The use of the country name "

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

" was disputed between

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

(now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the

Western Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

for 25 years. It was resolved through negotiations between the two countries, mediated by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, resulting in the

Prespa Agreement Prespa (, , ) is a region shared between North Macedonia, Greece and Albania. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen in North Macedonia with 9,000 inhabitan ...

, which was signed on 17 June 2018. Pertinent to its background is an early 20th-century multifaceted dispute and

armed conflict War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

that formed part of the background to the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

. The specific naming dispute, although an existing issue in Yugoslav–Greek relations since World War II, was reignited after the

breakup of Yugoslavia After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...

and the newly-gained independence of the former

Socialist Republic of Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...

in 1991. Since then, it was an ongoing issue in bilateral and international relations until it was settled with the Prespa agreement in June 2018, the subsequent ratification by the Macedonian and Greek parliaments in late 2018 and early 2019 respectively, and the official renaming of Macedonia to North Macedonia in February 2019. The dispute arose from the ambiguity in

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

between the Republic of Macedonia, the adjacent Greek region of Macedonia and the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. Citing historical and

irredentist Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...

concerns, Greece opposed the use of the name "Macedonia" without a geographical qualifier such as "Northern Macedonia" for use "by all ... and for all purposes". As a significant contingent of ethnic Greeks identify themselves as Macedonians and view themselves as unrelated to

ethnic Macedonians Macedonians ( ) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians, ...

, Greece further objected to the use of the term "Macedonian" for the neighboring country's largest ethnic group and

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

. North Macedonia was accused by Greece of appropriating symbols and figures that are historically considered part of

Greek culture The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. Other cultu ...

such as the

Vergina Sun The Vergina Sun (), also known as the Star of Vergina, Vergina Star or Argead Star, is a rayed solar symbol first appearing in ancient Greek art of the period between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. The Vergina Sun proper has sixteen triangular ra ...

and

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

, and of promoting the irredentist concept of a

United Macedonia United Macedonia (), or Greater Macedonia (), is an irredentist concept among ethnic Macedonian nationalists that aims to unify the transnational region of Macedonia in Southeastern Europe (which they claim as their homeland and which they asser ...

, which involves territorial claims on Greece,

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. The dispute escalated to the highest level of international mediation, involving numerous attempts to achieve a resolution. In 1995, the two countries formalised bilateral relations and committed to start negotiations on the naming issue, under the auspices of the

. Until a solution was found, the provisional reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) was used by multiple international organisations and states. UN members, and the UN as a whole, agreed to accept any name resulting from successful negotiations between the two countries. The parties were represented by Ambassadors

Vasko Naumovski Vasko Naumovski (; born 1980 in Skopje, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) is a Macedonian diplomat and politician of VMRO-DPMNE, having served as a Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia in Nikola Gruevski's government f ...

and

Adamantios Vassilakis Adamantios Vassilakis (; June 13, 194230 June 2021), was a distinguished Greek diplomat and negotiator. Adamantios Vassilakis was a graduate of the Commercial High School of Chios, Greece, and held a Licence in Political and Diplomatic Sciences fr ...

with the mediation of

Matthew Nimetz Matthew Nimetz (; born June 17, 1939) is an American diplomat and a former lawyer and retired managing director of a global private equity firm. He was the United Nations Special Representative for the naming dispute between Greece and the f ...

, who had worked on the issue since 1994. On 12 June 2018, an agreement was reached. A

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

was held in Macedonia on 30 September 2018, with voters overwhelmingly affirming support for EU and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

membership by accepting the Prespa agreement. However,

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was well below the 50 percent threshold needed to validate the result. Therefore, the agreement had to be ratified by the Macedonian Assembly with a two-thirds majority. After the agreement was ratified by both sides, it entered into force on 12 February 2019. On 27 March 2020, North Macedonia became the 30th member of NATO.

History

Background

In antiquity, the territory of the present-day Republic of North Macedonia equated approximately to the kingdom of Paeonia, which lay immediately north of

ancient Macedonia Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

. The western and central parts of modern Greek region of

approximately corresponds to that of ancient Macedonia, while the Bulgarian part and the eastern part of the Greek area, are mostly in

Ancient Thrace The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared betwee ...

. After the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

conquered Greece in 168 BC they established a large administrative district in northern Greece which added Paeonia and eastern parts of Ancient Thrace to other territories outside the original ancient Macedonia. It used the name 'Macedonia' to describe the whole of this new

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

. This province was divided in the 4th century CE into ''Macedonia Prima'' ("first Macedonia") in the south, encompassing most of the ancient Macedonia and southeastern parts of Ancient Thrace, coinciding with the modern Greek region of Macedonia, and ''

Macedonia Salutaris Macedonia (; ) was a province of ancient Rome, encompassing the territory of the former Antigonid Kingdom of Macedonia, which had been conquered by the Roman Republic in 168 BC at the conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. The province was crea ...

'' ("wholesome Macedonia", also called ''Macedonia Secunda'' – "second Macedonia") in the north, encompassing partially

Dardani The Dardani (; ; ) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Kingdom of Dardania, Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their society wa ...

a, the whole of Paeonia and northeastern Thrace. Thus ''Macedonia Salutaris'' encompassed most of the present-day North Macedonia and southeastern Bulgaria. In late Roman times, the provincial boundaries were reorganized to form the

Diocese of Macedonia The Diocese of Macedonia (; ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, forming part of the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum. Its administrative centre was Thessalonica. History The diocese was formed, probably under Constantine I (r. 306–337 ...

, which was much larger. This situation lasted, with some modifications, until the 7th century. From the beginning of the 6th century, the former Roman province, then part of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

became a subject to frequent raids by

Early Slavs The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...

which, in the course of next centuries, resulted in drastic demographic and cultural changes. The Slavs continued to assault the Byzantine Empire, either independently, or aided by

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic peoples, Turkic Nomad, semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region between the 5th and 7th centu ...

or Avars during the 7th century. The Byzantines organized a massive expedition against the Slavs in the area. They subdued many Slavic tribes and established a new

theme of Thrace The Theme of Thrace () was a province (''thema'' or theme) of the Byzantine Empire located in the south-eastern Balkans, comprising varying parts of the eponymous geographic region during its history. History Traditionally, it has been held th ...

in the hinterland of Thessaloniki. A new

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

called

was created in the late 8th century from the older

. Most of the modern region of Macedonia became in the 9th century a Bulgarian province known as

Kutmichevitsa Kutmichevitsa () was an administrative region of the Bulgarian Empire during 9th-11th cent., corresponding roughly with the northwestern part of the modern region of Macedonia and the southern part of Albania, broadly taken to be the area includ ...

. Its southern parts corresponded to new Byzantine provinces of

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...

and Strymon. The area of North Macedonia was incorporated again into the Byzantine Empire in the early 11th century as a new province called

. As result for nearly thousand years the name of Macedonia had different meanings for Western Europeans and for the Balkan people. For the Westerners it denoted the territory of the

Ancient Macedonia Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

, but for the Balkan Christians, when rarely used, it covered the territories of the former Byzantine theme of Macedonia, situated between modern Turkish

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

and the river Nestos, in present-day

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

. The

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

absorbed the area in the 14th century. There was no Ottoman province called Macedonia. The Balkans became part of province called

Rumelia Rumelia (; ; ) was a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and Vassal state, vassals in E ...

. In the early 19th century the name of Macedonia was almost forgotten in the modern-day area, but within the decades after the Greek independence (1830) it was revived by the Greek propaganda. In 1893 a revolutionary movement against Ottoman rule began, resulting in the

Ilinden Uprising Ilinden ( Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Илинден) or Ilindan ( Serbian Cyrillic: Илиндан), meaning " Saint Elijah's Day", may refer to: Events * Republic Day (North Macedonia) Republic Day () or Ilinden () is a national holiday in North ...

on 2 August 1903 (St. Elias's Day). The failure of the Ilinden Uprising caused a change in the strategy of the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...

(then

Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...

) from revolutionary to institutional. It split into two wings: one led by

Yane Sandanski Yane Ivanov Sandanski (, ; Originally spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, older Bulgarian orthography as (Yane Ivanov Sandanski); 18 May 1872 – 22 April 1915) was a Macedonian Bulgarians, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary and leader ...

and fighting for

autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions Autonomy for the region of Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace within the Ottoman Empire was a concept that arose in the late 19th century and was popular until ca. 1920. The plan was developed among Macedonian Bulgarian, Macedonian and Thracian Bu ...

inside the Ottoman Empire or inside a

Balkan Federation In late 19th and throughout the 20th century, the establishment of a Balkan Federation had been a recurrent suggestion of various political factions in the Balkans. The concept of a Balkan federation emerged in the late 19th century among left-w ...

, and a second Supremist wing supporting the inclusion of Macedonia and Southern Thrace in Bulgaria. After the Ilinden Uprising, the revolutionary movement ceased and opened a space for the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. From 1904 to 1908 the conflict was p ...

: frequent insurgencies of Bulgarian, Greek and Serbian squads into Ottoman Europe, including the ill-defined territory of the wider Macedonian region. In 1912 rivalries resulted in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Greece and Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro) agai ...

of 1912–1913, and the Ottomans lost most of their European lands. In 1913, the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...

began in the aftermath of the division of the Balkans among five entities to have secured control over these territories: Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro (all hitherto recognized).

, in conflict with Serbia, Montenegro and Greece, declared its independence in 1912, striving for recognition. The

Treaty of London (1913) The Treaty of London (1913) was signed on 30 May following the London Conference of 1912–1913. It dealt with the territorial adjustments arising out of the conclusion of the First Balkan War. The London Conference had ended on 23 January 1913 ...

assigned the region of the future Republic of North Macedonia to

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. The outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

allowed Bulgaria to occupy eastern Macedonia and

Vardar Macedonia Vardar Macedonia (Macedonian language, Macedonian and ) is a historical term referring to the central part of the broader Macedonian region, roughly corresponding to present-day North Macedonia. The name derives from the Vardar, Vardar River and i ...

, helping

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

defeat the Serbs by the end of 1915, and leading to the opening of the

Macedonian front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germa ...

against the Greek part of Macedonia. Bulgaria would maintain control over the area until their capitulation in September 1918, at which point the borders reverted (with small adjustments) to the situation of 1913, and the present-day Republic of North Macedonia became part of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

. This period saw the rise of ideals of a separate Macedonian state in Greece. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its name in 1929 to the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

and the present-day Republic of North Macedonia was included as South Serbia in a province named

Vardar Banovina The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( Macedonian and ; ), was a province ( banate) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. History It was located in the southernmost part of the country, encompassing the whole of today's North Mace ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

forces occupied much of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1941. Bulgaria as an associate of the Axis powers advanced into the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Greek province of Macedonia in 1941. The territory of the Republic of North Macedonia was divided between Bulgaria and

Italian Albania Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

in June 1941. The Yugoslav Communists Resistance began officially in 1941 in what is now

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. On 2 August 1944 (St. Elias's Day), honoring the fighters of the Ilinden Uprising, the

Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia The Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (, ''Antifašističko sobranie za narodno osloboduvanje na Makedonija''; Serbo-Croatian: ''Antifašističko sobranje narodnog oslobođenja Makedonije''; abbr. ASNOM) was the supr ...

(ASNOM), meeting in the Bulgarian occupation zone, proclaimed clandestinely the Macedonian state (Democratic Federal Macedonia) as a federal state within the framework of the future Yugoslav federation. In 1946 the

People's Republic of Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...

was recognized by the new communist constitution as a federal component of the newly proclaimed

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

under the leadership of

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

. The issue of the republic's name immediately sparked controversy with Greece over Greek concerns that it presaged a territorial claim on the Greek coastal region of Macedonia (see Territorial concerns below). The U.S.

Roosevelt Roosevelt most often refers to two American presidents: * Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919, president 1901–1909), 26th president of the United States * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945, president 1933–death), 32nd president of the United State ...

administration expressed the same concern through

Edward Stettinius Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (October 22, 1900 – October 31, 1949) was an American businessman who served as United States Secretary of State under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman from 1944 to 1945, and as U.S. Ambassador ...

in 1944. The Greek press and the Greek government of

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

continued to express the above concerns confronting the views of Yugoslavia during the 1980s and until the

Revolutions of 1989 The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Communist state, Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts ...

. In 1963 the People's Republic of Macedonia was renamed the "Socialist Republic of Macedonia" when the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. It dropped the "Socialist" from its name a few months before declaring independence from Yugoslavia in September 1991.

