Enough is enough. North Macedonia belongs to the people of Macedonia no matter their ethnic heritage, states the portal “International Policy digest” (IPD) in a text dedicated to our country.
– The people share a common history, language, border, and the government has the ability to enact policies. This according to the 1st article convention of Montevideo is enough to determine a country as its own state, adds IPD.
The text says that in recent history, “it was a land that belonged to the ottomans and then later the Slavic nations, and even Greece has claims to the country”.
– The Ottoman Empire does not exist, the Greeks of old do not exist and Macedonia of old does not exist, yet the pride of a people of a shared history lives on, writes the author of the text while asking “what has become of Macedonia, the once proud land where Alexander the Great and Cleopatra’s family hails from?”.
IPD adds that a brief look at its history since the beginning of the 20th century shows how “territorial claims over the people and the land have decimated the once glorious state and proud people”.
– The Ottoman control over Macedonia ended due to the Balkan Wars of 1912–13. To add insult to injury, Macedonia was divided amongst the Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbians. The Balkan Wars was a devastating defeat for the Ottomans that lost most of its European territories to ill-equipped and inferior forces. Following the victory, Greece claimed the people and land were Greek. Following the First World War, the Serbian segment of Macedonia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes which was later named Yugoslavia in 1929. During the aftermath of the Second World War, the Serbian part of Macedonia became a constituent republic within the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. This was considered an acceptable outcome, is added in the text.
The portal points out that “in 1945 the Macedonian language was recognized within Yugoslavia”.
–The collapse of Yugoslavia led the Republic of Macedonia to declare its own independence in 1991. But the road to freedom was costly. Macedonia was able to secede from Yugoslavia in 1991. Then the country was able to become a member of the United Nations in April 1993, but not before getting into a diplomatic dispute with Greece over the name “Macedonia” who claimed it was too Hellenistic and belonged to Greece, says IPD.
The portal reminds that Greece opposed the use of the name Macedonia without a geographical “qualifier”, for the purpose as it claimed “to avoid confusion with its own region of Greek Macedonia”.
–Greece in its arrogance still thought that the former glory of Macedonia still belonged to them, as some ethnic Greeks identify themselves as Macedonians. They believed that the true Macedonia is not related to the Slavic people who are associated with the North Macedonia of today. Greece further objected to the use of the term Macedonian for the neighbouring country’s largest ethnic group; it accused the country of appropriating symbols and figures that are historically considered parts of Greece’s culture (such as Vergina Sun and Alexander the Great), and of promoting the irredentist concept of a united Macedonia, which would include territories of Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, and Serbia. Macedonia was later admitted to the UN under the provisional description “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, and in June 2018 an agreement was reached that the country should rename itself “Republic of North Macedonia.” This renaming came into effect in February of 2019, states the portal.
IPD assesses that it is not right that “these proud people should have to bow to Greece.
– Yes, once upon a time Macedonia was part of Greek culture, so was Palestine, yet there is no illusion that it belongs to Greece, concludes International Policy Digest.
In the text, the portal reflects also on the 2001 conflict, for which it says that it ended with the Ohrid Framework Agreement.
–Under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement, the government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority. The Albanian side agreed, on the other hand, agreed to abandon separatist demands and to recognize all Macedonian institutions fully, the author adds.
At the end of the text, the author reflects also on current events outlining that “there is a dispute over Macedonia being part of the European Union”, pointing out that “discussions to allow Macedonia to join the EU were blocked by Bulgaria in 2020 due to disputes over history, national identity, and language”.
– Enough is enough. North Macedonia belongs to the people of Macedonia no matter their ethnic heritage as it stands today. The people share a common history, language, border, and the government has the ability to enact policies. This according to the 1st article convention of Montevideo is enough to determine a country as its own state. The Slavs and Greeks need to accept that Macedonia belongs to the Macedonians, concludes International Policy Digest.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
