Gjorge Ivanov

"The Prespes Deal is unconstitutional, former Defense Minister and Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos claimed in an interview to SKAI TV.

Kammenos, who bolted the government alliance earlier this month over his objections to the deal, added that the agreement coming to Parliament for ratification next week has nothing to do with what was signed, because it has four amendments.

Macedonians on Wednesday reacted to this by taking it to the streets.

Zaev has accepted to remove from the preamble of the Macedonian Constitution the sentence, "citizens living within the borders" - and replace it with mentioning "all ethnic communities."

With a vote on the Prespes name deal between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) expected in Skopje's Parliament this week, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected to have an idea on how to move forward by Friday.

The president of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Gjorge Ivanov, on Friday urged lawmakers to reject the name agreement with Greece, claiming it will "erase" his country's national identity.

Under the accord, also known as the Prespes agreement, FYROM must amend its constitution and change its name to North Macedonia in return for being allowed to join NATO.

Gjorge Ivanov sent this message to members of the Assembly in Skopje at the end of his one-hour speech on Friday.

He quoted the first president of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov, "who said that the issue of name and identity is older than any constitution, any government, any party, and even the the state, and that no single person, nor any generation, has no right to trade with it."

President Gjorge Ivanov on Thursday denied having played any role in the violence in parliament on April 27, 2017 - or having planned to declare state of emergency and arrest opposition leaders.

"I am in Budapest and I have requested political asylum from the authorities in Hungary," Gruevski wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. He added that in the past few days, he received death threats.

The constitutional amendments required by the Prespes accord agreed with Greece will be completed by the second half of January 2019, the  Prime Minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Zoran Zaev said on Tuesday.

A prosecutor in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) launched on Tuesday a preliminary investigation into President Gjorge Ivanov's refusal to sign off on a law approving a deal signed with Greece on the country's name and a separate one extending the official use of the Albanian language.

Four days after the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) held an ambiguous referendum on changing the country's official name, President Gjorge Ivanov criticized the accord signed with Greece in June while accusing the European Union of "double standards."