A historic day for Macedonia, a bitter defeat for Greece. That is how Macedonian media reported euphorically about the judgement of the International Court of Justice in the Hague from December 5, stipulating that Greece has breached the 1995 interim agreement with Skopje by blocking the country's admission to NATO at the summit of the alliance in April 2008.
With 15 votes "for" and only one "against" the court concluded that Greece had violated article 11, paragraph 1 from the arrangement, that says that the country agrees not to object Skopje's admission to international or regional organisations and institutions whose member it is. Greece has reserved the right, though, to object to any membership of Skopje if the country is to be referred under a name different than Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Athens and Skopje are at loggerheads over the name of Macedonia for two decades. Greece believes that Macedonia's constitutional name implies territorial pretences to its northern province with the same name.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov called on Greeks to comply with the court's ruling that was final and mandatory for all UN members. "At this moment we don't want to think in categories winners and losers. We should work together with Greece for the sake of our common future and the future of the region. We are reaching out to Greece in the name of good neighbourly relations and friendship. We consider this ruling a positive impetus," he said.
Greece, on its part, said that it would study the court's ruling and added that the two sides would continue searching for a solution to the dispute. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said that Greece was committed to good neighbourly relations with Skopje but was also calling for finding a mutually acceptable solution.
The ruling of the court in The Hague could have a moral value and make Macedonians feel like winners but actually it does not oblige third parties, like NATO or the EU, to give a green light to Macedonian membership application. A compromise and more flexibility between the two sides are needed in order to find a solution to the problem.
As pointed out in an editorial in the Dnevnik daily from December 6, the ruling is not "a ticket for immediate entry to NATO" and Macedonia needs to focus on the strategy - what after The Hague. Utrinski Vesnik daily added: "The ruling, that has a big legal and moral weight, should not be used to gain political points at domestic level and straining further the relations with Greece".
A similar view was shared by EP Rapporteur on Macedonia Richard Howitt, who told Deutsche Welle that the ICJ's ruling should give new impetus to the talks and lead eventually to a mutually acceptable solution. The European Commission said it would take note of the ruling but declined to comment. Macedonia is still hoping to get a green-light for opening of its EU accession talks at the EU summit on December 8 and 9 and not just another confirmation of the recommendation.
In the October 12 progress report on Macedonia the Commission said that the country continued to meet political criteria and was ready to start accession talks.
The document urges for more efforts in order to guarantee effective implementation of judicial and administrative reform, fight against corruption and freedom of expression in the media. Dialogue between the government and the opposition needs to be strengthened in order to ensure the smooth functioning of institutions and to allow Parliament to play its full role, the report reads.
The European Commission did not miss to note that the name dispute was affecting the relations between the two neighbours and recalled Skopje's decision to erect a monument resembling Alexander the Great, which was slammed as provocation by Athens. "Actions and statements, which could adversely affect good neighbourly relations should be avoided," the Commission recommended.
Macedonia was granted a recommendation to start membership talks in 2009 but the name dispute is still impending over its European and Euro-Atlantic ambitions. One should not forget that the decisions at the EU leaders' summit require consensus and that good neighbourly relations are among the criteria which fulfilling could bring positive outcome for Macedonia.
There was never a Macedonian-language, anywhere in the Slavic-world until 1944, when a Croatian South-Slav by the name of Josep Broz Tito commissioned a group of Slavist-philologists to create one. Communist-linguists from Yugoslavia seeded the Bulgarian-language with five Serbian letters and called it Macedonian-language...this is a fact!
There was never a Macedonia, anywhere in the Slavic-world until 1945, when a Croatian South-Slav by the name of Josep Broz Tito created one from a province in south Serbia called Vardar-Banovina...this is a fact!
Those Communist-Slavists knew that language-name generates ethnicity, and country-name generates nationality.
When Yugoslavia was breaking-up, dissintegrating, and threatening to become extinct, the southernmost republic there agitated for Independance...The Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia broke away and entered onto the world stage proclaiming itself Republic of Macedonia, dropping the Yugoslav-part, and Socialist-part, from it's previous YugoSlavian-name in 1991.
The Yugoslav prefix set a precedent which clearly defined the republic as a South-Slavic country belonging to the Slavic-world. From it's inception in 1945, The YugoSlav Peoples Republic of Macedonia became the 6th, newest, autonomous region of Federal Yugoslavia. One year later, the Communist ruling elite changed the name to The Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia in 1946, this name was kept until 1991.
The point is: We know Yugoslavia no longer exists, but the term YugoSlavian still exists, it merely denotes South-Slav. The important thing to rememeber here, is that FYRoM has always had the Yugoslav term embedded in it's name somewhere, either as a prefix or suffix. I can see a good valid reason for it's return, to reintroduce it in FYRoM's compromise name, in order to end the long running name dispute it has been engaged in with Greece over legacy-rights and historic-rights to the name and the region of Macedonia.
The first Macedonia in the Slavic world entered the history-books in 1945...this is a fact. FYRoM used to be called The Yugoslav Peoples Republic of Macedonia. A name change was instigated a year later, to The Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia. After 45 years, carrying the Yugoslav term in it's name, the political elite of the now free and Independant country decided to drop it. The Republic of Macedonia entered the history-books for the very first time in 1991 and immediately contested the Greek peoples right to the Macedonian legacy.
I say, reintroduce this term "YugoSlavian" into the compromise-name both FYRoM and Greece are negotiating to end the 22 year-long name-dispute which has kept FYRoM out of the EU and NATO. The Onus is on FYRoM to compromise...so say the UN, USA, EU, NATO and the International academic community.
FYRoM becomes The YugoSlavian Republic of Macedonia - name dispute ends in an instant and at a stroke! Happy Days!
That FYRoM has alienated the Greeks and worried a great number of Slavs in it's endeavours to establish itself as the legitimate heir and inheritor of the Macedonian legacy,
has become common-knowledge in the Cyber-world and in the real world - the distance between Hellenism and Slavdom reflects that.
To bring the two peoples closer together, the name-dispute between FYRoM and Greece must come to a conclusion...it must end in a compromise-name that is mutually acceptable
to both parties.
If the will of the Greek-Hellenic peoples is to keep the Macedonian-name in the Greek domain and it's Identity anchored to Greek heritage...and if the will of the UN, USA, EU, NATO and International academic community is to see the name-dispute between FYRoM and Greece conclude, then I see FYRoM adopting this name: The Central Haemus Republic, as a compromise name to resolve the name issue conclusively.
FYRoM becomes The Central Haemus Republic to end the 22 year-long name-dispute! Ofcourse, the ultimate choice of name is entirely for FYRoM to make...there are many options to chose from, not least - The YugoSlavian Republic of Macedonia is another befitting name.
What we know for sure is this: FYRoM must distinguish itself from the Macedonians of lore - Macedonians of old, like the present ones, have always been a Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples...a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock.
Haemus Peninsula:Hellenism Survives in Macedonia
In the Haemus exists a peoples so anti-Hellenic they believe the Greeks died-out and became extinct soon after the Roman conquest of the peninsula. They believe the Greeks of today are not real Greeks but titular-Greeks, Greeks in name only, not in substance. In the Haemus exists a peoples so anti-Hellenic they want to see Greece expire, erased from the map. Some YugoSlavic-peoples believe Greece was created by the Western-powers in order to cheat them from their real true history and heritage in the region. The West created Greece and peopled it with Albanians, Ethiopians, Turks and Gypsis...this is what they believe. The Slavs of FYRoM are anti-Hellenic, to the core. Hellenism for them is a loaded word and Greeks for them are the enemy! The worst crimes against Hellenism were committed by Yugoslavs.
Greeks live next to primitive YugoSlavic peoples...right!
The Slavs of FYRoM used racist anti-Hellenic propaganda to distance modern-Greeks from previous generations of Greeks. They used (i) Slavist-centric propaganda that made Macedonians proto-Slavs. They used (ii) Turko-centric propaganda that made Trojans proto-Turks. They used (iii) Afro-centric propaganda to make the ancient-Hellenes proto-Africans. They used (iv) Genetic propaganda to make the Greek sample cluster with the African one. They used (v) Historical revisionism and pseudo-history to de-Hellenize Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity.
Greeks live next to primitive YugoSlavic peoples...right!
