The whole Macedonia/FYROM Naming Thingie

I pretty much couldn't care less about this but I was shocked to find out that nobody had made a thread on this topic so.....
Here Goes!

P.S:For God's sake, keep it civil! This is a discussion, not a fiery battle to the death about who's right and who is foreign scum. This is not the youtube comments. Simply saying "Macedonia is Greek" or "Alexander the Great is Macedonian" won't cut it.

Dear God I knew one day this thread would arrive.

I personally think that it should be called Macedonia.

King Zog wrote:I personally think that it should be called Macedonia.

Why is that?

I'm an American who doesn't know a whole lot about Greek or Macedonian history but in terms of this topic, I always feel as though I'm missing something because I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE GET SO ANGRY OVER WHAT TO CALL THIS COUNTRY! I mean, maybe I'm being naive here, but I honestly don't understand how something symbolic like a name can be a legitimate source of international tension. I honestly think that on this issue, everyone just needs to chill out, and if there's actually so much anger over such a small difference in name, then I think it should be worked out peacefully.

The main issue is due to the fact that Macedonia is already a Greek province, so it's very confusing for those living in the area, and also a bit resentful to see a country above them that's not even Greek take the name for themselves. In addition, there is a huge debate whether the historical kingdom of Macedonia (the one with Alexander the Great) was a Greek kingdom, or was it a separate culture, although most evidence points to them being Greek. And of course the whole region of Macedonia includes parts of Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria who all have valid claims to the name.

It's kind of like how the USA would feel if British Columbia in Canada changed its name to Oregon.

Mr Trolldemort wrote:The main issue is due to the fact that Macedonia is already a Greek province, so it's very confusing for those living in the area, and also a bit resentful to see a country above them that's not even Greek take the name for themselves.  In addition, there is a huge debate whether the historical kingdom of Macedonia (the one with Alexander the Great) was a Greek kingdom, or was it a separate culture, although most evidence points to them being Greek.  And of course the whole region of Macedonia includes parts of Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria who all have valid claims to the name.  

It's kind of like how the USA would feel if British Columbia in Canada changed its name to Oregon.

Thank you for the explanation. My point however, still stands. I don't really see much reason to get so infuriated over a name.

"Slavic Macedonia" should do it in my opinion. It is in the geographical region of Macedonia and is mostly populated by Slavs. So there will be no room for argument.

AltHistNerd13 wrote:

Mr Trolldemort wrote:The main issue is due to the fact that Macedonia is already a Greek province, so it's very confusing for those living in the area, and also a bit resentful to see a country above them that's not even Greek take the name for themselves.  In addition, there is a huge debate whether the historical kingdom of Macedonia (the one with Alexander the Great) was a Greek kingdom, or was it a separate culture, although most evidence points to them being Greek.  And of course the whole region of Macedonia includes parts of Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria who all have valid claims to the name.  

It's kind of like how the USA would feel if British Columbia in Canada changed its name to Oregon.

Thank you for the explanation. My point however, still stands. I don't really see much reason to get so infuriated over a name.

By God, it's the most stupid thing to ever argue about (Source:Am Greek). It's shocking to see how many people have passionate, extremely biased views on the topic(my father once claimed that by naming the country Macedonia, its government is trying to challenge the claim of Greece in the Macedonia region of Greece and ultimately claim it for their own country).

Well, unfortunately that's the very reason many Greeks are opposed to the name.

Apparently another issue (I'm not from Macedonia btw) is that the Macedonian government uses many ancient Macedonian symbols and named some places after Alexander the Great, which as I've said before a lot of Greeks consider to be a part of their culture.

And there's also a "United Macedonia" movement that wants to take over Greek Macedonia and parts of Bulgaria and Albania when Macedonia first became independent although I'm not sure how big it is today.

The solution is to call Macedonia what it really is, Western Bulgaria. Every outside linguistic has come to the conclusion that there is no significant linguistic difference between Bulgarian and Macedonia.

Macedonians are SLAVIC. There is no evidence that the Slavic invaders interbred with Greek Macedonians. Every outside historian has conceded that the Slavs slaughtered them and took their land. Macedonians don't get to have their own made up history and made up language. They are Bulgarian through and through. The Republic of Macedonia must be annexed by Bulgaria.

Honestly, it doesn't matter what you call it. The Macedonians will always call it Macedonia, the Greeks will always yell at them for it, the UN will always avoid the conflict altogether and call it FYROM or something similar. It doesn't matter what you call it because the dispute has little, if any, political significance.