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Macedonian Naming Dispute Macedonian Naming Dispute Fladischer Michael, Latzka Felix December 19, 2011 Abstract In the year 1991 the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dissolved into several smaller countries. One of these successors that emerged in the southern part of Yugoslavia is Macedonia. It shares it's south-eastern border with the Greek region also officially called Macedonia. To avoid confusion between the two territories the newly emerged country has been assigned the interim name "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" or short FYROM. It's capital is Skopje and it's government is currently promoting memberships with the EU and the NATO. Immediately after declaring independence in 1992, tensions arose between Macedonia and Greece over the name "Macedonia". The dispute was further fueled because of the use of the Greek Macedonia region's flag by the newly formed republic, who reused the same symbol, the Vergina Sun, in it's flag and only changed the background color to red. Diplomats from both Greece and Macedonia are now meeting at the UNO headquarter in New York to finally settle their dispute after many years of haggling and running into deadlocks by aiming for bilateral agreements for both the new country's name and flag. To illustrate the territorial aspects of this diverse dispute see the map at figure 3.1 on page 3. Greek delegation You came to New York with an official memo 1 from your government provided in figure 3.4 on page 4 (optional). Your position is that the name Macedonia is solely bound to the history of Greece and the Greek people dating back to the ancient kingdom of Macedonia and it's famous leader Alexander the Great. The people of FYROM are seen by you as an ethical group that is, due to a lack of their own cultural history, searching for one they can call their own. Their ancestors were Slavs from the north who arrived in the region more than 1000 years after the Macedonian kingdom. Because of this, you see their use of the Vergina Sun in their flag (see figure 3.3 on page 3) as an effort to construct a narrative of ethnic continuity linking them to the ancient Macedonians. This is also true for other symbolic actions such as renaming the Skopje airport to "Alexander the Great Airport". Your historians attribute the recent emergence of a Macedonian nation to the "artificial" creation of a Socialist Republic of Macedonia under Josip Broz Tito in the early 20th century where the name "Macedonia" was chosen for political reasons other than historical ones. But there are not only historical issues. Josip Broz Tito already used the term "Aegean Macedonia" to promote a united Macedonian nation which would include both modern FYROM and the Greek region to gain access to the Aegean Sea. Your government suspects that there are nationalists inside FYROM who have territorial ambitions in your Macedonian region. While you know that this idea is only persued by a tiny fraction of radicals inside FYROM you still want official confirmation that FYROM will thwart such internal movements. Your goals for the negotiation are to get the FYROM delegation to drop the use of the Vergina Sun on their flag, undo the renaming of their Airport and to stop using the name "Macedonia" in international diplomacy. You would accept if they use a prefix in combination with "Macedonia" like "North Macedonia" or "Republic of Macedonia" if they refuse to use any other names. Also, it would be possible for them to use the Vergina Sun as a smaller part of an emblem on the new flag but this would rather be on last resort. 1http://www2.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-US/Policy/Geographic+Regions/South-Eastern+Europe/ Balkans/Bilateral+Relations/FYROM/FYROM+-+THE+NAME+ISSUE.htm 1 Macedonian delegation You reject most of the Greek objections to your use of the Macedonian cultural heritage as you clearly do not push for an exclusive claim of the name "Macedonia". The majority of your ances- tors have come to this region as Slavs many centuries ago and have mixed with the descendants of the Macedonian kingdom since then. This led to a mix of races and cultures that in turn led to an ethnic continuity on which FYROM builds it's modern identity. Recent research by your scholars suggests that there was even quite a cultural distance between ancient Greeks and Macedonians. Furthermore the Greek objections are seen as a violation of the right to self-determination by your citizens and several protests were held in Skopje because of this. 1 Your use of the Vergina Sun on your flag is intended to appeal to all ethnic groups in Mace- donia, as an ancient symbol which preceded the ethnic division of the present. Albeit the symbol was found during excavations in modern Greece, it still belonged to the kings of ancient Mace- donia who you see as your cultural ancestors. You are comfortable with Greece using the symbol in their region's flag (see figure 3.2 on the next page) as long as they use it to refer to Mace- donian history. The ethical division happened in the early 20th century under the Yugoslavian government with a lot of Macedonians immigrating to Greece. To date the Greek government is still denying the existence of this ethical Macedonian minority in northern Greece including their Macedonian region. Your goals for this negotiation are getting Greece to recognize your country as a legitimate descendant of ancient Macedonia, thus recognizing your country by the name of "Macedonia". You also want them to drop their exclusive claims on the Vergina Sun but you could make them the concession that either Greece or you make an addition to the emblem to keep both flags distinguishable. The background color is of no importance to you. A pre-condition for having the name "Macedonia" recognized by Greece is for them to repudiate the existence of their Macedonian minority in northern regions as you see them ethically linked to your country. In spite of you being aware of the existence of nationalist radicals in you populace your government has no territorial ambition in Greece. You know that this is a major fear among the Greek government who wish to thwart separatist movements. 1Council for Research into South-Eastern Europe of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, 1993 2 Figures Sofia Skopje BULGARIA REP. OF MACEDONIA Thessaloniki GREECE Athens Modern geographical Macedonia Ancient Macedonian kingdom (approx.) Figure 3.1: Map of ancient and modern Macedonia Figure 3.2: Flag of Greek region Macedonia Figure 3.3: Flag of Macedonia 3 The FYROM name issue is not simply a dispute over historical facts and symbols. It is a problem with regional and international dimensions, given that FYROM is exercising a policy of irredentism and territorial claims fuelled by the falsification of history and the usurpation of Greece's historical and national heritage. In its current form, the FYROM name issue arose in 1991, when FYROM declared its independence under the name Republic of Macedonia. Historically, the Greek name Macedonia refers to the state and civilisation of the ancient Macedonians, which beyond doubt is part of Greece's national and historical heritage and bears no relation whatsoever with the residents of FYROM, who are Slavs by descent and arrived in region of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia at a much later stage. Geographically, the term Macedonia refers to a broader region that includes portions of the territories of various Balkan countries (mainly Greece, FYROM and Bulgaria). However, the greater part of geographical Macedonia coincides with the area covered by the ancient Greek Macedonia, which lies within the boundaries of modern Greece. Some 2.5 million Greek citizens currently live in the Greek part of Macedonia, whose inhabitants have called and considered themselves Macedonians since time immemorial. The name issue originated in the aftermath of the Second World War, when Josip Broz Tito separated the area then known as Vardar Banovina (now FYROM) from Serbia, granting it the status of a Republic within the new federal Yugoslavia, under the name Socialist Republic of Macedonia, concurrently promoting the doctrine of a separate Macedonian Nation. Obviously, the most important reason for opting to promote the doctrine of Macedonianism at clear variance with the geographical reality of the broader region of Macedonia was his desire to gain access to the Aegean Sea by cultivating the notion of reunification of all Macedonian territories. The Greek side calls for: 1. Adoption of a definitive composite name with geographical qualification of the term Macedonia, ...to avoid confusion with Greek Macedonia ... 2. FYROM genuinely renounces the usurpation of historical and national heritage of the Greek people. 3. Endorsement of the definitive solution by the UN Security Council, so as to ensure respect for its implementation. Figure 3.4: Official memo from the Greek government 4.
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