Timeline: The Path to Macedonia's 'Name' Deal

Protests, violence, numerous meetings, campaigns, and top-level diplomatic activities - all of that preceded Sunday's historic referendum in Macedonia on the country's 'name' agreement with Greece.

Ever since Macedonia gained independence in 1991, its name has been the subject of a bitter dispute with its southern neighbour, Greece.

Macedonia is already the name of a northern Greek region and Greece claimed the former Yugoslav republic had appropriated its own Hellenic heritage and the legacy of Alexander the Great.

Athens argued that the name Republic of Macedonia implicitly suggested territorial ambitions to northern Greece.

The provisional term Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, FYROM, was proposed in January 1993 by France, Spain and Britain, the three European members of the UN Security Council, to enable the Republic to join the United Nations.

After prolonged diplomatic pressure on both sides, despite opposition from hardliners, Athens and Skopje endorsed the proposal in April 1993.

 The national flags of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) - right - and Greece (L) fly side by side at the Greeke Foreign Ministry, 23 June 1998, where the two countries' Foreign Ministers signed a diplomatic accord. Athens and Skopje currently are in a process of normalising their diplomatic ties as Greece still claims the name Macedonia for its northern province. EPA-PHOTO/EPA/SIMELA PANTZARTZI/sp/kr/ow

Greece agreed not to stop Macedonia from joining international organisations so long as it used the name FYROM. Since then, the two countries have signed numerous bilateral agreements, such as the Protocol on Border Co-operation, signed in Athens on 23 June 1998.

A Macedonian women wave US and Macedonian flags during...