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"Macedonia is inhabited by Greeks as well as Slavs, Albanians, Turks, etc. So Macedonia is certainly not only Greek."

Answer

The above question is somewhat vague, as it makes no distinction between the province of Macedonia in Greece, the (former Yugoslav) Rep. of Macedonia, the Pirin Makedonija in Bulgaria, or any hidden historical connotations the term Macedonia might be assosiated with.

A very good example would be to ask if "Mexico" is Mexican - yet if there is proper referencing whether the question regards New Mexico in the US or Mexico the country, then the matter becomes complicated.

Its important to note that the term "Macedonia" has denoted slightly different regions over time, since the modern regions don't exactly correspond to the ancient one in terms of national boundaries.

There is the country named the (former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia. It is mostly populated by ethnic Macedonians, who in terms of origin belong to the south Slavic branch and a rather large population of Albanians in its northwestern part (with other minorities as well). It is primarily located in a region that in ancient times was the Kingdom of Paeonia. The ancient Peonians were neither Slavic nor Greek, since the Slavic tribes did not migrate into the Balkan peninsula until the 6th century A.D.

There is also one province in Greece with the name Macedonia (divided into three municipalities). The majority are Greek citizens with a regional Macedonian identity (with other traces of minorities as well, mostly Roma, south Slavs, Arvanites and Vlachs ). The province is situated within the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia in its entity.

In terms of the history of the Ancient Kingdom of Macedon, there is strong historical evidence which suggests that the ancient Macedonians were of Doric origin, which would make them Greek. The ancient Macedonians competed in the ancient Olympics, self identified themselves as Greeks and spread Greek culture/language during the Hellenistic period during the conquests of Alexander the Great. It is now debated amongst scholars if they were originally Greek or became Greek after contact with colonies from the south Greek city-states, still evidence such as the Pella curse Tablet suggests that at least from the 5th century B.C. the Kingdom of Macedon was Greek speaking and worshiped the Greek Pantheon - in contradiction with the Kingdom of Paeonia in the north which practised pagan religions. Evidence of this can be found in archeological sites around mt. Olympus in the city of Dion, where a large number of inscriptions have been found written by Macedonian nobility as a tribute to victories in the Olympic Games, which in antiquity only Greeks could compete.

In the Byzantine era, there was a "Macedonian" Thema in the middle age Greek - speaking eastern Roman Empire.

In modern times, the Republic of Macedonia became a sovereign nation in 1991 when it broke away from Yugoslavia. Greece expressed serious concerns that the Republic of Macedonia's choice to put the name "Macedonia" was an attempt to insinuate that the region of Macedonia in Greece, as well as the identity of Ancient Macedon is part of an occupied whole and would try to usurp the identity of Macedonians (of the Greek variety). On the other hand ethnic Macedonians claim their right to self determination is violated by Greece for insisting they should change their name - their claim in that they have been in the region of Macedonia for 14 centuries, so they should have the right to call themselves Macedonian by right of birth/location.

Still, its notable to mention there is currently a disagreement in the Republic of Macedonia as to what their identity actually represents. Up to quite recently their elected leaders claimed they were not related to ancient Macedonians but their present government seems to have revised their official ethnic narrative and now portray themselves as direct descendants of ancient Macedonians.

On many occasions, political leaders of the Rep. of Macedonia such as Denko Maleski (former minister of foreign affairs), Kiro Gligorov (first President of the Rep. of Macedonia), Gyordan Veselinov (Macedonian Ambassador to Canada), Ljubco Georgievski (former Prime Minister of Rep. of Macedonia) have stated that the 'modern' Rep. of Macedonia has no links with the Ancient Kingdom of Macedon.

The recent history of Slavic Macedonians is complicated. 19th century statistical data from a wide number of sources and eyewitness accounts indicate the majority of people in what is today called the Republic of Macedonia used to self identify themselves as ethnic Bulgarians. Today's modern ethnic Macedonian language also used to be widely considered a Bulgarian dialect by its speakers in the 19th century. The following quote from Kirste MIsirkov could provide further insight:

We are Bulgarians, more Bulgarians than the Bulgarians in Bulgaria themselves."[...]'And, anyway, what sort of new Macedonian nation can this be when we and our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers have always been called Bulgarians? - Modern Macedonian national icon Krste Misirkov in "On Macedonian Matters)

On the other side, Greek Macedonians represented a mix of Hellenized Christians from around the region and self identifying Greeks. A large number of the Greeks living in the province of Macedonia today originate from Asia Minor who settled in the area after a population exchange between Greece, Turkey and later Bulgaria. Their language idiom is an evolution from earlier forms of Greek leading back to the Koine Greek spread/spoken by ancient Macedonians, Athenians, Spartans, Corinthians and others. Differences between the various Greek dialects can be seen even today in terms of language (as in the use of genitive in the south and causative in the north to replace the dative case) that betray the roots of different Greek tribes (Dorians, Ionians, Aeolians, Pelasgians, and others).

