Skopje, 20 May 2024 (MIA) — Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and diplomat Srgjan Kerim, commenting on President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova's oath of office in which she called the country by its old name, said "a head of state taking an oath before Parliament, before citizens and before the nation cannot make a gaffe saying the country's name Macedonia," pointing out that she was sending a message to her supporters and not trying to provoke Greece or any other country. 

"If you are looking for a message here, then I read it as related to domestic politics and not related to foreign policy, because one of the fundamental features and characteristics of democracy is the majority," Kerim said in a Sitel TV appearance. 

"Mrs. Siljanovska Davkova was elected with an enormous number of votes from the majority of this country's citizens and the gesture was intended for them rather than meant to provoke Greece or anyone else," Kerim said.

If he had to view this as a diplomat, he said, the diplomatic thing to do was to sit down and talk. "There is a reason to talk because if we are provoking them by using the name Macedonia, what is then the Greek side using 'Skopia' all the time when they talk about our country? Isn't that also a provocation?"

Anything coming out of Skopje or Macedonia, the former minister said, was subject to scrutiny from Brussels so "we should be constantly frustrated, rigid, watching what we say so we don't distance ourselves from Brussels." mr/