Macedonia - What’s in a name?
A short excursion to our neighbour in the south, Macedonia, and their problems/dispute they have with Greece. As you may know, the official name of Republic Macedonia is not Republic Macedonia, but Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia That Is Not To Be Confused With The Part Of Greece Called Macedonia, or FYROMTINTBCWTPOGC Macedonia for short.
Not to go into the problem from a factual or historic side, I’m mainly interested in real reasons why both states are so stubborn in the dispute – like their futures depend on it. In a way, the future of Macedonia (the state) depends on it because the Greeks can block their membership in NATO, slow down their progress towards the EU and so on, thus making lives of Macedonian citizens more difficult. The Greeks think that there will be a lot of confusion in the world if there are two geographical areas with the same name, the same type of confusion that comes whenever someone says Paris, and everybody asks – Paris, France or Paris, Texas? The name Republic of Macedonia is not distinctive enough apparently.
They suggest that the Macedonians take the name “Upper Macedonia” or “Macedonia-Skopje” in order to make a clear distinction from the part of Greece that is also appropriately named Macedonia. Both suggestions sound silly if you ask me. To all this, Macedonians respond with an even sillier idea, to put up a 22 meter statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje city center, because that would be the ultimate proof that Alexander was Macedonian, Macedonian from Skopje.
In order to solve this problem I invite you, the readers to help out and suggest an original name for the country formerly known as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in a long brainstorming session in the comments.
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13 Comments, Comment or Ping
Kiro Velkovski
Really there’s no need to think for a name of MY country. It is Macedonia for centuries.
The author, on the other hand, has the right to be pissed off. NATO liberated Republic of Kosova thru Macedonia.
Jul 19th, 2009
Paul C
Macedonia (Not Macedonia).
Jul 19th, 2009
Viktor
Hey, Kiro, I’m not pissed off, just curious to see what happens. I would prefer for the name to be something short and sweet, like Republic of Macedonia for example.
Paul C, Macedonia (Not Macedonia) is an excellent suggestion. Hopefully Ban Ki-moon is reading this blog.
Jul 19th, 2009
ieishah
viktor, you totally just took your life in your hands, dude… i tweeted something like, ‘dear macedonia, you don’t need alexander the great when you have mother theresa’, while standing in the spot where she was born. i got all kinds of angry messages back from macedonians like, ‘you leave our country, now!’ which was curious, cause they’re so much more welcoming in person. i couldn’t walk the streets without people asking to take photos with me. couldn’t tell if this was because they thought i was famous and or because they’ve never seen a black girl before. if it’s the latter, i’d vote for ‘the republic of never having seen a black person before’, but i realize this sort of thing only invites angry messages. so i’m with paul c.
Jul 19th, 2009
Jimbo
Actually the official name currently is Republic of Macedonia. So I would suggest the Prince solution: the Country Formerly Known as Republic of Macedonia or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Theartist.jpg, and everyone is happy.
Jul 19th, 2009
Catherine
Macedonia-Tošegrad.
Jul 20th, 2009
Pance
what about the City of Macedonia in Ohio. I think Greece Gov has bigger issues with the US government then the Rep. Of Macedonia about a name dispute. Can they veto on them??
http://www.macedonia.oh.us/
Jul 20th, 2009
Novak
Seleucid Empire.
Jul 25th, 2009
Owen
Fruit Salad? Perhaps not.
Aug 2nd, 2009
Owen
Just to say, I wasn’t intending to be gratuitously offensive. To explain, macedonia in Spanish (macedoine de fruits in French) is the name given to what we in English call fruit salad – chopped up bits of different fruits mixed together, by analogy with the Balkan mix of diverse communities. Macedonia deserves to have its own name and let that be an end to it. Bangladesh is Bangladesh, As far as I know India has never made a fuss of West Bengal’s neighbour being called Country of Bengal.
Aug 2nd, 2009
Viktor
‘Country of Macedonia’, maybe? Sounds reasonable.
Aug 2nd, 2009
THANASIS
albanoslavia
Sep 29th, 2009
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