Mattarella attends Greek military parade marking Greece's entry into WWII
1,048 views · Published 2 November 2018 · 2:44 · Indexed 9 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(28 Oct 2018) Italy's President Sergio Mattarella has attended Greece's annual military parade commemorating Greece's entry into World War II - against Italy. Mattarella attended the parade in Thessaloniki, the capital of the Greece's northern Macedonia province, at the invitation of Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos. Police kept at bay a small crowd of protesters who wanted to march in protest against a deal struck in June with neighbouring Macedonia, resolving a long-standing dispute over its name and allowing the Balkan country to join NATO. Macedonia's parliament recently voted in favour of a landmark proposal to amend the constitution, allowing the country to change its name and join the NATO military alliance. It was a key step in accepting the deal struck with Greece, under which the country would be renamed North Macedonia. The name change would end a 27-year dispute with Greece, which claims its neighbour's current name implies claims on its own adjoining province of Macedonia, and on ancient Greek heritage. Many Greeks, especially in northern Greece, oppose the deal and have repeatedly taken to the streets to voice their opposition. Some reservist units taking part in the parade shouted "Macedonia is Greek" while marching past the VIP stand. Descedants of fighters who were involved in conflicts over the region of Macedonia in the early 20th century also attended the parade. One of them, 81 year-old Xafteris Koukolis said: "May the pens be more powerful than the weapons which our grandparents had and were killed by." The two presidents will travel later Sunday to the island of Kefalonia, in western Greece, the site of a massacre of an Italian division by the Germans in September 1943, after Italy surrendered to the Allies. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5421de370f7d7f524492dab27a17acc8
