Three days before the NATO summit in Chicago, Turkey is said to be preparing a surprise in Macedonia’s favor.  The two high-level visits – Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki’s to Ankara and Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek’s to Skopje – show that efforts are being intensively coordinated to obtain a new NATO conclusion. Cicek refused to reveal what kind of conclusion that would be, saying that both presidents would be in Chicago doing all it takes and that the Turkish position with regard to The Hague judgment is clear, Utrinski vesnik reports.

Similar announcement have come out of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov’s office as well. At the meeting on Afghanistan, President Ivanov is going to appeal that the Judgment of the International Court of Justice be included in the NATO conclusions. Macedonia obviously counts on the support of Ankara before Chicago and Turkey should be the country to lead those that would raise the Macedonian issue at the summit.

The idea was announced by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski a few days ago. In a letter to the NATO member states, Gruevski asked that Greece should voice its opinion on the Judgment of The Hague regarding its veto. All in all, it appears that with the aid of Turkey, Macedonia wishes to provoke a new veto from Greece. Athens said it was ready for it although the Alliance and the USA are sending signals that they have retained their positions of Bucharest and are determined to avoid that scenario.