Why does the name Macedonia anger Greece?

Greece says calling its northern neighbor Macedonia implies a claim to its own border province of the same name. It's a long time dispute that's caused Greece to block the former Yugoslav republic from joining the NATO alliance. And now UN mediators are travelling to both countries to hammer out a possible solution.

We are joined by Vladimir Mirceski from Skopje, a Reporter and Editor at Alsat-M a national television station in Macedonia. Also, from Athens in Greece Menelaos Tzafaliasi, a freelance journalist who focuses of Greece.

[panospete]

Great Alexander born in Pella, Greece. His father Philipus born in Greece and his mother Olympias born also in Greece. His teacher was Aristotles. How is possible Slavs to be Macedonians? Even the Macedonia like name is Greek. Means the place of tall men

[NewCalculus]

There can never be negotiation over the name Macedonia. Macedonia is Greece. No composite name is acceptable.

[Boatman]

There is something like a joke i've red, i dont know if its true or not but it is very clever and acurate.
A Greek representative at the UN said something before his speach. He said to the UN <<After Alexander tamed Bucephalas(his horse) he past near a river named axios and he thought that it would be a great idea to take bath. So he took of his clothes and took a bath in the river. But when he got out his clothes were missing and someone that was there told him that slav macedonian took them.>>Then a representative of FYROM was offended by that joke so he said <<That is outragous the slavs didnt exist back then>>So the Greek representative said <<That is correct. Now that we have made it clear, i Can start my speach>> (sorry for my english its not my native language)

[alexfreestyleboy]

For the sake of reason and logic, if macedons spoke Greek had Greek
culture spread the Greek(Hellenistic) culture believed in the same 12
Gods as the rest of the Greeks, participated in the Olympic games which
only Greeks could be part of that event, what are they if not Greeks???

[ΜΕΓΑΣΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣΟΕΛΛΗΝ]

Macedonia was, is and will always be Greek.

[ΠαςμηΈλληνΒάρβαρος-ηε]

FYROM is not a real country. It was designed by the Communist Block to become the south-most province of Yugoslavia by stapling together parts of land that used to belong to Albania, Greece and Bulgaria. For geostrategic reasons, they called this province "Macedonia": then, in case the USSR needed to invade Greece (a NATO country and essential in securing the flow of oil through the Suez canal), the pretext for invasion was set to trigger at any moment. This occurred sometime after WWII, in the late 1940's. Greece did start to protest but, being during the Cold War, was told by the heads of NATO not to make waves for now.

Then Communism found its way to the dustbin of history, Germany wanted to prevent a unified Yugoslavia next to what its leaders still consider the southern borders of their Lebensraum (yes, apparently that includes Austria) and the Balkan Wars of the 1990's left Yugoslavia fractured into numerous pieces. Some ethnic, others relics of the irrational Communist era. The later were in desperate search of an identity.

All the FYROM's leader's posturing and history-mongering is so ridiculous that can be wiped away with a single argument: if the inhabitants of FYROM are "Macedonians" and "decedents of Alexander the Great", as they claim, where is their own language?

If I were to conquer half the known word and carve such a vast empire for myself, wouldn't there be a single temple, or statue or or even a humble tomb with this mysterious "Macedonian" language inscribed somewhere? Instead, Alexander was the leader who unified the Greeks (the same way Qin unified China and Tokugawa unified Japan) and then went to spread the Greek culture and language from the Adriatic Sea to the borders of India, making it so popular that, 3 centuries later, even the original Gospels were written in Greek.

Now, if Cuba was to rename itself Southern Florida, continue to claim them to be "the only true Floridians" and amend its Constitution to include clauses that would dictate the "liberation of our Northern lands", the US would undoubtedly react. And not with the restraint shown by Greece.
It would not be because the US would be afraid of Cuba. But it would be wary of what allies Cuba might bring to their backyard.

That is exactly why Greece reacts to the legitimization of such a Franken-country.

[NickAlpha_]

Imagine having Mexico renaming itself to Texas, claim that Texas was originally never part of USA so it has to be liberated and the original texan language is Spanish not English ... would our friends from America like it or will they go mad ?

[iamdelicatesse]

If everyone could just leave us alone it would be great xx

[draculas]

Vardarska is the real name of this Slavic country! MACEDONIA = GREECE

[Petreski]

South Macedonia is ours and Greeks are occupying it, Alexandra and all the history belongs to us 🇲🇰☦️

[johnf]

Macedonia is a Greek word!!What ralation can have this Greek name with Slavs???

[UNFORGIVEN]

FYROM HAS NO RELANION WITH THE NAME MACEDONIA, THE REAL NAME IS VARDASKA.

[aeg]

It’s not true but from the standpoint and the act of faith there is nothing to fear!!!

[LP-kprc]

Macedonians were ethnic Greeks, they were speaking the Greek language, they believed to the Greek polytheism (12 Greek Gods of Olympus), they were participating to the Olympic Games (only Greeks allowed to participate). Alexander the Great was born in Pella a Greek city. The capital of Macedonia was Vergina a Greek city. Alexander the Great spread the Greek culture and language to all conquered world. The period after his death was named as ''Hellenistic Period''. The Hellenistic period covers the period of Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire. The people from F.Y.R.O.M or (Vardarska Banovina their true name) are Slavs who first appeared to Balkans in 6th century=1.000++ years after Alexander the Great and Macedonians, they have no connection with them. So it's not just a name issue, its a huge history issue which they are stealing from Greece.The Sun Of Vergina is a Greek symbol and it has 16 rays, the 12 of them represent the 12 Greek gods of Olympus and the other 4 represent the 4 elements (earth, ocean, fire, air). Their fairytale about the pseudomacedonian nation, language, culture begins in 1944 from the communist Tito.