Formation of the Republic of Macedonia

Strong Greek opposition delayed the newly independent republic's accession to the United Nations and its recognition by the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

(EC). Although the

Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on the former Yugoslavia The Arbitration Commission of the Conference on Yugoslavia (commonly known as Badinter Arbitration Committee) was an arbitration body set up by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community (EEC) on 27 August 1991 to provide the co ...

declared that the then called Republic of Macedonia met the conditions set by the EC for international recognition, Greece opposed the international community recognizing the Republic due to a number of objections concerning the country's name, flag and constitution. In an effort to block the European Community from recognizing the Republic,Thanos Veremis, ''Greece'', pp. 315–316. C. Hurst & Co, 2002. the Greek government persuaded the EC to adopt a common declaration establishing conditions for recognition which included a ban on "territorial claims towards a neighboring Community state, hostile propaganda and the use of a denomination that implies territorial claims". Flag of Greek Macedonia

In Greece, about one million

Greek Macedonians Macedonians (, ''Makedónes''), also known as Greek Macedonians or Macedonian Greeks, are a regional and historical population group of ethnic Greeks, inhabiting or originating from the Macedonia (Greece), Greek region of Macedonia, in Geograp ...

participated in the "Rally for Macedonia" (Greek: ''Συλλαλητήριο για τη Μακεδονία''), a very large demonstration that took place in the streets of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

in 1992. The rally aimed to object to "Macedonia" being a part of the name of then newly established Republic of Macedonia. In a following major rally in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and organised by the Macedonians of the

Greek diaspora The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia (), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus. Such places historically (dating to the ancient period) include, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in North Macedonia, North Maced ...

(which has a strong presence there), Jupp, J. ''The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2001. , p. 147. about 100,000 people protested. The major slogan of these rallies was "Macedonia is Greek" (Greek: ''H Μακεδονία είναι ελληνική''). Greece's major political parties agreed on 13 April 1992 not to accept the word "Macedonia" in any way in the new republic's name.Theodore A. Couloumbis, Theodore C. Kariotis, Fotini Bellou, ''Greece in the Twentieth Century'', pp. 146–147. Routledge, 2003. This became the cornerstone of the Greek position on the issue. The Greek diaspora also mobilized in the naming controversy. A U.S. Greek group, Americans for the Just Resolution of the Macedonian Issue, placed a full-page advertisement in the 26 April and 10 May 1992 editions of the ''New York Times'', urging President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

"not to discount the concerns of the Greek people" by recognizing the "Republic of Skopje" as Macedonia. Greek-Canadians mounted a similar campaign. The EC subsequently issued a declaration expressing a willingness "to recognize that republic within its existing borders ... under a name which does not include the term Macedonia". Greek objections likewise held up the wider international recognition of the then Republic of Macedonia. Although the Republic applied for membership of the United Nations on 30 July 1992, its application languished in diplomatic limbo for nearly a year. A few states—

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

—recognized the republic under its constitutional name before its admission to the United Nations. Most, however, waited to see what the United Nations would do. The delay had a serious effect on the Republic, as it led to a worsening of its already precarious economic and political conditions. With war raging in nearby

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and in

, the need to ensure the country's stability became an urgent priority for the international community. The deteriorating security situation led to the UN's first-ever preventative peacekeeping deployment in December 1992, when units of the

United Nations Protection Force The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav War ...

deployed to monitor possible border violations from

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Compromise solutions

During 1992, the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the

International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

all adopted the appellation "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" to refer to the Republic in their discussions and dealings with it. The same terminology was proposed in January 1993 by France, Spain and the United Kingdom, the three EC members of the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

, to enable the Republic to join the United Nations. The proposal was circulated on 22 January 1993 by the

United Nations Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secr ...

. However, it was initially rejected by both sides in the dispute. It was immediately opposed by the Greek Foreign Minister,

Michalis Papakonstantinou Michalis Papakonstantinou (; 1 November 1919 – 17 January 2010) was a Greek politician and author. He studied law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Papakonstantinou served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 7 August 1992 until ...

. In a letter to the Secretary General dated 25 January 1993, he argued that admitting the republic "prior to meeting the necessary prerequisites, and in particular abandoning the use of the denomination 'Republic of Macedonia', would perpetuate and increase friction and tension and would not be conducive to peace and stability in an already troubled region."''Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council Twelfth Supplement 1993–1995''
Chapter VII: Practice relative to recommendations to the General Assembly regarding membership in the United Nations 1993–1995
/ref> The president of the Republic of Macedonia,

Kiro Gligorov Kiro Gligorov (, ; 3 May 1917 – 1 January 2012) was a Macedonian and Yugoslav statesman, economist, and politician who served as the first president of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) from 1991 to 1999. He was born and raised ...

, also opposed the proposed formula. In a letter of 24 March 1993, he informed the President of the United Nations Security Council that "the Republic of Macedonia will in no circumstances be prepared to accept 'the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' as the name of the country." He declared that "we refuse to be associated in any way with the present connotation of the term 'Yugoslavia. The issue of possible Serbian territorial ambitions had been a long-running concern in the Republic of Macedonia, which some Serbian nationalists still called "South Serbia" after its pre-World War II name. The government in the Republic of Macedonia was consequently nervous of any naming formula which might be seen to endorse a possible Serbian territorial claim. Both sides came under intense diplomatic pressure to compromise. The support that Greece had received initially from its allies and partners in

and the

had begun to wane due to a combination of factors that included irritation in some quarters at Greece's hard line on the issue and a belief that Greece had flouted sanctions against

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

. The intra-Community tensions were publicly exposed on 20 January 1993 by the Danish foreign minister,

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen Uffe Ellemann-Jensen (; 1 November 1941 – 18 June 2022) was a Danish politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark in the Det Konservative Folkeparti, Conservative-led Poul Schlüter Administration from 1982 to 1993. He was ...

, who attracted the ire of Greek members of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

when he described the Greek position as "ridiculous" and expressed the hope that "the Security Council will very quickly recognise Macedonia and that many of the member states of the Community will support this."Tom Gallagher, ''The Balkans in the New Millennium: In the Shadow of War and Peace'', pp. 7–8. Routledge, 2005. The Greek Prime Minister,

Konstantinos Mitsotakis Konstantinos Mitsotakis (, ; – 29 May 2017) was a Greek politician who was Prime Minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993. He graduated in law and economics from the University of Athens. His son, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was elected as the Prime Mi ...

, took a much more moderate line on the issue than many of his colleagues in the governing

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a type of democracy in Marxism, based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that w ...

party. Despite opposition from hardliners, he endorsed the proposal in March 1993.Daniel L. Bethlehem, Marc Weller, ''The 'Yugoslav' Crisis in International Law'', p. xlv. Cambridge University Press, 1997. The acceptance of the formula by Athens also led to the reluctant acquiescence of the government in Skopje, though it too was divided between moderates and hardliners on the issue. On 7 April 1993, the UN Security Council endorsed the admission of the republic in

United Nations Security Council Resolution 817 United Nations Security Council resolution 817, adopted unanimously on 7 April 1993, after examining the application of the Republic of Macedonia for membership in the United Nations, the council recommended to the General Assembly that Macedonia ...

. It recommended to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

"that the State whose application is contained in document S/25147 be admitted to membership in the United Nations, this State being provisionally referred to for all purposes within the United Nations as 'the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' pending settlement of the difference that has arisen over the name of the State." The recommendation was agreed by the General Assembly, which passed Resolution 225 on the following day, 8 April, using virtually the same language as the Security Council. The Republic of Macedonia thus became the 181st member of the United Nations. The compromise solution, as set out in the two resolutions, was very carefully worded in an effort to meet the objections and concerns of both sides. The wording of the resolutions rested on four key principles: * The appellation " rmer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" is a provisional term to be used only until the dispute was resolved.Jochen Abr. Frowein, Rüdiger Wolfrum, ''Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law 1997'', p. 239. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1998. * The term was a ''reference'', not a name; as a neutral party in the dispute, the United Nations had not sought to determine the name of the state. The

President of the Security Council The presidency of the United Nations Security Council is responsible for leading the United Nations Security Council. It rotates among the fifteen member-states of the council monthly. The head of the country's delegation is known as the president ...

subsequently issued a statement declaring on behalf of the Council that the term "merely reflected the historic fact that it had been in the past a republic of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia". The purpose of the term was also emphasised by the fact that the expression begins with the uncapitalised words "the former Yugoslav", acting as a descriptive term, rather than "the Former Yugoslav", which would act as a

proper noun A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity ('' Africa''; ''Jupiter''; '' Sarah''; ''Walmart'') as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

. By also being a reference rather than a name, it met Greek concerns that the term "Macedonia" should not be used in the republic's internationally recognised name. * The use of the term was purely "for all purposes within the United Nations"; it was not being mandated for any other party. * The term did not imply that the Republic of Macedonia had any connection with the existing Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as opposed to the historical and now-defunct Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. One additional concern that had to be taken care of was the seating of the Republic of Macedonia in the General Assembly. Greece rejected seating the Republic's representative under M s in "Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of)" and the Republic rejected sitting under F (as in "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", which turned the reference into a proper noun rather than a description). Instead, it was seated under T as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and placed next to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. In due course, the same convention was adopted by many other international organisations and states but they did so independently, not as the result of being instructed by the UN. For its part, Greece did not adopt the UN terminology at this stage and did not recognise the Republic under any name. The rest of the international community did not immediately recognise the Republic, but this did eventually happen at the end of 1993 and start of 1994.

The People's Republic of China ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

was the first major power to act, recognising the Republic under its constitutional name on 13 October 1993. On 16 December 1993, two weeks before Greece was due to take up the European Union presidency, six key EC countries—Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom—recognised the Republic under its UN designation. Other EC countries followed suit in quick succession and by the end of December, all EC member states except Greece had recognised the Republic. Japan, Russia and the United States followed suit on 21 December 1993, 3 February 1994, and 9 February 1994 respectively.

Continuing dispute

Despite the apparent success of the compromise agreement, it led to an upsurge in nationalist agitation in both countries. Anti-Western and anti-American feelings came to the fore in Greece, in response to a perception that Greece's partners in the EC and NATO had betrayed it. The government of Constantine Mitsotakis was highly vulnerable; it had a majority of only a couple of seats and was under considerable pressure from ultra-nationalists. After the country's admission to the UN, the hardline former foreign minister

Antonis Samaras Antonis Samaras (, ; born 23 May 1951) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. A member of the New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his na ...

broke away from the governing New Democracy (ND) party along with three like-minded deputies who resented what they saw as the prime minister's unacceptable weakness on the Macedonian issue. This defection deprived ND of its slim parliamentary majority and ultimately caused the fall of the government, which suffered a landslide defeat in the general election of October 1993. It was replaced by the

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...

party under

, who introduced an even more hardline policy on Macedonia and withdrew from the UN-sponsored negotiations on the naming issue in late October. The government of the Republic of Macedonia also faced domestic opposition for its part in the agreement. Protest rallies against the UN's temporary reference were held in the cities of

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

Kočani Kočani ( ) is a town in the eastern part of North Macedonia, situated around east from Skopje. It has a population of 24,632 as of 2021 and is the seat of the Kočani Municipality. Geography The town spreads across the Northern side of the K ...

and Resen. The parliament only accepted the agreement by a narrow margin, with 30 deputies voting in favour, 28 voting against and 13 abstaining. The nationalist

VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...

party (then in opposition) called a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

over the naming issue, but the government survived with 62 deputies voting in its favour. The naming dispute has not been confined to the Balkans, as immigrant communities from both countries have actively defended the positions of their respective homelands around the world, organising large protest rallies in major European, North American and Australian cities. After Australia recognised the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" in early 1994, tensions between the two communities reached a climax, with churches and properties hit by a series of tit-for-tat bomb and arson attacks in

Greek embargo

The relations between the two countries further worsened in February 1994 when Greece imposed a trade embargo on Macedonia which coincided with the UN embargo on Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on its northern border. The combined blockade denied Macedonia access to its closest and most accessible sea port, Thessaloniki, and rendered its main north-south trade route useless. The country was forced to supply itself through the undeveloped east-west route. During the embargo oil was imported to Macedonia via the Bulgarian port of

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

, which is located over 700 km from Skopje, on tank trucks using a mountain road. It has been estimated that Macedonia suffered damages of around US$2 billion due to the trade embargo. Greece received heavy international criticism; the embargo lasted for 18 months, and was lifted after the interim accord between the two countries was signed in October 1995.

Interim accord

Greece and the Republic of Macedonia eventually formalised bilateral relations in an interim accord signed in New York on 13 September 1995. Under the agreement, the Republic removed the

from its flag and allegedly

clauses from its constitution, and both countries committed to continuing negotiations on the naming issue under UN auspices. For its part, Greece agreed that it would not object to any application by the Republic so long as it used only the appellation set out in "paragraph 2 of the United Nations Security Council resolution 817" (i.e. "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"). This opened the door for the Republic to join a variety of international organisations and initiatives, including the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

, the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

(OSCE) and

Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; ) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust and cooperation between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; 18 states are ...