When the Greeks defend Hellenism against FYRoM's anti-Hellenic propaganda they should be commended, because FYRoM did not work alone - every Greek-hating man and his dog aided and abetted them to see Hellenism rubbished and the Greeks ridiculed and humiliated...but look at FYRoM now! abandoned to face the future alone, who backs them now, who supports them now.
In the Haemus exists a YugoSlavic peoples so brainwashed, so Indoctrinated, they believe the Greeks died out but the Macedonians survived...to become Slavic-speaking proto-Slavs - FYRoM's ancestors!
If a Keltic-peoples took on the name of a Germanic-Tribe, for self-Identity and for self-determination purposes, and then went on to claim the history and heritage of that Germanic-Tribe...how should the German-peoples react to such a provocation - would they accept it ?
If a Germanic-peoples took on the name of a Slavic-Tribe, for self-Identity and for self-determination purposes, and then went on to claim the history and heritage of that Slavic-Tribe...how should the Slavonic-peoples react to such a provocation - would they accept it ?
If a Slavic-peoples took on the name of a Hellenic-Tribe, for self-Identity and for self-determination purposes, and then went on to claim the history and heritage of that Hellenic-Tribe...how should the Hellenic-peoples react to such a provocation - would they accept it ?
Tribal-names, People-names, Place-names and Ethnic-names are important to Europeans...more important to the people-groups who created them in the first place.
The rights of self-Identification and of self-determination are good rights, when they are used under the proper moral and ethical circumstances...codes we know and trust most decent upright peoples subscribe to.
There are other peoples though, unprincipled and unscrupulous peoples, that set-out intentionally to abuse those rights from the outset. When people invoke those rights improperly, in an unethical manner, they test fully our common-collective intelligence.
When the Slavic-speaking peoples from FYRoM tell the world they are Macedonians, Macedonian-speaking, ethnic-Macedonians living in Macedonia...how should the Greeks react to their provocations - should they accept it, or confront it ?
Is FYRoM's right to name itself after an ancient-archaic, Greek-Hellenic, regional-tribal name, any more serious than someone wanting to use the system unscrupulously, to legitimately change his name to Donald-Duck...a light-hearted example which places both absurdities on full-frontal collision with the learned-worlds common-collective intelligence.
Whilst the rights of self-Identification and self-determination exist...FYRoM is testing our intelligence when they claim ignorance over the Macedonians Greek-Hellenic Identity. Macedonians have always been a Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples - a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock.
Good rights can be abused...best example is FYRoM!
FYRoM covets the Macedonian name - a name that is known to have originated in ancient-Hellas, created by Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples.
So where does that leave FYRoM ? Nowhere!
FYRoM stands alone, as the only country in the world to contest the Macedonians Greek-Hellenic Identity...the Slavic-speaking peoples there have spent a life-time trying to make themselves Macedonians and the Greeks Africans. They failed on the first-one and failed again on the second-one - todays Greeks are the closest modern-humans to the ancient-Greeks, evidenced here, in this academic research: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n5/full/ncomms2871.html
FYRoM is a fervent anti-Hellenic country that wants a Greek name to self-determine with, for them, it is the ultimate dig at Hellenism...to usurp the name of the Macedonians, then their history, and then their heritage!
FYRoM used Slavist-centric, Turko-centric and Afro-centric propaganda against Greece, to rubbish Hellenism. They used Genetic propaganda to show the Greeks having African origin. They used historical revisionism to portray Greece being a western creation...unworthy of having all that ancient-Hellenic history attributed to them.
In FYRoM's eyes...seen through the eyes of Turko-centric and Afro-centric Slavists - Hellenism for them died-out when the Romans conquered the Haemus peninsula, there are no more real Greeks, and Greece is a fake country that was created by the West.
Somebody really needs to sit the Slavs of FYRoM down and make them study this: http://macedonia-evidence.org/ and then this: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1563011012000736 and finally, this one: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n5/full/ncomms2871.html
The academic research on the Greeks proves Macedonians are Greek...that modern-Greeks connect to previous generations of Greeks - linguistically, culturally and genetically!
FYRoM must relinquish it's use of the Macedonian name as soon and as quickly as possible...there are no good or valid reasons why FYRoM should covet the use of a Greek name to describe a Slavic-speaking peoples living on ancient Paeonia and Dardanian territory!
of them stem from the ancient-Hellenic race of the Dorians. Dorians were one of the 4 root races that collectively formed the ancient-Greek tribes from antiquity.
Achaeans, Aetolians, Dorians and Ionians...all Greeks stem from an amalgam of this collective.
How foolish, can the Slavs of FYRoM get, claiming descent from Macedonians, when Macedonians are Greek and they are not!
How Ignorant, can the Slavs of FYRoM become, to claim the ancient-Macedonians a proto-Slavic peoples!
How Simple, can the Slavs of FYRoM be, to confuse Macedonians for Slavic-speakers!
How stubborn, can the Slavs of FYRoM get, rejecting the mainstream historical narrative for a pseudo-revisionist one!
Foolishness, Ignorance, Simple-mindedness, Stubborness, form the driving factors which coerce the Slavs from FYRoM to see Alexander the Great as the first Czar of the Slavs and the ancient-Macedonians as Slavic-speaking peoples.
Foolishness, Ignorance, Simple-mindedness and Stubborness
prevail in FYRoM. The peoples there are sold on the Idea they are more Macedonian than todays Greeks. Slavist school taught them to see modern-Greeks as unworthy of having all that ancient-history attributed to them...taught them to fight for their own history, the history they deserve - the legacy of Alexander the Great.
We know it was the Slavists that taught them to see themselves as Macedonians, but it was the Turkists who taught them to script their own national-history, without fear of it clashing or conflicting with the mainstream historical narrative...so with Foolishness, Ignorance, Simple-mindedness and Stubbornness, they took that advice and produced an ethno-origin story that was so crude and so crass it got rejected by the international academic comunity as pseudo-historical nonsense!
Greeks live next to primitive TurkoSlavic-peoples who made the Haemus [Greek] peninsula their home...Greeks have no choice but to live next to them - we know them by their proper names!
The Macedonian name belongs in the Greek domain whilst the Identity associated with it belongs to Greek heritage - untouchable outside of Hellenism.
The Macedonian-name cannot apply to FYRoM's ex-Yugoslavs in the way that they want it to...though it may apply to some, those with Greek roots, with Greek ethono-origins, those who clearly understand, recognize and acknowledge that Alexander the Great as the Greek King of Macedon.
Macedonians are Hellenic, loyal to Hellenism - Macedonians cannot espouse loyalties to Slavdom.
For some in FYRoM...Re-Hellenization may be a path back to base! back to their roots.
For those in FYRoM who want it...Re-Hellenization remains the only way of sharing the history and heritage of ancient-Macedon with other Greeks.
Macedonians are the Greeks who remained loyal to Hellenism, proud to have retained the Greek-language, the Hellenic-culture and that collective-memory which ultimately links them to that campaign their ancestors initiated, when Alexander the Great exported Hellenism, the Greek-language, Greek-knowledge and Greek-wisdom eastwards, to Asia, the Orient and beyond.
Macedonians started-off as Greeks and they never stopped, they are still Greek today. If some of them strayed through the ages, diverted away from the Hellenic path and adopted some other language, or some other culture...there is still a way back! Re-Hellenization - relearn to Walk like Greeks and Talk like Greeks, recognize Alexander the Great as the Greek King of Macedon and welcome back to the fold.
Macedonians cannot be Slavic - Macedonians cannot be anti-Hellenic...Macedonians can only be Greek with loyalties to Hellenism.
Greeks have been using the Macedonian name for self-Identity from since it's creation. The Macedonian name has been in constant use in the Greek world from since it's inception. Macedonians are self-determined Greeks from since >3 Millennia. There has never been a day, week, month, year, decade, century, millennium, where the Greeks did not take that name with them wherever they went. Are the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM that anti-Hellenic they want to contest the Macedonian names Greek-Hellenic credentials ? Macedonians have always been Greek - a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock.
Two different, racially-distinct people-groups, one of them Hellenic, the other one Slavic, cannot espouse blood-ties, fraternal-bonds or kinship to the same group of ancestors!
According to Geography - Macedon, the ancient-Kingdom is in Northern-Greece.
According to Archaeology - Macedonian material-culture is Hellenic.
