FYROM Rejects Suggested Name Change Because "Sounds Like Klingon"

"Good!"

FYROM (Macedonia) on July 18 rejected suggestions it could end a dispute with Greece over its name by adopting an acronym instead, saying it sounded like the "Klingon" language from the Star Trek series, RFE/RL reports.

Greece has long insisted that the name Macedonia should only be used for its own northern province, and it has vetoed Skopje's attempts to join NATO over the dispute.

As a result, Athens, Brussels, NATO and the United Nations all refer to the Balkan country as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

"When you say FYROM, that has as much reference to my country as 'Klingon' from the Star Trek TV series," Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said at a news conference with European Union officials in Brussels.

The Klingons are a fictional human-like species with bumpy heads who run their own extraterrestrial empire in...

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