. The accord was not a conventional perpetual treaty, as it can be superseded or revoked, but its provisions are legally binding in terms of international law. Most unusually, it did not use the names of either party. Greece, "the Party of the First Part", recognised the Republic of Macedonia under the term "the Party of the Second Part". The accord did not specifically identify either party by name (thus avoiding the awkwardness of Greece having to use the term "Macedonia" in reference to its northern neighbour). Instead, it identified the two parties elliptically by describing the Party of the First Part as having

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

as its capital and the Party of the Second Part having its capital at

. Subsequent declarations have continued this practice of referring to the parties without naming them.

Cyrus Vance Cyrus Roberts Vance (March 27, 1917January 12, 2002) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 57th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to serving in that position, he was the United ...

was the witness of Interim Accord as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Stalemate

The naming issue was effectively at a stalemate until the 2018 agreement. Various names had been proposed over the years, for instance "New Macedonia", "Upper Macedonia", "Slavo-Macedonia", "Nova Makedonija", "Macedonia (Skopje)" and so on. However, these had invariably fallen foul of the initial Greek position that no permanent formula incorporating the term "Macedonia" was acceptable. Athens had counter-proposed the names "Vardar Republic" or "Republic of Skopje", but the government and opposition parties in Skopje had consistently rejected any solution that eliminated the term "Macedonia" from the country's name. Following these developments, Greece has gradually revised its position and demonstrated its acceptance of a composite appellation, with a geographical qualifier,

erga omnes In legal terminology, rights or obligations are owed toward all. is a Latin phrase which means "towards all" or "towards everyone". For instance, a property right is an entitlement and therefore enforceable against anybody infringing that right ...

(i.e. the incorporation of the term "Macedonia" in the name, but with the use of a disambiguating name specification, for international and intergovernmental use). The inhabitants of the Republic were overwhelmingly opposed to changing the country's name. A June 2007 opinion poll found that 77% of the population were against a change in the country's constitutional name, and 72% supported the Republic's accession to

only if it was admitted under its constitutional name. Only 8% supported accession under the reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". A number of states recognized the Republic of Macedonia by its constitutional name. A few had recognised it by this name from the start, while most others had switched from recognising it under its UN reference. By September 2007, 118 countries (61% of all UN member states) had recognised the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name, including the likes of the United States, Russia and China. Some observers had suggested that the gradual revision of the Greek position means that "the question appears destined to die" in due course. On the other hand, attempts by the Republic to persuade international organisations to drop the provisional reference have met with limited success. A recent example was the rejection by the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

of a draft proposal to replace the provisional reference with the constitutional name in

documents. The compromise reference is always used in relations when states not recognising the constitutional name are present. This is because the UN refers to the country only as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". Moscow's ambassador to Athens, Andrei Vdovin, stated that Russia will support whichever solution stems from the UN compromise talks, while hinting that "it is some other countries that seem to have a problem in doing so". Most Greeks reject the use of the word "Macedonia" to describe the Republic of Macedonia, instead calling it "ΠΓΔΜ" (, the Greek translation of "FYROM"), or ''

'', after the country's capital. The latter

metonymic Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as salespe ...

name is not used by non-Greeks, and many inhabitants of the Republic regard it as insulting. Greeks also call the country's inhabitants ''Skopians'' (Greek: ''Σκοπιανοί''), a derogatory term. Greek official sources sometimes also use the term "Slavomacedonian"; the U.S. Department of State has used the term side by side with "Macedonian" in context of the ethnic Macedonian minority in Greek Macedonia and their inability to self-determine as ''Macedonians'' due to pressure by the Greek government. Both terms were used by the U.S. Department of State in quotation marks to reflect nomenclature being used in

Greek Macedonia Macedonia ( ; , ) is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece, in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and geographic region in Greece, with a population of 2.36 million (as of 2020). It is highly mountainous, wit ...

. The name "Macedonian Slavs" (Македонски Словени) is another term used to refer to the ethnic Macedonians, though this term can be viewed as derogatory by ethnic Macedonians, including those in Greek Macedonia. The name had been occasionally used in early ethnic Macedonian literary sources as in

Krste Misirkov Krste Petkov Misirkov (, ; ; Serbian Cyrillic: Крста Петковић Мисирков; ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer from the region of Macedonia. In the period between 1903 ...

's work ''On Macedonian Matters'' (''Za Makedonckite Raboti'') in 1903. Although the two countries continued to argue over the name, in practice they dealt pragmatically with each other. Economic relations and cooperation resumed to such an extent that, as of 2006, Greece was considered one of the Republic's most important foreign economic partners and investors.

2005–2006 proposals and the "double name formula"

In 2005,

, UN Special Representative, suggested using "Republika Makedonija-Skopje" for official purposes. Greece did not accept the proposal outright, but characterised it as "a basis for constructive negotiations". Prime Minister

Vlado Bučkovski Vlado Bučkovski (; born 2 December 1962) is a Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Prime Minister of Macedonia from 2004 to 2006. He previously served as Minister of Defense (North Macedonia), Minister of Defence ...

rejected the proposal and counterproposed a "double name formula" where the international community uses "Republic of Macedonia" and Greece uses "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". Nimetz was reported to have made a new proposal in October 2005; that the name "Republika Makedonija" should be used by those countries that have recognised the country under that name and that Greece should use the formula "Republika Makedonija – Skopje", while the international institutions and organisations should use the name "Republika Makedonia" in Latin alphabet transcription. Although the government of the Republic of Macedonia accepted the proposal as a good basis for solving the dispute, Greece rejected the proposal as unacceptable. In December 2006, the newly-elected

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

-led government of the Republic announced the intent to rename

Skopje Airport Skopje International Airport (, ) , also known as Skopje Airport (, ) and Petrovec Airport is the larger and busier of the two international airports in North Macedonia, with the other being the Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, St. Paul the A ...

"Petrovec" to "Aleksandar Veliki" (

). Matthew Nimetz was invited to Athens in January 2007, where he commented that the efforts to mediate in the issue over the name were "affected and not in a positive way".

NATO and EU accession talks

The Republic of Macedonia's aspirations to join the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and

under its constitutional name caused controversy in recent years. Under the Interim Accord of September 1995, Greece agreed not to obstruct the Republic's applications for membership in international bodies as long as it did so under its provisional UN appellation. Leading Greek officials had repeatedly stated that Athens would

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...

the country's accession in the absence of a resolution to the dispute. The Greek foreign minister,

Dora Bakoyannis Theodora "Dora" Bakoyanni (, ; née Mitsotaki, ; born May 6, 1954) is a Greek politician. From 2006 to 2009 she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, the highest position ever to have been held by a woman in the Cabinet of Greece at the ti ...

, stated that "the Hellenic Parliament, under any composition, will not ratify the accession of the neighbouring country to the EU and NATO if the name issue is not resolved beforehand." The Greek Prime Minister

Kostas Karamanlis Konstantinos A. Karamanlis (; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis (, ), is a Greek retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece, prime minister of Greece from 2004 to 2009. He was also president of the Centr ...

had initially denied ever committing himself unequivocally to exercising Greece's right of veto, stating instead that he would only block the neighbouring country's application for EU and NATO membership if it sought to be admitted as the "Republic of Macedonia", but on 19 October 2007, he stated that without a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue, the country could not join either NATO or the EU. Negotiations between Athens and Skopje were resumed on the 1 November 2007, continued on 1 December of the same year, and a bilateral meeting was held in January 2008. On 19 February 2008 in Athens, the delegations of the two countries met under the auspices of the UN mediator, Matthew Nimetz. They were presented with a new framework, which they both accepted as a basis for further negotiations. The new framework was intended to be secret so that negotiations could take place, but was leaked early in the press. The full text in Greek was published initially by ''

To Vima ''To Vima'' () is a Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed la ...

'' and circulated speedily in all major media. It contained 8 points, and the general idea was a "composite name solution" for all international purposes.Enet News
Ολόκληρο το κείμενο της πρότασης Νίμιτς (''Whole text of the Nimetz proposal'')
Automatic translation in English
, Retrieved on 2008-03-06. It also contained five proposed names: * "Constitutional Republic of Macedonia" * "Democratic Republic of Macedonia" * "Independent Republic of Macedonia" * "New Republic of Macedonia" * "Republic of Upper Macedonia" On 27 February 2008, a rally was held in Skopje called by several organisations in support of the name "Republic of Macedonia". Greek nationalist party

Popular Orthodox Rally The Popular Orthodox Rally or People's Orthodox Alarm (Greek: Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός, ''Laikós Orthódoxos Synagermós''), often abbreviated to LAOS (ΛΑ.Ο.Σ.) as a reference to the Greek word for ''people'', is ...

also organised a similar rally in Thessaloniki on 5 March, in support of the name "Macedonia" being used only by Greece. The Greek church and both major Greek parties strongly discouraged such protests "during this sensitive time of negotiation". On 2 March 2008, in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, Matthew Nimetz announced that the talks had failed, that there was a "gap" in the positions of the two countries, and that there would not be any progress, unless there were some sort of compromise, which he characterised as "valuable" for both sides. After Greek PM Karamanlis's warnings that "no solution equals no invitation",Skai News
, "Μη λύση σημαίνει μη πρόσκληση" (''No Solution equals No Invitation''), Retrieved on 2008-03-02. the Greek media took it for granted that Greece would

the coming NATO accession talks for the country, in the Foreign Ministers' summit on 6 March 2008 in Brussels.in.gr
Στην Αθήνα τη Δευτέρα ο γγ του ΝΑΤΟ με φόντο το αδιέξοδο στο θέμα της ΠΓΔΜ (''NATO Secretary in Athens on Monday after FYROM issue deadlock''), Retrieved on 2008-03-02. Meanwhile, in a newer poll in Greece, the "composite name that includes the name Macedonia for the country" seemed, for the first time, to be marginally more popular than the previous more hard-lined stance of "no Macedonia in the title" (43% vs 42%). In the same poll, 84% of the respondents were pro-veto in the country's NATO accession talks, if the issue had not been resolved by then. All Greek political parties except the small nationalist party Popular Orthodox Rally support the "composite name for all uses" solution, and are vehemently opposed to any "double name" formula which is proposed by the republic. This shift in the official and public position was described by the PM of Greece as "the maximum recoil possible". Following his visit to Athens in an attempt to persuade the Greek government not to proceed to a veto, the NATO Secretary General

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer (; born 3 April 1948) is a Dutch retired politician, jurist and diplomat who served as the eleventh Secretary General of NATO from January 2004 to August 2009. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (C ...

implied that the onus to compromise rested on the Republic of Macedonia. In the same spirit, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner

Olli Rehn Olli Ilmari Rehn (; born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement from 2004 ...

, expressed his fear that "it might have negative consequences on FYROM's EU bid, although it is a bilateral question, Greece—as any other EU member—has the right to veto".Skai News
, "Παραμένει το χάσμα" (''"The gap remains"''), Retrieved on 2008-03-05. On 5 March 2008, Nimetz visited Skopje to try to find common ground on his proposal, but announced that "the gap remains". As earlier anticipated, on 6 March 2008, in the NATO Foreign Minister's summit in Brussels, Greek minister

announced that "as regards the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, ... , unfortunately, the policy followed by our neighbouring country in its relations with Greece, on the one side with intransigence and on the other with a logic of nationalist and irredentist actions tightly connected with the naming issue, does not allow us to maintain a positive stance, as we did for Croatia and Albania. ... As long as there is no such solution, Greece will remain an insuperable obstacle to the European and Euro-Atlantic ambition of FYROM".Skai News
, "Η Ελλάδα ανυπέρβλητο εμπόδιο" (''"Greece, an insuperable obstacle"''), Retrieved on 2008-03-07.Skai News Video
"Λύση ή Βέτο" (''"Solution or Veto"''), video of Bakoyannis' press interview after the summit, Retrieved on 2008-03-07. On 7 March 2008, the U.S.

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs is a position within the United States Department of State that leads the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs charged with implementing American foreign policy in Europe and Eu ...

Daniel Fried Daniel Fried (born 1952) is an American diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2005 to 2009 and United States ambassador to Poland from 1997 to 2000.VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...

and

Democratic Party of Albanians The Democratic Party of Albanians (; , ''Demokratska Partija na Albancite'') or DPA is a political party of ethnic Albanians in North Macedonia. The DPA is a merger of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Albanians (PDPA) and the People's De ...