Acording to Linguistics - Macedonians spoke a Centum Hellenic-language.
According to Philology - These interpretations go by Consenus.
Geography cannot be moved, Archaelogy cannot be doctored, History cannot be altered, and the study of Philology...the interpretation of historical texts goes by Consensus - the Academic community support Greece over FYRoM in the latters attempt to usurp the Macedonian name for country-name, nationality, language and ethnicity.
When two different, racially-distinct people-groups...one of them Hellenic, the other one Slavic, espouse relatedness to the same group of ancestors - one of them must be lying! FYRoM is being insincere and disingenuous when it teaches an unsupported psuedo-historical revisionist narrative to it's own children, pupils and students.
There are young people in FYRoM walking the streets believing they are Macedonians...on the false premise, they speak Macedonian and live on Macedonian soil. The fact they speak a Serbianized form of Bulgarian was never really explained to them, and to make things even worse - FYRoM is not Macedonian-land but rather, Paeonian and Dardanian land.
When two different, racially-distinct people-groups...one of them Hellenic and the other one Slavic, use the same user-name to self-Identify with, the system, whether computerised or real-life cannot cope with the confusion - the digital-computer world crashes when that happens and the real-world goes into slow-mode, putting the problem to one-side until a fix can be found.
FYRoM decided to use a Greek-Hellenic name for self-Identity and for self-determination purposes when it knew full-well and in advance, the consequences of those actions. FYRoM knew that Macedonians already exist in Greece, they knew, that Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples, a regional-historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock...yet, they took a preemptive strike, a one-off opportunity to play the human-rights self-determination card.
When new countries make it to Independence, they must enter onto the world stage under their own freely chosen sovereign state-name...FYRoM opted to go for the Macedonian name, to describe country-name, nationality, language and ethnicity.
When two different, racially-distinct, people-groups...one of them Hellenic, and the other one Slavic, insist on using the same name for self-Identity...one of them is blatantly lying about their relatedness to it.
The Slavs of FYRoM lie, when they tell the world they are Macedonians on the basis of their country-name and language-name. Country-name generates Nationality whilst the Language-name generates Ethnicity - this is trickery and roundabout way the Slavs of FYRoM get to be Macedonians, by virtue of the fact Slavdom created a Macedonian-country and a Macedonian-language for the first time, in 1944 and 1945 respectively.
When two different, racially-distinct people-groups argue over name...they have to prove relatedness to it. The Greeks have done that through the medium of Academia. The Slavs of FYRoM have tried to do that through the medium of pseudo-historical revisionism - FYRoM lost the name dispute the day World-Academia rejected Political-expediancy for historical-verity.
The system cannot cope with two different, racially-distinct people-groups espousing access-rights to the same user-name, one of them has to compromise and login under a different user-name!
No system is perfect...We know the western system is flawed. We know it can be misused and abused - FYRoM taught us that.
No system can protect against Identity-theft...not in the real-world nor in the computer-world, where User-Names are protected under digital protocols, there are always going to be unscrupulous 'Users' out there who try their best to Login under another persons User-name details.
The Macedonian name was first used in the real-life system by Greeks. Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples created that name first, for Greek users. The real-life system is just as much open to abuse as the digital-system...No system is perfect - FYRoM taught us that.
The Greeks registered the Macedonian name in the real-life system first. The Greeks with User-name 'Macedonian' have full access-rights to the real-life system...on account, they registered it first. Other 'Macedonians' cannot use the real-life system the way Greeks can, nor can they boast the same rights as the Greeks, on account, they cannot access the system archives the way the Greeks can.
User-Names are important to the creators of them, the ones who originated the name in the first place! The first users of the Macedonian name were Greeks...they registered it first, in the real-life the system. Logging in, under another persons 'User-Name' is illegal...against all the rules the system was designed for!
Whether in the real-life system or in the digital computer-system...User-Names are protected by convention and by protocol - those who misuse the system or abuse the system must accept, that the same system can be used to bite them!
When FYRoM scripted a national-history for itself, the historians there wrote a version of history so crude and so crass...all of the neighbours rejected it as revisionism. The international academic community rejected it, branding it pseudo-historical nonsense.
History, like Archaelogy and Demography are important academic-disciplines, subjects which enable us, modern-peoples to see into the past...to link ancient-populations to ancient-lands at specific times across the historical-spectrum measured in eras and ages.
History is compartmentalized into bandwidths of eras or ages. Scholars and academics use a cross-reference system to
check, date and pin-point historical events geographically, and demographically...connecting to a degree of accuracy, people-history to land-history at specific times across the historical spectrum.
History, compartmented into land-history and people-history
enables historians to match ancient-populations to geographical areas. By cross-referencing the histories of more than one peoples, historians are able to depict and illustrate, to within a good degree of accuracy, where and when specific events which occured...and who took part in those events.
When FYRoM rewrote the ancient-history of Macedonia, they not only upset the Greeks, they annoyed World-Academia...a world body of knowledgable Scientists, Professors, Teachers and Instructors. FYRoM upset reputable historian-scholars and academics alike, who speant their whole life disseminating Graeco-Roman history and the Classics to generations of accreditted students.
Without pseudo-historical revisionism, FYRoM could not exist as Macedonia. The mainstream historical narrative records that place as Paeonia and Dardania in antiquity...peopled by a combination of Thracians and Illyrians. FYRoM's modern inhabitants are Slavic-speakers, with possible connections to Paeonians and Dardanians - Not Macedonians or Macedonia.
Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples - a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock...their name belongs in the Greek domain and the Identity belongs to Greek heritage. FYRoM cannot rubbish this, history wont allow it!
In Europe, we cannot have a country like FYRoM rewriting the ancient-history of the continent, inserting themselves in as Macedonians, speaking a Slavic Satem language. In Europe, we cannot have FYRoM teaching a different history to their children pupils and students...from the rest of us!
In Europe, we must all be reading from the same common history-book. All Europeans must have a clear understanding of who they are and from whence they come from. In Europe, we must all be on the same page, reading from the same chapter, in perfect synchronicity - divergence from that rule has no place in Europe...it is not an option!
Western civilization traces it's roots to Greece and Rome! FYRoM cannot be permitted to Rubbish European history the way we have all witnessed...Europe wont allow it!
archaeology, (ii) demography and (iii) philology.
History cannot be altered simply by rewriting it, the errors of mismatch will reveal themselves in other-peoples histories...philology will attest to that.
FYRoM scripted a national-history that made Slavic-speaking people Macedonians...contrary to the demographic history of the region.
FYRoM is not Macedonia - archaeology tells us that. FYRoM was Paeonia and Dardania in antiquity.
There was a time in history...during latin-Roman rule, when FYRoM was named Macedonia-Secunda, meaning the second-Macedonia, second to Macedonia-Prima which the Romans kept seperate Greek and distinct.
The closest FYRoM gets to being called Macedonia in historical-verity, is when the latin-Romans incorporated Paeonia and Dardania into a larger, extended administrative district - Macedonia II Salutaris.
People make history - some of them even went as far as to record it, writing it down in their own specific script, whenever it was deemed important enough to record the event for posterity...we call them historians!
If a distinct-peoples did something specific during antiquity, in a particular region, at a specific time in the historical-spectrum - we have historians to thank for that, for recording it.
The pursuit of universal knowledge is central to the principles of academic disciplines - Greeks were the founding fathers in formulating those principles. Knowledge is wisdom, something FYRoM lacks and knows little about!
The history of Greece, starts from 1821 when the Greeks began a struggle for independence from Ottoman rule...a Greek Nation-State was formed and attained full recognition legitimized at the London Protocol from 1830.
History is compartmentalized into bandwidths of eras and ages...the Greeks are there as a peoples occupying a bandwidth in every era, and in every age, right across the historical spectrum. Greece as a country,[contemporary-concept] is only there from since 1830 - there was never a country called Greece in ancient-times, though there were many Greek-Hellenic peoples living in more than 3 thousand Greek City-States that stretched from Iberia in the West to Colchis in the East, and beyond, depending on the particular time frame.
Like history is compartmentalized into ages and eras, it is also compartmented into land-histories and peoples-histories. Philology, Archaeology and Demography compliment the study, which ultimately enables the Scholars of these academic-disciplines to piece together the past, to match certain-peoples to certain-lands at specific time-frames during a historical era or age, across a bandwidth of the historical spectrum.
