Language: Macedonian
Currency: Macedonian denar (MKD)
Calling
Code: 389
The Republic of Macedonia (in Macedonian:
Република Македонија, romanization: Makedónija Republic) or Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is an independent landlocked country,
located on the Balkan peninsula, in southeastern Europe. It limits
to the north with Serbia and Kosovo, to the east with Bulgaria, to
the south with Greece and to the west with Albania. Its capital is
Skopje, with more than 700,000 inhabitants.
In 1991, the
former Socialist Republic of Macedonia, one of the constituent parts
of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, proclaimed its
independence under the official name of the Republic of
Macedonia.The use of the term "Macedonia" was rejected by Greece,
with the emergence of a dispute over the denomination of this
country that lasts today. The country is sometimes referred to
simply as Macedonia, while the provisional reference Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia (Поранешна Југословенска Република Македонија,
Poranešna Jugoslovenska Republika Makedonija in Macedonian) is used
to designate that state in various international organizations, such
as United Nations, following a compromise reached between Greece and
the Republic of Macedonia in 1993. The definitive name continues in
negotiation between both states. Currently Macedonia is an official
candidate for access to the European Union.
Povardarie
| Skopje (Скопје) Demir Kapija (Демир Капија) Kavadarci (Кавадарци) |
Negotino (Неготино) Veles (Велес) Čaška (Чашка, Chashka) Stobi (Стоби) |
Western North Macedonia
Eastern North Macedonia
Previously, the country was called Macedonia, which led to
ambiguities with the geographical region of Macedonia, the state of
Ancient Macedonia, the historical province of Macedonia in neighboring
Greece, and Pirin Macedonia in neighboring Bulgaria. North Macedonia
occupies about 35.8% of the territory of the Macedonian vilayets of the
Ottoman Empire until 1912 (52.4% is on the territory of modern Greece,
and 9.6% is on the territory of Bulgaria), and its population is about
40.9% of the population of the latter.
The territory of the
Republic of North Macedonia previously formed the southernmost part of
Yugoslavia. Its modern borders were established shortly after the Second
World War. In August 1947, President of the Socialist Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (SFRY) Josip Tito and Bulgarian Prime Minister Georgi
Dimitrov met in Bled and agreed that all of Macedonia (or at least part
of Greek and all Bulgarian Macedonia) would eventually , will enter into
an alliance with Yugoslav Macedonia, provided that Bulgaria becomes an
integral part of the Federation of Balkan States. Thus, the Socialist
Republic of Macedonia was formed as part of the SFRY - thereby the
Macedonians were recognized as an independent people within the SFRY.
After the deterioration of interstate relations between the USSR and the
SFRY, Bulgaria annulled the agreements reached in Bled.
Title
controversy
In 1991, during the breakup of Yugoslavia into separate
states, the territory of North Macedonia did not change. At the same
time, the emergence of this separate state led to political disputes
with Greece over the use of the names "Macedonia" and "Macedonians".
The official designation used in 1993-2019 at the UN at the
insistence of Greece is the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
(FYROM). The same name was used during this period within the IOC and at
the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
On November 4, 2004, the United
States officially recognized the country under its constitutional name -
the Republic of Macedonia. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) has stated
that it will continue to use its former name, the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia; The European Union also gave Greece guarantees
that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia would be able to become a
full member of this organization only after agreeing on a name.
In April 2011, the Republic of Macedonia filed a lawsuit with the
International Court of Justice in The Hague. The Republic of Macedonia
has accused Greece of creating obstacles to its accession to the EU and
NATO. On December 5, 2011, the International Court of Justice ruled that
Greece does not have the right to block the membership of the Republic
of Macedonia in the EU, NATO and other international organizations.
On June 12, 2018, the governments of Greece and the Republic of
Macedonia, after a long dispute, came to a consensus on the name of the
country (Prespa Treaty), as a result of which the Macedonian side
decided to start the procedure for changing the name to the Republic of
North Macedonia (Maced. Republic of North Macedonia) erga omnes
(“according to towards all”: both in its legislation and in relations
with all countries and organizations). At the same time, the names
associated with the relevant Slavic ethnic group (Macedonians), language
(Macedonian language) and culture, according to the agreement, are not
subject to change.
