Is Macedonia ready to change the name to enter NATO?

SKOPJE, April 16 – The majority of (60%) the citizens of Macedonia do not agree the country should change its constitutional name in order to become a member of NATO, according to a survey. Still a significant number of respondents think that Macedonia should alter its name to enter NATO, the Center for Research and Policy Making’s survey, conducted April 12-13 with a sample of 1100 persons, said.
The survey reveals that the Macedonian Albanians have changed their opinion. While a month ago 52 percent of the ethnic Albanians agreed to changes of the name of the country so that Macedonia gets NATO membership, now 94 percent of them agree to such a change. In fact two thirds of the respondents that would change the name of the country for Macedonia’s NATO membership are ethnic Albanians. Meanwhile, the number of ethnic Macedonians that are against changing the name in return for NATO membership decreased from 95 percent to 80 percent.
Most of the citizens (78 percent) of all ethnic backgrounds are for continuation of the talks with Greece. A great majority of the ethnic Albanians were against stopping the negotiations.
Macedonian stability is crucial as any new conflict there could cause a wider conflict including Bulgaria, Turkey, and Albania, the center wrote.(Tirana Times Staff)