Politicians from all sides of the Greek political spectre have heavily criticized the Ministry of Education over the publication of a map in a textbook, Focus news agency said.

The textbook included a map from 1933-45 in which territory of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was labelled as Macedonia and was part of Bulgaria, which included large parts of what is now northern Greece and reached almost to the Aegean Sea.

Representatives of the ruling New Democracy party have said that the map needs clarification, Focus news agency said.
The Teacher's Union announced there were lapses in the legend of the map. The syndicate claims the textbook  has not been subjected to checks and that it has been commissioned directly without open competition.

National Education and Religious Affairs Minister Marietta Giannakou accused critics of using the issue for political gain in the Parliamentary elections, which are to be held September 16.
Former minster Teodoros Pangalos added that only an illiterate would not be able to understand to which historical period the map referred, Focus news agency said.

Former Education minister Petros Evtimiou noted that, even if the map was historical, in 1945 there was no Macedonian state.

Speaker of the Parliament Anna Benaki-Psarouda said history textbooks should be thoroughly checked as the topic is sensitive.

The map is the next blunder of the Education ministry, it shows how superficial the ministry is and how easily historical facts can be falsified, a Democratic Revival Party press statement said.

The textbook would be corrected, Focus media reported Foreign affairs minister Dora Bakoyannis as saying. But she denied that the Foreign affairs ministry would be involved in the matter.