BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Macedonia announced it was leaving a NATO summit early on Thursday after Greece prevented alliance leaders from inviting it into the military pact because of a row over its name.
“The Macedonian delegation will leave the summit today. It is necessary to be with our people,” Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told a news conference on the second day of the three-day summit in Bucharest.
Macedonia, which broke from Yugoslavia in 1991, has the same name as Greece’s most northerly province, and Athens insists Skopje must use a compound name such as “New” or “Upper” Macedonia.