Rann defends Macedonia views

South Australia's Premier Mike Rann has defended his views on the history of Macedonia.

The South Australian Macedonian community wants an apology from Mr Rann for comments attributed to him in a Greek newspaper this month.

He was quoted as saying that Macedonia was 'as Greek as the Acropolis', in reference to a long-running dispute over territory and cultural symbols.

Mr Rann says Macedonia tried to claim the symbols of Greece in the 1990s and that his views are not out of step with the international community.

"Alexander the Great, Philip the second of Macedon, the star of Vergina, the White Tower of Thessaloniki, and this was wrong, so my position, and I was explaining my position back in the 1990s which hasn't changed are the identical ones to the United Nations and the identical ones to the European Union so I'm in good company," he said.