[21.07.08] Greece should recognize the existence of Macedonian minority, compensate the confiscated property to the expelled citizens and accept double formula for the name in the talks with Macedonia.

This was suggested by the professor of international relations at the Panteion University in Athens, Alexis Heraclides.

According to the Greek university professor, it is a fact that the property of Macedonian population in the period 1949-1950 was confiscated, even without Court orders.

Greece allowed a big mistake to be made with the seized property of "SlavoMacedonians" and if this issue is brought before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, it will have to pay damages, professor Heraclides assesses.

According to him, Greece should "stop shoving its head in the sand" and claim that "Macedonians" don't exist, because their number is around 30-40 thousand.

Some of them, according to Heraclides, have Macedonian "ethnic" self-determination, while others have integrated fully into the 'Greek ethnos', because of which "there is no danger for the Greece's territorial integrity".

The professor suggests Greek authorities to have new, realistic position in the negotiations with Macedonia on the name differences.

According to him, the issue should be solved by Greece's acceptance of compound name (such as New Macedonia, Upper Macedonia or North Macedonia), which would be used by Skopje for bilateral communication with Athens only, but not for international use. /makfaks