Over the weekend of August 15 to 17 2008, Skopje once again turned to the international community to seek out its involvement in solving the issue with what it calls the Macedonian minority in Greece.

This happened via letters that speaker of Macedonian parliament Trajko Veljanovski sent to European Union countries, the United States, Russia, China and Australia, among others; international organisations such as Nato, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe; and institutions such as the European Parliament, requesting their support to help resolve the matter, website Balkan Insight said, quoting local media.

"Athens' practice violates the European Human Rights Convention and the Framework Convention for Protection of National Minorities, which Greece has signed," Veljanovski wrote, referring to alleged discrimination against the Macedonians in Greece, involving banning them from using their language and practising their culture, Balkan Insight reported.

Earlier this summer, Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski sent similar letters to the EU and Nato, this way tying the issue of the Macedonian minority in Greece to the ongoing name dispute between the two Balkan neighbours, something that has been poisoning their relations for 17 years.

The dispute focuses on Greek demands that Macedonia change its name since its coincides with that of the northern Greek province. According to Athens, this implies Skopje's territorial claims towards Greece.

The climax of the name issue came in April 2008, when Greece vetoed Macedonia getting invited to join Nato at a summit of the military alliance in Bucharest. Since then, ties between the two have been exacerbated and now Athens is threatening to block the launch of the official accession talks of Skopje with the EU.

Following the issue of the Macedonian minority in Greece, Gruevski later brought up other issues to be discussed on the sidelines of the name dispute, such as the Greek recognition of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski, however, slammed this move as counter-productive.

Moreover, following the last round of UN-mediated talks in New York City held last week, after meeting separately with both sides, UN special envoy Matthew Nimitz said that it was his responsibility to help resolve only the name row and that no other issues were to be discussed.