they say that they have to activate my iphone or they can not sell it to me... any chance do unlock it after that???

Just go to another store. Each store seems to operate under its own rules.

if they activate it, then when ill take my phone in macedonia (tommorow) is there way to unlock it???

just say youre buying it as a gift

Yes. Activation and unlocking are two separate steps, although BOTH have to be done before you can use your iPhone with a non-ATT SIM.

Presumably you could activate with ATT and then later cancel your service, if you don't want to be beholden to ATT.

Then, after you unlock your iPhone (using one of the many tutorials available on these boards), you can use iNdependence to activate your non-ATT SIM (and you could even use that to activate your ATT SIM if you still have a valid account with them).

Locked + unactivated = phone won't work with any SIM

Locked + activated = phone will only work with an ATT SIM

Unlocked + unactivated = phone won't work with any SIM until it is activated for that SIM.

Unlocked + activated = phone will work with whatever SIM(s) you have activated the phone with!

yeah but if they activate it on att, then how can i cancel my activation with them , to activate it in other country??? can i use indipendence on activatet iphone from att without att sim card in it???i mean to jailbrake it or something?
i mean is the procedure of unlocking it the same as in the tutorials if i buy the phone activated in store or not?

I guess, when you are going to activate your iphone with AT&T, you have to sign a contract.

Look for an Apple Store, they will sell it without any questions.

Yes, you can activate and unlock your new iphone everywhere in the world. You only need Independence and SimFree or AnySim...

don't activate it. waste your time and money
just do like other, telling them you buy it as a gift for whomever. It's not yours to activate.
if they still don't then go to other att, or any apple store or even online