Greeks hold mass protests over name row with Macedonia

그리스, '마케도니아 명칭' 협상 반대 대규모 시위
Now for a look at stories making headlines around the world and we start with a name dispute in Greece.
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.
For more on this and other news we turn to our Ro Aram…
Aram… what is the unrest all about?

Well Semin…. Greeks are opposed to the possibility of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia shortening their official name to just "Macedonia."
That is 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 that a compound name, with a geographical qualifier, but ex-Yugoslav Republic says its people can be traced back to the ancient kingdom of Macedon, and therefore insisting that "Macedonia" 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.

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[EfseviosD]

They call their country Macedonia their slavic langiuage been baptized Macedonian they claim origin of ancient Macedonians, in Greece there are millions of real Macedonians northern Greece is called Macedonia Macedonian language is the Greek since ever, how they can be Macedonians with Slavic names and language like Gruefski Bogevsky Boban, with what right they baptize their Slavic language Macedonian? Macedonians where Greeks and only Greeks like Athenians, Spartans and others, the people of this country should stop stealing the history and respect the Greek history.

[zdarf_gr]

MAKEDONIA WAS IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE GREEK

[TheRazmovski]

We are Republic of Macedonia and it is not the fault of the Macedonian people that Greece illegally annexed Macedonia’s land. The ancient kingdom now falls within their borders but they were suppose to return it to Macedonia according to the Bucharest treaty of 1913 that partitioned Macedonia in the first place. Long live the Republic of Macedonia.

[mariapapa]

We at talking about over 1.5million people protesting . Not just tens of thousands. In a country of 10million people, 1.5+ MILLION is a huge number. I was there on that day. Macedonia was, is and will always be Greek. We should all join to stop others of changing the history and thrying to steal other people's identities. Skopians will never become Macedonians, cause Macedonias were and are Greek . They love for thousands of years and their ancestor was Alexander the Great. His name is Alexandros (=the man who is not defeated ) his fathers name is Filippos (=friend of the horses ) and not Akexandrovski or Fillipovski. They spoke Macedonian, meaning they spoke Greek. Aristotelis was from Macedonia and he was Greek. He was teaching in Athens for most of his life. How could he be able to communicate with the Athenians of he was speaking another language than ancient Greek??? Think about that. We all know the truth, time to stop this madness!! Macedonia is Greek !!

[carlaa]

you must understand you are getting lied to the history is Macedonia is a country it has its own language
it was never greek it was there before even Greece existed it is a very old country as a fact it was spilt up in 1913 but it always existed regardless.so please don't be misled and think it was greek.so I don't know why so much anomsity...

[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.

[baits]

macedonia divided 1913 bucharest into 4 parts . macedonian families separated, greece force simulated macedonians and changed the names of every village and towns . ethnic cleansing began . macedonia was never part of greece before 1913 . greece still occupies southern macedonia . greece was created by king otto 1830, never a country called greece before 1830 .ancient macedonians rulled athens by force not the other way around.alexander was king of macedonia not greece .greeks lie so much they forget about what the lie about .insult to call a macedonian greek .

[malcolmwalker]

The Greek government has really made a brilliant move, instead of having the people rise up against the mismanagement of the country's finances, they have stirred the pot regarding Macedonia and a name. Meanwhile the country goes down the tube into third world territory, but never mind the people are waving flags and shouting slogans about a laugh or Cry?

[thaliatzanis]

Macedonia is Greek. Archeological findings say so, ancient texts say so and above all history says so. People lie, history never does. Macedonia, Alexander, Filippos and a lot more are all Greek names that have nothing to do with the Bulgarian dialect the Skopians speak. In their language those names mean nothing. Macedonia=tall people, Alexander=defender of men, Filippos=friend of horses. Visit the archeological site in Vergina