Like the history of Israel starts from 1948, nobody though, disputes the land-history or peoples-history of the Hebrews, across the full historical spectrum.
The history of contemporary Greece starts from 1830, nobody though, disputes the land-history or peoples-history of the Greeks, across the full historical spectrum...
...but for some anti-Hellenic Slavists and Turkists from FYRoM, and from FYRoM friendly places.
In the absence of a clear and coherant economic-security plan...the constant uncertainty concerning developments in the western part of the Haemus-peninsula, fuels only the aspirations of those Ottoman revivalists who occupy positions of power at the highest echelons of diplomatic office in the Euro-Atlantic economic and security zone.
The Haemus [Balkan] peninsula remains a constant headache for the zones mind-architects. Unable to plan or develop future energy routes, economic-alliances or strategic-partnerships, at least with some assurance of stabilty - developing a security plan for the region is leading some to think of Ottoman-Turkey, the last known security enforcer of the area as possible contender for policing the area on their behalf.
The ease in which Turkish influence has ingressed into specific regions of the Haemus has impressed many, we are now seeing the emergence of Turkey as a regional-power with some ability to exert influence in the form of impartial-mediation, using soft-diplomacy. Turkey is now being primed for a much bigger role in the peninsula.
With the absence of Greek diplomacy, and the likely possibility that Greece shall remain weak, poor and insignificant in the region...the door is wide open for the Ottoman revivalists to implement their vision for the Greek Haemus peninsula.
Turkish influence in some South-Slavic countries has reached
uncomfortable levels...Hellenic influence in the peninsula of it's birth is being stifled and held back. Greece is being governed by the softest, most weakest inward looking politicians ever in the history Hellenism - Ottoman revivalists have an open field to position their players at all four corners of the Haemus.
Contrary to the overwhelming-evidence, the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM believe they are Macedonians by decent. They strongly believe that King Phillip II, and his son Alexander the Great were their own famous hero-ancestors. They believe they are Macedonians because their land is called Republic of Macedonia. They believe they are Macedonians because their language is called Macedonian-language. On the basis of all those factors above, they self-Identify as ethnic-Macedonians.
By the study of Geography, FYRoM is Paeonia and Dardania. By the study of Demography, FYRoM's inhabitants are Slavic. By the study of Philology, the peoples there speak a Satem Slavic-language closest to Bulgarian. By the study of Archaelogy, the ancient-inhabitants of FYRoM were Paeonians
south of Skopje, and Dardanians north of it. By the study of
Graeco-Roman history, FYRoM's closest ancestors were the Slavic-tribes comprising the Draguvites, the Sagudates and the Berzetes that settled the Graeco-Roman Empire during the top-end of the 6th Century AD.
If the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM connect to the land before the Slavic-tribes arrived there, this would make them Eastern-Roman Byzantines, Greek-speakers who used the Romioi term for self-Identity and for self-determination purposes. If the peoples of FYRoM insist they have deeper connections to the land...this would connect them to Paeonians and Dardanians, rather than the Macedonians they want to be.
By Geography, Demography, Philology and Archaeology, FYRoM is not Macedonia. By the study of Graeco-Roman history and the Classics, FYRoM is not Macedonia. The overwhelming evidence places the Macedonians into the Greek-Hellenic collective of peoples...their name belongs in the Greek-domain and their Identity belongs to Greek-heritage.
FYRoM could end the name-dispute, in an instant, at a stroke...if the ruling elite there recognized Alexander the Great as the Greek-King of Macedon and the ancient-Macedonians as Greek-speakers, with affinities and kinship-ties towards Greeks and Hellenism.
FYRoM could end the name-dispute tomorrow, in an instant and at a stroke, if the politicians there recognized the Macedonian-name as a Greek-name, having originated in the Hellenic-world by Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples
FYRoM could end the name-dispute today, in an instant and at a stroke, if the government there recognized and acknowledged, the Greek-Hellenic Identity of Macedonians from since the days of King-Karanus, 808-778 BC.
FYRoM denies the Macedonians were ever Greek in the first place, they teach a revisionist pseudo-historical narrative to their own children, pupils and students. In the history books there, Alexander the Great becomes Aleksandar Veliki, the first Czar of the Slavs and the ancient-Macedonians become proto-Slavs who spoke a Satem-Slavic, Serbianized-Bulgarian language called Macedonian-language during antiquity.
FYRoM denies the Macedonians were Greek to begin with, that they spoke a Centum Hellenic-language, that they had strong kinship-ties and affiliations towards other Greeks and Hellenism, and, that they themselves self-Identified and self-determined as Greeks.
FYRoM erases the Macedonians Greek-Hellenic Identity in order to superimpose their own quasi-experimental Identity over on top of the original Greek one...but they do it in bad taste, under very crude and crass circumstances, in ways that clash and conflict with all that is known about Macedonia and Macedonians - that they have been self-determined Greeks from since >3 Millenniums.
FYRoM could end the name-dispute right now, in an instant and at a stroke...if the politicians there stopped the pretense, and the theatrical silliness that goes with promoting a quasi-experimental Identity that takes from Hellenism something the Greeks are not willing to relinquish. If a Greek-Hellenic peoples have self-Identified as Macedonians for more than 3 Milleniums, should FYRoM respect that - You decide ?
Those who know about Macedonia know: Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples from since the days of King-Karanus 808-778 BC - a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock.
Right now, FYRoM is home to a radicalized population of Slavic-speaking peoples who for generations, have schemed to take Macedonia away from Hellenism - they have almost succeeded, but for some Greek objections.
Greeks object to FYRoM calling itself Republic of Macedonia, on the basis, Macedonia was never where FYRoM is located right now...that land was called Paeonia, south of Skopje, and Dardania, north of it. Country-name generates nationality by default! A Macedonian Nation outside of Hellenism, never existed in historical verity, it is anathema for Greeks to call Slavs 'Macedonians' by Nationality.
Greeks object to the Slavic-speakers of FYRoM calling their Satem-Slavic, Serbianized-Bulgarian language, 'Macedonian-language' on the basis, Macedonians have always spoken a Centum-Hellenic, Greek-language. Language name generates ethnicity, on this basis, the Slavs of FYRoM inherit by default, a Macedonian-ethnicity. Greeks object to the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM calling themselves 'ethnic-Macedonians' on the basis, their language and parent-ethnicity is Slavic.
Greek objections are upheld by the UN, EU, USA, NATO and the International academic community! These wordly-wise global-entities advise FYRoM to compromise in order to find a proper, more suitable name for their country-name, nationality, language and ethnicity.
Macedonians are Greek by Admission - from since >3 Millenniums. Alexander the Greats grandfather, Alexander I...admitted on record, that he was Greek by decent. The Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM should respect his testimony and admit to themselves, that Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples, and that their claims to the Macedonian-name, Identity, Nationality, Language and Ethnicity are just pure unaldulterated Indulgence, the kind of Indulgence that was effective only in a closed-off society, like the one that prevailed in the old-Yugoslavia. In the Slavist schools there, young Slavic children were taught to think of themselves as Macedonians and to think of ancient-Macedonians as proto-Slavs. In the real world though, FYRoM's claims to the Macedonian-name, Identity, Nationality, Language and Ethnicity are just met with derision, especially from Greeks and the learned-peoples of this world who know about Macedonia and Macedonians.
If Alexander III the Great, had an ancestor who self-determined Greek by his own admission...proclaimed himself Greek by decent, on record, then that means, the Macedonians before him were Greeks too. Are the Greeks right to see red, everytime FYRoM has a dig at the Macedonians Greek-Hellenic Identity - You decide ?
The Greeks have absolute right to defend and protect the Macedonian-name from being usurped by Slavic-speaking South-Slavs in search of National-Identity.
On the basis they have right to chose their own Sovereign-State name without hindrance from foreign interference, FYRoM adopting the Macedonian-name for country-name makes their Nationality Macedonian too...country-name generates Nationality, whilst Language-name generates Ethnicity - by this method, FYRoM becomes a Nation of Slavic-speaking Macedonians, kidnapping not by stealth, but on a technicality, an important key-componant of Greek-Identity overall. FYRoM abuses the western-system to preemptively strike at Hellenism, taking something from the Greeks without their permission.
