Politics, Europe

Greek MP nabbed for urging coup

Greece and its northern neighbor signed historic accord on renaming Macedonia, ending long-standing row

18.06.2018 - Update : 18.06.2018
Greek MP nabbed for urging coup file photo

KOMOTINI, Greece 

A far-right Greek lawmaker was arrested for demanding a coup following a historic deal between Greece and Macedonia which ended a decade-long name dispute, local media reported Monday.

Konstantinos Barbarousis, an MP of Golden Dawn, was arrested from his friend's house near Athens, where he was hiding from the police, after a fiery speech in the Greek parliament on Friday.

Barbarousis described the Greece-Macedonia deal as “treason” and called for the arrest of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and President Projopis Pavlopoulos in his speech.

Later, Barbarousis was expelled from his party.

The Prosecution Office in Athens launched an investigation over allegations of treason against him.

On Sunday, Greece and its northern neighbor signed a historic accord on renaming Macedonia, which ended a long-standing dispute between the two countries.

The signing was followed by protests in the Macedonian capital Skopje which ended with clashes between demonstrators and police.

The deal proposes changing Macedonia's name to the Republic of Northern Macedonia and will enable Greece to lift its veto on Macedonia's EU and NATO accession.

Greece, which is both a NATO and EU member, has long opposed the official name of its neighboring country, arguing it has a region by the same name in the north of its country.

Despite the dispute between Athens and Skopje, many countries, including Turkey recognize the country as Macedonia.

Reporting by Mehmet Hatipoglu:Writing by Handan Kazanci

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