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FYROM Considers Taking Down Greek Statues

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia government is considering taking down Greek statues along with some others as they belong to “Skopje 2014”, a project of the previous administration.

According to a Sofia Globe report, a special committee at FYROM’s ministry of culture is working on removing some controversial monuments of the Nikola Gruevski administration because of aesthetic issues and allegations of using figures from other countries’ history, but also because of hight cost.

According to 2016 reports, the combined cost of the “Skopje 2014″ monuments would be 600-800 million euros.

The decision to remove some of the statues is based on the grounds that the decision to erect them was a violation of FYROM’s constitution, which says that decisions on putting up statues must be taken by parliament, not the prime minister.

The head of the committee, Miroslav Gurchev, said that the monuments of Alexander the Great, Philip II of Macedonia and the “Porta Macedonia are very likely to be removed.

Other monuments in consideration are one of Mother Teresa and national hero Andon “Kyoseto” Yanev.

In July, FYROM’s new Prime Minister Zoran Zaev had stated that the installation of numerous ancient Greek statues and the renaming of streets and airports throughout the country with Greek names by the Gruevski administration was a provocative act against Greece.

Zaev had stressed that such projects have exacerbated relations with Greece and that he will stop such acts under his leadership.

FYROM Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani is to visit Greece at the end of the week for talks with Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias. According to Osmani statements, resolving the ongoing name dispute with Greece is a top priority of the new socialist government in Skopje.

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