{"id":23341,"date":"2026-10-11T08:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T08:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/11\/greek-embassy-protests-to-skopje-over-fans-banner-claiming-thessaloniki-and-halkidiki-greek-city-times\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T08:40:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T08:40:39","slug":"greek-embassy-protests-to-skopje-over-fans-banner-claiming-thessaloniki-and-halkidiki-greek-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/11\/greek-embassy-protests-to-skopje-over-fans-banner-claiming-thessaloniki-and-halkidiki-greek-city-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Greek Embassy Protests to Skopje Over Fans&#8217; Banner Claiming Thessaloniki and Halkidiki \u2013 Greek City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-first=\"S\">\n<p>Greece\u2019s embassy in Skopje has lodged a formal protest with North Macedonia\u2019s Foreign Ministry over a banner displayed by MZT Skopje fans showing a \u201cNorth Macedonia\u201d stretching as far as Thessaloniki and Halkidiki.<\/p>\n<p>The banner was raised during MZT\u2019s basketball game against Greek club Heraklis in Skopje on 6 October, in the qualifiers of the FIBA Europe Cup.<\/p>\n<h2>A map reaching Thessaloniki<\/h2>\n<p>The banner, which ERT described as nationalist in content, was hung in a central stand of the Jane Sandanski arena. It showed a map on which parts of Greece, including Halkidiki, as well as parts of Serbia, Albania and Bulgaria, appeared as territory of North Macedonia.<\/p>\n<p>Framed by the Vergina Sun, it carried the slogan: \u201cWe will defend your sacred name all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Embassy cites the Prespa Agreement<\/h2>\n<p>Responding to a question from local news website 360 Stepeni, the Greek embassy confirmed it had raised the matter with North Macedonia\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Embassy raised the issue of the display of the banner, including the fact that, according to information we received, it was displayed in the presence of North Macedonia\u2019s Minister of Sport,\u201d the embassy said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe pointed out that the content and symbolism of the banner run contrary to the obligations and the spirit of the Prespa Agreement. The matter was therefore brought to the attention of the authorities of North Macedonia through the appropriate diplomatic channels.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Heraklis complained before tip-off<\/h2>\n<p>Heraklis, the Thessaloniki club nicknamed the \u201cOld Man\u201d (<em>Gireos<\/em>), lodged an official complaint over the inflammatory banner with the game\u2019s commissioner and informed the Greek embassy in Skopje.<\/p>\n<p>ERT reported on the night of the game that the club\u2019s management had complained to FIBA before tip-off, asking for the banner to be taken down. The club also notified the Greek embassy and complained to North Macedonia\u2019s foreign minister.<\/p>\n<p>That report described the game as the first round of Heraklis\u2019 FIBA Europe Cup campaign.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> ERT News<\/p>\n<p><!--[googlesitekit-end-of-content]--><\/p>\n<footer class=\"article-tags entry-footer\">\n<\/footer>\n<div class=\"category_container author-information\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<section id=\"authorpage\" class=\"authorpage\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ca06517608e7af44e9761bf7c358974ffbc4a43859fd8e5be6fc2f50d341af?s=164&amp;r=g\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ca06517608e7af44e9761bf7c358974ffbc4a43859fd8e5be6fc2f50d341af?s=328&amp;r=g 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-164 photo lazyload\" height=\"164\" width=\"164\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-content\">\n<h5>Bill Giannopoulos<\/h5>\n<h4>Junior Editor<\/h4>\n<p>Bill Giannopoulos is a Junior Editor at Greek City Times, covering Greek and international news, sport, and history.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.gr\" class=\"boxed-icon fill\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fa-solid fa-link\"\/><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/2026\/10\/11\/greek-embassy-skopje-protest-mzt-banner\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greece\u2019s embassy in Skopje has lodged a formal protest with North Macedonia\u2019s Foreign Ministry over a banner displayed by MZT Skopje fans showing a \u201cNorth Macedonia\u201d stretching as far as Thessaloniki and Halkidiki. The banner was raised during MZT\u2019s basketball game against Greek club Heraklis in Skopje on 6 October, in the qualifiers of the &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Greek Embassy Protests to Skopje Over Fans&#8217; Banner Claiming Thessaloniki and Halkidiki \u2013 Greek City Times\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/11\/greek-embassy-protests-to-skopje-over-fans-banner-claiming-thessaloniki-and-halkidiki-greek-city-times\/#more-23341\" aria-label=\"Read more about Greek Embassy Protests to Skopje Over Fans&#8217; Banner Claiming Thessaloniki and Halkidiki \u2013 Greek City Times\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/HUTpuhJXUAAW2Su_upscale.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}