美国有线新闻 CNN 马其顿更名公投因人数不足而失败 更改国名仍有待商讨（在线收听）

马其顿更名公投因人数不足而失败 更改国名仍有待商讨

AZUZ: The bordering countries of Macedonia and Greece may be a step closer to resolving a dispute they've had since 1991. Macedonia isn't just the name of a country, it's the name of an ancient kingdom, the birthplace of Alexander the Great.

When the Republic of Macedonia was established in 1991, it's name angered Greece, because Greece has a province named Macedonia. And Greece wants only its province to have that name.

This has been such a stumbling block in their relations, that Greece has blocked the country of Macedonia from joining international alliances of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

But this year, the prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia made an agreement. If the nation of Macedonia vote to change its name to Republic of North Macedonia, it can move toward membership in the E.U. and NATO.

But not everyone in Macedonia wants that. And in the vote held Sunday, there was a complication. More than 91 percent of the Macedonians who voted said they supported the name change as well as E.U. and NATO membership.

But turnout was low, below 37 percent of eligible voters, and the government had set the threshold at 50 percent. Experts say the Macedonian Government can still move forward with the changes, there'll just be some controversy to doing that.

And this is significant around the world because what happens with the vote could signal whether Macedonia comes under greater European influence or greater Russian influence.