Where is Macedonia?
What role does history play in the naming of a country? What are the political consequences of choosing a country’s name? Does a country have the absolute sovereignty to determine its own name?
These are pressing questions in southeastern Europe. One of the former constituents of Yugoslavia gained independence from that nation as it broke apart in 1991, named Skopje its capital, and declared itself the Republic of Macedonia. Largely because of objections from Greece, the United Nations recognized—and still recognizes—this nation only under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Depending on who prints a map, it is usually labeled as either Macedonia or F.Y.R.O.M. The United States recognized the nation as the Republic of Macedonia in 2004. The dispute over the country’s name has had serious ramifications. For example, NATO has refused to invite it to join the treaty organization until the dispute is resolved.
The dispute centers on the fact that a region of northern Greece also claims the name Macedonia and that this area has very strong historical ties to the name. For the region in Greece was the birthplace of Alexander the Great, the conqueror who made Greek the lingua franca of most of southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa in the fourth century B.C. The modern nation’s usage of the name Macedonia, many Greeks believe, amounts to a theft of ancient Greek history. On the other hand, the current republic has its own historical claim to the name, since the Roman province of Macedonia included most of the modern Republic.
I write about this today because the controversy has spilled over from the halls of European politics into the halls of American and European academia. Classical scholars are debating the facts of ancient history, the role history should play in political debates, and the nature of ethnic and national identities, and they are using their expertise to try to influence the political debate. A group of over 300 academics has written a letter to President Obama asking him to reverse President Bush’s recognition of the Republic of Macedonia. The group includes some of the most prominent names among classical scholars, including ECU’s own Prof. Tony Papalas. Just yesterday, however, a respected scholar at Oxford, Andreas Willi, published an open letter in Classical Journal refuting the arguments of the letter to Obama.
I want to emphasize that (although I do have an opinion on the matter) I am not writing as an advocate but in a journalistic vein to bring to your attention the importance that history and Classics have in the world. Neither this blog nor the ECU Classics program is taking a stand on the matter. Rather, I invite you to read the letter to President Obama and Prof. Willi’s response for yourself (to access the Willi letter, follow the link and click on the title “Whose is Macedonia, Whose is Alexander?”). Please use the comments section to discuss the matter. Be aware, though, that the comments are moderated and will take some time to appear.
You make it sound like Macedonia suddenly sprung up out of nowhere in 1991. The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a part of the federation of Yugoslavia and the Greeks never objected then. Indeed, they even called their part of Macedonia “Northern Greece” until 1988. And lets not forget who was the majority in Greek Macedonia until the early part of the 20th century until the Greeks conquered it and colonised it with Pontian Greeks (refugees from the population exchange with Turkey). That’s how Macedonians became a minority in Greek Macedonia. I should know, about a third from the people in the Republic of Macedonia have roots in the Greek part of Macedonia. They were ethnically cleansed from there in the 1920s and 1940s. The persecution is still going on.
florina.org – party of the Macedonians in Greece
misirkov.org – Writings from the greatest figure from the period of the Macedonian national awakening