Tsipras Releases Video in Support of Prespa Agreement

The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, uploaded a video on Monday evening on his personal Facebook page which shows his support of the Prespa Agreement.
”The time has come to see the real facts about the Prespa Agreement”, Tsipras wrote under the video titled ”The Truth About the Prespa Agreement”.
The two-minute video includes clips from the signing of the Agreement between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on June 17, 2018. It also shows excerpts of the premier’s speech, which was dedicated to the Agreement, that he gave last week in the Athens Concert Hall.
“With the Prespa Agreement, we are shielding our Macedonia. We overcome fear and inertia by showing self-confidence and opening a path to peace and growth”, Tsipras says in the video.
“Our neighbors are distinguishing their identity by recognizing that their language is Slavic and that their culture is not related in any way to the ancient Greek heritage”, the premier later explains.
“Through the Prespa Agreement, we recognize citizenship, not the ethnicities comprising it,” he said, adding that ”irredentist references in the neighboring country’s textbooks will no longer exist and they will have to change the names of monuments, infrastructure and public spaces”.
Tsipras also mentioned the ancient Macedonian symbol of the 16-pointed star of Vergina, declaring that ”our neighbors will have to remove the star from every symbol as its right of use reverts exclusively to Greece.”
Tsipras concluded by noting that the Prespa Agreement “is the foundation stone for a Balkan region of friendship, collaboration and the brotherhood of peoples”, adding the phrase ”Learn the truth” at the conclusion.