Tsipras bails out of key meeting against ISIS because of Macedonia

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, refused to attend the UN General Assembly, a key meeting on the fight against ISIS, because of Macedonia. Neither Mr Tsipras, nor his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias attended the meeting on the fight against terrorism, organized by US President Barack Obama because Macedonia participated under its constitutional name.
Sources from the Prime Minister’s office emphasized that Tsipras did not attend this crucial meeting for two reasons: one – because instead of the acronym FYROM the name Republic of Macedonia was udes, and the other – because, in Athens, Tsipras had no right to comment on the meeting or would not be able to express his views and impressions about future plans in dealing with ISIS.
“We will not participate because Skopje will participate as ” The Republic of Macedonia ” and because we can not express the Greek views on the topic discussed,” said government sources.
Although Tsipras was absent from the meeting, the day after his brief informal chat with Gruevski, the Macedonian Prime Minister had the opportunity to talk with Greek Foreign Minister Kotzias. After the meeting, Mr Kotzias posted a joint photo with Gruevski on “Twitter” but neither he nor the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs would comment on what was discussed at the meeting.
The name dispute was one of the topics of discussion between the Greek Prime Minister and the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. According to the newspaper “Kathimerini”, the two politicians discussed the possibility of resolving the dispute, the refugee crisis and the challenges Greece faces, and the progress of negotiations on the dispute with Cyprus.
Avoiding the General Assembly meeting came after the Greek newspaper “To Vima” yesterday morning suggested that the Greek government should respond and be worried that Macedonia will be represented under its constitutional name despite other reactions by Greece.