As negotiations between Greece and FYROM on the countries’ naming dispute begin in New York, opponents of a compromise solution are planning a rally in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Sunday.
The choice of Greece’s second biggest city is highly symbolic as it is regarded by many Greeks as the capital of Macedonia.
Groups from as far as Crete have said they will travel to the north to participate in the rally. Church leaders and some politicians will also be present.
Meanwhile, in the Peloponnese, the outspoken bishop of Kalavryta, Amvrosios, has announced he is organizing a demonstration in the town of Aigio to coincide with the rally in Thessaloniki.
The town’s local authority has expressed its support for the bishop’s initiative.
On Wednesday local Orthodox priests are planning a march in Aigio against the use of the term ‘Macedonia’ by FYROM.
The extreme-right Golden Dawn party has also intervened in the controversial issue. Members of the group stormed a Thessaloniki city council meeting on Tuesday and hoisted a banner proclaiming: ‘Macedonia is a Greek land’.
Analysts claim the Greek government is in a tight spot over the negotiations which will start later on Wednesday in New York.
However, opposition to the use of the term Macedonia is bound to increase as negotiations progress.
On Tuesday, Panos Kammenos, the leader of the government’s junior coalition partner Independent Greeks, sought again to chart a different course by presenting his own proposal to resolve the decades-old name dispute.
The defense minister, who has repeatedly stated that his party would never accept the use of the term ‘Macedonia’ in a name for FYROM by Skopje, tweeted a map from 1937 which depicts the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia divided into nine geographical regions, with the area roughly covering the modern state of FYROM called Vardaska.
Επίσημος χάρτης της Γιουγκοσλαβίας του 1937 με τα Σκόπια Βαρντάσκα pic.twitter.com/NWpWjiivDa
— Panos Kammenos (@PanosKammenos) January 16, 2018