On September 30 of the same year, a referendum
was held in which citizens could express their attitude towards the
agreement between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. 91.46% of the
citizens of the Republic of Macedonia who came to the polls supported
the Prespa agreement with Greece, however, due to the fact that the
turnout in the referendum did not reach 50%, these results were not
recognized as valid. At the same time, since the referendum was of a
consultative nature, it did not impose any legal restrictions on the
continuation of the process of ratification of the Prespa Agreement.
On January 11, 2019, the decisive vote of the deputies of the
Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia on changing the name of the
country took place. 81 deputies (with the minimum required 80) out of
120 supported the relevant amendments to the constitution. For the
agreement to enter into force, it had to be ratified by a simple
majority of the Greek Parliament. On January 25, the Greek Parliament
ratified an agreement to change the name of the Republic of Macedonia,
153 deputies voted for such an agreement (with 151 necessary), and 146
deputies were against the agreement. On February 12, 2019, the agreement
to rename the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of North Macedonia
officially came into force. On February 14, 2019, the UN officially
changed its adopted name from "The former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia" to "Republic of North Macedonia".
The territory of Northern Macedonia in various
historical periods belonged to different states and empires -
Peonia, Ancient Macedonia (whose name inherited the entire
geographical region), Roman and Byzantine empires, the First and
Second Bulgarian kingdoms, the Serbian kingdom, the Ottoman Empire.
In 864, when the territory was part of the Bulgarian kingdom,
Christianity was adopted by the state religion. Modern Macedonians
are ethnically close to the Bulgarians. In the XIV century, these
lands were conquered by the Ottoman Empire. In the XIX century, the
national movement of the Bulgarians in Macedonia developed, which
manifested itself in the form of a struggle for church and school
independence of the Bulgarians, which was crowned with success in
1870 with the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate, which by the
mid-1870s managed to include most of the ethnically Bulgarian lands
of Macedonia in its diocese.
In 1878, as a result of the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, Russia liberated Bulgaria and
entered into the San Stefan world with Turkey, according to which
the state of Bulgaria appeared, and parts of the territories of
Ottoman Macedonia inhabited by southern Slavs entered the borders of
Bulgaria. However, this was disadvantageous to the great forces in
Europe, and the Treaty of San Stefano was followed by the Berlin
Treaty, which cut Bulgaria into two parts - the Principality of
Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. The territory of Macedonia with its
South Slavic population again passed to the Turks.
In 1912,
the First Balkan War began. Bulgarian and Allied Balkan Christian
troops defeated Turkey. However, almost immediately, a war broke out
between the allies - Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkan Christian
peoples, as a result of which Bulgaria lost Macedonia.
As a
result of the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and the fall of the
Ottoman Empire, the territory of Ottoman Macedonia was divided
between Serbia under the name Јužna Srbiјa (“Southern Serbia”),
Greece and Bulgaria (Pirin Territory). After World War I, Serbia
entered the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In
1929, the kingdom received a new name - Yugoslavia and was divided
into provinces - banovans. The territory of Northern Macedonia
became the Vardarsky banovina (Vardarska banovina).
In 1941,
Yugoslavia was captured by the Axis Countries. The territory of the
Vardar banovina was divided between Bulgaria and Albania. Some of
the Macedonian Slavs supported the resistance movement, which was
led by Josip Broz Tito, who later became president of Yugoslavia.
The Bulgarian occupation authorities formed the Independent State of
Macedonia, which lasted several months in 1944.
At the end of
World War II, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was formed
from six republics, including the People's Republic of Macedonia.
When the association was renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia in 1963, Northern Macedonia was also renamed the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia.
1991 - declaration of
sovereignty and a referendum on the independence of the Republic of
Macedonia, which led to a bloodless withdrawal from Yugoslavia. The
first president of the Republic of Macedonia was a native of the
local nomenclature, Kiro Gligorov (1991-1999).
1991 - Bulgaria -
the first state in the world to recognize the independence of the
Republic of Macedonia.
1992 - the withdrawal of units of the
Yugoslav army after the signing of the Treaty on the withdrawal of
UNA troops on February 21 by the president of the new state, Kiro
Gligorov, and the high command of the Yugoslav army.
