Greece ends 27-year Macedonia name row

Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev hailed a "historic solution" on Tuesday after Skopje and Athens resolved a longstanding row by agreeing to rename his country the Republic of Northern Macedonia.
The 27-year dispute has led to frequent disagreement and protests, but the two countries agreed on the new title of the former Yugoslav republic after months of intensive diplomacy.
"There is an agreement. We have a historic solution after two and a half decades. Our agreement includes Republic of Northern Macedonia for overall use," Zaev told reporters in the capital Skopje. Greece has long objected to its northern neighbour being called Macedonia because it has its own northern province of the same name.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras also declared a deal had been struck. "We have reached an accord, a good accord that covers all the conditions set by Greece," Tsipras said in televised comments after briefing Greece's president Prokopis Pavlopoulos on the accord.
Macedonia hopes that resolving the name dispute will help clear the way for it to join the European Union and NATO.
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