| Revision as of 18:26, 29 November 2008 editFuture Perfect at Sunrise (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Administrators87,205 edits another "fact" tag. Story about Tempo is about creation of the term "United Macedonia", not "Aegean Macedonia". No apparent connection.← Previous edit | Revision as of 19:35, 29 November 2008 edit undoNikoSilver (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users13,519 edits Yes,WP:MOSMAC failed consensus exactly on that issue, and that is precisely one more reason why the original existing version should not be changed here. Tweaking to least problematic version.Next edit → | ||
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| ] within Greece. It accounts for 26% of Greek territory and is home to 23% of the Greek population.]] | ] within Greece. It accounts for 26% of Greek territory and is home to 23% of the Greek population.]] | ||
| '''''Aegean Macedonia''''' is a term that refers to the ]. It is currently mainly used in the ] to refer to the ] province of Macedonia, including in the irredentist context of a ].<ref name=danforth>"The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World", Loring M. Danforth, p. 37</ref> The term has no circulation in Greece, since ''Aegean'' usually refers to the Greek islands or to stricly coastal areas with direct access to the ]. The origins of the term seem to be rooted in the mid 1940s but its modern usage is considered both ambiguous and irredentist. The term has occasionally appeared on maps circulated in the ], which envisioned ] (referred to as "Aegean Macedonia") as part of a "Greater Macedonia", and is regarded as a non-recognition of current European borders, including the legitimacy of Greek sovereignty over the area.<ref name=danforth/> The origin of the geographical terminology is arguable.{{fact|date=November 2008}} | '''''Aegean Macedonia''''' is a term that refers to the ]. It is currently mainly used in the former Yugoslav ] to refer to the ] province of Macedonia, including in the irredentist context of a ].<ref name=danforth>"The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World", Loring M. Danforth, p. 37</ref> The term has no circulation in Greece, since ''Aegean'' usually refers to the Greek islands or to stricly coastal areas with direct access to the ]. The origins of the term seem to be rooted in the mid 1940s but its modern usage is considered both ambiguous and irredentist. The term has occasionally appeared on maps circulated in the ], which envisioned ] (referred to as "Aegean Macedonia") as part of a "Greater Macedonia", and is regarded as a non-recognition of current European borders, including the legitimacy of Greek sovereignty over the area.<ref name=danforth/> The origin of the geographical terminology is arguable.{{fact|date=November 2008}} | ||
| During the ], the Greek government referred to the usage as a "new term" only recently introduced by ] in Yugoslavia,<ref>Greek Ministry of Press and Information, ''I enandion tis Ellados epivoulis '', Athens 1947; citing a speech by Tito from 11 October 1945 (GFM A/24581/G2/1945).</ref> implying that it considered it part of the ] campaign of laying claim to Greek Macedonia. | During the ], the Greek government referred to the usage as a "new term" only recently introduced by ] in Yugoslavia,<ref>Greek Ministry of Press and Information, ''I enandion tis Ellados epivoulis '', Athens 1947; citing a speech by Tito from 11 October 1945 (GFM A/24581/G2/1945).</ref> implying that it considered it part of the ] campaign of laying claim to Greek Macedonia. | ||
Revision as of 19:35, 29 November 2008
- This article is about the term "Aegean Macedonia". For the region in Greece, see Macedonia (Greece).
Aegean Macedonia is a term that refers to the Greek region of Macedonia. It is currently mainly used in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to refer to the Greek province of Macedonia, including in the irredentist context of a United Macedonia. The term has no circulation in Greece, since Aegean usually refers to the Greek islands or to stricly coastal areas with direct access to the Aegean Sea. The origins of the term seem to be rooted in the mid 1940s but its modern usage is considered both ambiguous and irredentist. The term has occasionally appeared on maps circulated in the Republic of Macedonia, which envisioned Greek Macedonia (referred to as "Aegean Macedonia") as part of a "Greater Macedonia", and is regarded as a non-recognition of current European borders, including the legitimacy of Greek sovereignty over the area. The origin of the geographical terminology is arguable.
During the Greek Civil War, the Greek government referred to the usage as a "new term" only recently introduced by Josip Broz Tito in Yugoslavia, implying that it considered it part of the Yugoslav campaign of laying claim to Greek Macedonia.
Tito's war time representative to Yugoslav Macedonia, Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo, is credited with promoting the usage of the new regional names of the Macedonian region for irredentist purposes. In 1946, the Belgrade newspaper Borba, (August 26, 1946) published an article under the title "Aegean Macedonia", it was also published in Skopje’s Nova Makedonija with a map of Yugoslav territorial claims against Greece. A month later, on September 22, the Premier of the People's Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Vlahov announced, "We openly declare that Greece has no rights whatsoever over Aegean Macedonia...". Vlahov then went on to publish, "The Problems of Aegean Macedonia", Belgrade, June 1947.
By 1950, the term 'Aegean Macedonians' had been officially adopted by the (Slav) Macedonian refugees in Skopje who began publishing the newspaper, ‘The Voice of the Aegeans’; it is later found amongst diaspora communities.
In Greece, the Slav Macedonians seemed relieved to be acknowledged as Slavomacedonians. A native of the region, former exile, teacher and local historian, Pavlos Koufis, says in Laografika Florinas kai Kastorias (Folklore of Florina and Kastoria), that,
“ the KKE recognised that the Slavophone population was ethnic minority of Slavomacedonians]. This was a term, which the inhabitants of the region accepted with relief. Slavomacedonians = Slavs+Macedoninas. The first section of the term determined their origin and classified them in the great family of the Slav peoples.”
The name "Aegean Macedonia" is considered by some Greeks as, at best, ambiguous. On the one hand it contains a reference to a geographical area which, since Homeric times, is historically associated with the Greeks (the Aegean), but, as expressed above, there is also the experience that it is used by irredentist organizations in the FYRepublic of Macedonia and beyond who support a United Macedonia, contrary to the desires of the people living in the area.
Writing in 1953, Lazar Mojsov seems surprised that the Greeks find the term "Aegean Macedonia" insulting, and uses it frequently, noting that "...Politis (former Greek minister of external affairs) didn't miss the opportunity to attack even the very term "Aegean Macedonia", stating that it was "coined by the communist propagandists".
The term is currently used by some scholars, mostly contextualised, along with the sister terms Vardar Macedonia (describing the part of Macedonia in which the Republic of Macedonia inhabits) and Pirin Macedonia (describing the part of Macedonia in which the Blagoevgrad province of Bulgaria inhabits). The term is used more frequently by Ethnic Macedonians and can have irredentist connotations.
See also
References
- ^ "The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World", Loring M. Danforth, p. 37
- Greek Ministry of Press and Information, I enandion tis Ellados epivoulis , Athens 1947; citing a speech by Tito from 11 October 1945 (GFM A/24581/G2/1945).
- (Some of this material is quoted from, E. Kofos, Nationalism and Communism in Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Institute of Balkan Studies, 1964)
- 'Laografika Florinas kai Kastorias', Athens, 1996, probably published by the author
- (Лазо Мојсов, Околу прашањето на македонското национално малцинство во Грција, ИНИ, Скопје, 1954)