Turkey welcomes UN court ruling on Macedonia-Greece row

Turkey welcomes UN court ruling on Macedonia-Greece row

06 December 2011 | 16:06 | FOCUS News Agency

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Ankara. Turkey welcomed on Tuesday a ruling by the UN’s top court that Greece was wrong to block Macedonia’s entry to NATO because of name dispute, AFP reported.

The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that NATO member Greece had breached a 1995 interim accord by blocking Macedonia’s entry into the alliance in 2008 over a dispute over the former Yugoslav republic’s name.

“We welcome the decision and hope it will accelerate Macedonia’s integration with Europe and Euro-Atlantic organisations and provide it with support on the legal ground,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Turkey, also a NATO member, would continue to support Macedonia for the process of its integration with Europe and transatlantic organisations to be concluded “without delay”.

Greece alleges that use of the name Macedonia suggests a territorial claim to the northern Greek province of the same name while Skopje maintains that changing the name would be a denial of its own national identity and language.

via Turkey welcomes UN court ruling on Macedonia-Greece row – FOCUS Information Agency.