NATO snub over name prompts Macedonia exit

BUCHAREST, Romania, April 3 (UPI) -- Delegates from Macedonia walked out of the NATO summit Thursday in Romania after Greece blocked the republic's entry into the alliance over a name dispute.

"We are here today to announce that we are leaving the summit. We feel necessary to be with our people today," Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told media outlets, including The Times of London, in Bucharest.

The former Yugoslav republic was told by NATO it met criteria for membership. Greece however, blocked its membership application, objecting to the country's use of the name Macedonia, the same name as the Greek province where Alexander the Great was born.

"We are not being punished because we have failed to meet the standards demanded by NATO for membership (in) the alliance," Nikola Dimitrov, security adviser to Macedonia's prime minister, told the Times. "We are being punished because of who we are and because we're Macedonians."

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer expressed disappointment that the republic wouldn't be admitted now but added negotiations would continue to try to resolve the matter quickly.

The country joined the United Nations in 1993 under the provisional name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, pending a resolution of the dispute.