Greeks hold mass protests over name row with Macedonia

그리스, '마케도니아 명칭' 협상 반대 대규모 시위
Tens of thousands of Greeks have marched in Athens to protest the government's potential compromise in a long-standing dispute with neighbor Macedonia over its official name.
Ro Aram has the details.
Greeks are opposed to the possibility of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia shortening their official name to just "Macedonia."
That's because Greece has its own region called Macedonia, and argues that its neighbor's use of the name, along with contentious articles in its constitution, imply territorial claims over Greek land.
It also evokes strong emotions among Greeks who consider Macedonia, the ancient kingdom ruled by Alexander the Great, to be an integral part of their homeland and heritage.
Demonstrators waved blue and white Greek flags across Athens on Sunday, in what locals said was the largest gathering in decades.

"I cannot understand why this problem has become a problem now, and for what reason it must be resolved now since it should have been resolved many years ago. They have sold us out and now the people have risen up, we are all out on the streets for this."

"I think it's not fair for some foreigners to take something that is ours without having any connection to it. I will support this until the end. Macedonia is Greek."

Both governments have stepped up negotiations, mediated by the United Nations, to settle the dispute.
The Greek government has proposed a compound name, with a geographical qualifier, such as "North Macedonia."
But the ex-Yugoslav Republic says its people can be traced back to the ancient kingdom of Macedon, and therefore insisting that "Macedonia" on its own is the logical option.
Macedonia wants the decades-old name row to end so that it has a chance to join NATO and the European Union.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.

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[costasdoctgr]

The major issue is not the name but the fact that people from Skopja claim to be the true descentents of Alexander the Great and of ancient Macedonians. They claim that ancient Macedonias were not Greeks and that the language they spoke had no relation to ancient Greek!!! They simply claim parts of Greek history as their own and that is why Greece can't aggree with the use of the name Macedonia by them.

[electricfuzz]

R.L.Fox, Historian, Oxford University
"...Macedonia was a Greek speaking kingdom in northern Greece, populated by people using Greek names, who had Greek names of the months of the year and worshiped the Greek Gods [hence Greeks]. The Slavs who live in Skopje and say that is Macedonia and Alexander's homeland, are as ignorant and outrageous as if someone was to say that Oxford University is realy in Belarus, and Oxford is Minsk..."

Dr David Gordon Mitten, Dr James Loeb, Professors of Classical Art and Archaeology, Harvard University
"...We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of ancient Paionia ( the region the 1991 self-declared Republic of "Macedonia" is settled ), who speak Slavic – a language and people introduced into the Balkans about a millennium after the death of Alexander – can claim him as their national hero. Alexander the Great was thoroughly and indisputably Greek..."

[miket]

So why is everything written in Greek in Macedonia area like statues ect. Mecedonia is Greek real history

[IoannisKazlaris]

Alexander --> Alexandros (transliterated from the Ancient Greek Αλέξανδρος). A compound word that consists from "Αλέξω" (transliterated as Alexo, meaning "to repel") and "Ανδρος" (transliterated as Andros, from the word Andras meaning "man"). So Alexandros --> the one who repels men. Each and every archeological evidence that contains his name is written in Ancient Greek. Absolutely nothing to do with the Slavic language or any of its dialects.

I feel sorry for Skopjans. Since 1912 or so, they have spread an immense propaganda all over the globe, in their desperate effort to usurp the name, and thus the history and identity of Macedonia. It must be extremely painful to hate your own identity and try to steal that of someone else. However, history is not written with lies, such as the ones that are found in their 500+ falsified books with which they have infested the libraries in various Universities (particularly in the US) or in their ridiculous claims that have zero historical, archeological and linguistic evidence. For each and every person who has some degree of intelligence, has the ability to do some research and come up with an answer.

It must be really hard to be born and grow up in a country that has lied to you extensively to such a degree that you are literally incapable of seeing the truth, i.e. the abundance of serious, academic research, true to the spirit of knowledge that has been conducted regarding Macedonia and Alexander the Great. I think it's like those poor guys that live in North Korea that have been brain washed to such an extent that a different reality is simply unfathomable. Only after they manage to escape their slavery do they realize the nature of their nightmare. As for the Greeks, modern or ancient ones.. Greeks were never racists, so our reaction has nothing to do with extreme right-wing political notions. Nor do we keep the light of the western civilization solely for us. It was, is, and forever will be free for all people who have eyes to see what it's all about. You are free to do so as well.

[tildag.]

Lol Macedonia is Greek
Istanbul was Constantinople