1993 -
Republic of Macedonia admitted to the UN as the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia
1995 - after the assassination attempt on
Kiro Gligorov, Stoyan Andov was the acting head of state for a short
period.
As a result of the war in Kosovo in 1999, some 360,000
Kosovo Albanians fled to the territory of the Republic of Macedonia.
Refugees soon left the country, but a little later, local Albanians,
following their example, put forward a demand for autonomy for
regions of the republic with a predominantly Albanian population.
1999 - Joint Declaration, fixing the principles of good neighborly
relations between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia; confirmed
by a joint memorandum in 2008 /
1999-2004 - President Boris
Traykovsky.
2001, March-August - the Albanian National Liberation
Army (leader Ali Akhmeti) launched a guerrilla action against the
regular army of the Republic of Macedonia in the north and west of
the country (especially in the Tetovo region). Only NATO
intervention ended the confrontation, as a result of which the Ohrid
Agreement was signed with the Albanian separatists, providing
limited legal and cultural autonomy (official status of the Albanian
language, amnesty of the rebels, Albanian police in the Albanian
areas).
2002 - sporadic recurrences of the Albanian-Macedonian
inter-ethnic conflict.
2020 - North Macedonia becomes the 30th
member of NATO
North Macedonia is a parliamentary republic, with
great powers vested in the Legislative Assembly.
Political
parties
Rally for Macedonia - Nationalist
Internal Macedonian
revolutionary organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National
Unity - conservative
Internal Macedonian revolutionary organization -
People's Party - conservative
Liberal Democratic Party - liberal
Social Democratic Union of Macedonia - socialist
Administrative
division
The territory of the Republic of North Macedonia is divided
into the city of Skopje (Grad Skopje) and communities (Opshtini), the
city of Skopje itself is also divided into several communities.
The representative body of the city of Skopje and the community is the
council, the executive body is the mayor.
The largest cities of
the state
Skopje 467 257
Bitola 80 550
Kumanovo 70 842
Prilep 66 246
Ohrid 55 749
Tetovo 52 915
The main goals of the armed forces are the protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state, as well as participation in operations under the auspices of the EU, NATO and the UN. On March 27, 2020, North Macedonia officially became the 30th member of NATO. In the same month, it adopted a new defense strategy with a focus on capacity development and improved planning based, among other things, on NATO and EU standards. The 2019-2028 Defense Capabilities Development Plan set out long-term development goals aimed at developing collective defense, joint security and crisis management capabilities. Currently, work is underway to restructure the Ministry of Defense. The armed forces are fully professional and the country strives to train all units, especially those that can be deployed, to NATO standards. A number of units are intended to participate in NATO-led operations, and in November 2020 troops were deployed as part of KFOR. The armed forces have increased their participation in joint NATO exercises since joining the Alliance. Participation in international peacekeeping missions expanded the possibilities of logistical support. The country has a modest naval and air force and relies on weapons and military equipment (WME) from the Soviet era. Acquisition priorities include indirect fire support, light armored vehicles, cyber defense and multi-role helicopters. The domestic defense industry has practically no capacity for the design and production of modern equipment.
The geographical region of Macedonia is located on
the territory of three countries - its southern and most part -
Aegean Macedonia, is part of Greece; the eastern lands - Pirin
Macedonia - are part of Bulgaria, and North Macedonia is located in
the north and west, in the valley of the Vardara River.
Most
of the territory is occupied by the ridges of the medium-high
mountain systems Skopska-Crna-Gora, Pind (the highest point is Mount
Korab (2753 m) and Pirin, separated by vast intermountain basins.
The mountain ranges separate the valleys of the Vardar and Strumitsa
rivers, which flow through the whole country) from each other In the
south-west are the large lakes Ohrid and Prespa, partly belonging to
North Macedonia, and in the south-east, the large Doiran lake, the
lowest point being the river Vardar (50 m).
On the territory of the republic there are a number of resorts (ski and balneological): Popova-Shapka, Ponikva, Negorski-Bani, Lagadin, Mavrovo, Kezhovitsa, Banya-Bansko, Debarski-Bagni, etc.
