Macedonian protests

Macedonia's (FYROM) parliament has passed a law extending the official use of the Albanian language, despite protests from the right-wing opposition who say the decision will put the Balkan country's national unity in jeopardy.

Sixty-four lawmakers in the 120-member parliament voted to adopt the law on March 14, without a debate requested by the opposition.

Macedonian lawmakers approved a bill by which Albanian became the second official language in the country, Channel 5 announced. The vote was held today in the Macedonian Parliament. 64 MPs supported the bill.

A new round of the Macedonia name dispute talks mediated by UN envoy Matthew Nimetz is expected by the end of the month or the beginning of April, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has announced.

Zaev told the Financial Times in an interview published on February 28 that he hoped this issue could be resolved before the NATO summit in Brussels in July, from which Macedonia expects an invitation to become a member of the Alliance.

According to Macedonian newspaper Vecer, 10,000 people rallied despite the bad weather.

MIA agency reported that the protest was organized by the civic initiative "For United Macedonia" with the aim of "defending the name of the state and the identity of the nation."

Several thousand protesters rallied in Skopje, the capital of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), late Tuesday for the government to call off talks with Greece aimed at settling a decades-long name dispute.

Right-wing organizers of a protest rally on Tuesday in Skopje, called "For Defence of the Country's Name and the Nation's Identity", have called Macedonians from home and abroad to attend the event on Tuesday evening.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was pleased by the recent progress in the talks between Macedonia and Greece over Macedonia's name, which - if they end successfully - will expedite Macedonia's ambitions to join NATO and EU.

Turkey supports the accession of the Republic of Macedonia to NATO. This was stated by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım during today's meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who is on an official visit to Ankara, reported BNT. 

During a meeting with Macedonian Defense Minister Radmila Shekerinska, he said that Macedonia has shown it has the capacity to focus on democratic processes, defense reforms and become a factor of stability in the region.

"With the consistent implementation of reforms, Macedonia's place is in NATO," Stoltenberg said.