Macedonia's Albanians back compromise in name row

TIRANA (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanians in Macedonia are urging the Macedonian government to reach a deal with Greece on the country's name to avoid losing an invitation to join NATO, according to senior politicians.

Ethnic Albanians make up a quarter of Macedonia's 2 million people and feel that a future in NATO will not only help Macedonia progress, but also advance their own bid for more rights as equal partners in its multi-ethnic society.

They believe the best bet against Macedonia breaking up in ethnic conflict, as it nearly did in 2001 during a six-month Albanian insurgency, is NATO and European Union membership.

"The Albanians are in a very delicate position about this because if we offer a compromise we could be misunderstood by the Macedonians as being ready to sell their identity," Menduh Thaci, head of the Democratic Party of Albanians, said during a visit to Tirana.

His party quit the ruling coalition last week in a row over Albanian minority rights, plunging Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's 18-month-old government into crisis.

"Their identity is very important for them but the road towards European and NATO is much more important for us," Thaci said. "We have backed the Macedonian position on the condition of reaching a compromise for the sake of an invitation to NATO."

European Union and NATO member Greece objects to the name of Macedonia because it is the same as its northern region, birthplace of ancient Greek hero Alexander the Great.

Macedonia has been officially referred to as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM, since 1991.

In Brussels on Friday, the Greek and Macedonian foreign ministers underlined their commitment to resolving the dispute.

Xhevat Ademi, a leader of Macedonia's largest Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, said Albanians respected Macedonians' feelings but did not want to see NATO membership blocked.

"Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic future is threatened by the delayed romantic nationalism of some leaders of the Macedonian political elite," Ademi said.

"We are convinced the United States will step in to persuade both to make concessions and reach compromise. We are convinced Macedonia will be invited to NATO in Bucharest," Ademi said, referring to the venue for next's month's alliance summit.

The party leaders said a ticket to NATO was crucial for Macedonia. Not getting an invitation to join would hurt its chances of a visa-free regime with the EU, cause a deep political crisis, and worsen inter-ethnic relations, Ademi said.

Macedonia's Albanians had wanted to see use of Albanian as an official language and rehabilitation of the 2001 conflict veterans as terms Macedonia had to meet to qualify for NATO.

But the issue was eclipsed by the name row, forcing Thaci's party to quit the government, he said.

In private, said a political source, "the Albanians told the Macedonians that getting into NATO was so important they could name the country after a soft drink".

"The Macedonians replied that NATO membership came up each year while their country's name is thousands of years old."

(Editing by Douglas Hamilton)