Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakogiannis, has strongly criticised the statements made by Archbishop Stephen, leader of the "Macedonian" Orthodox Church after he made comments implying Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, belonged to the Slav-Macedonian nation.

This latest controversy over the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's (FYROM) alleged territorial ambitions for Greek territory, occured in Rome at a service commemorating St. Cyril. FYROM Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was present as the comments were made.

Bakogianni said the incident further vindicates Greece's stance regarding the name dispute between Greece and FYROM. Bakogianni, in reference NATO's rejection of FYROM's bid to join the alliance said the comments, "confirm the correctness of the NATO decision at Bucharest", also criticising the fact that there was no official distancing from the comments "The least one can expect is an immediate condemnation by the political leadership of Skopje of all the unacceptable comments made".

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