Claiming Macedonia

For nearly 130 years, the Greeks, the Bulgarians, and the Yugoslavs have fought over the question of who has the historical and demographic rights to use the name “Macedonia.” Historically the land of Philip II and Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Mount Olympus and the Greek gods, Macedonia boasts an impressive cultural heritage that the Greeks have claimed as their own. In 1991, a state resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia proclaimed itself Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), angering the Greeks and adding fuel to the persistent dispute. This book argues the Macedonian question from a Greek perspective. It questions FYROM’s right to the Macedonian name, arguing that Greece possesses the historical, cultural, linguistic, anthropological and demographic ties to the legacy of Alexander. Research examines the origins of the dispute between Hellenism and Bulgarism, the Balkans wars, the world wars and the rise of Tito’s communism in Yugoslavia. The book also shows, step by step, the misconceptions about the legacy of Macedonia as promulgated by international communism, and carefully analyzes communism’s role as the main protagonist in the formation of the new state and as a pivotal source fomenting and fueling the Greek Civil War. Cover to cover, it traces the conflict’s change from an initial struggle between Hellenism and Bulgarism to the present dispute between Athens and Skopje.

Greeks and Macedonians are presently engaged in an often heated dispute involving competing claims to a single identity. Each group asserts that they, and they alone, have the right to identify themselves as Macedonians. The Greek government denies the existence of a Macedonian nation and insists that all Macedonians are Greeks, while Macedonians vehemently assert their existence as a unique people. Here Loring Danforth examines the Macedonian conflict in light of contemporary theoretical work on ethnic nationalism, the construction of national identities and cultures, the invention of tradition, and the role of the state in the process of building a nation. The conflict is set in the broader context of Balkan history and in the more narrow context of the recent disintegration of Yugoslavia. Danforth focuses on the transnational dimension of the "global cultural war" taking place between Greeks and Macedonians both in the Balkans and in the diaspora. He analyzes two issues in particular: the struggle for human rights of the Macedonian minority in northern Greece and the campaign for international recognition of the newly independent Republic of Macedonia. The book concludes with a detailed analysis of the construction of identity at an individual level among immigrants from northern Greece who have settled in Australia, where multiculturalism is an official policy. People from the same villages, members of the same families, living in the northern suburbs of Melbourne have adopted different national identities.

The history of Macedonia--the most remarkable of all monarchic states--is here presented from the death of Philip II through the state's loss of independence in 167 B.C. Recent discoveries about Macedonian arts and institutions have aided the authors in recounting the impact of Alexander's career, the civil war between the generals, and the final phase of Macedonian history, the wars with Rome.

Volume 2 picks up the story of Macedonia from the triumph of Ottoman rule in Macedonia, and the consequent insertion of Islam into the Balkans. This led not only to protracted rivalry between Islam and Christianity, but also to the introduction of both variants of Islam, Sunni and Shia. As elsewhere, this gave rise to periodic upheavals when Shia factions tried to challenge the authority of the Sunni Ottoman State. Sunni – Shia tensions have never quite disappeared in Macedonia. Later topics include the violent but incompetent Macedonian struggle against Ottoman rule between 1878 and 1909, Macedonian involvement in the Balkan Wars and World War I, the demographic upheavals of the period, and the renewed Bulgarian insurgency against Yugoslavia between the World Wars. Macedonia’s half-hearted involvement in World War II, and the Communist insurgency in Greece in 1944–49 left a lingering legacy of fear and distrust that even today colours the attitudes of the Greeks towards their Macedonian neighbours. The book also reviews the less-than-admirable history of Mount Athos in its decadence during the modern and contemporary periods. Communist rule between 1944 and 1990, much neglected in research on Macedonia, is treated in its own chapter, which explains the imposition of Communism and its eventual abandonment in response to its utter developmental failure. The collapse of Communism also led to the fragmentation of the former Yugoslavia – a protracted and murderous affair, from which the Macedonians were lucky to escape lightly. The final chapter is devoted to the travails of the insecure new Macedonian Republic. Though the Republic traces its (alleged) origin to the ancient Macedonian kingdom, it only achieved statehood in 1991 by a historical accident. It was immediately embroiled with Greece over the question of its identity and of its very existence. Both volumes throw light on this piece of unfinished political business, and the ways in which Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria have sought to misuse their historical experience to justify their conflicting claims on the territory.

The Macedonian question has been at the heart of the Balkan crisis for most of the twentieth century. This important book is the first to bring together international experts to analyse the recent history of Macedonia since the break-up of Yugoslavia, and includes seminal analyses of key issues in ethnic relations, politics, and recent history. It is edited by James Pettifer, a British authority on the southern Balkans, and is likely to prove a landmark in its field.

This book is a comprehensive and dispassionate analysis of the intriguing Macedonian Question from 1878 until 1949 and of the Macedonians (and of their neighbours) from the 1890s until today, with the two themes intertwining. The Macedonian Question was an offshoot of the wider Eastern Question – i.e., the fate of the European remnants of the Ottoman Empire once it dissolved. The initial protagonists of the Macedonian Question were Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, and a Slav-speaking population inhabiting geographical Macedonia in search of its destiny, the largest segment of which ended up creating a new nation, comprising the Macedonians, something unacceptable to its three neighbours. Alexis Heraclides analyses the shifting sands of the Macedonian Question and of the gradual rise of Macedonian nationhood, with special emphasis on the Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian claims to Macedonia (1870s–1919); the birth and vicissitudes of the most famous Macedonian revolutionary organization, the VM(O)RO, and of other organizations (1893–1940); the appearance and gradual establishment of the Macedonian nation from the 1890s until 1945; Titos’s crucial role in Macedonian nationhood-cum-federal status; the Greek-Macedonian name dispute (1991–2018), including the ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ – the deep-seated reasons rendering the clash intractable for decades; the final Greek-Macedonian settlement (the 2018 Prespa Agreement); the Bulgarian-Macedonian dispute (1950–today) and its ephemeral settlement in 2017; the issue of the Macedonian language; and the Macedonian national historical narrative. The author also addresses questions around who the ancient Macedonians were and the fascination with Alexander the Great. This monograph will be an essential resource for scholars working on Macedonian history, Balkan politics and conflict resolution.

The third edition of the only English-language guide to Macedonia, one of Europe's least-discovered gems.

Macedonia has been contested by its three neighbours – Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece – during and since the demise of the Ottoman Empire. But the Macedonian Question extends far beyond the contested borders of Macedonia to immigrant communities in Europe, Australia and North America. The contributors to this collection explore the contemporary repercussions of the Macedonian Question, which has long been at the heart of Balkan politics. The volume recognises Macedonia as a global issue, and focuses on the politics of identity and difference in both homeland and diaspora.The contributors argue that Macedonia as place and as concept is forged within a transnational network of diasporas, local communities, states and international institutions. They examine the increasingly important role of transnational bodies – including the European Union and human rights NGOs – in regulating relationships between states and minority groups, as well as in promoting multiculturalism and civic participation. They consider the role of scholarship and the media in defining Macedonia and its inhabitants. They also draw attention to the struggles of individuals in constructing, negotiating and even transforming their identities in the face of competing nationalisms and memories. In the process, they re-evaluate ‘ethnicity’ as a conceptual tool for understanding difference in the region, and raise questions about the implications of recognising, and not recognising, difference at the political level.