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 (Macedonia) | |
| Skopje (Скопје) Demir Kapija (Демир Капија) Kavadarci (Кавадарци) |
Negotino (Неготино) Veles (Велес) Čaška (Чашка, Chashka) Stobi (Стоби) |
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 relapses of the Albanian-Macedonian
inter-ethnic conflict.