alliance on Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in a press release.
"On March 27, 2020, the United States, as a treaty depository, received the Republic of North Macedonia's instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty, making North Macedonia the 30th NATO ally. On March 30, North Macedonia's flag will fly over NATO headquarters for the first time," Pompeo said.
Pompeo added that NATO "remains open" for other nations to join the military alliance, provided applicants make needed reforms and accept the responsibilities, as well as the benefits, of membership.
The vast majority of Macedonians have rejected NATO and European Union membership in the September 30, 2018 referendum.
The World Macedonian Congress (WMC) has said the government of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev was installed in power by the United States despite losing the 2016 elections to make Macedonia capitulate to the demands of its neighbors Greece and Bulgaria - both NATO members - and usher the country in the alliance.
The WMC said the forced change was complete with a "color revolution" to topple the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski who had resisted Macedonia's membership in NATO.
All actions by the forcefully-imposed Zaev government, including the its change of the country's name and national identity as well as� those that led to Macedonia's NATO membership, are illegal and the signed acts are null and void, the WMC added.