In FYRoM, the children pupils and students there already confess to having developed strong-affiliations, ethnic-feelings and national-pride for all things Macedonian - the Greeks for them, are the enemy, the ones who try to steal their name, Identity and history!
When a peoples are that sold on Ideology, they have to receive a short, sharp shock to come round to reality...the Greeks are willing to do that but we are being told to be patient - the Onus is on FYRoM to come around at their own speed!
The Slavs of FYRoM insist on usurping the Macedonian-name for country-name, nationality, language and ethnicity. Greeks cannot permit the Slavs of FYRoM to usurp the Macedonian-name, on the basis, it is a Greek-name for Greek use, created by Greeks for Greeks - European names are important to Europeans...more important to the people-groups that originated them in the first place.
If the Slavs of FYRoM cannot see the crudeness of their argument - explanations which teeter on the slopes of absurdity, then it should be pointed-out to them by other more enlightened Slavs, that Macedonians have been self-determined Greeks from since the days of King Karanus 808-778 BC.
If the Slavs of FYRoM believe they are descended from Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity...then Slavdom should eject them from their collective, on the basis, the Slavs of FYRoM openly reject their Slavic-heritage - a breach which deserves their expulsion.
If the Slavs of FYRoM believe they speak Macedonian, the same language spoken by Alexander the Great...then it should be pointed-out to them that they actually speak a hybrid mix of Serbo-Bulgarian, renamed Macedonian-language by a Croatian-Slav Marshall Josep Broz Tito in the autumn of 1944.
If the Slavs of FYRoM believe they live on Macedonian-soil,
the same land the ancient-Macedonians lived on, then they are mistaken...they actually live on Paeonian-soil, south of Skopje, and Dardanian-soil, north of it.
There is Nothing Macedonian in FYRoM - Not the land, Not the Peoples! The Central Haemus Republic is a better name for FYRoM...it describes FYRoM better, in that the country is Central to the Haemus-peninsula and the peoples that live there, are Haemus-peoples. Slavic-speaking Macedonians can live there in peace, next to Serbians, Bulgarians and Albanians.
From Monarch to Emperor, Alexander the Great exported Hellenism, the Greek-language, culture, wisdom and knowledge eastwards, to the far reaches of the ancient-world.
The Hellenistic-period of history takes-up sizable bandwidth in the historical spectrum, approximately three hundred years from Alexanders death, till the coming of the latin-Romans to the Haemus [Greek] peninsula. Macedonia then becomes a province of the latin-Roman Empire for the best part of 400 years.
From latin-Roman rule to Greco-Roman rule, Macedonia then becomes a province of the Greek-speaking Byzantine-Empire. For more than a Millennium, Macedonia was Greco-Roman...but fought over between Eastern-Romans and the new Slavic entities that made the Haemus their home. Macedonia changes hands from Greco-Roman rule to Bulgarian rule, then to Serbian-rule, until the coming of the Eastern-Asiatic Oriental-Turk to the Haemus.
1453, Byzantium [Constantinople] falls last to the Oriental Musulman-Turk. Macedonia stays in Turkic hands until the Turk has to hand it back to the Greeks in 1913. Greeks fought Turks to bring Macedonia back to Greek hands. Proud-Turks know...Greeks took Macedonia from them, in battle, like their Asiatic-ancestors took Macedonia from the Byzantines in battle, 400 years earlier.
Proud-Macedonians have retained their Greek-language and Hellenic-culture through-out the ages, from small-Kingdom to large-Empire...every-day, every-week, every-month, every-year, every-decade, every-century from since before the Hellenistic-period till now!
Who is that anti-Hellenic they want to Rubbish Macedonian history for Ideological purposes but the Slavs of FYRoM. Communists brainwashed and indoctrinated the peoples there on Makedonism, a Slavist-based expansionist Ideology that teaches young Slavic children to think of themselves as Macedonians and to think of ancient-Macedonian as Slavs.
When the pseudo-historians from FYRoM scripted themselves a history, they superimposed a Slavic-Identity on top of the Hellenic one the Macedonians of lore espoused...a quasi-experimental Identity exploiting the low-intelligence levels of the South-Slavic peoples it was intended for.
Not happy with the way mainstream history recorded South-Slavic contributions to world history, the Slavists there took an executive-decision to script their own Slavist-centric version. In FYRoM's history books, Alexander the Great becomes Aleksandar Veliki, the first Czar of the Slavs and the ancient-Macedonians become proto-Slavs.
Not happy with their neighbours treatment of Classicist Graeco-Roman history, the Greeks turn to their political alies for some solace and understanding...some of them showed compassion, some of them not, some of them were receptive towards the Greek point of view, some of them not.
Some of the Hellenic Republics political-allies, Western-Partners and European-Cousins were willing to entertain the Idea that history is less important than the rights of a newly Independent Eastern-Block country to name itself Republic of Macedonia.
FYRoM invoked the right of self-determination and chose an ancient-Greek regional-tribal name for sovereign state-name, nationality, language and ethnicity. Greek concerns were waivered in the interests of political-expediance, the vital interests of the West was to see the smooth transition of the Haemus [Balkan] peninsula, to Western-style free-market economics, where all of the newly emergent countries from the old-Yugoslavia could join the EU and NATO on meeting the right criteria.
FYRoM played it's part, saying and doing all the right things the West wanted to hear...but not for long. The primary objective was always to take the Macedonian name away from it's Hellenic primordial base, and when that was achieved, to make claims on Northern-Greek territory, on the basis, a fictitious ethnic-Minority called ethnic-Macedonians are being suppressed and mistreated.
When the Greeks exhausted their concerns on deaf political ears, they turned to academia, to historian-scholars and academics alike, for solace and understanding - it was freely given on a scale that surpassed all expectations. World academia - a body of knowledge, listing reputable accredited Professors, Doctors, Scientists, Teachers and Instructors threw down the gauntlet to politicians who were willing to support the existence of a NoN-Greek Macedonian Nation on the basis of political-expediancy.
FYRoM became untouchable...the FYRoM cause died a death and the country shoved-up a siding, kept ar arms-length, at a distance from since 2009. History is important...not to politicians but to scholars and academics who spent their professional carears disseminating the Classics and Graeco-Roman history to generations of students, some of who went on to become scholars in their own right!
The genetic-Identity of FYRoM is mixed, but still fall within the footprint of diffusion, common to the Haemus peninsula. The cultural-linguistic Identity of FYRoM is undoubtedly Slavic. The Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM are culturally and linguistically Slavic in Identity with measurable autochthonous haplogroups and subclades. FYRoM's genetic-Identity is common-Haemus, with Slavic admixture.
The Macedonian-Identity they wish to be associated with is root and branch Hellenic...with more than 2.5 Million Greek
users using it for regional-Identity. The genetic-Identity
of the Greek users is common-Haemus, with little or No Slavic admixture. The cultural-linguistic Identity of the Greek users is Hellenic.
To put it into context - Greek-Macedonians are closer to the original Macedonians on cultural-linguistic grounds.
The genetic-Identity of Greek users is common-Haemus, which is not that dissimilar from other Haemus-peoples in close proxomity.
Conclusion: Macedonians are more authentic in their Greek form rather than in their Slavic form.
The Slavs of FYRoM were never told that Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples - a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock...for them, Greeks are different to Macedonians, this is what they learned in the Slavist-schools of old-Yugoslavia.
Smart South-Slavic people exist, they know Macedonians have always been Greek but dare to pass that knowledge on for fear of being ostracized from their own mainstream society.
In FYRoM it is forbidden by law, to do research, to write or to publish the results of such outlawed activities. The fear of such information being made common-knowledge makes the existence of FYRoM questionable and it's future uncertain.
FYRoM's precarious situation is self-inflicted...they went head to head with Academia contesting the Greek-Hellenic Identity of the Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity. With backing and support from some anti-Hellenic factions in the West, the political elite in FYRoM decided to take advantage of the expediance.
FYRoM abused the right of self-determination by electing to use another peoples regional-tribal name for sovereign state-name, nationality, language and ethnicity. The Macedonian name originated in the Hellenic-world, it was created by Greek-speakers speaking a Centum Indo-European Hellenic-language...different from the Satem-Slavic Serbo-Bulgarian language used in FYRoM mischievously called Macedonian-language.