(DPA) and subsequently the negotiating power of PM

Nikola Gruevski Nikola Gruevski (, pronounced ; born 31 August 1970) is a former Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Prime Minister of Macedonia from 2006 until his resignation, which was caused by the 2016 Macedonian protests, ...

with regards to the naming dispute, after the leader of DPA Menduh Thaçi accused the government of not complying with its requests about the rights of

Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia Albanians in North Macedonia (, ) are ethnic Albanians who constitute the second largest ethnic group in North Macedonia, forming 446,245 individuals or 24.3% of the resident population. Of the 2,097,319 total population in the 2021 census (incl ...

.Reuters
"Albanian party threatens to bring down Macdonian govt", Retrieved on 2008-03-12 Greek media considered the option that the crisis might be a diplomatic way of increasing the pressure on the Greek side. Following a call for cooperation by the president

Branko Crvenkovski Branko Crvenkovski (, pronounced ; born 12 October 1962) is a Macedonian politician who served as the President of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) from 2004 to 2009. He previously served as Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1992 to 1998 and from ...

, the other four major parties agreed to support Gruevski's government until NATO's convention in Bucharest on 4 April 2008. The possibility of a failure of the ascension talks was met with unease by the

ethnic Albanian The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

part of the population that places more importance on EU and NATO membership than on the Macedonia name issue. Following the declaration of Athens for a veto, the press in Skopje reported increased intervention from the United States to solve the dispute, through

Victoria Nuland Victoria Jane Nuland (born July 1, 1961) is an American diplomat who served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2021 to 2024. A former member of the US Foreign Service, she served as Assistant Secretary of State for European an ...

, the U.S. NATO ambassador. Antonio Milošoski announced that "Nimetz's proposal remains unchanged". The daily newspaper ''

Dnevnik Dnevnik means "The Daily" or "Daily News" in South Slavic languages. It can also be translated as "Diary". Closely related Slavic variants of the word are Deník (Czech) Dziennik ( Polish) and Дневник (Russian). It may refer to: ;In broad ...

'' reported that diplomatic sources claimed that this would be the last attempt from the American leadership to help in finding a solution, and that the target of this effort would be for the country to retreat from its position in regard to a "double name formula" and for Greece to accept something along these lines. It continued by saying that the U.S. would exercise pressure on both sides to find a solution before NATO's summit, so that the alliance could be expanded.

urged "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to show the correct political will in seizing the opportunity to find an acceptable solution for both parts".Skai News
, "Η εντολή του Νίμιτς παραμένει ως έχει" (''"Nimetz's order remains unchanged"''), Retrieved on 2008-03-18. A new meeting between Nimetz and the two parties was arranged on 17 March 2008 in Vienna, in the office of the former UN special envoy to Kosovo and ex-

president of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (, 23 June 1937 – 16 October 2023) was a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland, from 1994 to 2000, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediation, mediator noted for his inte ...

. Nimetz noted that he did not present any new proposals, thanked the United States with whom he said he was in contact, and urged more countries to help in solving the dispute. He also announced that he was more optimistic after this meeting, and that he focused only on the solutions that could be applied by NATO's summit in April. Macedonia ad400

According to the press in the Republic of Macedonia Nimetz now limited his proposal to three names of the five that were proposed in his original framework: * "Republic of Upper Macedonia" * "New Republic of Macedonia" or "Republic of New Macedonia" * "Republic of Macedonia-Skopje" Of the three, Greek media reported that the only serious contender was "New Macedonia", which was the solution favoured at the time throughout the round of negotiations by Washington, which regarded it as the "most neutral" option. According to some reports, all three proposals were swiftly rejected by Skopje on the grounds that "neither would constitute a logical basis for a solution, given that all had been rejected by one or the other side over the last 15 years". Greek diplomatic sources intimated that international pressure had now shifted towards the former Yugoslav republic.Skai News
, Εντατικές διαπραγματεύσεις για το όνομα (''Intense negotiations for the name''), Retrieved on 2008-03-18. A special meeting outside the auspices of the UN was arranged on 21 March 2008, at U.S. ambassador's to NATO

's house in Brussels, between the two foreign ministers

and

Antonio Milošoski Antonio Milošoski (born January 29, 1976) is a Republic of Macedonia, Macedonian politician, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (North Macedonia), minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Macedonia from 2006 to 2011 and a member of VMRO-DP ...

and with the presence of the U.S.

Daniel Fried Daniel Fried (born 1952) is an American diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2005 to 2009 and United States ambassador to Poland from 1997 to 2000.Skai News
, "Δέσμευση" για το όνομα (''"Commitment" for the name''), Retrieved on 2008-03-22.Skai News
, Νέος γύρος συνομιλιών για το όνομα (''New round of talks for the name''), Retrieved on 2008-03-22. Following the meeting, both ministers stressed for the first time their "commitment" for finding a solution before NATO's summit. In 2011, the first voices seeking compromise started to be heard in Skopje.Skai News
, Σύσκεψη για το όνομα στα Σκόπια (''Meeting for the name in Skopje''), Retrieved on 2008-03-22. The president of the republic,

, announced: "If during the ongoing talks we can reach a rational compromise, which from the one side will defend our ethnic identity, and from the other will enable us to receive the NATO invitation, while at the same time canceling our further EU accession obstacles, then I think that this is something that must be supported, and I personally side with the supporters. Some accuse me that with my stance I am undermining the negotiating position of the Republic of Macedonia, yet I do not agree, because we are not in the beginning, but in the final phase of the negotiations. The one who will tell me that the price is high, is obliged to address the public opinion and announce an alternative scenario on how Macedonia will develop in the next ten to fifteen years."in.gr
Ενισχύονται οι φωνές στο εσωτερικό της ΠΓΔΜ για ένα «λογικό συμβιβασμό» στην ονομασία (''Voices within FYROM for a "logical compromise" are louder''), Retrieved on 2008-03-22. In the same spirit, opposing

New Social Democratic Party The New Social Democratic Party (NSDP; ) is a centre-left, social democratic political party in North Macedonia. Its leader is Goran Misovski. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, it received 6% of the vote. In the 2016 parliamentary election ...

party leader

Tito Petkovski Tito Petkovski () (born 23 January 1945) is a Macedonian politician, and leader of the New Social Democratic Party. Early life Petkovski was born in Kriva Palanka, DFR Yugoslavia and was named after President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito.

(which by now was participating in the governmental coalition until NATO's summit), announced: "I do not hide that we must proceed on an international usage name's change, with some type of addition, which in no way must put our values under question. I do not want to proceed in an auction with the name, because that will be very damaging also for the interests of the neighboring country that disputes it." He added that "the overwhelming majority of the state and the scholars, ask for a solution and for a way out, using something that does not put our identity and our cultural distinction under questioning. I think that such a solution can be found, especially if the greatest lobbyists and supporters of ours, the United States, declare that Macedonia will be safe, with a safe territorial integrity, with financial support and dynamic development. If we declare which name we support, probably there will be more terms". However, governing

party leader and prime minister at the time,

, when asked to comment on these statements, said: "We have different views from Mr. Petkovski, however there is still time to overcome these differences and reach a solution which will benefit the country". Centre-left Greek newspaper ''

'' reported that the two countries were close to an agreement on the basis of the name "New Macedonia" or the untranslated native form, "Nova Makedonija". Another meeting under the auspices of UN mediator

was held in New York on 25 March 2008.Skai News
, "Όνομα με γεωγραφική διάσταση" (''"Name with a geographic dimension"''), Retrieved on 2008-03-26. Nimetz announced his final proposal, with a name "with a geographic dimension, and for all purposes". He also noted that the proposal was a compromise, and that the ways of implementation were also included in his proposal. The two representatives would urgently return to their countries for consultation on this proposal, given the short timeframe until NATO's summit. According to Greek media reports at the time, Nimetz revived his 2005 proposal, "Republic of Macedonia-Skopje". The news agency for Macedonian private television station A1 reported that the full proposal was: * The constitutional name, in Cyrillic ("Република Македонија") could be used for internal purposes. * "Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)" would be used for international relations. * For bilateral relations, "Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)" is suggested, and any countries using the state's constitutional name would be encouraged to use it, but not forced to change it. * The terms "Macedonia" and "Macedonian", on their own, would be able to be used freely by both countries The Macedonian government did not issue a statement on whether the proposal has been accepted or rejected. Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis told journalists that the proposal does not meet Greece's stated objectives. The Macedonian foreign minister, Antonio Milošoski, stated that any reasonable solution that did not impose on the identity of ethnic Macedonians would be explored. However, he also stated that if Greece were to veto the country's entrance into NATO, compromise talks would be stopped. Meanwhile, police in Skopje said they were investigating death threats against academics, journalists and politicians who publicly favoured reaching a compromise in the dispute with Greece.

NATO non-invitation

On 3 April 2008, at

's summit in Bucharest, Greece presented its case on the non-invitation of the republic. NATO secretary general

announced the mutually agreed text of the NATO members, which included the following points: * Reason for no invitation was the inability to find solution in the name dispute * Open invitation to the government of Skopje for new negotiations for the name under the auspices of the United Nations, * The wish that those negotiations start as soon as possible, * And the further wish that they are concluded as soon as possible, without mentioning a specific time frame.Skai News
, Νέα δεδομένα μετά το βέτο (''New situation after veto'
machine translation in English
, retrieved on 2008-04-03.Mega channel
ΝΑΤΟ: Μόνο με λύση η πρόσκληση (''NATO: Invitation only after solution'
machine translation in English
, retrieved on 2008-04-03.NATO 2008 Bucharest summit

(par.20), Retrieved on 2008-04-13. A major concern cited by Greek officials was a number of maps that have circulated by nationalist groups based in Skopje depicting parts of Greece (including Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city) as being part of a future

, and the country's prime minister photographed laying a wreath under such a map just a few weeks before the summit. Also a poster displayed in Skopje just days before the Bucharest summit by an artist replacing the white cross on the

Greek flag The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the Blue-and-White (, ) or the Cyan-and-White (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 5 equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There ...

with the

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

, as a way of comparing modern Greece to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and caricatures of Greek PM Karamanlis depicted wearing a Nazi SS uniform led to vigorous Greek diplomatic protests and international condemnation although the government disassociated itself from the depictions and expressed it has no connection and no authority over artists' works. According to Greek media reports, the Greek position was strongly supported by France and Spain. Italy, Portugal,

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, Belgium, Hungary,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, and the Netherlands also showed understanding to the Greek concerns. The U.S. proposal for inviting the country under its UN provisional reference (FYROM) was backed by

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and Norway; Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada were reported neutral. According to polls, 95% of Greeks believed the veto appropriate, while only 1% opposed it. Then Foreign Affairs Minister

stated that her country would continue to focus on promoting its neighbour's NATO and EU accession as soon as the naming issue is resolved.

"Antiquisation" policy, 2006–2017

Since coming to power in 2006, and especially since the Republic of Macedonia's non-invitation to NATO in 2008, the nationalist

government pursued a policy of " Antiquisation" ("Antikvizatzija") as a way of putting pressure on Greece and for domestic identity-building. Antiquisation was also spreading due to intensive lobbying by the

Macedonian diaspora The Macedonian diaspora () consists of ethnic Macedonian emigrants and their descendants in countries such as Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and others. A 1964 estimate put the number of Mac ...

from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Australia.''Comparative Archaeologies: A Sociological View of the Science of the Past'' (ch. ''The Macedonian Question''), Ludomir R. Lozny, Springer, 2011, p.42

/ref> As part of this policy, stations and airports were renamed after Ancient Macedonian figures, and statues of

and

Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon (; 382 BC – October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...

were built in several cities across the country. In 2011, a massive, 22 m tall statue of

(called "Warrior on a horse" because of the dispute with Greece) was inaugurated in Macedonia Square in

, as part of the

Skopje 2014 Skopje 2014 () was a project financed by the government of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) of the then-ruling nationalist party VMRO-DPMNE, with the official purpose of giving the capital Skopje a more Classical architecture, ...

remodelling of the city. An even larger statue of Philip II was under construction at the other end of the square. Statues of Alexander also adorn the town squares of

Prilep Prilep ( ) is the List of cities in North Macedonia, fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. According to 2021 census, it had a population of 63,308. Name The name of Prilep appeared first as ''Πρίλαπος'' in Greek (''Prilapos'') in 1 ...

and

Štip Štip ( ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2021 census, the city of Štip had ...

, while a statue to Philip II of Macedon was recently built in

Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...

