The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia handed a note of protest to Greek Ambassador Alexandra Papadopoulou because of the treatment of Macedonian diplomats in Greece by the Greek authorities. The verbal protest came after Macedonian Consul General in Thessaloniki Tomislav Dimitrovski was held by the Greek police for alleged traffic offence.

At the meeting in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the director of the Directorate for Southeast Europe Dejan Kostadinov-Petrov told the ambassador that the Vienna Convention was breached and that the Macedonian authorities were disappointed by the way a Macedonian diplomat was treated. Considering the timely reaction by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gratitude to the Greek diplomats for their assistance and respect of the diplomatic norms during the incident was also expressed.

After the meeting, Ambassador Papadopoulou stressed that the consul violated a few Greek traffic laws.

“After the police conducted the identification procedure customary for that kind of cases, they let him go. Dimitrovski never left his car. I believe that such incidents should not be given a political connotation. Greece wishes to have good relations with your country at all levels,” Papadopoulou said.

The incident happened on Tuesday on a highway near Thessaloniki when the Macedonian consult general allegedly passed at a yellow light. The police then went after him and according to unconfirmed information he was treated inappropriately by the police officers. Whether that is the truth should be determined by the investigation that the ambassador announced Wednesday.

The Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity does not protect diplomats from traffic offenses. They have to honor the laws and regulations of the respective country.