That the rights and freedoms we take for granted in the West could be abused, we learned directly from FYRoM when the governing elite there decided to go for a preemptive strike at taking from Hellenism something which the Greeks were not willing to relinquish. The Macedonian name and Identity belong to Hellenic intellectual property, the name belongs in the Greek domain and the Identity belongs to Greek heritage.
The Slavs of FYRoM have learned to take advantage of our Western rights and freedoms, they have also learned to test our common collective intelligence...they brazenly and shamelessly proclaim themselves Macedonians with roots and connections to Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity at the expense and total exclusion of Greek concerns.
Smart people know: Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples...the peoples of FYRoM must be made to respect the rights of Macedonians to keep their Greek-Hellenic Identity in the tradition of their ancestors.
The peoples of FYRoM declaring Macedonian...in the ethnic-racial, cultural-linguistic sense, is in stark contradiction to the academic disciplines of archaelogy and demographic history of the Haemus [Greek] peninsula.
The right of self-determination has to be in keeping, not transcending established demographic and historical facts.
In the political realm, FYRoM has right to chose the Macedonian name for sovereign state name...which they exercized abruptly without second thought to the contradictions it creates in the academic realm.
If politically FYRoM has right to name itself after another peoples regional-tribal name - Why would upright decent peoples exercize a right which clashes and conflicts with academias tutorials on matters Macedonian.
In the political realm today, FYRoM is now seen as having taken advantage...having used the right of self-determination inappropriately, to the point of being mischievous.
FYRoM used the rights and freedoms we take for granted in the West to abuse an important self-determination right most decent upright peoples exercize honestly and sincerely, without hypocrisy or pretense...FYRoM did the opposite!
FYRoM abused the right of self-determination, the moment the political leadership there decided to test the Western-worlds common collective intelligence on matters Macedonian.
Where FYRoM finds itself today is precisely of it's own making - Shoved up a siding, kept at arms length, at a distance from the European family and NATO...the Western-worlds most prestigious economic and security structures.
FYRoM's policial right to name itself after an ancient and archaic Greek-Hellenic name, must be weighed against the moral and ethical judgement to exercize that right in the first place. On balance, FYRoM's governing elite took a chance, bolstered by a wave of sympathy and support from some anti-Hellenic Western benefactors. The opportunity presented itself so FYRoM went for it.
With hindsight looking back, it was a bad decision to go for a sovereign state name that was already in long-time use by a neighbouring people-group. That decision cost FYRoM dear...not in the political realm but in the academic realm. Academia rejected FYRoM's claim to Macedonian-Identity on the basis of historical verity.
Opportunistic political decisions must be weighed in ratio of them having more than at least evens chance of achieving success. FYRoM boasts 132 countries recognizing the country as a nation of Macedonians with roots and connections to Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity...in reality, FYRoM is the name that is used at international gatherings.
No tutored individual disputes the Macedonians right to upkeep the traditions of their ancestors...aligned and synchronized at the political level and academic level. Smart people know, the Macedonians have been self-declared Greeks from since more than three millenniums. FYRoM's claim to the Macedonian name and Identity just grates with politicians and academics.
Political views and academic views regarding matters Macedonians are now in perfect alignment...synchronized in the Hellenic Republics favour. Macedonians belong to the Greek-Hellenic collective of peoples, their name belongs in the Greek domain and their Identity belongs to Greek heritage.
Macedonians are hardcore Greeks...the first to defend and protect Hellenism in the primordial homeland. Hard Northern-Greeks - Macedonians to the Core! Test them! Test their Greekness.
Actually, the Greeks devised a very simple test to determine authentic-Macedonian from South-Slav. The Test was tried and tested during the second Balkan War 1912-1913. Thessaloniki or Solun ? This was the Test!
South-Slavs would always answer Solun whilst Macedonians would always answer Thessaloniki.
The Slavs of FYRoM continue to use the Slavic term Solun...proof of their Identity, which instantly distances them from authentic-Macedonians.
Macedonians are Greek on the basis of their own self-determination...from since >3 Millenniums. Todays Macedonian are Greek on the same basis as the ancient ones, they continue to self-Identify in the tradition of their ancestors.
The Slavs of FYRoM continue in the tradition of their ancestors, being hostile and provocative towards Greeks and Hellenism. They disrespect the Macedonians Greek-Hellenic Identity, without shame and without consequences.
FYRoM is now seen for what it really is...an anti-Hellenic place, hostile towards Greeks and Hellenism, that is why world-diplomats and global politicians keep FYRoM at arms length. The country is not given a second look any more!
Mention FYRoM nowadays and trouble comes to mind!
Brainwashed to see Slavic things in Macedonians. How can a Slavic-peoples become so Indoctrinated on Makedonism it makes them unashamed to deny the Macedonians Greekness. Slavists are to blame for brainwashing simple-minded Vardar-Slavs on Makedonism, coercing them to believe they are ethnic Macedonians...alienating a whole Nation of Hellenes in the process.
Macedonians are self-determined Greeks with blood-ties, kinship bonds and cultural-affiliations towards other Greeks and Hellenism. It shall take a strong, much respected influential Slavic figure to convince them, that Macedonians have always been a Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples - a proud regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock.
Even if the majority in FYRoM are susceptible towards revisionism, it is still intelligible enough to see that the rest of the world is not...the long established mainstream historical narrative still holds for the learned peoples of the world, above and beyond FYRoM's very crude pseudo-historical nonsense!
There is nothing more annoying than to hear a South-Slav recite his FYRoM version of history to the rest of us...nothing grates more than that, to hear them Rubbish the history of the Greeks without shame and without consequences.
We have reached a point internationally where FYRoM is seen for what it really is - a country created by Communist-Slavists to act as shelter for a number socially-engineered, ethnically-manipulated South-Slavs, bred for purpose to take Macedonia away from the Greeks.
FYRoM's hostility towards Greeks and Hellenism should be viewed within the context of Slavic - Hellenic rivalry over territories the Greeks have always considered to their own primordial homelands, but which the South-Slavs have always contested...ever since their arrival to the Haemus peninsula some 1,400 years ago, from since the 6th Century AD.
In Greece exist Slavophones, Slavic-speaking Greeks with common Hellenic consciousness, Greeks who's ancestors adopted the Slavic-language but never forgot their native Hellenic roots and ethno-origins. Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples. The few Slavophones in Greece that still speak Slavic do so on bilingual basis with Hellenic...the language of their ancestors.
FYRoM is home to Slavic-speakers who are only now finding out they carry native-autochthonous Haemus-stuff in their biology...they call it Macedonian, but in reality, it is Paeonian and Dardanian, not Macedonian. The Macedonian Identity they covet is Slavist-driven, with expansion in mind, aiming towards the Aegean Sea.
If FYRoM's Slavic-speaking inhabitants had native Haemus-ancestors...they would have been Greek-speaking Paeonians. The ancient-Paeonians were not Hellenic but they Hellenized, courtesy of Macedonian interaction...it was Greek-speaking Hellenic-Macedonians that Hellenized them. Paeonians were a Hellenic-friendly peoples, Greeks viewed them like brother-peoples.
FYRoM's roots and ethno-origins are Slavic, based on their immediate ancestors, but before them, FYRoM's primordial ancestors were Paeonian Haemus-natives...Hellenic-friendly brother-peoples who adopted the language and culture of the Greeks, willingly and voluntarily - Slavdom evidently, turned the peoples of FYRoM against Greeks and Hellenism, for expansionist Slavist reasons.
The Haemus peninsula should be allowed to revert back to it's primordial roots on the will of the native-peoples that demand it! Todays Greeks connect to the ancient-Hellenes through their immediate Byzantine ancestors. FYRoM's Slavic-speakers connect to the ancient-Paeonians through their Slavicized immediate ancestors.
Those who strive to make Macedonians out of Slavicized Paeonians work not in the interest of the Haemus but for the interests of those who strive to control it.
In the Haemus [Greek] peninsula, traces of the ancients are still discernible in the modern inhabitants there...you can see it in their morphology. You can hear it their temperement. You can experiance it in their stubborness, in their obstinance, and in their inflexible attitude towards change.
It is in the interest of the peoples there, to see the Haemus peninsula return back to it's original constituant native componant parts.
The Hellenes are there in all their primordial regions, still using their original ancient tribal-names. Greeks invite all the peoples of the Haemus to revive the ancient names of the peninsula, back to the original form.
