Updated

Macedonia's left-wing prime minister says he is ready to renounce his country's claim to the legacy of Alexander the Great to help solve a 26-year-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the country's name.

"I give up (the claim) of Macedonia being the sole heir to Alexander. The history belongs not only to us, but also to Greece and many other countries," Zoran Zaev, in power since the spring, said in a TV interview late Friday.

Since its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has claimed at least part of the heritage of the most famous ruler of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia, infuriating Greeks who also view the name "Macedonia" itself as hiding expansionist claims against the Greek region of Macedonia.

Greece has vetoed Macedonia's NATO membership as a result.