1980-1991






Macedonia since 1992



When Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991 declared independence from Yugoslavia, a referendum in Macedonia also advocated independence. Yet Macedonia's situation was complicated by a number of factors. First, Macedonia was, together with Kosovo, the least developed part of Yugoslavia. Second, Macedonia's ethnic Albanians rejected the independence of an unpartitioned Macedonia, as they sought indedependence of the majority Albanian inhabited regions of western Macedonia. Greece, on the other hand, rejected the new republic using the name of Macedonia, insisting on F.Y.R.O.M. instead (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). While the Yugoslav War of Disintegration was raging in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, international peacekeeping forces were stationed in Macedonia to prevent the war to spil over into the republic. Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.) was admitted by the United Nations in 1993.
A new democratic Constitution was adopted 1991, November 17th.
Landlocked Macedonia found itself under an economic ban, imposed by Greece, 1994-1995. Macedonian nationalism - restrictions on showing the Albanian flag (1997), regulations affecting the Albanian-language university in Tetovo (1996; the university only had been established in 1994) - resulted in the further alienation of Macedonias large ethnic Albanian minority. The Kosovo War caused the influx of ethnic Albanian refugees (1999), which began to return later that year after a truce had been concluded. In 2001 Macedonia experienced a brief civil war of its own. A new constitution was adopted in 2001, which recognized Albanian, next to Macedonian, as an official language. Macedonia applied for EU membership in 2004, was accepted as a candidate in 2005.
While Macedonian constitution and legislation aim at improving the relations between Slavo-Macedonians and Macedonian Albanians, nationalism among both communities remains strong, extremist Albanians seeking unification of the Albanian majority regions with Albania and Kosovo, extremist Macedonians claiming Aegaean Macedonia - Greek since 1912 - as (Slavo-)Macedonian. On the other hand, there are those who question the identity of Slavo-Macedonians, declaring them either to be Bulgarians who, after 1878, were, with brief exceptions in recent history, denied to be part of Bulgaria, and those who question them being part of the Slavic family of nations at all.

A National Olympic Committee of F.Y.R.O.M. was formed in 1992 and recognized by the I.O.C. in 1993.






EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Timeline, from BBC News
History of the Republic of Macedonia, from Wikipedia
The Republic of Macedonia - From a Member State of the Yugoslav Federation to a Sovereign and Independent State, from Council for Research into South-Eastern Europe of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (1993)
Article National Olympic Committee, from Wikipedia
DOCUMENTS Independent Macedonia, from History of Macedonia (caution advised; site expresses view that modern Macedonians are descendants of ancient Macedonians, claims Aegaean Macedonia as Macedonian)
Macedonia Info (caution advised; site expresses view that Slavo-Macedonians are Bulgarians)
REFERENCE Fred Singleton, A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples, Cambridge University Press (1985) 1999
Terry M. Mays, Historical Dictionary of Multinational Peacekeeping, Lanman Md. : Scarecrow 1996 [G]
Hugh Poulton, Macedonians and Albanians as Yugoslavs, pp.115-135 in : Dejan Djokic (ed.), Yugoslavism. Histories of a Failed Idea, University of Wisconsin Press 2003, KMLA Lib.Sign. 949.7103 D626y
Stephen Clissold (ed.), A Short History of Yugoslavia, Cambridge : UP 1968 [G]
Article : Yugoslavia : Macedonia, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1993-1994 pp. 1623-1624 (data of 1992-1993) [G]
Article : Macedonia, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1993 pp.446, 658, 1994 pp.444-445, 659, 1995 pp.440, 658, 1996 pp.438, 658, 1997 pp.446-447, 656, 2002 pp.459-460, 663 [G]
Article : Macedonia, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1994-1995 pp.897-900, 1995-1996 pp.894-897, 1996-1997 pp.843-846, 1997-1998 pp.857-860, 1998-1999 pp.919-923, 2000 pp.1049-1053, 2001 pp.1025-1029, 2002 pp.1066-1070, 2003 pp.1068-1073, 2004 pp.1074-1079, 2005 pp.1081-1086, 2006 pp.1082-1087 [G]
Entry : Travel Warning - Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of, pp.546-547, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2000, Supplement [G]
Entry : The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Cabinet p.62-63, Background Notes : Macedonia, pp.848-849, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2003 [G]
Entry : Macedonia, FYR, pp.676-679 in : IMF, International Financial Statistics Yearbook 2001 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted October 16th 2006, last revised on July 22nd 2008

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