Kotzias

There is not enough time for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to join NATO at the alliance's summit in July, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said on Wednesday during a lull in momentum in talks between Athens and Skopje on the "Macedonia" name issue.

Reacting to a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement disputing Greek territorial sovereignty over the Imia islets in the eastern Aegean, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Wednesday urged Ankara to abide by international law.

An MP with Greece's main opposition party on Sunday questioned the government's handling of name talks with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) after the Balkan country's prime minister said Skopje is unlikely to agree to two of Athens's key requests.

Despite optimism earlier in the year that a deal over the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) was within reach, the momentum after the more recent talks between the foreign ministers of both countries in the lakeside resort of Ohrid appears to have slowed down.

The prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) suggested that this government would not agree to a Greek demand that any name to emerge from ongoing talks to settle a decades-old dispute between the Balkan neighbors will be used only in international forums and not "erga omnes," or towards all, as Athens demands.

The prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) suggested that this government would not agree to a Greek demand that any name to emerge from ongoing talks to settle a decades-old dispute between the Balkan neighbors will be used only in international forums and not "erga omnes," or towards all, as Athens demands.

Any new developments in the ongoing negotiations between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on the decades-old dispute over the latter's name are postponed until the beginning of May, following a meeting between the respective foreign ministers in Ohrid on Thursday, according to diplomatic sources.

Thursday's talks on the long-standing bilateral name dispute between Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov and his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias resulted in progress, but as things move forward, the hardest issues remain to be solved last.

The foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece say they have achieved progress in talks aimed at resolving a name dispute between the two countries by the end of June.

Nikola Dimitrov of Macedonia and Greece's Nikos Kotzias met Thursday at the lakeside resort of Ohrid in southwestern Macedonia as part of U.N.-assisted negotiations.

After talks with his counterpart from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Nikola Dimitrov in Ohrid on Thursday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said that "the most difficult issues" remain outstanding in ongoing "Macedonia" name talks.