Position:Home>History> MAcedonia???

Macedonia is a nation north of Greece with a large population of Slavic people!. It has come into conflict with Greece because Macedonia was the name of a country in ancient times in approximately the same location!. Alexander the Great was from Macedonia and became king of all of Greece due to the efforts of his father Philip!.

The Greeks and Macedonians both claim Alexander and his ancient Macedonians as their ancestors and this has brought conflict!. The Macedonians argue that Alexander was from Macedonian and was therefore Macedonian, and that the ancient Macedonians were not the same as the ancient Greeks, i!.e!. that their language was slightly different and they were considered barbarians by the Greeks, therefore the Greeks cannot claim to be their ancestors!.

The Greeks, on the other hand, claim that the ancient Macedonians were their ancestors, that the ancient Macedonians spoke Greek (albeit a different dialect) and that the modern Macedonians are Slavs, who moved into the area in the Middle Ages and therefore have no connection to the ancient Macedonians!.

This conflict came to a head when Macedonia adopted as its flag a starburst symbol found in the tomb of Alexander the Great's father Philip!. The Greeks got upset as they saw this as the Slavic Macedonians usurping their heritage, and eventually the Macedonians gave in and changed the flag!.

Silly issues in my opinion, but they are really important to relations between Greeks and Macedonians!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---

Well you did heard of some opinion of thirds!.!.
As a Greek I ll tell you my point!.
Makedonia was Greek for more than 2!.500 years,Alexander was Greek and this is not something that I say,but there are thousands of texts,finding,historical prooves!.!.!.
also to mention that people of Fyrom are Slavic origin and Slavs appeared to area at 6-7 century AC(which means 1!.000 after alexander the great)
also the land of Makedonia was for thousands of years Greek,and after Ottoman empire till 1913 was part of BULGARIA!.
the nowdays land of Makedonia is 51% to Greece,38% to FYROM(what you call as Makedonia) and the rest to Bulgaria!.
So now(as you can see from the answerers above who dont know about the issue)
there is a new formed country(1991),who declare them selves as Makedonians!.
1)they have no connection with the ancient Makedonian
2)they have terrority claims (officially) about the Makedonian part in Greece and in Bulgaria
3) they defame Greece in everysingle way
4) they have even propaganda in their school books

It would be ok if they just call their country north makedonia or something!.!.!.but they are trying to monopoly the name and impersonate the history and the cultural inheritance of Greece!.!.!.!.
Just imagine a newly form country trying to call their country Sparta and claim all these ,or call it's country Rome,who will be that for Italians!?

The 'fight' is not silly or dumb as people said!.
Is about protecting cultural inheritance and history of a country!.
Because we have plenty of,don't mean they should claim as theirs,some neighbours!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---

Actually if you look around on the ANSWERS web site you'll find some impassioned arguments from Greek citizens!.

The nation was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 under the provisional name of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia commonly abbreviated to FYROM, pending resolution of a naming dispute with Greece!. This resolution is apparently not going to happen soon!.

Greeks refer to these people as Skopjiens after their captical city Skopje!.

The distances are relatively small by modern standards!. The birthplace of Alexander the great is about 25 miles from the border between the two countries!.
=======================
This is not the only name dispute in the world!. Another well known one is the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf where a lot of the oil comes from!. If you look at a CIA map they use the more political name "The Gulf" so as to avoid offending anyone!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---

Well, if we back to the Ottoman years Macedonia had no borders!.!. after all it was the Ottoman Empire!. But as soon as the fall of the Ottoman Empire started the surrounding new-born countries had territorial claims of the region!. It was then when the VMRO ( IMRO in English) was founded by BulgarianMacedonians - meaning people living the region of Macedonia but of Bulgarian nation!. VMRO's primary goal was to create a country no matter the nationality and religion of the people but in the end if the Great Powers were favoured the country could achieve unification with Bulgaria!. Bulgaria back then supported a new different country because there was no chance the Great Powers to agree with unification with Bulgaria!. Today after the fall of Yugoslavia the region today called FYROM achieved independence but their claims are not only in the name of the region but also territorial claims!. The point is that in region of Macedonia they have been living people of different nationalities - Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Turks, Slavs, Aromanians, Vlachs etc!. Something that makes the solution difficult if everything is based on nationalism!. The Greeks have not problem with the new country but have problem with the territorial claims!. It must be understood that the borders cannot change, Greek people in Northern Greece who have been living in the region for centuries are Greek Macedonians their parents - grand-parents - great-grand parents were Greek Macedonian, something that it's the same with the Slav Macedonians, their forefathers have been Bulgarians !.As Misirkov said
“Some will ask why I speak of breaking away from the Bulgarians when in the past we have even called ourselves Bulgarians and when it is generally accepted that unification creates strength, and not separation!.”“And, anyway, what sort of new Macedonian nation can this be when we and our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers have always been called Bulgarians!?”

A name of a country is a name!.!.!.!. we Greeks prefer having different countries as neighbours than one big Bulgaria, also we understand the need of the people living in FYROM to be independent, something that was achieved but we also prefer that the ancient history of ancient Greek Macedonians to remain as it is - Greek!Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---