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Saturday, September 29, 2018

AP Explains: Macedonia referendum: What's in a name?

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — What's in a name? That's the question Macedonians will be called on to answer Sunday in a referendum on whether to change their country's name to North Macedonia, ending a decades-long dispute with neighboring Greece and opening the door to NATO membership. Greece, a NATO and European Union member, has long blocked Macedonia's efforts to join the alliance, arguing that use of the term "Macedonia" implies territorial ambitions on its own province of the same name, the birthplace of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great. The name dispute broke out in the early 1990s when the small Balkan country declared independence from the former Yugoslav federation.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com