The president of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU), Taki Fiti, in his opening of the academy’s annual assembly, appealed for finding a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue and encouraged the authorities of Macedonia and Greece to take responsibility and bravely face the present realities.
He went on to say that a solution to a name for general use, is unfeasible and that identity must not be negotiated.
Defining the positions of MANU in his address, Fiti said that the dispute is in fact bilateral, not international, and that it is only negotiating the name, not issues of identity which open the door to the world of elementary human rights that are non negotiable. He also expressed concern against a name in the Macedonian language that will not be translated.
“The proposals for the name Republic of Macedonia, or the possibly of a name with a geographical title, to be pronounced as in the Macedonian language but to be written only in the Latin alphabet, that is, the name of the language, Macedonian, also written in Latin letter and pronounced as it is in our country, are absurd and unsustainable. Acceptance of an erga omnes solution, one name for all, meaning one name for both international and internal use, would mean change to the constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, change to the names of our institutions, cause a revision of all international agreements, bilateral and multilateral, where the constitutional name of the country is used, and so on. Accordingly, this solution is actually impossible and unfeasible”, said Fiti.
