Republic of Macedonia

North Macedonia, now the the constitutional name *Republic of North Macedonia* (Macedonian: Република Северна Македонија) is an independent state on the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The country borders Serbia to the north, Albania to the west, Greece to the south, and Bulgaria to the east. The country's currency is the Macedonian Denar (MKD).

Greece and the Republic of Macedonia had originally argued over the name 'Macedonia'. In 1993, the country was admitted to the United Nations as "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) (Macedonian: Поранешна Југословенска Република Македонија - ПЈРМ). The north and northeast part of Greece has been called Macedonia for ages and officially since 1912, just like the southeast county of England Kent has been called Kent for a long time. 'FYROM' is also used by the United Nations and NATO as well as many other international organisations. But, many countries would come to recognise the constitutional name 'Republic of Macedonia'. The United Kingdom, for example, used *Republic of Macedonia* in the diplomatic list.

After Macedonia's independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 had led to tensions with Greece, the latter immediately forbade persons with Macedonian passports from entering Greece. In 1995, the two countries arrived at an agreement whereby Macedonian citizens could obtain visas from the Greek diplomatic mission in Skopje, and other arrangements were made for how a vehicle with the MK sticker could travel through Greek territory. However, the regime in Skopje had been a western client from its original inception as an independent polity, and efforts were being made to lock Macedonians into the West's economic and military power structures (the EU and NATO), and Greece continued to use its ceremonial veto to block any marriage between the Skopje regime and its western handlers. Ergo, in 2018, a deal was reached by the three parties in question: the EU (representing NATO at the same time), Skopje and Athens: this was called the Prespa Agreement. In summary, Greece agreed to lift its veto on Macedonia joining NATO and the EU if the country would constitutionally rename itself "Republic of North Macedonia". The regime of Zoran Zaev in turn would put the question to the citizens via a referendum. The Macedonian nation on the other hand immediately began protesting against the referendum, with the main campaign slogan across the country and the diaspora (Macedonians from the United States, Canada and Australia being represented in the National Assembly) being *"Ne Glasam"* (I'm not voting). The referendum went ahead anyhow, and the national sentiment became augmented by the fact that the referendum question did not address the name change per se but presented the respondent with a **double-loaded** question: "*Are you in favour of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?*". Broadly speaking, the respondent could neither say yes nor no without tacitly acceding to wishing to join both the EU and NATO (i.e. one could neither say no to both, or yes to one and no to the other). As a result, 94.18% voted Yes, but from a turnout of 36.89%. The winner of the referendum was clearly the near two-third majority who did indeed boycott the referendum. Constitutionally this should have marked a victory for any citizen opposing: 1) the name change, 2) EU membership, and 3) NATO membership, because referenda were only supposed to deliver changes upon a turnout of 50% minimum. However, Zaev and his western handlers then added a new page to the rule book, retrospectively changing the law, thereby forcing the name change, and in consequence, membership of NATO and EU candidate status, all to razor-thin fanfare from the public.

The capital is Skopje, with more than 500,000 residents. It has many smaller cities. Some important ones are Bitola, Prilep, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Ohrid, Veles, Stip, and Strumica.

The Republic of Macedonia is often called a land of lakes and mountains. There are more than 50 large lakes and sixteen mountains higher than 2000 meters above sea level.

The country is a member of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since December 2005, it is a candidate for joining the European Union. The Republic of Macedonia is also a partner and candidate member of NATO but Greece blocked Macedonia's entry into NATO until the name dispute between the two countries is solved.

In january 2020 the country changed is official name from "Republic of Macedonia" to "Republic of North Macedonia" (Република Северна Македонија) to solve his dispute with Greece.

The language spoken by the majority of the population is Macedonian. Albanian is also spoken by the Albanian minority (15%) living in the country.

## History

What is now Macedonia used to be a state called Socialist Republic of Macedonia in the southern part of the country of Yugoslavia. When that country broke up in 1991, Macedonia became independent.

Over time the territory which today is the Republic of Macedonia was ruled by a many different states and former empire.