. A triumphal arch named Porta Macedonia, constructed in the same square, features images of historical figures including Alexander the Great, causing the Greek Foreign Ministry to lodge an official complaint to authorities in the Republic of Macedonia. Additionally, many pieces of public infrastructure, such as airports, highways, and stadiums, were named after them. Skopje's airport was renamed "Alexander the Great Airport" and antique objects were moved there from Skopje's archeological museum. One of Skopje's main squares was renamed Pella Square (after

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedon, which falls within modern Greece), while the main highway to Greece was renamed to "Alexander of Macedon" and Skopje's largest stadium was renamed "Philip II Arena". These actions were seen as deliberate provocations in neighboring Greece, exacerbating the dispute and further stalling Macedonia's EU and NATO applications. Antiquisation faced criticism by academics as it demonstrated feebleness of archaeology and of other historical disciplines in public discourse, as well as a danger of

marginalization Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

. The policy also attracted criticism domestically, by ethnic Macedonians within the country, who saw it as dangerously dividing the country between those who identify with

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

and those who identify with the country's Slavic culture. Ethnic

saw it as an attempt to marginalise them and exclude them from the national narrative. Foreign diplomats warned that the policy reduced international sympathy for the Republic of Macedonia in the naming dispute with Greece.

A continuing negotiation

The

Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia is the unicameral legislature of North Macedonia. According to the Constitution, the Sobranie represents the people and is vested with legislative power. It can have between 120 and 140 MPs (current ...

voted on 11 April 2008 to dissolve itself and hold early elections within sixty days. Following a meeting with the four major parties, president

announced the continuation of the negotiations for the name, despite the parliament dissolution.Skai News
, Συνεχίζονται οι διαπραγματεύσεις (''Negotiations continue'
English machine translation
, Retrieved on 2008-04-12. The parties agreed that the dispute should not be a matter of heavy political debate before the elections. Matthew Nimetz visited Skopje on 17 April 2008 and Athens on the following day, initiating a new cycle of negotiations, but without bearing a new proposal yet. Talks continued in New York from 30 April to 2 May 2008, though Nimetz again did not propose a new compromise name.

2008 proposal and reactions

According to media from both sides, the main points of the proposal from 8 October 2008 were the following: * the name "Republic of Macedonia" will stay the official name inside the country (in the native language) * the name for the country in all official purposes (i.e.

, EU,

) will be "Republic of North Macedonia" () * UN Security Council will suggest to third countries to use the name "Republic of North Macedonia" in official bilateral relations * the name "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" will no longer be an acceptable name for the country * "Macedonia" alone cannot be used by any of the two parties as an official name for the country or the region. * Both parties can use "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" in unofficial settings, with the precondition that they will not claim exclusive rights of any kind. * the front page of the

North Macedonian passport The North Macedonian passport (Macedonian: Пасош на Северна Македонија, ''Pasoš na Severna Makedonija,'' Albanian: ''Pasaporta e Maqedonisë së Veriut'') is a travel document issued to citizens of North Macedonia for the ...

s will contain the following names for the country: ** ''Republic of North Macedonia'' in English ** ''République de Macédoine du Nord'' in French ** Република Македонија in

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...

* Greece will support the integration of its neighbouring country into EU and

* both countries will confirm that they have no territorial claims towards each other

Reaction by ethnic Macedonian politicians/diplomats

The cabinet of the

President of the Republic of Macedonia The president of the Republic of North Macedonia (; )In Macedonian, the feminine form of the position is ''Претседателка на Република Северна Македонија'', while in Albanian it is ''Presidentја е Rep ...

, announced that the Republic of Macedonia wanted "serious changes" in the latest proposal and that the presented set of ideas could not be a basis for the resolution of the dispute. Prime minister

agreed with Crvenkovski.

Reaction by Greek politicians/diplomats

The English edition of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported that Greek diplomats privately welcomed the proposals. Greek Foreign Minister

, however, did not make a comment on the newest set of proposals. It was also said that Athens would not state its position before Skopje. In the meantime, all major opposition parties expressed serious concerns about the proposal since it crossed the "red line" that Greece had set on a single name to be used ''

''. Before either Athens or Skopje had officially responded to the proposal, the Athenian daily ''Ethnos'' published an alleged secret diplomatic correspondence of the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

. The leaked document, originally tagged as classified until 2018, was said to detail a behind-the-scenes deal between Washington and Skopje on the main provisions of the Nimetz proposal as early as July. According to the newspaper, the latest UN-sponsored set of ideas were secretly sketched to please Skopje by the U.S. Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

three months earlier. The report sparked outrage in Greece, with opposition parties accusing the government of tolerating "US interference" in the UN mediation process and calling for Greece's withdrawal from the negotiations. Skopje "strongly and categorically" denied all claims of the existence of a secret deal with Washington.

Reaction by Bulgarian politicians/diplomats

Bulgarian Prime Minister

Boyko Borisov Boyko Metodiev Borisov (, born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria on three separate occasions, serving a total of 9 years between 2009 and 2021, making him the country's longest-serving post-communi ...

, stated in June 2012 that names like "Northern Macedonia" would be completely unacceptable, since this geographical term would include Bulgarian territories, and more specifically the region of

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...

, giving rise to irredentist territorial claims by nationalist ethnic Macedonians against Bulgaria.

The International Court of Justice

In November 2008, Republic of Macedonia instituted proceedings against the Hellenic Republic in front of the UN's

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

for what it described as "a flagrant violation of reece'sobligations under Article 11 of the Interim Accord signed by the Parties on 13 September 1995". The alleged violation was referring to the blockade by Athens to Macedonia's bid for NATO membership. Following the submissions of memorials and counter-memorials, and the public hearings, the legal positions of the parties were as follows: Republic of Macedonia requested that: # Greek objections to the jurisdiction of the Court should be rejected, # The Court should adjudge and declare that Greece has violated the obligations under the provisions of the Interim Accord, Article 11, paragraph 1, and # The Court to order Greece to immediately take all necessary steps to comply with the obligations under the above provisions, and to refrain from objecting in any way, directly or indirectly, to the membership of the Republic of Macedonia in NATO and/or any other "international, multilateral and regional organizations and institutions" if the Republic of Macedonia applies for such membership under the name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". The Hellenic Republic requested that the Court: # Should find that the case does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Court and to reject it as inadmissible; # In the event that the Court finds that it has jurisdiction over the case submitted by the Applicant, then to find those claims as unfounded. The Court delivered its judgement on 5 December 2011. In its judgment, which was final, without possibility for appeal, and binding on the parties, the ICJ found that: # it had jurisdiction to process this case; # the Hellenic Republic, by objecting to the admission of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to NATO, had breached its obligation under Article 11, paragraph 1, of the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995; # rejected all other submissions made by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The ICJ decision was welcomed by the Macedonian foreign minister

Nikola Poposki Nikola Poposki (born 24 October 1977 in Skopje) was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia until 31 May 2017. Prior to that role, in 2010–2011 he served as the country's ambassador to the European Union. Education Nikola Po ...

, who stated that Macedonia remained "strongly committed to finding a lasting, mutually acceptable solution to the difference with Greece over the name". On the other hand, the response of the Ministry for foreign affairs of Greece was that they were reviewing the decision and that "Greece will continue to pursue negotiations in good faith to reach a mutually acceptable solution on the name of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". The court however did not grant Macedonia's request that it instruct Greece to refrain from similar actions in the future, nor was there a change in the EU's stance that Macedonia's accession negotiations could not begin until the name issue was resolved.

Political reactions to the Application in the ICJ

* Greece issued a statement condemning its northern neighbor for "confirming that it is not interested in a solution", adding that "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has itself flagrantly violated a series of fundamental obligations expressly foreseen by the Accord, including the fundamental principle of good neighbourly relations." * The prime minister of the Republic of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski announced on 25 November 2008 that the "name negotiations will resume despite Macedonia's lawsuit against Greece". The EU did not comment on the latest development. * Reinforcing the Greek position that in the summit of Bucharest there was no veto, on 21 November in a conference in Skopje, the Czech representative in NATO Štefan Füle reiterated that there had not been a veto from Greece but that there was not a consensus on invitation. * The Gruevski government's decision to pursue legal action against Athens was criticised by then-president

, highlighting the internal tensions in Skopje between the government and the presidency. Noting that the process could take years, the president called it a "waste of valuable time", given that there was no way for the International Court to enforce any verdict in Skopje's favour.

Talks in 2009

The first round of name talks in 2009 took place on 11 February. The UN Mediator Nimetz did not propose a new solution for the name row, but it was agreed that talks should continue after elections in Greece and the Republic of Macedonia, probably in July or August. Republic of Macedonia's new name negotiator

Zoran Jolevski Zoran Jolevski (; born 16 July 1959) is a Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian diplomacy, diplomat and the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Macedonia. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Defense, he served as Macedonia's Ambas ...

told the mediator and the Greek negotiator that if the Republic of Macedonia would receive a

membership invitation at the Alliance's next summit in April, this would be positive for the name talks. One week before the fresh name talks, Macedonian foreign minister

told

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

newspaper ''

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...

'' that a solution could be found "only on bilateral basis". The Republic of Macedonia indicated it could be ready to allow Greece to use another name for the country, such as ''"Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)"'', however, its citizens would decide on a referendum for that. In addition, foreign minister

sent a letter to the Greek foreign ministry with a proposal of forming a joint committee of scholars from both countries who would work on determining the historical facts of the dispute, but this was promptly dismissed by Athens.

CSIS Conference

On 14 April 2009, at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and Inte ...

Conference on the topic of Completing America's Mission in the Balkans moderated by

Janusz Bugajski Janusz Bugajski (born 23 September 1954, in Nantwich, Cheshire, England) is a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, D.C. He also serves as the host of the "Bugajski Hour" television shows broadcast in the Balkans. Previously, ...

, the Ambassador of Macedonia H.E.

stated: Later on, they moved into an open discussion where the Greek Ambassador to the U.S. Alexandros Mallias stated that Greece would accept the last proposal by the UN Mediator

for the international use of "Republic of Northern Macedonia".

Geneva talks

On 22 June 2009, the UN Mediator

, together with the negotiators from both sides gathered in Geneva to discuss the differences and the problematic points of the dispute. According to Nimetz, the negotiations had made some progress which identified and discussed the issues that had so far stalled the solution process. Both sides were strong on their positions. Mediator Nimetz visited the Republic of Macedonia on July 6 to July 8, then Greece from July 8 to July 10.

August 2009

In August 2009, UN mediator Matthew Nimetz expressed pessimism regarding the Greek response to the names he proposed in his July meetings. Nimetz said "Efforts to solve the name issue continue, even though Greece's answer is not positive". According to the Greek representative, Athens would not accept a proposed formulation that was only intended for use in bilateral relations, and insisted that any name that is decided must be used internationally. In late August, Nimetz met Zoran Jolevski, the

ethnic Macedonian Macedonians ( ) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians, ...

negotiator who said that "Macedonia is committed to active participation in the talks over the name and we expect a mutually acceptable solution, which will ensure preserving of the identity, dignity and integrity of the Macedonian citizens on the basis of Euro-Atlantic values and democratic principles." The "name talks" were frozen because of Athens' rejection of essential points in the most recent proposal and the elections in Greece in October. The actual talks may, it was reported, restart in May 2010 when the new Greek prime minister would have more space for negotiations.

Developments in 2010

April 2010

In early April 2010, it emerged that the Greek government considered "Northern Macedonia" a possible compromise name, indicating it was up to the Republic of Macedonia to decide whether to accept that proposal. The Macedonian Prime minister Nicola Gruevski declared he would reject this proposition and called for a vote on the new name.

June 2010

The June 13th issue of ''

Kathimerini ( Greek: Η Καθημερινή, ; ) is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Piraeus, Athens. Its first edition was printed on 15 September 1919. is considered a newspaper of record and the leading right-wing newspape ...

'' reported that sources claimed that Greece and the Republic of Macedonia appeared to be close to a solution to their name dispute, and were set to agree on using the name of the

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

river (the longest river in the Republic of Macedonia) to differentiate the Republic of Macedonia from Greek Macedonia. It is not clear at this stage if this would mean Republic of Macedonia would be called "Republic of Macedonia of Vardar", "Republic of Vardar Macedonia", "Vardar Republic of Macedonia" or "Republic of Macedonia (Vardar)".

organizations, such as the Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) and the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC), launched a campaign placing advertisements in newspapers and billboards across Macedonia "demanding an end to all negotiations with Greece over its name".

Developments in 2011

Reports were released saying that Antonis Samaras, the

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

, would be summoned to the

Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

trial issued by Skopje on Greece for breaking the 1995 Interim Agreement, after evidence was found of him addressing the Greek parliament and clearly stating that his Government (New Democracy then in power) vetoed the invitation of the Republic of Macedonia at the 2008 Bucharest NATO summit. Also in this year the dispute was inflamed by the erection of a statue in Skopje of a mounted warrior which copies a portrait of Alexander the Great attributed to the ancient Greek sculptor Lysippus, and the inauguration of a sports stadium named after Alexander's father Philip II. In his farewell speech to the Parliament, the outgoing prime minister

George Papandreou George Andreas Papandreou (, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is an American-born Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving as a ...

listed the immediate settlement of the name issue as one of the 3 priorities of the next government. On 5 December, the International Court of Justice ruled 15-1 (the Greek judge being the sole

dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...

