TIRANA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia is going to pull out its peacekeepers in Iraq this December, Macedonian Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski said on Tuesday.

    "The mission has come to an end as the local authorities are now capable of taking care of themselves," news reaching here from Skopje quoted Konjanovski as saying.

    Macedonia has a contingent of 77 troops stationed in the town of Taji, 95 kilometers north of Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Konjanovski said the troops will be pulled out in the second half of December.

    Konjanovski also said Macedonia will always be ready to respond to NATO calls for deployment of its soldiers wherever they are needed. Macedonia has troops serving in hot spots including Afghanistan.

    Macedonia hopes to join NATO, but at the alliance's summit at Bucharest, capital of Romania in April its efforts were thwarted by Greece over name dispute between the two neighbors.

    Athens has been opposed to its neighbor being called the "Republic of Macedonia", arguing it implies a territorial claim over a Greek northern province also called Macedonia.