In North Macedonia, the climate changes from temperate to subtropical. The average temperature in January is 11–12 °C, in July +21–23 °C. The annual rainfall is 500-700 mm in the north.
The poorest of the former Yugoslav republics, one of
the poorest countries in Europe. Due to sanctions and embargoes by
Greece in the mid-1990s, there were large losses in the trade balance.
Due to the trade embargo and the closure of ports, Greece had to look
for other, more expensive transport hubs (for example, through Romania).
Dependence on imports of oil, gas and engineering products.
In
1999, with the escalation of the conflict in Kosovo, a huge number of
refugees fled to the Republic of Macedonia. By 2001, a crisis began in
the country associated with ethnic conflicts among the population. The
events of 1999-2001 caused great damage to the economy. First of all,
the environment suffered, and the level of foreign investment in the
development of the Republic of Macedonia also fell sharply.
Economic development is weak. Chromites, copper, lead-zinc and iron
ores, manganese are mined here. There are enterprises of ferrous and
non-ferrous metallurgy, machine-building, chemical-pharmaceutical, light
and food industries.
The main foreign trade partner of the
Republic of Macedonia as of 2014 was the European Union. The volume of
foreign trade for 2014 is 12211 million dollars. Geographic distribution
of foreign trade of the Republic of Macedonia (for 2014):
EU
countries - 69.0% (8404 million dollars).
Russia - 1.5% ($182
million)
China - 4.3% ($525 million)
Turkey - 3.6% ($442 million)
Americas - 3.3% ($405 million)
Africa - 0.7% ($84 million)
According to the 2019 Doing Business Report published on October 31,
2018, the Republic of Macedonia was ranked 10th, making it the highest
ranked country in the Europe and Central Asia region after Georgia
(6th).
The total population of the country as of December 31,
2016 was 2,073,702. According to the 2002 census, the total population
in the Republic of Macedonia was 2,022,547 inhabitants, among which:
Macedonians - 1,297,981 (64.18%)
Albanians - 509,083 (25.17%)
Turks - 77,959 (3.85%)
gypsies - 53,879 (2.66%)
Serbs - 35,939
(1.78%)
Bosnians - 17,018 (0.84%)
aromans - 9695 (0.48%)
others
- 20,993 (1.04%)
The official state and most widely spoken languages
of North Macedonia are Macedonian and Albanian. In addition, Turkish,
Romani, Serbian, Bosnian and Aromanian have the status of minority
languages. The official sign language is Macedonian Sign Language.
On January 15, 2019, a law came into force in North Macedonia,
according to which the Albanian language became the second state
language.
According to the 2002 census, there were 2,022,547
people living in North Macedonia. 1,344,815 Macedonian citizens reported
Macedonian as their native language, 507,989 Albanian, 71,757 Turkish,
38,528 Romani, 6,884 Aromanian, 24,773 Serbian, 8,560 Bosnian, 19,241
other languages.
Most of the inhabitants of the country (about 67%) belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. In 1967, the church declared its independence from the Serbian Orthodox Church, but its autocephaly is not recognized by other Orthodox churches to this day. Muslims make up 30% of the total population, and adherents of other faiths - 3%. In total, there are 1,200 Orthodox churches and monasteries and 425 mosques in the Republic of Macedonia.
The Red Cross Society of the Republic of Macedonia was
founded on March 17, 1945. Operates independently since May 21, 1992.
On November 1, 1995, the Red Cross of the former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia was recognized by the International Committee of the Red
Cross and on November 27, 1995 became a full member of the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
For a number of years the country has been trying to join the European Union. After the renaming of Macedonia, the main objections of Greece were removed, and these attempts were resumed with renewed vigor. However, not all EU member states support this option. So, in early November 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron opposed the admission of the country to the European Union. Bulgaria, in turn, demands that the multi-ethnic North Macedonia include the Bulgarians in the part of the constitution that lists the nations living in the country. 84% of Bulgarians are against supporting the entry of North Macedonia into the European Union, 45% of those surveyed are against recognizing the existence of the Macedonian language - according to the official position of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the language of North Macedonia is the Macedonian literary norm (Bulgarian).