) that Greece had breached the 1995 Interim Accord and thus was wrong to block its neighbor's application for NATO membership at the Bucharest NATO Summit in 2008. However, the court also affirmed that it did not have jurisdiction to order Greece not to bring the issue up in other fora as it should be assumed that states "act in good faith."

November 2012 talks

After nearly two years of separate meetings between UN Mediator

and the two negotiators, a joint round of negotiations occurred in the UN Headquarters in New York. The UN mediator presented recommendations and ideas to both parties to consider; however, these proposals were not disclosed to the general public.

2013 proposals

In April 2013, Matthew Nimetz proposed the name 'Upper Republic of Macedonia' which was backed by EU Enlargement Commissioner

Štefan Füle Štefan Füle (born 24 May 1962) is a former Czech Republic, Czech diplomat who served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy from February 2010 until October 2014. Early life and education Füle was born ...

. This proposal came after the Republic of Macedonia had previously rejected the 'Republic of Upper Macedonia' as a name. Greece has indicated that it would allow the Republic of Macedonia to join the EU and NATO if the word 'Upper' was included in its official name. In October 2013, Greece's chief negotiator in the naming dispute, Adamantios Vassilakis, proposed the name 'Slavic-Albanian Macedonia' to end the dispute. According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Vassilakis's remark however had been misinterpreted, as he had only launched "Slavic-Albanian Macedonia" as a theoretical suggestion—and not a real serious suggestion—in order to describe the complexity of the problem from the Greek viewpoint.

December 2013 Vergina Sun draft law

In November 2013, the

Liberal Party of Macedonia The Liberal Party of Macedonia () was a conservative-liberal political party in North Macedonia. The party was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. Its last chairman was Ivon Velichkovski. History The Liberal Pa ...

proposed a draft law to ban the use of the

for civil purposes within the Republic of Macedonia, as "a positive step that will result in the promotion of good neighborly relations between Macedonia and Greece". Greece claims the Vergina Sun as an exclusive national state symbol and lodged a claim for trademark protection of it with the

WIPO The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to pr ...

in 1995. The draft law required the use of the symbol to be banned from use in the Macedonian president's office, events organized under state administration, public Macedonian institutions or political parties, NGOs, media, as well as individuals in the Republic of Macedonia. However, the draft was rejected in December 2013 by the

-led majority of the Macedonian Parliament.

2014 negotiations

In February 2014, the

passed a resolution stating that according to the parliament's assessment, the

Copenhagen criteria The Copenhagen criteria are the rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union. The criteria require that a state has the institutions to preserve democratic governance and human rights, has a functioning mark ...

were fulfilled sufficiently for the country to start its negotiations for EU accession, and called for the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

to confirm the date for the start of accession negotiations straight away, as bilateral disputes must not be an obstacle for the start of talks—although they must be solved before the accession process. However, whether or not the Council agreed with the parliament's opinion, it made no mention of Macedonia's accession negotiations at its meeting in June 2014. The UN mediator,

, also invited the parties for a new round of "name dispute" negotiations to begin on 26 March 2014. The invitation was accepted by both the Greek and Macedonian authorities. According to Nimetz, the two countries had managed at the latest stranded talks in October 2013, to reach consensus of adding a "geographic term" to the disputed "Republic of Macedonia" name, to be used internationally as the new official country name. Nimetz stressed however, that substantial disagreement still existed in regards of "where the geographic term should be placed", but hoped a new round of negotiations could end with a mutually agreed name. According to the newspaper coverage of the previous 2013-negotiations, Macedonia had favored using the name "Upper Republic of Macedonia" while Greece insisted it could only approve "Republic of Upper Macedonia", while disagreement also existed towards the scope of using the new official name—with Macedonia only being ready to accept its use in bilateral affairs involving Greece and not ready to accept the Greek demand of using it "obligatory for all purposes".

2017–2018 developments

After successive defeats of the

in both the

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

and

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

elections of the Republic of Macedonia, and the arrival to power of the pro-solution coalition led by the

SDSM The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ( – СДСМ, ''Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija'' – SDSM, – LSDM) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in North Macedonia, political party, and the main Centre-l ...

and DIU, efforts for the resolution of the naming dispute gained a new momentum, with the new

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Zoran Zaev Zoran Zaev (, ; born 8 October 1974) is a Macedonian economist and politician who served as prime minister of North Macedonia from May 2017 to January 2020, and again from August 2020 to January 2022. Prior to entering politics, he ran a privat ...

vowing his determination to resolve the decades-old dispute with Greece. Efforts between the governments of the two countries for resolving the name dispute intensified, and on 17 January 2018, UN-sponsored negotiations had resumed. The

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

of Greece and

of Macedonia met in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

with the UN Envoy, who suggested any of the following five names in his proposal, all containing the name Macedonia transliterated from Cyrillic: * "Republika Nova Makedonija" ''(Republic of New Macedonia)'' * "Republika Severna Makedonija" ''(Republic of North Macedonia)'' * "Republika Gorna Makedonija" ''(Republic of Upper Macedonia)'' * "Republika Vardarska Makedonija" ''(Republic of Vardar Macedonia)'' * "Republika Makedonija (Skopje)" ''(Republic of Macedonia (Skopje))'' High-level contacts between the governments of the two countries also intensified, with the Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister visiting

for the name talks on January 9, and the Macedonian PM Zaev meeting with his

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

counterpart

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...

on the sidelines of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, on January 24. In the Davos meeting, the first of its kind in seven years, there appeared to be some resolution between the two PMs to end the naming dispute and to improve the relations between the two countries. In this context, the Macedonian PM agreed to take initiatives that could soothe Greek concerns over antiquisation policies, while the Greek PM agreed to consent on Macedonia's bid to regional initiatives or agreements. After the Davos meeting, Zaev announced that streets and locations such as the Alexander the Great airport in

which were named by the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE after ancient Macedonian heroes and figures such as

, could be renamed as a sign of goodwill towards Greece. Specifically, Zaev declared that the Alexander the Great Highway, the E-75 motorway that connects Skopje to Greece, could be renamed to "Friendship Highway". In exchange, the Greek PM announced that Greece could consent to Macedonia's bid to the Adriatic-Ionian Cooperation Agreement and the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

could ratify the second phase of the FYROM – European Union Association Agreement as part of the Accession of Macedonia to the European Union which was blocked in 2009 by Greece owing to the name dispute. The two PMs also agreed that the name talks would be promoted to the Foreign Ministerial level instead of the Ambassadorial, with the

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

s of the two countries,

Nikola Dimitrov Nikola Dimitrov (born 30 September 1972) is a Macedonian politician and diplomat, who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for North Macedonia from 31 May 2017 to 30 August 2020. He also served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 20 ...

of Macedonia and

Nikos Kotzias Nikolaos Kotzias, Order of Merit (Portugal), GCM (; born 21 December 1950) is a Greeks, Greek politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greece), Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2018. He was Foreign Minister fr ...

of Greece, replacing Naumovski and Vasilakis respectively. Furthermore, the two governments agreed to

confidence-building measures Confidence-building measures (CBMs) or confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) are actions taken to reduce fear of attack by both (or more) parties in a situation of conflict. The term is most often used in the context of armed conflict, ...

that could help improve the relations between the two countries. The latest options put forward by Skopje in February 2018 were "Republic of North Macedonia", "Republic of Upper Macedonia", "Republic of Vardar Macedonia" and "Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)". In late February 2018, the government and institutions of the Republic of Macedonia announced the halt of the

program, which aimed to make Macedonia's capital have a "more classical appeal" and begun removing its controversial monuments and statues. The Macedonian Ministry of Culture also has set up a Commission to envisage the possibility of removing the rest of them, such as of Alexander the Great and

. In Spring 2018, extensive negotiations in a bid to resolve the naming dispute were held in rounds, with frequent meetings of the foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia achieving tangible progress on the naming dispute. Eventually, on May 17, at the sidelines of the EU-

Western Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

summit of

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, the

s of the two countries met, and discussed a new name, in addition to the 5 other names already proposed by UN Envoy Nimetz: * "Republika Ilindenska Makedonija" ''(Republic of Ilinden Macedonia)'' The Macedonian PM Zoran Zaev said that the Macedonian side was willing to accept this name and have it be used for all purposes, which is one of the Greek conditions for resolving the naming dispute. On 1 November 2018, Greece resumed air travel to Macedonia for the first time in 12 years. The first flight was an

Olympic Air Olympic Air S.A. () is a regional airline and a subsidiary of the Greece, Greek carrier Aegean Airlines. It was formed as part of the privatization of the former Greek national carrier Olympic Airlines, a company that carried the name Olympic A ...

flight from Athens to Skopje, which included the Macedonian deputy prime minister Bujar Osmani, who was returning from talks in Greece. The same day, he tweeted that Greece had become Macedonia's "greatest ally", and noted the reestablishment of air travel as a sign of improved relations.

Prespa agreement

On 12 June 2018,

Greek Prime Minister The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's official seat (but not resid ...

announced that an agreement had been reached with his

counterpart

on the dispute, "which covers all the preconditions set by the Greek side". The proposal would result in the Republic of Macedonia being renamed the ''Republic of North Macedonia'' (; ), with the new name being used for all purposes (''

''), that is, domestically, in all bilateral relations and in all regional and international organizations and institutions. The agreement was signed at

Lake Prespa The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greec ...

, a body of water which is divided between the Republic of Macedonia, Greece and

. The deal includes recognition of the

Macedonian language Macedonian ( ; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch. Sp ...

in the

, noting that it is within the group of

South Slavic languages The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West Slavic la ...

, and that the citizenship of the country will be called Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia. Also, there is an explicit clarification that the citizens of the country are not related to the ancient Macedonians. Specifically, Article 7 mentions that both countries acknowledge that their respective understanding of the terms "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" refers to a different historical context and cultural heritage. When reference is made to Greece, these terms denote the area and Macedonians (Greeks), people of its Macedonia (Greece), northern region, as well as the Hellenic civilization, history and culture of that region. When reference is made to Republic of North Macedonia, these terms denote its territory,

and Macedonians (ethnic group), people, with their own, distinctly different, history and culture. Additionally, the agreement stipulates the removal of the

from public use in the Republic of Macedonia and the formation of a committee for the review of school textbooks and maps in both countries for the removal of irredentist content and to align them with UNESCO and

's standards. These changes were put to a

for citizens of the Republic of Macedonia in the autumn of 2018.

Signature

The Prespa agreement, which replaces the Interim Accord of 1995, was signed on 17 June 2018 in a high-level ceremony at the Greek border village of Psarades on

, by the two

and

and in the presence of the respective

and

. The meeting was attended by the UN's Special Representative

, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, the EU's High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, and the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn, among others. After the ceremony, the prime ministers crossed over the border to the Macedonian side of Lake Prespa for lunch at the village of Oteševo, in a highly symbolic move that marked the first time a Greek Prime Minister ever entered the neighboring country since it declared independence in 1991.