Byzantines spoke Greek and considered ancient Greeks their ancestral roots but also included Hellenized Christians from other regions. (similar to how the middle age Holy Roman Empire based in Germany was also a multi-ethnic "Roman")

In the 19th century the northern Greek regions of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and the country of Macedonia were still officially part of a Ottoman region called "Rumelia". (Turkish for "land of the Romans" in reference to the prior Greco-Roman Byzantine state). When the Ottoman empire fell apart, Serbs, Greeks, Turks and Bulgarians all fought for a piece.

A small group of Bulgarian intellectuals (Misirkov, Gruev, Delchev, and a few others) began referencing themselves as primarily Macedonians (in a national, but not ethnic sense). An organization named BMARC and later IMRO was formed with the explicit purpose of encompassed much of Rumelia (which again was made up of a meddle of ethnic groups including Albanians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews, Turks, and Serbs).

Greek Macedonians ended up with the portion of Rumelia that coincides with today's Macedonia. Albania and Bulgaria also make up parts of Ottoman Rumelia. They began officially referencing the region as Macedonia in 1913. After a failed IMRO attempt in 1903 to form the "Krushevo Republic," what is today's Republic of Macedonia became a region in Yugoslavia that was named Vardar. During the Second Wolrd War some IMRO members (including of the head of IMRO at the time Ivan Mihailov) participated with the Axis in the occupation of the province of Macedonia in Greece, in the hopes of creating a "United Macedonia."

At the end of the war (in 1944 for the Balkan region) the communist leader Tito renamed Vardar into the "People's Republic of Macedonia in 1944. At the time there was also a civil war in Greece where some self-described Greek and Slavic Macedonians fought on the side of communists against the official Greek state (with IMRO also trying to annex parts of the province of Macedonia in Greece to the newly formed state to the north). At the time western governments objected to the name.

This (US) Government considers talk of Macedonian "nation", Macedonian "Fatherland", or Macedonia "national consciousness" to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece.- U.S State Department Foreign Relations Vol. VIII Washington D.C. Circular Airgram - 868.014/26 Dec. 1944.

Yet due to the fact that Greece was entangled in a self-destructive civil war up to 1949, the naming issue of the southernmost province of Yugoslavia elduded its foreign politicians, until it re-emerged in 1991 with the declaration of indipendance from the (former Yugoslav) Rep. of Macedonia.

At the moment, there is a standoff in the name dispute. The majority of nations call the Republic of Macedonia by its selected name but also recognize Macedonia in Greece as Greek. A 1995 interim UN agreement between both states obligates both states to reach a compromise in the name dispute (the resolution of which the international community agree to follow).

To sum things up: Without clarification as to which Macedonia the question regards to, there can be no appropriate answer. The (former Yukoslav) Rep. of Macedonia is not Greek - Greece has never made a claim against the sovereignity of the country anyway. The province of Macedonia is Greek, and existing archeological and cultural evidence suggest that the ancient kingdom of Macedon considered itself, and was considered in return, a Greek kingdom (in contradiction to the Kingdom of Paeonia mentioned earlier).

The dispute is mainly a political/historical one, so yes, a historical reference background IS nessecary for anyone wishing to fully comprehend the issue.

Answer

According to Macedonia . org, Macedonians make up 66% of their population, Albanians 23%, and Turks, Vlach, and Serbs make up the balance, based on their 1994 census.

The US Dept. of State website supports these percentages, based on 2002 statistics. Their site states the languages spoken by Macedonians are, 64% Macedonian, 25% Albanian, 4% Turkish, 3% Romani (Romany), 2% Serbian. They also state that Macedonia's greatest population increase since WWII is the ethnic Albanian community.

See the links below for both of these sites.

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