Macedonia to help "Aegeans"

Macedonia's parliament in Skopje has passed a resolution instructing the government to help refugees from Greece.

The refugees, mostly ethnic Macedonians, are also known as Aegeans.

They need assistance in court processes aimed at regaining their property in Greece, confiscated during a civil war in that country, and during the Second World War.

MPs unanimously voted in favor of the resolution tabled by the ruling VMRO-DPMNE and the Democratic Union for Integration, as well as the opposition Social-Democratic Alliance of Macedonia.

Some 60,000 refugees left their homes in the so-called Aegean Macedonia. The Greek authorities are preventing them and the members of their families from returning to that country and from using their property.

Macedonian Premier Nikola Gruevski recently asked his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis to solve this issue, and has also proposed that it be considered as part of the ongoing name dispute negotiations.