Further developments

On June 13, 2018,

said that Macedonia would be changing the Vehicle registration plates of North Macedonia, license plates of its vehicles from MK to NMK to reflect the country's new name. However, the ISO 3166-1 codes would remain as MK (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, alpha-2 code) and MKD (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3, alpha-3 code) The Macedonian government announced that the statues of

and Olympias of Epirus, which were raised as part of the

program, would be given new inscriptions with clarifications that they symbolize the Ancient Greek period and are "honouring Greek-Macedonian friendship". On June 20, the Prespa agreement was ratified by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia with 69 MPs voting in favor of it. Opposition party

boycotted the parliamentary session and declared the Prespa treaty as a "genocide of the legal state" and a "genocide of the entire nation". On June 25, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Greece), Greek Foreign Ministry informed the EU and

that Greece was no longer objecting to Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic accession under the new name. The next day, however, the President of Macedonia, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov refused to sign the agreement and threatened the Prime Minister of Macedonia, Macedonian PM Zaev and the ruling coalition's MPs with imprisonment of at least 5 years for voting in favor of an agreement which, according to Ivanov, puts the Republic of Macedonia in a subordinate position to a foreign state. "I do not accept the constitutional change aimed at changing the constitutional name [of the country]. I do not accept ideas or proposals which would endanger Macedonia's national identity, the individuality of the Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian nation, the

and the Macedonian model of coexistence. In the presidential election, 534,910 citizens voted in favor of this electoral program and elected me as President of the Republic of Macedonia. The agreement goes beyond the scope of

Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993), since it refers to the "difference in the name of the State" and not to the "disputes" to which the agreement refers", Ivanov said, adding that "This agreement brings the Republic of Macedonia to subordination from another country, namely the Republic of Greece. According to Article 308 of the Penal Code, "a citizen who brings the Republic of Macedonia to a state of subservience or dependence on another state is punishable by imprisonment of at least five years". The legalization of this agreement creates legal consequences that are the basis for committing a crime." The withdrawal of the Greek veto resulted in the European Union approving on June 27 the start of Accession of Macedonia to the European Union, accession talks with the Republic of Macedonia, which are expected in 2019, under the condition that the Prespa deal was implemented and Macedonia's constitutional name was changed to Republic of North Macedonia. On July 5, the Prespa agreement was ratified again by the Macedonian parliament with 69 MPs voting in favor of it. On July 11, NATO invited Macedonia to start accession talks in a bid to become the Euro-Atlantic alliance's 30th member. On July 30, the parliament of Macedonia approved plans to hold a non-binding 2018 Macedonian referendum, referendum on changing the country's name that took place on September 30. 91% of voters voted in favour with a 37% turnout, but the referendum was not carried because of a constitutional requirement for a 50% turnout. Total turnout for the referendum was at 666,344 and of those some 260,000 were ethnic Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia, Albanian voters of Macedonia. The government intended to push forward with the name change. On October 15, 2018, the parliament of Macedonia began debating the name change. The proposal for the constitutional reform required the vote of 80 MPs, i.e. two-thirds of the 120-seat parliament. On 19 October the parliament voted to start the process of renaming the country "North Macedonia", after a total of 80 MPs voted in favour of the constitutional changes. On 3 December 2018, Macedonia's Parliament approved a draft constitutional amendment, with 67 lawmakers voting in favour, 23 voting against and 4 abstaining. A simple majority was needed at this stage. After some political wrangling over constitutional issues related to the multi-ethnic makeup of the state, all Albanian political parties of Macedonia voted in favour of the name change along with the governing Socialists and some members of the opposition. On 11 January 2019, the Parliament of North Macedonia completed the legal implementation of the Prespa Agreement by approving the constitutional changes for renaming the country to North Macedonia with a two-thirds parliamentary majority (81 MPs). The international community, NATO and European Union leaders, including Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, as well as heads of neighboring states, congratulated the Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. The British Prime Minister Theresa May described the vote as an "historic moment", while the Kosovar President Hashim Thaçi expressed his hope that the Prespa Agreement, which resolved the Macedonia Naming Dispute, can be used as a "model" for resolving Kosovo's 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence#International disputes, dispute with

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

as well. Albanian President Ilir Meta congratulated the name change and Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati hailed the vote by tweeting that Albanian political parties were the "decisive factor". On 25 January 2019, Greece's Parliament approved the Prespa agreement with 153 votes in favor and 146 votes against. The international community, including the Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau of Canada and

of Bulgaria, President Hashim Thaçi of Kosovo, the President of the EU, Donald Tusk, the President of EU's Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Germany's and Albania's foreign Ministers, Heiko Maas and Ditmir Bushati respectively, as well as NATO's chief Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed positively the ratification of the deal. Furthermore, the Republic of North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in his congratulatory message to his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras whom he called "a friend", described the ratification as an "historic victory", which "ends a long-standing diplomatic conflict between Athens and Skopje". Shortly after the ratification of the deal, Greece's Foreign Minister Georgios Katrougalos signed, in the Greek Parliament, the enacted law of the Prespa Agreement. Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Church of Greece have not recognised the Macedonian Orthodox Church (accepted by the other churches in 2022) as autocephalous as of 2023 because of their refusal to change their name among other disputes.

Positions

Greek position

The former constitutional name of the country "Republic of Macedonia" and the short name "Macedonia", when used referring to the country, were considered offensive by some Greeks. The Greek government officially used the

' provisional reference for the country ("the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"), which was also used by many other international organisations. The Foreign relations of Greece, Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs described their concerns as follows:

, a former prime minister of Greece and leader of the governing PASOK party, has stated that when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greece), Minister for Foreign Affairs in January 2002, was next to a deal with Skopje leadership about using "Горна Македонија" ("Gorna Makedonija" – "Upper Macedonia" in Slavic). The other parties and the President of Greece, he said, were informed but the proposal failed because the 2001 Macedonia conflict had broken out. The Academy of Athens (modern), Academy of Athens concludes:

Historical concerns

The historian Eugene Borza summarises historic controversy surrounding the naming dispute as "... one of the enduring characteristics of modern Greek life: a desperate attempt to regain a past glory, rooted in cultural accomplishments of antiquity and the religious and political might of Byzantium. An identification with the ancient Macedonians is part of that attempt", while on the other hand, the ethnic Macedonians, being "a newly emergent people in search of a past to help legitimise their precarious present" whose ethnicity developed in the twentieth century, had no history and needed one. Greeks argue that the name Macedonia is historically inseparably associated with Greek culture, ever since the Macedonia (ancient kingdom), ancient kingdom of Macedonia and the ancient Macedonians. They therefore consider that only Greeks have a historical right to use the name today, since the modern south Slavs arrived 1,000 years after that kingdom, lacking any relation to ancient Macedonia or its Greek culture. The policy of antiquization, i.e. efforts by ethnic Macedonians to construct a narrative of ethnic continuity linking them to the ancient Macedonians in various ways and symbolic actions underlining such claims, such as the public use of the Vergina sun symbol as a flag of the Republic of Macedonia, or the renaming of Skopje International Airport to "Alexander the Great Airport" met strong criticism from the Greek side, international media that report on the issue, and even from moderate political views in the Republic of Macedonia itself. A 22-meter-tall statue, "Man on a Horse", depicting Alexander the Great, was erected in 2011 in

, the capital city of the Republic of Macedonia, as part of a historical public arts building campaign. Greece scornfully characterised the effort, with the foreign ministry commenting on the size of the statue as "inversely proportional to seriousness and historical truth". The project received criticism by the European Union, calling it "not helpful" as well as by Skopje architects and ethnic Macedonian academics and politicians commenting on the aesthetic outcome and the semantics of such a move. The Greek view also stresses that the name Macedonia as a geographical term historically used to refer typically to the southern, Greek parts of the region (including the capital of the ancient kingdom,

), and not or only marginally to the territory of today's Republic. They also note that the territory was not called Macedonia as a political entity until 1944. Several hundred international and Greek classical scholars have lobbied for the historical concerns regarding the name dispute to be reflected in U.S. policy.Note: referring to thi
''Invitation to Classical Scholars''
/ref> File:Macedon431bcpriortoExpansions.png, The ancient kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia before Philip II of Macedon, Philip II (431 BC) File:Map Macedonia 336 BC-en.svg, Ancient Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia at the death of Philip II (336 BC) File:Macedonia and the Aegean World c.200.png, Ancient Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia under Philip V of Macedon, Philip V (200 BC) File:Roman Empire - Macedonia (125 AD).svg, Roman province of Macedonia (Roman province), Macedonia (146 BC – 4th century AD) File:LocationMacedonia-HEL-1-z.png, Modern region of

Territorial concerns

During the Greek Civil War, in 1947, the Greek Ministry of Press and Information published a book, (''Designs on Greece''), including documents and speeches on the ongoing Macedonian issue, many translations from Yugoslav officials. It reports

using the term "Aegean Macedonia" on 11 October 1945 in the buildup to the Greek Civil War; the original document is archived in "GFM A/24581/G2/1945". For Athens in 1947, the "new term, Aegean Macedonia" (also "Pirin Macedonia"), was introduced by Yugoslavs. Contextually, this observation indicates this was part of the Yugoslav offensive against Greece, laying claim to Greek Macedonia, but Athens does not seem to take issue with the term itself. The 1945 date concurs with Bulgarian sources. Tito's wartime representative to Macedonia, general Tempo (Svetozar Vukmanović), is credited with promoting the usage of the new regional names of the Macedonian region for irredentist purposes. Concerns over territorial implications of the usage of the term "Macedonian" were expressed as early as 1944 by U.S. diplomats.United States Department of States
Foreign Relations Vol. VIII Washington, D.C. Circular Airgram (868.014/ 26 December 1944)

U.S. Secretary of State Edward Stettinius to U.S. Missions

(Washington, December 26, 1944)

The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic and Consular Officers

The following is for your information and general guidance, but not for any positive action at this time.

The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumours and semi-official statements in favour of an "autonomous Macedonia", emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state.

This Government considers talk of Macedonian "nation", Macedonian "Fatherland", or Macedonia "national consciousness" to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic or political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece.

The approved policy of this Government is to oppose any revival of the Macedonian issue as related to Greece. The Greek section of Macedonia is largely inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek people are almost unanimously opposed to the creation of a Macedonian state. Allegations of serious Greek participation in any such agitation can be assumed to be false. This Government would regard as responsible any Government or group of Governments tolerating or encouraging menacing or aggressive acts of "Macedonian Forces" against Greece. The Department would appreciate any information pertinent to this subject which may come to your attention.

Stettinius

Greece has been concerned for decades that the Republic of Macedonia was having United Macedonia, territorial ambitions in the northern Macedonia (Greece), Greek provinces of Macedonia. As far back as 1957, the Greek government expressed concern about reported Yugoslav ambitions to create an "independent" People's Republic of Macedonia with the Greek city of

as its capital.Greek Macedonia "not a problem", ''The Times'' (London), 5 August 1957 Loring Danforth, Loring M. Danforth ascribes the goal of a "free, united, and independent Macedonia" including "liberated" Bulgarian and Greek territory to a fraction of extreme Macedonian nationalists, whereas more moderate ethnic Macedonians recognise the inviolability of the borders but regard the presence of ethnic Macedonians in the neighbouring countries as an issue of minority protection. Greek analysts and politiciansDora Bakoyannis
Macedonia and NATO: The View from Athens
International Herald Tribune, 31 March 2008. have expressed concerns that overseas observers tend to overlook or not to understand the severity of the perceived territorial threat and tend to misunderstand the conflict as a trivial issue over a name. The concerns are further reinforced by the fact that extremist ethnic Macedonian

s of the "

" movement have expressed irredentist claims to what they refer to as "Aegean Macedonia" (in Greece),Patrides, Greek Magazine of Toronto, September–October, 1988, p. 3. "Pirin Macedonia" (in

), "Mala Prespa and Gollobordë, Golo Brdo" (in

), and "Gora (region), Gora and Prohor Pčinjski Monastery, Prohor Pchinski" (in Kosovo and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

). Greek Macedonians, Bulgarians, Albanians, and Serbs form the overwhelming majority of the population of each part of the region respectively. Schoolbooks and official government publications in the Republic have shown the country as part of an unliberated whole.MIA (Macedonian Information Agency)

Macedonia marks 30th anniversary of Dimitar Mitrev's death
', Skopje, 24 February 2006''The Macedonian Times'', semi-governmental monthly periodical, Issue number 23, July–August 1996:14, Leading article: Bishop Tsarknjas''Facts About the Republic of Macedonia'' – annual booklets since 1992, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Secretariat of Information, Second edition, 1997, . p.14. 2 August 1944. In April 2008, Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greece), Foreign Minister of Greece

complained about the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, prime minister

appearing in a photograph, by a map of "Greater Macedonia" which included Thessaloniki and a great part of Northern Greece. The complaint was made inside an article published at Wall Street Journal, regarding the NATO ascension talks.

Self-determination

According to both the official Greek position and various public demonstrations in Greece and the

, the Greek Macedonians felt that their right to self-determination was violated by what they regarded as the monopolisation of their name by a neighbouring country. The strong regional identity of the Macedonians was emphasised by the List of Prime Ministers of Greece, Prime Minister of Greece,

, who in January 2007 during a meeting of the

in Strasbourg declared that: In Greece, the extreme position on the issue suggested that there must be "no Macedonia in the title" of a neighbouring country. Professor Danforth reported: More moderate positions suggested that a disambiguating element should be added to the name of the neighbouring state and its people (such as "Vardar", "New", ""Upper" or "North"), so as to illustrate the distinction between not just the two, but all groups of self-identifying Macedonians.