The peoples of FYRoM are Slavic...from Serbian-Bulgarian stock. Their immediate-ancestors can be traced back to the Slavic-tribes that settled the Haemus [Greek] peninsula during the dark middle-ages. If some Greek-speaking Byzantines cross-fertilized with them, the peoples of FYRoM could boast partial-Greek heritage, but to stretch this Idea back to ancient-Macedonians is too much of a stretch. On the basis of some partial-Greek heritage...the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM could claim only a partial-amount of it, from the Greek side of their maternal-parternal ancestors, and from the starting-period cross-fertilization occured.
Stretching the fraternal relationship to Greco-Romans further back than the 6th Century AD, clashes and conflicts with the mainstream historical narrative...there were no recorded Slavic populations in the Haemus peninsula before that academic reference-point. Latching on to the Greek side of their immediate ancestors just makes them Byzantine Greco-Romans, not Macedonians - there were no ancient-Macedonians during this period of history. FYRoM searching for Identity based on Macedonian heritage is wrong inaccurate and plain opportunistic, to the point of it being construed as mischevious.
FYRoM's immediate heritage is Slavic with as yet unexplored and unsubstantiated Greco-Roman inheritance. Slavs from partial Greco-Roman heritage does not make them ethnic-Macedonians...it makes them Greco-Slavs instead. FYRoM's immediate ancestors were Slavic with the possibility
of some Byzantine Eastern-Roman elements, this is the closest they get to Greeks and by extension - Macedonians. Leapfrogging back, to a period of history before the Slavic settlements of the Haemus peninsula is just sheer indulgence. Even here, FYRoM connects to Paeonia, not Macedonia.
FYRoM's only mistake was not to recognize an established Identity rooted in Hellenism...had FYRoM shown respect to the Greek-Hellenic Identity of Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity, the Greeks would be viewing them like Greco-Slavic brother-peoples who wanted to share with their Greek-brothers, some Macedonian cultural heritage.
The international community respects the Macedonians also...the ones who continue to self-declare in the tradition of their ancestors.
The Slavs of FYRoM are looking increasingly pathetic...chasing an Identity they believe belongs to them, moreso, than the Greeks.
Good and fair diplomacy dictates that the international community goes by the book. FYRoM cannot be denied the right to self-determine according to the peoples will and testimony...but Republic of Macedonia, without any distinguishing prefix or suffix Identity-factors to seperate that country from the Macedonia of lore, is making the international community look at FYRoM with slightly weary eyes.
FYRoM can be Northern-Macedonia or Slav-Macedonia, or Anything*-Macedonia...so long as it distinguishes Slavic-speaking Macedonians living on ancient-Paeonian soil, from Greek-speaking Macedonians living on ancient-Macedonian soil, in the tradition of their ancestors.
Many names have been suggested to end the name-dispute between FYRoM and Greece - the one single name that keeps propping-up is this one: The Central Haemus Republic...this name is looking increasingly viable for compromise sovereign state-name, in that, the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM get to keep their much covetted Macedonian-Identity in a country called 'The Central Haemus Republic'
Identity wise...the peoples of FYRoM, those who want to, remain Macedonian. They remain Slavic-speaking Macedonians, residing in the Central Haemus Republic, the new home for all the tribes of the Haemus.
What is clear is this: FYRoM cannot claim Macedonian Identity, heritage, or cultural-inheritance before the 6th Century AD...on an equilibrium with Greeks! The Macedonian name pre-dates Slavic arrival to the Haemus [Greek] peninsula.
I respect the Macedonians for continuing to self-determine in the tradition of their ancestors...Macedonians have self-declared Greek for more than three Millenniums - this deserves respect, right! The international community freely give it - FYRoM must do the same.
Greek interactions with Slavs is properly recorded in the mainstream historical narrative...from since the 6th Century AD. There were No Slavic tribes using the Macedonian-name for tribal-name or ethnic-Identity - Slavs started to use this name in deeper meaning than it's usual geographic regional-connotations, from since the lead-up to the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate, from 1870 until estasblishment in 1878.
During that period of history, Slavic interests in the Haemus [Greek] peninsula were channelled through Bulgaria...the push to break Orthodox-Christendom in the Haemus necessitated the creation of a Bulgarian [Slavic] Exarchate to compete with the long established Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. Slavic interests started a seperation process which split Haemus-peoples into their perceived ethnic-racial, cultural-linguistic affiliations. Those who were were not sure were alotted one, on the basis of their spoken language.
Because some Haemus-peoples spoke Slavic, they were directed to become Exarchists...instantly seperating them from Greeks and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, severing any last vestiges of native Haemus-Identity they may have had, for a Slavic one. Slavic interests in the Haemus split Orthodox-Christendom and competed with Greeks territorially, to diminish the expansion of Hellenism in the Haemus, the primordial homelands.
Orthodox-Christendom gave way to Communism...Slavic interests in the Haemus peninsula split Greeks further from Slavs for nigh-on 3 generations, until Communism's demise. Now we have a wierd situation where Slavic-speaking Haemus peoples search to find roots in the Hellenic world - some as Macedonians, others as Thracians, and others still, as Illyrians.
Had the Russians not [resurrected] revived Bulgaria as the oldest known Slavic entity in the Haemus...the peoples there, and the peoples of FYRoM would have been fully Hellenized. The former as Hellenized-Thracians, the latter as Hellenized-Paeonians, or Slavophones with Greek consciousness - Haemus-peoples one and all!
That FYRoM covets the Macedonian name for sovereign state-name, nationality, language and ethnicity, should be viewed in the context of Slavic - Hellenic rivalry over Haemus territory. Slavists in FYRoM believe that if they create Macedonians from South-Slavs, they shall one day, inherit territory from Greeks...in the form of the ancient-Kingdom of Macedon, with access to the Aegean-Sea. The irony of it all is this: Some Slavic-speaking Haemus-peoples are from partial-Greek heritage and dont yet know it, it is forbidden in FYRoM to do research on National-Identity!
I respect Macedonians for continuing to self-determine in the tradition of their ancestors, so does the UN, EU, USA, NATO, and the international academic community! With backing and support from these worldly-bodies and global-institutions, FYRoM is left with no option but to compromise.
The Onus is on FYRoM to find a proper, more suitable name for their newly established country...a name that would properly reflect the geography there and the demographic composition there.
Because FYRoM is Central to the Haemus [Greek] peninsula, and because some peoples there wish to self-Identify as Macedonians, Thracians and Illyrians...the name most befitting under those circumstances would be this name: The Central Haemus Republic.
FYRoM becomes 'The Central Haemus Republic' to end the long running name-dispute with Greece, which is in the early years of it's third decade...still unresolved!
FYRoM cannot continue to use the Macedonian-name verbatim, with impunity, and aspire at the same time to join the western-worlds most prestigious economic and security structures of the EU and NATO. Those entities have decided, the way forward is to compromise, to find a proper more suitable name that ends the name dispute with Greece.
FYRoM cannot continue it's pretentions on the Macedonian-name ad nauseum, and still hope to become members of the European family when Macedonians are already there, in that family under their Greek parent-ethnicity...No self- respecting Macedonian would permit NoN-Greeks to use their name and Identity in vain and under false-pretenses.
The European family welcome new members into their fold, on the basic understanding that all outstanding issues between them and existing members are settled before entry...we are still waiting for FYRoM to settle it's name dispute Greece. The Onus is on FYRoM to do that!
Alexander the Great inherited a small Greek-Kingdom located in Northernmost-Greece and expanded it into a huge Hellenic-Empire. Macedonians make a name for themselves by exporting Hellenism, the Greek-Hellenic language, knowledge and culture, eastwards, to the farthestmost reaches of the then known ancient-world. From Monarch to Emperor...Alexander the Great becomes a legend in most peoples histories. The Kingdom of Macedon went from small Greek-Kingdom to big Greek-Empire, to bigger latin-Roman Empire, to big Greco-Roman Empire, to big Ottoman-Turk Empire...and then back to Greece again, where it started.
The peoples of FYRoM believe they have claim to the history and heritage of Macedonia, from before classical antiquity until now, the present. They see Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity as their ancestors. They place those beliefs on two simple factors...(i) the name of their country and (ii) the name of their language. That FYRoM acquired the Macedonian-name for language-name and country-name in 1944 and 1945 respectively doesn't bother them, what bothers them is that country-name, nationality, language and ethnicity carry the Macedonian name.
