Greek defense minister accuses FYROM officials of undermining relations

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos on Thursday accused officials from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) of undermining progress between the two Balkan neighbors, who signed a deal in June to settle a decades-old name dispute.

"With their provocative comments against Greece, Skopje officials including the prime minister himself and the foreign minister, are torpedoing any effort to find a solution," Kammenos, who also heads Greece's nationalist junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL), said on the sidelines of an informal meeting of European defense ministers in Vienna.

His comments came in response to an address by FYROM Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday where he said that his country's citizens are "Macedonian" and speak the "Macedonian" language.

"The reference to a 'Macedonian'...