12.8.08 PM Nikola Gruevski has sent a letter to mediator Nimetz, urging him to include the recognition of the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) by the Greek side within countries' name dispute talks.

Dnevnik daily in its Tuesday edition, citing diplomatic sources, says Gruevski suggested to the mediator the Macedonian church recognition issue to be a part of the package of solutions to the dispute.

- I ask you, if it is possible, to include this issue into Your attempts on resolving the dispute of our constitutional name, which recently has been enlarged with several other open issues. And if Your attempts end in success, taking into consideration that in addition to the name You are striving to resolve several other open issues between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece, this issue to be incorporated into the agenda of our priorities, Gruevski writes to Nimetz.

In the letter, he also presents a lengthy elaboration and background of MOC's church dispute with some of the orthodox churches, mainly the Serbian and Greek ones, while highlighting their closeness and solidarity.

- Following in-depth discussions and negotiations, according to the information I was provided with by the MOC, it is being concluded that the roots of this problem lay once again in the dispute imposed by Greece in relation to our constitutional name. Namely, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) is an ally with the Greek Church (GOC), since a significant portion of SOC's Synod has been educated and has spent most of their education in churches and monasteries across Greece. Thus, being GOC scholarship holders, they have remained  under GOC's strong influence till today, due to which they are called the "Greek Wing" by the moderate bishops, Gruevski elaborates.

Explaining the reason for writing the letter, the Macedonian PM says he would have never written it unless the church and state have been separated in Greece as well, as it is the case in Macedonia and in most European countries. However, according to Gruevski, there is a "strong bond" between the church and state in our southern neighbor.

In addition to Nimetz, Gruevski last week sent a new letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, informing him on the violation of the Interim Agreement with Greece caused by the Bucharest veto and on "Athens' moves in recent months in connection to obstructing economic ties, flow of goods and people, delaying transport, hindering cultural cooperation and imperiling the safety of Macedonian citizens in Greece."

Macedonian Prime Minister also calls on building of good neighborly relations and stresses that lately, Greece is increasing its military potential out of proportion, especially when compared to the rest of the countries in the region.