Nagging ‘name issue’ behind Greek snub of Obama’s anti-ISIS summit

The thorny “fYRoM name issue” was the reason Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and his foreign minister were “no shows” at an international summit convened by US President Barack Obama on combatting violent extremism and ISIS.

According to sources close to the Greek government, the Greek delegation declined to participate at the summit, held at the UN on Tuesday, given that its northern neighbor was listed under its constitutional name, “Republic of Macedonia”, instead of the provisional name under which it is recognized by the United Nations, i.e. “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.

Conversely, the US recognizes the country under its constitutional name.

A request by the Greek side to organizers to revert to the provisional name was not accepted, leading to the snub.

Athens has long maintained that the neophyte former Yugoslav state to its immediate north differentiate its name from that of Greece’s Macedonia province, the land that more closely approximates historical and geographical Macedonia.

Greek leadership attempted to meet the other side “half way” nearly a decade ago by calling for a geographical determinant before the name “Macedonia” by the landlocked country.

In an unrelated development, Tsipras will meet with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu later on Tuesday in NYC.