Greece condemned the scandalous events from the army parade organized in Athens on the occasion of the Greek independence day and expressed regret but did not apologize to the Macedonian citizens for the insults chanted by some of the participants in the parade. Greek Ambassador to Macedonia Alexandra Papadopoulou appealed Monday that the incident be not blown out of proportions and be not used for political and other pursuits, because it helped no one.

Ambassador Papadopoulou was summoned to the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday where she was communicated a protest over the anti-Macedonian slogans chanted by participants in the military parade in Athens. At her meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Zoran Petrov, the Greek ambassador was told that the anti-Macedonian slogans chanted in the streets of Athens were an unacceptable and inappropriate conduct of an EU and NATO member state that strives to be a model of a democratic society in Southeast Europe. Petrov also communicated Macedonia’s official stand that the country welcomed the steps of the Greek authorities to sanction those responsible and make sure that incidents like this one are not repeated.

The Greek ambassador, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, conveyed the position of the Greek Foreign Ministry condemning such incidents and expressed regret for the slogans at the parade in Athens that, in her view, were an uncontrolled act of individuals. Petrov demanded of the Greek authorities to take all measures in keeping with Article 7 of the Interim Accord to prevent such or similar incidents from happening again.

“Public Order Minister Mihalis Chrysohoidis has already taken measures to investigate the circumstances in which this incident happened, whether it happened, and if it happened who those responsible are,” Papadopoulou told reporters.

She said that once this was done those responsible would be properly sanctioned, as the commander of the unit had already been “relieved of duty”.

“This is an isolated case and should not be blown out of proportions. It should be condemned and of course it is condemned. It does not represent the Greek citizens, the position of the Greeks, their mentality and sentiments and so please do not exaggerate. It is an isolated event and it should not be used for political and other pursuits,” Papadopoulou said.

Apart from this year’s parade in Athens at which racist slogans were chanted against Albanians, Macedonians and Turks, racists slogans were chanted also at the parades in 2008 and 2009. Because of the insulting slogans at the parade in Thessaloniki on 28 October 2008, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski sent a letter to the UN, the European Commission, the OSCE and the Council of Europe informing them on the case.