ABSTRACT
In a broad historical sense Macedonia is a geographical area encompassing the northern province of Greece, part of western Bulgaria and today’s former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia (constitutionally, the Republic of Macedonia), which peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991-92. In essence, there was no Macedonian national identity before the Second World War. It started receiving political recognition after 1944-45, when Tito made Macedonia one of the constituent parts of Yugoslavia. Form the last quarter of the 19th century until after the First World War the area had been at the centre of three conflicting Balkan nationalisms: Bulgarian; Serbian; and Greek. The last were the beneficiaries of the First and Second Balkan wars (1912-13) and the Bulgarians the losers, as Greeks and Serbs, and eventually Ottoman Turkey, united to fight against Bulgaria. Today, Macedonia is a multi-ethnic state of c. 2 million, mainly composed of Macedonians and Albanians (the latter about one-quarter of total population). It is a poor, landlocked state with many problems. The Albanians, mainly in the west around Tetovo, want more autonomy and many covet union with Albania in a greater Albanian scheme, including Kosovo. Bulgaria has revived its interest in Macedonia, claiming historical, linguistic and other affiliations. In 1995 Greece contributed further to Macedonia’s economic problems (for example, since then unemployment has been hovering around the 40% mark) by enforcing a blockade on the grounds that Macedonia had no right to using this name, as it is the name of Greece’s northern province. Greece has expressed fears that the former Yugoslav republic might, one day, develop irredentist claims on Greek Macedonia. Greece’s trade embargo lasted for two years and the only thing it achieved was to convince the Macedonians to change their flag. At the same time Greece’s intransigent stance damaged its standing in European and world affairs. During the NATO war over Kosovo, Macedonia received some 370,000 Albanian refugees and this further compounded the country’s economic crisis. In February 2001 the Albanians launched an armed insurgency, which spread in the predominately Albanian areas of western Macedonia. Seven months later a peace agreement was reached between the ethnic Albanians and the Macedonian Government, with NATO supervising the disarmament of the Albanian rebels. Macedonia lies at the crossroads of four Balkan states (Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria
and Greece) and is a major route for the trans-Balkan pipeline. Turkey has also an interest in Macedonia and has since 1992 signed military and trade co-operation agreements. It seems that Macedonia has not ceased to condense the explosive contradictions of late 19th century politics, the difference being the roles of the European Union and NATO in the region, which, arguably, can contain regional conflict.
