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United Macedonia ( mk, Обединета Македонија, ''Obedineta Makedonija''), or Greater Macedonia (, ''Golema Makedonija''), is an
irredentist Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent st ...
concept among ethnic Macedonian nationalists that aims to unify the transnational region of Macedonia in
Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
(which they claim as their homeland and which they assert was unjustly divided under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913) into a single state that would be dominated by ethnic Macedonians. The proposed capital of such a United Macedonia is the city of
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
(''Solun'' in the
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...
), the capital of
Greek Macedonia Macedonia (; el, Μακεδονία, Makedonía ) is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece, in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and Greek geographic region, with a population of 2.36 million in 2020. It is ...
, which ethnic Macedonians and the Yugoslav leader
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his death ...
had planned to incorporate into their own states (along with the hinterland of Greek Macedonia, which they came to call
Aegean Macedonia Aegean Macedonia ( mk, Егејска Македонија, translit=Egejska Makedonija'';'' bg, Егейска Македония, translit=Egeyska Makedonia) is a term describing the modern Greek region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. It is ...
).Greek Macedonia "not a problem", ''The Times'' (London), August 5, 1957


History

The roots of the concept can be traced back to 1910 First Balkan Socialist Conference as a possible solution of the Macedonian Question.
Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; bg, Гео̀рги Димитро̀в Миха̀йлов), also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (russian: Гео́ргий Миха́йлович Дими́тров; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian ...
, a Bulgarian politician, writes in 1915 that the creation of a "Macedonia, which was split into three parts, was to be reunited into a single state enjoying equal rights within the framework of the Balkan Democratic Federation". In 1924, the
Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...
suggested that all Balkan communist parties adopt a platform of a "united Macedonia" but the suggestion was rejected by the Bulgarian and Greek communists. In 1934 the Comintern issued an official political document, in which for the first time, an authoritative international organization has recognized the existence of a separate Macedonian people and a
Macedonian language Macedonian (; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken as a first language by around two million ...
. According to the Yugoslav communist Svetozar Vukmanović, the slogan about a united Macedonia appeared in the manifesto of the HQ of the National Liberation Army of Macedonia, at the beginning of October 1943. At that time Vukmanović was sent by
Tito Tito may refer to: People Mononyms *Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman *Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journal ...
to ''macedonianize'' the Communist struggle in Macedonia, and to give it a new ethnic-Macedonian facade. One of his main achievements was that wartime pro-Bulgarian sentiments of the local communists to be receded into pro-Yugoslavism. As result the pro-Bulgarian
Regional Committee of Communists in Macedonia The Regional Committee of Communists in Macedonia was the provincial communist organization in Vardar Macedonia from 1939 to 1943. History At the beginning of 1939, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided that Vardar ...
was dissolved and replaced by a new Communist Party of Macedonia, as part of the Yugoslav Communist Party. The Yugoslav communists recognized the separate Macedonian nationality to reduce the fears of the Macedonian Slavic population that they would continue the former Yugoslav policy of forced
Serbianization Serbianisation or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation or Serbization ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", srbizacija, србизација or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", posrbljavanje, посрбљавање; ...
. They didn't support the view that the Macedonian Slavs are Bulgarians, because that meant in practice, the area should remain part of the Bulgaria after the war. Afterwards the Yugoslav communists proclaimed as their aim the unification of Macedonia's three regions (Yugoslav, Greek and Bulgarian), thus attracting the Macedonian nationalists. During the following operations of the
National Liberation War of Macedonia World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia started with the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Under the pressure of the Yugoslav Partisan movement, part of the Macedonian communists began in October 1941 a political and military ...
the Macedonian Communist combatants developed aspirations over the geographic region of Macedonia that continued after 1944 during the
Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...
. The Bled agreement (1947) signed by the communist leaders Georgi Dimitrov and Josip Broz Tito also foresaw the unification of Yugoslav and Bulgarian Macedonia. It was also the first time that Bulgaria recognized ethnic Macedonians and the Macedonian language. After the
Tito–Stalin split The Tito–Stalin split or the Yugoslav–Soviet split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...
in 1948 and the death of Dimitrov in 1949, in the same year the communists lost the Civil War in Greece. That put to an end the practical application of the concept.


