swissgirl39, your definition of ‘’Macedonia’’ is partly true. I’m sorry if my text is long, but believe me, what I’ll write below is just a summary:
Macedonia is a historically defined region. Nowadays it covers parts of Greece, Bulgaria very small parts of Albania and Serbia and the whole of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a.k.a. F.Y.R.O.M. (it was admitted in the UN with the above provisional name. Its CONSTITUTIONAL name is Republic of Macedonia). However, many countries have recognised it with its constitutional name.
The Greek part covers most of the region of ancient Macedonia, including the birthplace of Alexander the Great.
According to Herodotus, the name comes from the ancient Greek (Dorian) tribe of Makednoi. The name presumably comes from the ancient Doric noun makos (makros in ancient Attic dialect and modern Greek language), meaning "length" and the Doric adjective makednos, meaning "tall", because the ancient Macedonians and their Makednoi ancestors were considered tall people.
Slavic tribes settled in the grounds of present day FYROM in the 6th century (in the Byzantine era). These Slavs were assimilated by Bulgarian invaders about a century later.
In the ottoman empire Macedonia was multicultural, inhibited by Greeks, Turks Jews, Bulgarians, Albanians, Gypsies and Vlachs. In the 20th century, '’Bulgarians'’ had become synonymous with '’Macedonian Slavs'’ and, in the last 50 years they identify themselves as ‘’Macedonians'’.
In modern Greece there is a community of around 40,000 Slavic speakers who identify themselves as Greeks and most of them are bilingual.
FYROM was a province of the Kingdom of Serbia called Vardar Banovina. It was only after WW2 that its name was changed to People's Republic of Macedonia and it became part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At that time Greece had immediately reacted to that name, because there were concerns of Yugoslavia would claiming Greek land. It was later renamed the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. In 1991, when declared intependence from Yugoslavia, it became ‘’Republic of Macedonia’’.
The official language of FYROM (named ‘’Macedonian’’ in former Socialist Yugoslavia after WW2, i.e. recently) is closely related to Bulgarian. It used to be called Slavic or Bulgarian before in the whole region, it’s still called Slavic in Greece. The language name dispute with Greece lies in that the ancient Makedonian was an ancient Greek dialect and cannot be related to a language that was previously called ‘’Bulgarian’’.
The reason for re-naming the language after WW2 was because Bulgaria was with the Axis while most of Yugoslavia was with the Allies. A new name had to be created to avoid indication of Bulgarian speakers in Yugoslavia.
The reasons for FYROM’s name dispute with Greece on the use of the name ‘’Macedonia’’ are:
(1) The name can be the basis of future land claims
(2) Concerns for arrogation of ancient Makedonia’s cultural heritage
(3) Possibility of future claims for exclusive rights to use the name and subsequently impeding the right of Greeks from Makedonia to identify themselves as Macedonians
(4) Creating confusion in the trade business
Personally I’m totally against the use of the word Macedonia or Macedonian by FYROM, because I find it historically inaccurate, it has latent territorial claims and is built on fake identity and heritage theories (there are many examples that prove the above point. The most recent one is the decision that their largest airport will be renamed ‘’Alexander the Great’’).
One could just argue that it should only be considered slightly irritating and not utterly disturbing, in a degree similar to let’s say the irritation of a Brit when an American uses the word ‘’football’’ for a different, subsequent sport where the ball is predominantly played with the hands! However, there are more serious issues than just an arrogation of a name.’’
swissgirl39, your definition of ‘’Macedonia’’ is partly true. I’m sorry if my text is long, but believe me, what I’ll write below is just a summary:
Macedonia is a historically defined region. Nowadays it covers parts of Greece, Bulgaria very small parts of Albania and Serbia and the whole of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a.k.a. F.Y.R.O.M. (it was admitted in the UN with the above provisional name. Its CONSTITUTIONAL name is Republic of Macedonia). However, many countries have recognised it with its constitutional name.
The Greek part covers most of the region of ancient Macedonia, including the birthplace of Alexander the Great.
According to Herodotus, the name comes from the ancient Greek (Dorian) tribe of Makednoi. The name presumably comes from the ancient Doric noun makos (makros in ancient Attic dialect and modern Greek language), meaning "length" and the Doric adjective makednos, meaning "tall", because the ancient Macedonians and their Makednoi ancestors were considered tall people.
Slavic tribes settled in the grounds of present day FYROM in the 6th century (in the Byzantine era). These Slavs were assimilated by Bulgarian invaders about a century later.
In the ottoman empire Macedonia was multicultural, inhibited by Greeks, Turks Jews, Bulgarians, Albanians, Gypsies and Vlachs. In the 20th century, '’Bulgarians'’ had become synonymous with '’Macedonian Slavs'’ and, in the last 50 years they identify themselves as ‘’Macedonians'’.
In modern Greece there is a community of around 40,000 Slavic speakers who identify themselves as Greeks and most of them are bilingual.
FYROM was a province of the Kingdom of Serbia called Vardar Banovina. It was only after WW2 that its name was changed to People's Republic of Macedonia and it became part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At that time Greece had immediately reacted to that name, because there were concerns of Yugoslavia would claiming Greek land. It was later renamed the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. In 1991, when declared intependence from Yugoslavia, it became ‘’Republic of Macedonia’’.
The official language of FYROM (named ‘’Macedonian’’ in former Socialist Yugoslavia after WW2, i.e. recently) is closely related to Bulgarian. It used to be called Slavic or Bulgarian before in the whole region, it’s still called Slavic in Greece. The language name dispute with Greece lies in that the ancient Makedonian was an ancient Greek dialect and cannot be related to a language that was previously called ‘’Bulgarian’’.
The reason for re-naming the language after WW2 was because Bulgaria was with the Axis while most of Yugoslavia was with the Allies. A new name had to be created to avoid indication of Bulgarian speakers in Yugoslavia.
The reasons for FYROM’s name dispute with Greece on the use of the name ‘’Macedonia’’ are:
(1) The name can be the basis of future land claims
(2) Concerns for arrogation of ancient Makedonia’s cultural heritage
(3) Possibility of future claims for exclusive rights to use the name and subsequently impeding the right of Greeks from Makedonia to identify themselves as Macedonians
(4) Creating confusion in the trade business
Personally I’m totally against the use of the word Macedonia or Macedonian by FYROM, because I find it historically inaccurate, it has latent territorial claims and is built on fake identity and heritage theories (there are many examples that prove the above point. The most recent one is the decision that their largest airport will be renamed ‘’Alexander the Great’’).
One could just argue that it should only be considered slightly irritating and not utterly disturbing, in a degree similar to let’s say the irritation of a Brit when an American uses the word ‘’football’’ for a different, subsequent sport where the ball is predominantly played with the hands! However, there are more serious issues than just an arrogation of a name.’’