Washington's Macedonia Recognition

MACEDONIA'S AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY RUSTEMI ASSESSES DECISION AS POSITIVE STEP BOTH FOR MACEDONIA AND FOR REGION

ANKARA - Macedonia's Ambassador in Ankara Muhedin Rustemi said on Friday that the decision of the United States to recognize Macedonia by its constitutional name was a positive step both for Macedonia and for the region.
Rustemi told A.A correspondent that U.S. President George Bush's first action after winning a second term was to recognize Macedonia. He said with this decision a second NATO country recognized Macedonia by its constitutional name, after Turkey.
Rustemi said they wanted other countries to recognize Macedonia.
Regarding their relations with Greece which opposed to the decision, Rustemi said, ''Greece is our neighbor. We want to continue good neighborhood relations. We do not consider this decision as a step taken against Greece.''
Rustemi said they wanted EU member countries to continue in line with the decision of the United States, noting that U.S. became the third country in the UN Security Council recognizing Macedonia by its constitutional name after China and Russia.
Rustemi recalled that Turkey was the first NATO member country recognizing them as Republic of Macedonia .
When Rustemi was reminded the statements saying that U.S. wanted to honor Macedonia due to its cooperation with the United States in Iraq, he said they were in Iraq just to contribute to world peace.
Greece, who opposed to U.S. decision, recognizes its northwestern neighbor under the name of ''Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia''.
(AY-ULG)