Dispute with Greece
“Macedonia-4000 years of Greek civilization”
This was one of the most popular catchphrases during the Greek anti-Macedonian campaign, but it captures the essence of the name dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. The Greek people question the right of Slavic people to claim a legacy to the ancient Kingdom of Macedon that existed in 4th century BC. The kings of Macedon, Philip and his son Alexander the Great, found one of the greatest empires in the ancient world. Most Greeks consider the Macedons to come from Greek tribes and therefore they are part of Greek history. This is questionable because there are almost no written records of Macedon language and many historians consider it to be a separate entity, but for sure their language was much closer to ancient Greek than any of the Indo-European languages, which include the Slavic languages.
 |
 |
This is a map of the kingdom of Macedon during the 4th century BC. It is obvious that today's Republic of Macedonia lies north-west of these lands. |
Alexander the Great was one of the greatest emperors in history as he succeeded to conquer what was known as the “whole world” (parts of Europe, Africa and Asia) in the ancient times. |
Greek people consider the Kingdom of Macedon to be an indispensable part of their Hellenistic heritage and in this respect the claim of non-Greek, Slavic people ( Slavic tribes started arriving to the Balkans in the 5th and 6th century AD) seems like a “theft” of identity and history. Greek historians point out often, that ancient Macedonia lies south to where the modern Republic of Macedonia is which makes its connection with the ancient world highly questionable. Because of this, Greece challenges the constitution, the new flag and the name of Republic of Macedonia. They accept only use of the name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and insist that this name is being used in all UN, EU and other international treaties and documents.
Map of Macedonia
History of Macedonia
Bulgarian Claims
Dispute with Greece
Ironically, it was actually the Greek nationalistis who first started using the name Macedonia in the middle of the 19th century and spread the propaganda that the population in these lands is Macedonian and therefore Greek. They managed to convince the local people, but not that succussfully incorporate them into Greece. Greek people also need to acknowledge the right of other people of self-determination. During their own national movements Greeks decided to claim their Hellenistic heritage instead of their Eastern Roman Empire heritage.
Also, in these claims there is a fear that the Republic of Macedonia might actually express territorial claims towards Greek Aegean Macedonia. There is a substantial Slavic-speaking minority in this part. Most data from the beginning of the century shows that a major fraction of the population in Aegean Macedonia spoke a Slavic language. It is closest to Macedonian or Bulgarian but it should not be forgotten that before World War II the two languages were mutually intelligible and all activists and leaders of the Macedonian movement used standard Bulgarian in documents, press publications, correspondence. (See Bulgarian Claims) In the official statistics these people were officially counted as Greek and their children were made to speak Greek and accept the Greek Orthodox Church as their religion. As the time proceeded, they actually started calling themselves Greek and were for the most part integrated into the larger mainstream. The Greek government often denies their existence and is unwilling to disclose any information about their actual numbers.