One million expected in Greek demo over Macedonia name row

A million people could take to the streets in Athens on Sunday in a mass demonstration over Greek attempts to resolve a longstanding name row with Macedonia, organizers say.

Huge crowds are predicted to fill central Syntagma Square to protest a rumored Greek government compromise to the 27-year dispute with its tiny northern neighbor.

When Macedonia declared independence in 1991 from the collapsing Yugoslav federation, Athens protested, claiming the name implied a territorial claim on the prominent Greek province of Macedonia.

But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has been considering a resolution to the name dispute, angering many in the opposition, but also among his nationalist coalition partners, the Independent Greeks.

"The square will be the meeting point of various heterogeneous groups guided by different sentiments, ranging from a profound concern about the name dispute to disaffection with government policies," Nikolaos Tzifakis, head of the political science department at Peloponnese University, told AFP.

Tsipras has already faced dozens of demonstrations while in power, but Sunday's mass protest -- nominally about foreign policy -- is expected to draw a motley crowd united by opposition to the prime minister, Tzifakis said.

Organizers of the Macedonia march, headed by Greek diaspora groups, have insisted their protest is apolitical.

"We are all patriots. There are no parties, no colors," said Georgia Bitakou, one of the organizers.

But another large protest on January 21 in Thessaloniki, the northern Greek capital, over the Macedonia name dispute was attended by several lawmakers from the conservative main opposition New Democracy party and neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn.

Whilst a far cry from a million-strong march on the issue over two decades ago, organizers said more than 400,000 attended the protest.

Police put the figure at closer to 90,000.

The dispute with Macedonia has festered for decades despite numerous UN-mediated talks to resolve the dispute.

Greece considers the name "Macedonia" to be part of its own cultural heritage, as it is also the name of a historic Greek province that was the core of Alexander the Great's ancient empire.

Athens thus seeks guarantees that the use of the name by its neighbor implies no claim to parts of its own territory.

Because of Greece's objections, Macedonia in 1993 joined the United Nations as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

To break the deadlock, long-term UN mediator Matthew Nimetz has now proposed several alternative names in Macedonian, including "Republika Nova Makedonija" or the "Republic of New Macedonia".

SS