[electricfuzz]

The land in question FYROM, with its modern capital at Skopje, was called Paionia in antiquity. Mts. Barnous and Orbelos (which form today the northern limits of Greece) provide a natural barrier that separated, and separates, Macedonia from its northern neighbor. The only real connection is along the Axios/Vardar River and even this valley “does not form a line of communication because it is divided by gorges.”

While it is true that the Paionians were subdued by Philip II, father of Alexander, in 358 B.C. they were not Macedonians and did not live in Macedonia. Likewise, for example, the Egyptians, who were subdued by Alexander, may have been ruled by Macedonians, including the famous Cleopatra, but they were never Macedonians themselves, and Egypt was never called Macedonia.

Rather, Macedonia and Macedonian Greeks have been located for at least 2, 500 years just where the modern Greek province of Macedonia is. Exactly this same relationship is true for Attica and Athenian Greeks, Argos and Argive Greeks, Corinth and Corinthian Greeks, etc.

We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of ancient Paionia, who speak Slavic – a language 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. His great-great-great grandfather, Alexander I, competed in the Olympic Games where participation was limited to Greeks.

Even before Alexander I, the Macedonians traced their ancestry to Argos, and many of their kings used the head of Herakles - the quintessential Greek hero - on their coins.

Euripides – who died and was buried in Macedonia– wrote his play Archelaos in honor of the great-uncle of Alexander, and in Greek. While in Macedonia, Euripides also wrote the Bacchai, again in Greek. Presumably the Macedonian audience could understand what he wrote and what they heard.

Alexander’s father, Philip, won several equestrian victories at Olympia and Delphi, the two most Hellenic of all the sanctuaries in ancient Greece where non-Greeks were not allowed to compete. Even more significantly, Philip was appointed to conduct the Pythian Games at Delphi in 346 B.C. In other words, Alexander the Great’s father and his ancestors were thoroughly Greek. Greek was the language used by Demosthenes and his delegation from Athens when they paid visits to Philip, also in 346 B.C.

Another northern Greek, Aristotle, went off to study for nearly 20 years in the Academy of Plato. Aristotle subsequently returned to Macedonia and became the tutor of Alexander III. They used Greek in their classroom which can still be seen near Naoussa in Macedonia.

Alexander carried with him throughout his conquests Aristotle’s edition of Homer’s Iliad. Alexander also spread Greek language and culture throughout his empire, founding cities and establishing centers of learning. Hence inscriptions concerning such typical Greek institutions as the gymnasium are found as far away as Afghanistan. They are all written in Greek.

The questions follow: Why was Greek the lingua franca all over Alexander’s empire if he was a “Macedonian”? Why was the New Testament, for example, written in Greek?

The answers are clear: Alexander the Great was Greek, not Slavic, and Slavs and their language were nowhere near Alexander or his homeland until 1000 years later. This brings us back to the geographic area known in antiquity as Paionia. Why would the people who live there now call themselves Macedonians and their land Macedonia? Why would they abduct a completely Greek figure and make him their national hero?

The ancient Paionians may or may not have been Greek, but they certainly became Greekish, and they were never Slavs. They were also not Macedonians. Ancient Paionia was a part of the Macedonian Empire. So were Ionia and Syria and Palestine and Egypt and Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Bactria and many more. They may thus have become “Macedonian” temporarily, but none was ever “Macedonia”. The theft of Philip and Alexander by a land that was never Macedonia cannot be justified.

The traditions of ancient Paionia could be adopted by the current residents of that geographical area with considerable justification. But the extension of the geographic term “Macedonia” to cover southern Yugoslavia cannot. Even in the late 19th century, this misuse implied unhealthy territorial aspirations.

The same motivation is to be seen in school maps that show the pseudo-greater Macedonia, stretching from Skopje to Mt. Olympus and labeled in Slavic. The same map and its claims are in calendars, bumper stickers, bank notes, etc., that have been circulating in the new state ever since it declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Why would a poor land-locked new state attempt such historical nonsense? Why would it brazenly mock and provoke its neighbor?

However one might like to characterize such behavior, it is clearly not a force for historical accuracy, nor for stability in the Balkans.
the government in Skopje have to understand that it cannot build a national identity at the expense of historic truth. Our common international society cannot survive when history is ignored, much less when history is fabricated.

[mpourmpoulithra]

Macedonia is Greece!....Greece is Macedonia...

[Igor-qir]

Ja so wann gabich Johafte dua genosside

[dustdriver]

My days the Balkans what a mess so sad 😔

[pennysmirlis]

If FYROM does not agree with sticking to history let it lead the way to removing the names of airports and roads of Alexander the Great and other Greek symbols, including it flag (ancient Greek symbol). The Greeks like their history and other people should respect that

[guerguistoyanov]

Rename your Motorway to famous watch maker-- BVLGARI....problem solved!!