Macedonia asks to join NATO despite Greek opposition

Macedonia on Saturday urged NATO leaders to accept it as a member when the alliance holds a summit in Chicago in May, despite Greek opposition due to a long-running row over its name. Athens says the use of the name Macedonia suggests a territorial claim to the northern Greek province of the same name. Skopje says that changing the name would be a denial of its national identity and language. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov wrote in a letter to NATO leaders, a copy of which was obtained by Agence France Presse, that the Balkan country should be able to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "We expect member-states to reach a consensus for effectuating the delayed invitation to the Republic of Macedonia for NATO membership under the provisional reference used in the U.N.," he wrote. Macedonia was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 under the provisional name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". More than 120 states, including Russia and the United States, have nevertheless recognized the country under the name Republic of Macedonia. However, due to the 20-year opposition of Greece over the name, Macedonia's NATO and EU integration have been blocked. An invitation for Macedonia to join NATO was on the agenda of the alliance's 2008 Bucharest summit but was suspended due to a Greek veto. Ivanov pointed to a 2011 ruling by the International Court of Justice that Greece had breached a 1995 agreement to end the name dispute when it forced NATO to reject the membership of Macedonia at that summit. The Hague-based court, however, declined Macedonia's request to force Greece to refrain from blocking Skopje's membership in international bodies.