(The article A Sisyphea dispute - The Sofia Echo, November 30 - led to a number of readers' letters. These are some.)

I am afraid that your summation of the FYROM name dispute only gives the initial appearance of objectivity and is in fact implicitly weighted against the Greek position. Citing Shea as an authority on the issue is like quoting Voltaire to characterise Christianity. We need a full historical analysis that takes the views of both sides seriously. I have yet to see one, and clearly the EU and the US are not interested in ever seeing one.
John J. Yiannias

You attempted objectivity in this report but fell prey to Skopjan propaganda. That being that Greek Macedonia is only populated by refugees from the Greco-Turkish after 1923. By doing this, you mistakenly imply that no Greeks lived in the region before that when in fact, they have lived there for thousands of years, unlike the slavic Macedonians. Also, your comment that the name Macedonia was never used in Greek Macedonia before 1991 is wrong. When I was a student in the 1970s, we were always told that the northern region of Greece was called Macedonia. There are also buildings and Greek newspapers dating from before this period that carry the name Macedonia as part of their title. This was a case of poor, biased reporting.
Ion

I think it is very offensive that instead of the name of the country: Republic of Macedonia, you actually use an acronym (FYROM). If you have a problem to use the name that the citizens of the country have chosen: Republic of Macedonia, you can, at least use the UN temporary reference: The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The acronym is insulting and inaccurate. The main Greek argument against the constitutional name of Republic of Macedonia is that it will be confusing with the Greek province of Macedonia. But if we check the facts, we can easily realise that Greece administratively is divided into 13 provinces (peripherias), and none of them is named Macedonia. There are three that has the word Macedonia in their name: The province of Western Macedonia, The province of Central Macedonia and the Province of Eastern Macedonia with Trace, but there is no one single administrative unit that has the name Macedonia only. So, there is no room for confusion.
Goran Stojanov

The only solution to the situation created in the Balkans by the Western Powers and Russia themselves is to return all of Macedonia to its people, the Macedonians! They are the innocent indegenous population who were shut out at the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest and are still suffering under foreign occupation. It's time that Macedonians have the same human rights as all people and the freedom to live and identify themselves as Macedonians. How long can this Greek and Bulgarian charade about the non-existence of Macedonians continue? I'm Macedonian and proud of it!
Makaton

History tells us that Macedon was an ancient Greek city state during and way before the time of Alexander the Great. If you study the historical accounts, these peoples have Hellenic names, Hellenic culture written all over them. Macedonia has absolutely nothing to do with Slavic peoples who came into the region during the late Byzantine era. The Christianised Greeks at the time called these people slavee because who knows perhaps they were used as slaves, actually they were. In other words, these Slavs have no historical connection with the Golden Age of Greece and the Hellenistic era when the "Hellenic" way was spread dramatically and flourished all over Asia thanks to Megas Alexandros conquering most of the known world and paving the way for the Greek language to become the universal language of educated peoples which lasted for centuries, hence why the Bible was written in original Greek. Slavs have nothing to do with Macedonia, 70 per cent of the original ancient Macedonia is located in Greece, and Bulgaria, Albania and FYROMania has the rest. For FYROM to take this name and take credit for its history is a phony! It's a problem that needs a solution. You will not steal our name and our history because "Makedonia" was, and always will be Greek!
Truth vs propaganda is what this is and I hope that truth will prevail.
Angelo