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Macedonian SlavsThe Macedonian Slavs are an ethnic group which inhabits the wider Macedonian region and speaks the Macedonian language. They are generally associated with the Macedonian Orthodox Church and are said to be the descendents of ancient Macedonian, Thracian, Illyrian, and Slavic tribes. They are often called Macedonians, although this is somewhat inexact, as several different peoples inhabit the region. Ever since the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, when Macedonia, previously part of Rumelia, was carved up between the Balkan nations, the status of the Macedonian Slavs has been a controversial issue. The northern parts of the historic province of Macedonia came under Serbian rule although the pre-war Serb-Bulgarian agreement relegated it to Bulgaria, the southern under Greece and the northeastern under Bulgaria. Each of the three countries has tended to regard the Macedonian Slavs as a subset of their own peoples: hence the Serbs regard them as Serbs, the Bulgarians as Bulgarians and the Greeks as Greeks. Though the majority of the Macedonian Slavs regarded themselves as Bulgarians before the Balkan Wars, there was a substantial pro-Greek faction in southern Macedonia and a smaller pro-Serbian one in northern Macedonia. After the Balkan Wars, the Macedonian Slavs from northeastern Greece were forcefully resettled in Bulgaria, whereas those living in north-western Greece came under severe pressure, especially after the Greek-Turkish population exchanges of the 1920s, with many forced to leave the country and emigrate, for the most part, to Canada and Australia. For many years, the Greek government denied their existence as a national minority and many of the border villages were closed to outsiders, ostensibly for security reasons. The issue continued to be a source of political tensions throughout the 20th century, especially after the secession of the Republic of Macedonia from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The creation of the state that shares the name with a wider region was seen by many as an expression of territorial pretensions towards neighbouring states, especially coupled with the usage of symbols from ancient Macedon. However, the Macedonian government has since modified its stance, changing the country's national symbols and constitution in an attempt to clarify its intentions. Serbia and Montenegro recognizes the Macedonian Slav minority on its territory as a distinct ethnic group. The authorities in Bulgaria maintain cordial relations with them but consider them to be Bulgarians. Bulgaria and Greece maintain that the Slavs in Macedonia before the 1940s regarded themselves as Bulgarian, Greek or Serbian and that the Macedonian Slav nationality was a later development in only the Yugoslav part of Macedonia. The Bulgarian Constitutional Court banned a tiny Macedonian Slav political party in 2000 as separatist. The Greek government has denied legal recognition to any ethnic minorities other than Turks, and opposes the use of the term "Macedonians" to refer to the country's Slav minority, which is centred on the northern Greek town of Florina. This has earned Greece considerable criticism from international human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch. External links
See also
Categories: Slavs
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