An eyebrow-raising 67 percent of respondents in a recent poll in the neighboring former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) recently answered that they have not visited Greece over the past three years, usually the preferred holiday and excursion destination for residents of the small land-locked country in the middle of the southern Balkans.
Even more noteworthy is the fact that 27 percent of respondents, the plurality, believe that Greece is their country’s foremost “enemy”.
The poll was conducted by the Eurothink firm between March 1 and March 21 on a sample of 1,043 respondents.
On the flip side, Germany, the EU – of which Greece is a member – and Erdogan-dominated Turkey are considered the former Yugoslav constituent state’s best friends.
The negative rating for Greece, the direct byproduct of the quarter-of-the-century “name issue” quarrel between Skopje and Athens, is equally shared by members of the dominant Slav-speaking majority and the Albanian speakers.
