http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=1.0.2228049087
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY) Macedonia: President cancels trip after Greece bans his plane Skopje, 5 June (AKI) - Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski has cancelled a trip to neighbouring Greece, after Greek authorities refused to grant a landing permit for his plane, the president's office said on Thursday. Crvenkovski was to attend a southeast European summit in Athens on 13 June, but Athens refused to grant the landing permit to his plane because it carried "Macedonian state insignia" to which Greek objects. Athens says that the name "Macedonia" implies territorial pretensions to the northern Greek province and insists on a name change before relations between the two countries can be normalized. Despite UN mediation, the 17-year old dispute hasn't been resolved and Greece blocked Macedonia's entry into NATO at a summit in Bucharest in April. Macedonia is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union, but Athens has threatened it would block the move if the dispute wasn't resolved. "These are obviously small provocations from the Greek side relating to our name, identity, pressures, threats and blackmail to solve the dispute in a manner which is not in the interest of the Republic of Macedonia," Macedonian government spokesman Ivica Buckovski said. "But these tactics haven't and will not succeed," he added. But Greek foreign ministry spokesman Jorgos Kumutzakos said Athens policy on the dispute has been known for years as well as its policy "on landing of planes from the neighbouring country". Skopje government said that Greece has banned Macedonian airlines commercial flights from landing in Athens over the past month. As relations between the two countries grew tenser, Macedonian authorities barred a Greek peace-keeping contingent this week from passing through Macedonia to head to Kosovo. Skopje said the Greek soldiers' documents were not in order, a charge which Athens has denied. "It's unbecoming of a EU and NATO member country which pretends to be a leader in the region," Buckovski said, commenting on the ban on Crvenkovski's plane. "The masks have fallen, it's shameful and contrary to all conventions relating to the right of a people to freely express their identity," he concluded.
