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Thursday, June 14, 2018

Macedonia's president said he will not accept his country's name change

[Protesters entered Macedonia's parliament after the governing Social Democrats and ethnic Albanian parties voted to elect an Albanian as parliament speaker in Skopje. Macedonia April 27, 2017.]REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski * MACEDONIA'S PRESIDENT SAID WEDNESDAY HE WOULD NOT SUPPORT AN AGREEMENT REACHED BETWEEN HIS COUNTRY'S PRIME MINISTER AND GREECE TO CHANGE THE BALKAN COUNTRY'S NAME.  * MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT GJORGE IVANOV SAID THE AGREEMENT WAS "SHAMEFUL" AND GAVE TOO MANY CONCESSIONS TO GREECE.  * THE MOVE AIMS TO APPEASE GREECE, WHICH HAD LONG OPPOSED THE COUNTRY'S USE OF MACEDONIA BECAUSE IT SHARES THE SAME NAME AS GREECE'S NORTHERN REGION OF MACEDONIA. * THE NEW NAME, THE REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN MACEDONIA, WILL NOW HAVE TO BE APPROVED BY MACEDONIANS VIA A REFERENDUM AS WELL AS BY BOTH COUNTRIES' PARLIAMENTS, AND WOULD REQUIRE IVANOV'S SIGNATURE. ------------------------- Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said Wednesday he would not support an agreement reached between his country's prime minister and Greece to change the Balkan country's name.  Just hours after the deal was announced, Ivanov told reporters at a televised news conference that "such a harmful agreement, which is unique in the history of mankind, is shameful and unacceptable for me."SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDERNOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote SEE ALSO: * The 30 rudest cities in America, where manners are basically a foreign concept * Macedonia agrees to change its name and end its 27-year beef with Greece * 'We're America, bitch': A senior White House official sums up the Trump Doctrine SEE ALSO: MACEDONIA AGREES TO CHANGE ITS NAME AND END ITS 27-YEAR BEEF WITH GREECE


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