After the breakup of Yugoslavia

Since 1989, ethnic Macedonian nationalists have called for a "United Macedonia", stating that "Solun (Thessaloniki) is ours" and "We fight for a United Macedonia". Several maps depicting "United Macedonia" as an independent country, stating irredentist claims of the Macedonian nationalists against both Greek and Bulgarian territory, circulated since the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. In one of those maps all of
Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...
was incorporated in the territory of "United Macedonia". The Macedonian nationalists break down the region of Macedonia as follows: * Vardar Macedonia (Вардарска Македонија) which includes: ** the territory of
North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
; ** Gora (Гора), small portions of southern
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...
and eastern Albania ** Prohor Pčinski (Прохор Пчински), southern
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
; and *
Greek Macedonia Macedonia (; el, Μακεδονία, Makedonía ) is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece, in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and Greek geographic region, with a population of 2.36 million in 2020. It is ...
(or "
Aegean Macedonia Aegean Macedonia ( mk, Егејска Македонија, translit=Egejska Makedonija'';'' bg, Егейска Македония, translit=Egeyska Makedonia) is a term describing the modern Greek region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. It is ...
", "Егејска Македонија"), northern Greece; *
Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province ( bg, област Благоевград, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Маке� ...
(or " Pirin Macedonia", "Пиринска Македонија"), southwestern Bulgaria; and * Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo (Мала Преспа и Голо Брдо), Albania. Macedonian nationalists describe the above areas as the unliberated parts of Macedonia and they claim that the majority of the population in those territories are oppressed ethnic Macedonians. In the cases of Bulgaria and Albania, it is said that they are undercounted in the censuses (In Albania, there are officially 5,000 ethnic Macedonians, whereas Macedonians nationalists claim the figures are more like 120,000-350,000. In Bulgaria, there are officially 1,600 ethnic Macedonians, whereas Macedonian nationalists claim 200,000). In Greece, there is a Slavic-speaking minority with various self-identifications (Macedonian, Greek, Bulgarian), estimated by
Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...
and the Greek Helsinki Monitor as being between 100,000-200,000 (according to the Greek Helsinki Monitor only an estimated 10,000-30,000 have an ethnic Macedonian national identity). The government of North Macedonia, led by nationalist party
VMRO-DPMNE Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity ( mk, Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација – Демократска партија за ...
, claimed that there is an ethnic Macedonian minority numbering up to 750,000 in Bulgaria and 700,000 in Greece. The idea of a united Macedonia under communist rule was abandoned in 1948 when the Greek communists lost in the
Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...
, and Tito fell out with the Soviet Union and pro-Soviet Bulgaria. In its first resolution,
VMRO-DPMNE Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity ( mk, Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација – Демократска партија за ...
, the nationalistic governing party at the time of the then-Republic of Macedonia, adopted the platform of a "United Macedonia", an act that has annoyed moderate ethnic Macedonian politicians and has also been regarded by Greece as an intolerable irredentist claim against Greek Macedonia. Before and just after independence, it was assumed in Greece that the idea of a united Macedonia was still state-sponsored. In the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, adopted on 17 November 1991, Article 49 read as follows:
Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia
'', adopted 17 November 1991, amended on 6 January 1992.
:(1) The Republic cares for the status and rights of those persons belonging to the Macedonian people in neighbouring countries, as well as Macedonian expatriates, assists their cultural development and promotes links with them. :(2) The Republic cares for the cultural, economic and social rights of the citizens of the Republic abroad. On 13 September 1995, the Republic of Macedonia signed an interim accord with Greece"Interim Accord between the Hellenic Republic and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"
United Nations, 13 September 1995.
in order to end the economic embargo Greece had imposed, among other reasons, for the perceived land claims. Among its provisions, the Accord specified that the Republic of Macedonia would renounce all land claims to neighbouring states' territories. The United Macedonia concept was still found among official sources in North Macedonia, and taught in schools through school textbooks and through other governmental publications.''Macedonianism: Macedonia's expansionist designs against Greece after the Interim Accord (1995)'', Society for Macedonian Studies, Ephesus Publishing, 2007


See also

* Macedonian nationalism *
Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions Autonomy for the region of Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace within the Ottoman Empire was a concept that arose in the late 19th century and was popular until ca. 1920. The plan was developed among Macedonian and Thracian Bulgarian emigres in S ...
* Independent Macedonia * Independent Macedonia (1944) * Vardar Macedonia *
Macedonia naming dispute The use of the country name " Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Western Balkans for 25 years. It was resolved t ...
*
Macedonia (terminology) The name ''Macedonia'' is used in a number of competing or overlapping meanings to describe geographical, political and historical areas, languages and peoples in a part of south-eastern Europe. It has been a major source of political controver ...
*
Demographic history of Macedonia The region of Macedonia is known to have been inhabited since Paleolithic times. Еarliest historical inhabitants The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were the Pelasgians, the Bryges and the Thracians. The Pelasgians occupied Em ...
*
History of North Macedonia The history of North Macedonia encompasses the history of the territory of the modern state of North Macedonia. Historiography in North Macedonia is controversial, as there is a wide range of conflicting views about how to study and present t ...
*
Titoism Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in th ...


References

{{Irredentism Macedonian nationalism Macedonia Nationalism in North Macedonia Modern history of Greek Macedonia