What country to the south of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia refuses to acknowledge either that name or the formal name Republic of Macedonia?

Answer 1

Greece refuses to acknowledge the former province of Yugoslavia which calls itself the Republic of Macedonia. Greece has a historical province named Macedonia.

Macedonia Name Dispute Background

The issue is simple and straightforward:

Greece

• Historical Macedonia, was an ancient Greek kingdom on the northern Greek peninsula
• Modern Macedonia, is a Greek province corresponding almost entirely to the ancient Greek kingdom on the northern Greek peninsula

• There is an unbroken record of people identifying as Macedonians with a Greek ethnic linguistic and cultural identity, continuously inhabiting the land of historical Macedonia from the present to ancient times.
• Historical Macedonia, on the northern Greek peninsula was liberated from foreign Ottoman occupation in 1912.

Regarding The Former Yugoslav Republic and why it has been given the designation (FYROM):

• The Republic of Former Yugoslavia north of historical Macedonia, is a newly founded Slavic state with a mixed ethnic population, on what was once the kingdoms of ancient Paeonia and Dardania, and is unrelated to the historical Macedonia on the northern Greek peninsula.
• The largest ethnic group in the Former Yugoslav Republic consist of Slavic and Turkic tribes of the Bulgarians, (People of the first Slavic and Bulgarian tribes) that began to slowly migrate into the area in the 6th century CE.

• The Former Yugoslav Republic north of the historical Macedonia, wants to self-identify as simply "Macedonia", a name given to it in 1946 by the communist regime of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia before its dissolution. This name represents no ethnic or political reality for the new Slavic Republic, and was given the name as part of an expansionist agenda to wrest historical Macedonia from northern Greece and forge for the communist Yugoslavia, a strategic pathway to the sea.

FYRO"M"'s violation of the name "Macedonia"

• The use of simply "Macedonia" to describe the newly founded Slavic state is in violation of Article 2 of the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversitythat states that in the interest of harmonious interaction, one nation (The Former Yugoslav Republic) in exercising its right to self-determination, cannot diminish the equal right of another nation (Greece) to identify simply by its millennia old historical identity (Macedonia) which is historically, ethnically, culturally, geographically different to the new Slavic nation.

The interim accord was signed under the auspices of the United Nations, with Greece compromising and agreeing to the temporary use of "Macedonia" with the qualifier "Former Yugoslav Republic by the new Slavic Republic, and the Republic of Former Yugoslavia agreeing to the name "Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia" (FYROM) while it chooses a permanent name for itself that does not violate Greece's equal right to identify by its historical identity and that does not imply a territorial expansionist agenda on Greece's historical northern province.

However, instead of honoring its agreements, the former Yugoslav Republic stalls on deciding on a name for itself, continues to violate the interim accord and Article 2 of the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity by identifying itself only as "Macedonia", relentlessly creates a flood of Propaganda, misappropriates Hellenic state symbols, and demonizes and distorts the history and historical perception of Greece. The government of FYROM and its Diaspora continue to provoke Greece and meddle in Greece's domestic affairs.

The Former Yugoslav Republic constantly makes territorial provocations on Greece's historical northern province and continues on unimpeded with its expansionist agenda to change people's perceptions and validate a lie.

The claim perpetuated as justification for the use of the historical Greek name "Macedonia" and at the heart of the expansionist plan is that Macedonia was a region that was "divided".

FACT:

There is no such thing as a Macedonian Greater Region and in particular one that was divided. This is propaganda spread across many platforms by the Former Yugoslav Republic whose aim is to distort historical reality and create a false narrative for all those readers not familiar with Balkan history.

The illusion is that before the Balkan wars (1912-13) a sovereign state entity with the name Macedonia existed, inhabited by an alleged "Macedonian" ethnicity, that was attacked, defeated and consequently partitioned by the allied Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians.

The reality is, that the three areas which comprise this imaginary unity, that is, modern FYROM (Vardar), the historical province of Macedonia in Greece (Aegean) and a region in Bulgaria (Pirin) never constituted an ethnologically, historically, culturally and linguistically united territory. Even the name Macedonia itself was not applied to the whole area even when under foreign occupation (especially the greater part of today´s FYROM that lies north of the Prilep-Strumica line). In fact, one cannot find any original map before WWII with the term Macedonia in the area of present-day FYROM.

• Quote: The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia emanating 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 "Macedonian National Consciousness" to be unjustified demagogueryrepresenting no ethnic or political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak foraggressive intentions against Greece.

U.S. State Dep. Foreign Relations Vol. VII, Circular Airgram [868.014] Edward R. Stettinius

• Quote: For (**Fyr)Macedonia to be recognized as an independent state, it would be necessary to change its name [...] It is historically proven that the Yugoslavian Democracy of Macedonia was created by Stalin, Tito and Dimitrov, aiming at the stealthy removal of a large part of Northern Greece. This Democracy was used during the period 1944-1949 in order to destabilise Greece.

Thomas Niles, US Ambassador, statement on the 23rd June 1992 to the SubCommittee of US Congress, Eleutherotypia newspaper, June 24, 1992.

ALL countries including the USA, use the OFFICIAL name,Former Yugoslav Republic in all international organizations, formal dealings and events while it waits for the FYROM government to honor its agreement. Not because "Greece throws a tantrum" but because there is a violation of international convention. The 'tantrum' is thrown by the Former Yugoslav Republic who will not deal with any country bilaterally without forcing the use of the name of its expansionist agenda with the plan to make it stick.

ALL governments of all countries are very aware of the issue and all (except perhaps the possibility of Turkey) have agreed to accept the new name once the Former Yugoslav Republic honors its agreement to stop violating Article 2 of the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity.