United Macedonia

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United Macedonia (Macedonian: Обединета Македонија, Obedineta Makedoniya) is an irredentist concept of Macedonian ethnic nationalism which aims to unify and ethnically cleanse an area of southeast Europe which Slav Macedonian nationalists' present as the region of Macedonia, and which they claim was divided under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913, into a single state with the Greek city of Thessaloniki (which they refer to as Солун, Solun), as its capital Greek Macedonia "not a problem", The Times (London), August 5 1957.

Although this perception is not limited to Slav Macedonians, or nationalists, the majority of ethnic Macedonians usually break down the region of Macedonia as follows:

• Vardar Macedonia (Вардарска Македонија) - the Republic of Macedonia.
• Aegean Macedonia (Егејска Македонија) - the three Macedonian peripheries of northern Greece.
• Pirin Macedonia (Пиринска Македонија) - the Blagoevgrad Province of southwestern Bulgaria
• Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo (Мала Преспа и Голо Брдо) - an area in southeastern Albania corresponding roughly to the Korçë, Pogradec and Devoll districts (sometimes considered to be a part of Aegean Macedonia).
• Gora and Prohor Pchinski (Гора и Прохор Пчински) - which roughly corresponds to the Pčinja District in southern Serbia (sometimes considered to be a part of Vardar Macedonia).

An essential aspect of this concept is the claim that the vast majority of the population in those territories are oppressed ethnic Macedonians and they describe those areas as the unliberated parts of Macedonia. In the cases of Bulgaria and Albania, it is said that they are undercounted in the censuses (In Albania, there are officially 5,000 ethnic Macedonians, whereas Macedonians nationalists claim the figures are more like 120,000-350,000 See [link]. In Bulgaria, there are officially, 5,071 ethnic Macedonians, whereas Macedonian nationalists claim 200,000 See [link].). In Greece, there is a Slavic-speaking minority with various self-identifications (Macedonian, Greek, Bulgarian), estimated by Ethnologue, and the Greek Helsinki Monitor as being between 100,000-200,000 (according to the Greek Helsinki Monitor only an estimated 10,000-30,000 have an ethnic Macedonian national identity See [link].). Macedonian nationalists have claimed that there is a Macedonian minority numbering up to 800,000 Patrides, Greek Magazine of Toronto, September - October, 1988, p. 3..

The roots of the concept can be traced back to 1946 when Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia renamed Vardar Banovina and created the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. The idea behind all this was the promotion of Yugoslav claims towards the rest of the region of Macedonian and in August 1944, he admitted that his goal was to reunify "all parts of Macedonia, divided in 1915 and 1918 by Balkan imperialists". To achieve this, he initiated negotiations with Bulgaria for a new federal state, which would also probably have included Albania, and supported the Greek Communists in the Greek Civil War. The idea of reunification of all of Macedonia under Communist rule was abandoned in 1948 when the Greek Communists lost and Tito fell out with the Soviet Union and pro-Soviet Bulgaria.

Before and just after the Republic of Macedonia's independence, it was assumed in Greece that the ideology of a United Macedonia was still state-sponsored. In the first constitution of the newly independent Republic of Macedonia, adopted on 17 November 1991, Article 47 read as follows [Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia], adopted 17 November 1991, amended on 6 January 1992.:

(1) The Republic cares for the status and rights of those persons belonging to the Macedonian people in neighboring countries, as well as Macedonian expatriates, assists their cultural development and promotes links with them. In the exercise of this concern the Republic will not interfere in the sovereign rights of other states or in their internal affairs.

(2) The Republic cares for the cultural, economic and social rights of the citizens of the Republic abroad.

This was seen in Greece as a declaration of a right to interfere in Greece's internal affairs.

According to the New York Times, a version of the new country's currency began to appear in January of 1992, which contained an image of the White Tower of Thessaloniki . This prompted a furious reaction in Greece, particularly the capital of Greek Macedonia, Thessaloniki itself. Eventually, the bills were never used.

Finally, on 13 September 1995, the Republic of Macedonia signed an Interim Accord with Greece ["Interim Accord between the Hellenic Republic and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"], United Nations, 13 September 1995. in order to end the economic embargo Greece had imposed, amongst other reasons, for the land claims. Amongst its provisions, the Accord specified that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (as it was known) would renounce all land claims to neighboring states' territories, and since then, the concept of United Macedonia has received no official encouragement. The concept is still widely known and espoused however by Macedonian nationalists.

Similar concepts

• Enosis - the Greek word for "union". It was prevalent until 1974 and expressed the desire for unification of Cyprus and Greece.
• Greater Albania - a term still prevalent in nationalist Albanian quarters for the Albanian borders to include mostly Kosovo, Chameria and western perts of the Republic of Macedonia.
• Greater Serbia - a term prevalent until 1999 or 2006 for Serbian border to include much of former Yugoslavia.
• Megali Idea - a Greek term prevalent until 1922, meaning "Great Idea", expressing the concept of Greek borders to encompass all ethnic Greeks in the former Byzantine lands.

See also

• Chauvinism
• Demographic history of Macedonia
• Extremism
• History of the Republic of Macedonia
• Irredentism
• Macedonian Question
• Macedonism
• Nationalism
• Propaganda
• The Ten Lies of Macedonism
• Titoism

References

 

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