The Macedonian identity has to be protected rather than be left on the side when resolving the name issue considering Greece may later make a problem out of the naming of our language and nation as Macedonian, diplomats comment following the dilemma raised by Matthew Nimetz’s statement in Skopje that there is no UN resolution about the people’s identity and that the people of Macedonia have their own identity and that they themselves define it.

Can anyone claim that the identity is not part of the negotiations about the name issue considering that in 2008 and 2009, Skopje and Athens openly discussed ideas put forward by Nimetz that included names also for the language and the nation? For example, Nimetz’s package of October 2008 tabled in New York included the proposal “Republic of Northern Macedonia” for broad international use and double solutions for the language and the nation – “Macedonian” in parallel with “the language/nation of the Republic of Northern Macedonia.”