Macedonian debate

The Macedonian debate centres on the status of Macedonian and the conflicting opinions of the pro-Macedonians, pro-Bulgarians & pro-Greeks.

Macedonia is one of five new countries that emerged from the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991. The Republic of Macedonia has a population of 2m ,its capital is Skopje. It covers 9600 square miles, landlocked by Greece, Serbia- Montenegro, Bulgaria and Albania.

The population is two- thirds Macedonian, with the remainder made up of several ethnic groups, principally Albanians. The Republic of Macedonia is sometimes called FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). Countries that have recognized Macedonia, include the US, China and Russia, and refer to it as Macedonia, whereas Greece and some other countries call it FYROM.

Macedonia is also the name of a much larger geographical region, 26,000 square miles, that includes not only the Republic of Macedonia, but also three peripheries (political subdivisions) in Greece, called West, Central and East Macedonia, as well as a part of Bulgaria. Greeks claim that the name Macedonia refers properly only to the part of this region that lies within Greece, and, in the early 90's, actually mounted an embargo against the Republic of Macedonia for its use of that name, This became an issue that helped lead to the downfall of former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis at the hands of hardliner Andreas Papandreou.

Macedonians claim that Greeks wrested control of their part of the region in the Second Balkan War of 1913, and that the Macedonian population remaining in Greece constitutes a captive element. Greeks outlawed the Macedonian language and required submission to the Greek Orthodox Church.

There are a number of difficulties involved in the Macedonian question. One issue is the legacy of Alexander the Great. The question is whether the ancient Macedonians were Greeks. The Greek point of view is that the Macedonians were just another subdivision of the Greek, or Hellenic, people, like the Athenians and the Spartans.

The modern Macedonian view is that the ancient Macedonians, from whom they claim cultural and ethnic descent, were a people distinct from the Greeks. They further maintain that the Greeks, upon gaining their independence from the Turks in the 1830's, began creating the mythos of their own direct lineage from Hellenistic Greece,.

Greeks argue that, since the modern Macedonian language is a Slavic language and since, according to their view, the Slavs arrived many centuries after Alexander's time, the modern Macedonians cannot be the descendants of the ancient Macedonains.

If Greece were to recognize Macedonia fully, it would legitimize Macedonian ownership of the legacy of Alexander, which Greeks feel is rightly their own. And Greek acceptance of the name of Macedonia would be acknowledging that Macedonians constitute a nationality in their own right. This would lead to the conclusion that Macedonians, in and out of Greece, are entitled to a unified homeland, which would be the greater Macedonia that includes the three Greek peripheries.

The Macedonian debate continues.