F.Y.R.O. Macedonia
Macedonia became part of the kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and in 1929 became part of Yugoslavia. After 1945, a Communist government led by Josip Broz Tito took control of Yugoslavia. Macedonia became one of the six republics of federal state of Yugoslavia in 1946. Communists completely controlled the governments of Yugoslavia’s republics and that of the central government. In 1991, the Communists gave up their control of power and allowed other parties to control.
Macedonia held its first democratic elections since the formation of Yugoslavia and the Communists lost the election. Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia in September of 1991. Most European nations and United States recognized Croatia and Slovenia as independent nations, except Macedonia, because of Greek protests. Greece feared that Macedonia would have claims in northern Greece because there was a province that had the same name. Greece claimed that Macedonia is a Greek name and they couldn’t use it. Also Macedonia used ancient Greek symbols on its flag. This made the Greeks angry because the symbols were part of Greek history and they had no right to use it.
The lack of recognition prevented Macedonia from joining organizations and made it harder to receive economic aid. In 1993, Macedonia was admitted to the United Nations under the temporary name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The UN did not recognize the flag with the ancient Greek symbols and the UN sponsored peace talks. Greece forced on Macedonia a trade embargo in 1994 and this damaged the economy.
If Greece recognized Macedonia as an independent nation it would encourage territorial claims on northern Greece all the way to Thessaloniki. If fighting were to break out in Kosovo this would threatened the stability in southern Balkans. Greece has not received a lot of help from the European Union (EU). Many member states have recognized the nation. This creates embarrassment for Greece. This also has driven Macedonia to establish closer ties with Turkey, the real rival of Greece. Turkey has offered all the Balkan countries membership in its Black Sea Economic Commmunity. This community includes all the Turkic republics of the former Soviet Union.
Greece is scared of the creation of a pro-Turkish influence in the region which eventually could become a security threat. Turkey was rejected by the European Union. They are responding by creating a community of its own. If this develops economically, politically, and possibly military it might be a rival to the European Union. Greece and Macedonia still negotiate, the trade embargo has been lifted and the ancient Greek symbols have been removed. The name is still in dispute.
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