Semiological confusion

The contemporary Macedonia (region), region of Macedonia is a wider region in the Balkan peninsula that spans across several modern states, mainly Greece (

), Bulgaria (Blagoevgrad province), the Republic of Macedonia, and

(around the Lake Ohrid, Ohrid and Lake Prespa, Prespa lakes). The definite borders of the region are vague, but most contemporary geographers agree on its general location. There are several ethnic groups in this region, mostly living within their respective states, all of which are technically "Macedonians" in the regional sense. The Republic itself has a substantial minority (25.2%) of ethnic Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia, Albanians who are "Macedonians" both in the regional sense, and as legal citizens of the Republic. However, in a Balkans where ethnicity rather than nationhood defines peoples' identity, Albanians are never referred to (or refer to themselves) as Macedonians. The Greek position suggests that the ''monopolisation'' of the name by the Republic and its citizens creates semiological confusion with Macedonian Greeks, as it becomes increasingly difficult to disambiguate which "Macedonia", which "Macedonians" and what "Macedonian language" are referred to in each occasion. According to a source Bulgarians living in Blagoevgrad province (Bulgarian Macedonia) are reported to not identify themselves with their regional term "Macedonians" (Macedonian Bulgarians), so as not to be confused with the ethnic Macedonians. According to other sources the traditional use of the term "Macedonians" in Bulgaria as a regional designation continues. Aromanians are often called by Romanians, as opposed to the citizens of Macedonia, who are called . However, most Aromanians do not use designations such as , rather they have a diverse set of Aromanians#History and self-identification, self-designations. While some Aromanians self-identify as ethnic Macedonians and Greek Macedonians, particularly those in

and Greek Macedonia, only a small number call themselves terms such as ''makedonji'' and distinguish themselves from both groups. In Romania, the Aromanians as well as the Megleno-Romanians are sometimes known as "Macedo-Romanians". The Greek Macedonians demonstrate a strong regional identity and identify themselves as plain Macedonians, who live in plain

, speaking a Varieties of Modern Greek, Macedonian dialect of modern Greek.

Ethnic Macedonian position

Self-determination and self-identification

According to the government in Skopje, the preservation of the constitutional name, which is also used by many other international organisations, for both domestic and international use was of the utmost importance. The country asserted that it did not lay exclusive claim to the term ''Macedonia'' either in the geographic or the historic sense. Various demonstrations and protests in the Republic of Macedonia and the ethnic Macedonian diaspora were held to support their view that their right to self-determination was violated by what they regarded as the rejection of the name from the international community. The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts suggested: Ethnic Macedonians claim they are descended from both original indigenous Macedonians and from the Slavic peoples who Slavic migrations (Macedonia), invaded the region in the 6th-8th century AD, thereby mixing both cultures and traditions.

Historical perspective

It is observed that much of today's Greek Macedonia was only fully Hellenised by political and military means in modern times. After the Treaty of Bucharest (1913), division of Macedonia in 1913, Greece carried out a policy of Hellenisation of the local population, forcing Geographical name changes in Greece#See also, geographical and personal name changes, religious affiliation, and writings of church frescoes and graves to Greek language, Greek. During the Ioannis Metaxas era, Slavic-speaking Macedonians were deported or tortured for speaking or claiming to be Macedonian, and those with money were fined. Ethnic Macedonians argue that they have a more legitimate claim to the name ''Macedonia'' than modern Macedonian Greeks, Greek Macedonians who descend from the 638,000 Population exchange between Greece and Turkey, Greek refugees who had emigrated from Anatolia, Epirus and Thrace and settled in Greek Macedonia during the early twentieth century. The expelled Refugees of the Greek Civil War which consisted of over 28,000 children made up by a significant portion of ethnic Macedonians (possibly the majority) had their citizenship revoked in Greece and the Greek government's actions in seizing citizenship has been "historically been used against people identifying as ethnic Macedonians". Greece eventually softened the law by allowing the return of "all Greeks by genus who during the Civil War of 1946–1949 and because of it have fled abroad as political refugees", although this further denied those who had fled Greece following the Civil War and identified as ethnic Macedonians, refusing any Greek ethnic designation to regain citizenship and resettle in their centuries-old properties. This resulted in many depopulated and devastated villages, especially in Western Macedonia with confiscated properties eventually being given to people from outside of the area. Vlachs and Greeks were given property in the resettlement programme conducted by the Greek Government from the period 1952–1958.

Ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece

In the 6th and 7th centuries AD, Slavic people migrated into Roman Macedonia and competed with other populations of Macedonia, although over time adopting the Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Cyrillic script from Cyril and MethodiusMacedonia. (2006). In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 16 June 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service

/ref> and Slavic languages have been spoken in the area alongside Greek in the region ever since. In parts of northern Greece, in the regions of

(Μακεδονία) and Western Thrace, Thrace (Θράκη), Slavic languages continue to be spoken by people with a wide range of self-identifications. The actual linguistic classification of the Slavic dialects of Greece is unclear, although most linguists will classify them as either Bulgarian language, Bulgarian or

taking into account numerous factors, including the resemblance and mutual intelligibility of each dialect to the standard languages (''abstand''), and the self-identification of the speakers themselves. As however the vast majority of these people have a Greek national identity, linguists will make their decisions based on ''abstand'' alone. The Slavic-speaking minority of northern Greece can be divided in two main groups: Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christians and Islam, Muslims, primarily the Pomaks of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The latter has no reported connection to ethnic Macedonians. The Christian portion of Greece's Slavic-speaking minority are commonly referred to as ''Slavophones'' (from the Greek Σλαβόφωνοι - ''Slavophōnoi'', lit. "Slavic-speakers") or ''dopii'', which means "locals" or "indigenous" in Greek (from Ancient Greek ἐντόπιος - ''entopios'', "local"). The vast majority of them espouse a Greek national identity and are bilingual in Greek. They live mostly in the West Macedonia, Periphery of Western Macedonia and belong to the Church of Greece, Greek Orthodox Church, which in conjunction with the Millet (Ottoman Empire), ''millet'' system of the

which occupied the region until 1913, may explain their self-identification as Greeks. In the 1951 census, 41,017 people claimed to speak the Slavic language (Greece), Slavic language. One unofficial estimate for 2000 puts their number at 1.8% of the Greek population, that is c.200,000. This group has received some attention due to claims from the Republic of Macedonia that these people form an ''ethnic Macedonian'' minority in Greece. There is indeed a minority within the Slavophone community in Greece which self-identifies as

. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Greek Helsinki Monitor estimated that the number of ethnic Macedonians in

ranged from 10,000 to 30,000 in 1999. There is a dispute over the size of this alleged minority, with some Greeks denying it outright, and some ethnic Macedonians inflating the numbers substantially. The Greek Helsinki Monitor reports that, "difficult and therefore risky it is to declare a Macedonian minority identity in such an extremely hostile if not aggressive environment in Greece". There are no official statistics to confirm or deny either claims. The Greek government has thus far refused on the basis that there is no significant community and that the idea of minority status is not popular amongst the (Greek identifying) linguistic community of northern Greece as it would have the effect of them being marginalised. Professor Danforth reported: A political party promoting this line and claiming rights of what they describe as the "Macedonian minority in Greece"—the Rainbow (political party), Rainbow (Виножито)—was founded in September 1998; it received 2,955 votes in the region of

in the 2004 elections. However the party has had cases of having its offices ransacked, members being arrested for using bilingual signs written in both Macedonian and Greek and facing violations from the Greek government as ruled by the European Convention on Human Rights.

Albanian position

The Albanians in North Macedonia, Albanian minority in North Macedonia did not view the name issue as an important problem. In the early 1990s Albanians of the Macedonian republic and wider region strongly opposed the suggestion of "Slavomacedonia" by the Greek side to name the country. For the Albanian community the name "Republic of Macedonia" was interpreted in territorial terms and not as having any particular Slavic associations. As such the Albanian minority held no objections toward references by Macedonian authorities to antiquization, antiquity and only disagree to usage of Slavic symbols as Macedonia is perceived by them as being historically multiethnic. Albanians insisted that any new name would have to be ethnically neutral with proposals from them being "Vardar Republic", "Central Balkan Republic" and the classical name Dardanian Kingdom, Dardania. Prior consultation on the name issue process was requested by Albanians..

Australian position

Victorian position

In the mid-1990s, then-Premier of Victoria, Premier Jeff Kennett backed the Greek position over the Macedonian question in his attempts to shore up local electoral support. Kennett's stance gained him supporters from the Melburnian Greek Australians, Greek community, whereas he was referred to as "Kennettopoulos" by the Macedonian Australians, Macedonian community. At Kennett's insistence, his state government in 1994 issued its own directive that all its departments refer to the language as "

(Slavonic)" and to Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonians as "Slav Macedonians". Reasons given for the decision were "to avoid confusion", be consistent with federal naming protocols toward Macedonians and repair relations between Macedonian and Greek communities. It was accepted that it would not impact the way Macedonians self-identified themselves. The decision upset Macedonians, as they had to use the terms in deliberations with the government or its institutions related to education and public broadcasting. The Macedonian community challenged the decision on the basis of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Race Discrimination Act. After years of litigation at the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), the Australian Federal Court, Federal Court and Australian Federal Court, High Court, previous judicial rulings were upheld that found Kennett's directive unlawful as it caused discrimination based on ethnic background and was struck down from usage in 2000.

Macedonian, language and dialect

Macedonian language (modern)

The name of the modern

, as used by its speakers and defined in the constitution of the Republic of Macedonia is "Makedonski jazik" (). The term "Macedonian language" is used by several international bodies, such as the

and the World Health Organization. It is also used by convention in the field of Slavic Studies. However, because this language is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, and not descended from Ancient Macedonian language, Ancient Macedonian, which was a Hellenic languages, Hellenic Indo-European language, several other terms remain in use. Some of the names use the family to which the language belongs to disambiguate it from ancient Macedonian, or from the homonymous modern Greek#Varieties, dialect of modern Greek; sometimes the autonym "Makedonski" is used in English for the modern Slavic language, with "Macedonian" being reserved for the ancient language. Affirmation of the classification of Macedonian as a separate language is an important issue for the ethnic Macedonian self-view. Critics often treat it as a Bulgarian dialects, dialect of Bulgarian, due to their close structural affinity and mutual intelligibility in both written and spoken forms; they also point to Macedonian's recent emergence as a separate standard language, and the Political views on the Macedonian language, political motivation behind its promotion in the mid-20th century.

Macedonian dialect (modern, Greek)

Macedonian is applied to the present-day Greek dialect spoken by Macedonian Greeks.

Macedonian (ancient)

The origins of the ancient Macedonian language are currently debated. It is as yet undetermined whether it was a Ancient Greek dialects, Greek dialect which was part of or closely related to the Doric Greek, Doric and/or Aeolic Greek, Aeolic dialects, a sibling language of ancient Greek forming a ''Hellenic'' (i.e. Greco-Macedonian) supergroup, or an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language which was a close cousin to Greek and also related to Thracian language, Thracian and Phrygian language, Phrygian languages. The scientific community generally agrees that, although some sources are available (e.g. Hesychius of Alexandria, Hesychius' lexicon, Pella curse tablet) there is no decisive evidence for supporting any of these hypotheses. The surviving public and private inscriptions found in Macedonia indicate that the written language in ancient Macedonia was Ancient Greek. Attic Greek, a form of the Greek language, eventually supplanted the ancient Macedonian entirely in Macedonia from the 5th Century BC, and it became extinct during the first few centuries AD. Attic Greek evolved into Koine Greek, then into Medieval Greek, Byzantine Greek and later into modern Greek.

Naming policies of foreign countries and organisations

Notes

References

{{North Macedonia topics 1991 in international relations 2019 in international relations Geographical naming disputes Greece–North Macedonia relations 1990s in Greece 2000s in Greece 2010s in Greece 1990s in the Republic of Macedonia, Naming dispute 2000s in the Republic of Macedonia, Naming dispute 2010s in North Macedonia, Naming dispute Political history of Greece Political history of North Macedonia, Naming dispute

History

Background

Formation of the Republic of Macedonia

Compromise solutions

Continuing dispute

Greek embargo

Interim accord

Stalemate

2005–2006 proposals and the "double name formula"

NATO and EU accession talks

NATO non-invitation

"Antiquisation" policy, 2006–2017

A continuing negotiation

2008 proposal and reactions

Reaction by ethnic Macedonian politicians/diplomats

Reaction by Greek politicians/diplomats

Reaction by Bulgarian politicians/diplomats

The International Court of Justice

Political reactions to the Application in the ICJ

Talks in 2009

CSIS Conference

Geneva talks

August 2009

Developments in 2010

April 2010

June 2010

Developments in 2011

November 2012 talks

2013 proposals

December 2013 Vergina Sun draft law

2014 negotiations

2017–2018 developments

Prespa agreement

Signature

Further developments

Positions

Greek position

Historical concerns

Territorial concerns

Self-determination

Semiological confusion

Ethnic Macedonian position

Self-determination and self-identification

Historical perspective

Ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece

Albanian position

Australian position

Victorian position

Macedonian, language and dialect

Macedonian language (modern)

Macedonian dialect (modern, Greek)

Macedonian (ancient)

Naming policies of foreign countries and organisations

See also

Notes

Further reading

References