Interior minister calls on Kammenos to defend gov't position on name talks

SYRIZA hardliner and Interior Minister Panos Skourletis has called on the chief of the leftist party's coalition partner, Panos Kammenos of Independent Greeks, to defend the government's position in ongoing name talks with Skopje.

"As defense minister, he has a duty to defend the one and only position of the government he represents," Skourletis said of Kammenos on a TV talk show on Wednesday morning.

"This is not a day-to-day issue, but one that has troubled us for 25 years," Skourletis told Antenna TV, underscoring the government's urgency to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) regarding the latter's name.

Referring to claims by the leader of the small right-wing nationalist party that he will not back any proposal that contains the word "Macedonia," Skourletis said "Kammenos's position concerns Panos...

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