Explanation: Before North Macedonia was North Macedonia, it was just Macedonia. This upset Greece so much that they spent several decades cockblocking Macedonia from the EU and NATO purely over the matter of the name of Macedonia belonging to Greece, in Greece’s strange opinion.
More ironically. Greece was the initial reason Macedonia focused on that name as part of their identity. After the balkan wars, Greece was very keen to not have a strong Bulgaria, so they were agitating what is now Macedonia to be Macedonia, while Bulgaria was trying to convince them to join Bulgaria as a lost brother nation. It became a hot issue only in recent times after the Greek junta fell and the right wing discovered they could use it as a conspiracy theory and to get the nationalist vote. Now the roles are reversed with Greece telling Macedonians they’re actually Bulgarians, while the Bulgarians don’t want them anymore and support them being called Macedonians 🙄
In an impressive backfire, the Greek subborness inspired North Macedonians to start claiming actual Greek heritage. Like building statuses of Alexander the Great and similar.
Prior to that they were proudly Slavic, (North) Macedonian identity wasn’t anything more than belonging to a geographic region.
Explanation: Before North Macedonia was North Macedonia, it was just Macedonia. This upset Greece so much that they spent several decades cockblocking Macedonia from the EU and NATO purely over the matter of the name of Macedonia belonging to Greece, in Greece’s strange opinion.
More ironically. Greece was the initial reason Macedonia focused on that name as part of their identity. After the balkan wars, Greece was very keen to not have a strong Bulgaria, so they were agitating what is now Macedonia to be Macedonia, while Bulgaria was trying to convince them to join Bulgaria as a lost brother nation. It became a hot issue only in recent times after the Greek junta fell and the right wing discovered they could use it as a conspiracy theory and to get the nationalist vote. Now the roles are reversed with Greece telling Macedonians they’re actually Bulgarians, while the Bulgarians don’t want them anymore and support them being called Macedonians 🙄
The sheer pettiness and inconsistency of international disputes can be astounding.
Truly a Balkan tale
A tale of two Balkans
In an impressive backfire, the Greek subborness inspired North Macedonians to start claiming actual Greek heritage. Like building statuses of Alexander the Great and similar.
Prior to that they were proudly Slavic, (North) Macedonian identity wasn’t anything more than belonging to a geographic region.