A rally over the FYROM name issue was held on Sunday in Athens.
According to the organizers, people from all over Greece have arrived in Athens in order to protest.
“We are calling on deputies, who have the right to ask for a referendum, to raise the issue in Parliament and activate this issue of national importance,” composer Mikis Theodorakis said in his speech.
“We are the only ones who can or cannot give FYROM people the right to make theirs an integral part of Hellenism, through the use of the term Macedonia,” he underlined.
“I firmly believe that we must deal with this great problem united. And I firmly believe that we are united because despite our differences, we are all patriots,” Theodorakis stressed.
The Greek composer said that Skopje distort the history and added that Greece is not allowed to agree with the distortion of history “because it will become an accomplice with the forces that openly target our territorial integrity.”
“Then what can be done?” he wondered and replied that: “We must admit our mistakes and our responsibilities to the Greek people.”
“There is a political decision to give our identity to strangers,” said Professor of Constitutional Law, Yiorgos Kassimatis, who was a keynote speaker on Sunday in the rally over the FYROM name issue at Syntagma square.
The professor added: “Today, all Greece is here. Article 120 is for the first time implemented today. This is the resistance against No. All this happens when we have governments that have said ‘yes’ to slavery since 2010. Today, the Greek people are taking control of their sovereignty.”
“Greece is here,” he continued, “and is saying no to slavery since 2010. No to the concession of Greek land to foreigners. Greece is being sold out today.”
In addition, he said: “Then Turkey should be called Ionian and Sicily a great Greece. I am calling a professor of international law to give me an example of a name that has nothing to do with the history of its people.”