If country-name generates nationality, and language-name generates ethnicity...FYRoM becomes Macedonia on all counts, excluding the Greeks from a legacy they started. It would then become very difficult to argue with FYRoM Slavs, pointing-out to them they are not real, worthy or proper Macedonians, when all important Identity-factors have Macedonian stamped on them. Macedonian-speaking Macedonians from Macedonia, this is how they self-declare - at the expense and exclusion of Greek concerns.
Only the Slavs of FYRoM could argue - Alexander the Great was Macedonian, and because they too are Macedonian, on all the important Identity-factors like (i) country-name,(ii) nationality,(iii) language and (iv) ethnicity...they stake legitimate claim to his legacy, and the history and heritage of Macedonia...Who could argue with that, but the Greeks!
When FYRoM under estimates the worlds common-collective intelligence on matters Macedonian...it pays a heavy price for that Silliness, in the form of self-inflicted isolation!
The peoples of the east knew them collectively as Ionian-Greeks whilst the peoples of the west knew them collectively as Grecians. On home turf, in the primordial homeland, the Haemus [Greek] peninsula, more than 230 native-indigenous groups, tribes and kingdoms collectively Self-Identified Hellenic.
Macedonians made a name for themselves in the Hellenic-world for uniting the fractious Greek-tribes into one unified nation of Hellenes - Alexander the Great achieved something no previous Greek leader(s) could achieve...and then went on to build an empire!
Macedonians made a name for themselves in the history-books of both eastern-peoples and western-peoples. In the east, Yavans, Yunans Ounans were held responsible for crushing empires and spreading Hellenism, the culture of wisdom and enlightenment...Greek medicine is still practiced in east, whilst in the west, the Grecians are praised for having set the foundations of western-civilization along with the latin-Romans.
Greek-wisdom and Roman-jurisdiction are the two virtues most Europeans agree, form the basis of our common collective cultural-existence.
Macedonians made a name for themselves wherever they went...wether Ionians in the east or Grecians in the west, on home-turf they were Hellenes, Hellenic to the Core!
For how long, can the peoples of FYRoM continue to disrespect Macedonians, to deny them the right to self-determine in the tradition of their own ancestors. On their will and testimony, the Macedonian name shall stay in the Greek domain, their Identity shall stay anchored to Greek heritage - sacrosanct and untouchable.
Macedonians made a name for themselves defending the Greek world from barbarian incursions and attacks. Macedonians made a name for themselves protecting Hellenism in the primordial homelands, the place that spawned the Hellenes...
...Who got bottle to Test Them!
Acquired in 1944 and 1945 respectively, Yugoslavs create Macedonian-language and Peoples Republic. Because their language is called Macedonian-language, and because their country is called Republic of Macedonia, ethnicity and nationality default to Macedonian. Under this configuration it becomes difficult to argue with a FYRoM child, explaining to him or her Macedonians are Greek, so they cannot possibly be Macedonian in the Greek sense of that word. The youth of FYRoM dismiss Greek concerns, for them, Greeks are a seperate race from Macedonians.
When it becomes evident, the simple-minded, simple-hearted Slavic-peoples of FYRoM have been brainwashed on anti-Hellenic propaganda...Indoctrinated on Makedonism, to see Greeks as a seperate race of peoples from Macedonians, questions need to be asked, deep probing questions.
What kind of society teaches Slavist-orientated pseudo-historical revisionism to their own children pupils and students...against all the norms and reference-points we in the west take for granted, that Macedonians are Greek on the basis of their own self-determination. On their will and testimony, Macedonians declared Greek...with blood-connections, fraternal-ties and kinship-bonds towards other Greeks and Hellenism.
Greeks cannot permit the political leaders of FYRoM to teach a false history to their young-people. If it concerns Macedonia and Macedonians, the Greeks have right to protect their national-history. The children of FYRoM must learn the same history European children learn. In Europe, we must all be on the same page, reading from one common-European history-book.
If Greeks are not permitted ownership over the Macedonian name...because names cannot be owned, then recognition at least, that Greeks created the Macedonian name in the first place. If people-groups cannot own their own regional-tribal names, then acknowledgment and recognition of the people-groups that originated them and created them.
I respect Macedonians for continuing to self-determine in the tradition of their ancestors. Macedonians have self-declared Greek from since >3 Millenniums - FYRoM must learn to respect this fact, this academic reference-point.
You write that "names cannot be owned", so relax and let everybody in the world legally call Macedonia what they already call it anyway.
Your version of history is no less messed up than the "Slavist" one being taught in FYROM. There is Greek culture and barbarians, nothing in between. It's time you updated your version of history instead of trying to peddle it to enlightened Europeans. No one is going to change any borders in the region. Any most of the "history" of migrations of peoples is largely a myth, since we are all mixed heritage when looking at DNA heritage in the last couple of millenia.
Time to grow up and return to reason. There is no place for national/cultural chauvinism, irredentist/revanchist history and the like.
Fake nationalist history being taught and propaganda being spread is a big problem today in many countries including Macedonia, but needs to be tackled as a separate issue from the name dispute.
I hear You!
Names cannot be owned...but the people-groups that originated them should at least get the recognition they deserve for creating the name in the first place.
European names are important to Europeans - more important to the people-groups that created them in the first place.
I believe elements of Macedonians exist in FYRoM, Paeonian and Dardanian too, Thracian as well. Haemus-peoples carry these native elements in proportion to the geography they reside. I beieve it was ill-conceived of Slavists to dress the peoples of FYRoM in just Macedonian clothes alone...the dress code there is full-on Haemus - all the peoples of the Haemus should be represented. Slavic interests in the Haemus was always territorial, to see Slavdom expand to the shores of the Aegean Sea. The Slavicized peoples of FYRoM were there to serve a purpose. Making Macedonians out of them is less than half of the complete story. The strength of feeling in feeling native to the Haemus peninsula is something deep and primordial, and when those feelings are bolstered by genetic science, something to be respected.
According to this: http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/ConciseMacedonia/MacedoniansNotSlavs.html the peoples of FYRoM do not consider themselves Slavic. Slavdom must decide then...is FYRoM IN or OUT! It would be better for FYRoM to leave Slavdom, in order to search for it's roots and ethno-origins in the Haemus [Greek] peninsula...afterall, they are Haemus-peoples - evidenced in the common-Haemus genes they carry.
I believe the peoples of FYRoM should be free to release themselves from the shackles of Slavdom - to find their roots and ethno-origins in the Haemus. FYRoM does not want to be Slavic...Slavdom should respect that!
The inhabitants of FYRoM may well descend from Greek-speaking [Romioi] Eastern-Roman Byzantines...Greek-speakers because FYRoM falls within the Greco-Roman cultural and linguistic space, as opposed to the latin-Roman one. The line of delineation between latin-speaking areas of the Haemus and Greek-speakers areas, runs through and across FYRoM's northern-borders. The Byzantine Empire was a multi-ethnic, Greek-speaking, cultural and linguistic space, FYRoM fits firmly into that space.
If the genetic-science is to be believed...the philological-science, and the demographic-science as well, we learn that FYRoM had Greek-speaking ancestors to begin with, at least before Slavic settlement of the Haemus. If the sciences are to be believed, coupled with the mainstream historical narrative, the peoples of FYRoM become Haemus-natives with measurable Slavic admixture. Slavicized Greek-speaking Byzantines, who for reasons unknown, adopted [[by force][by free will]] the language and culture of the Slavs. If Slavicization made Greco-Romans Slavic, then De-Slavicization can make them Greek again. Re-Hellenization could complete the process to make them native again.
There are lots we dont know about FYRoM...what we learn on a frequent basis though, points to them being native Haemus-peoples. Slavists use that knowledge to make them Macedonians, but we know, the Slavic interest in the Haemus has always been territorial. I believe Macedonians elements exist in FYRoM, in addition to the Paeonian Dardanian and Thracian. Haemus-peoples carry these native elements in proportion to where they reside. If native peoples stay in the same place, the primordial homeland, then FYRoM is Paeonian in terms of ancient-Identity...Slavists want them to chase Macedonian-Identity but the sciences do not support that action. Greeks have always said: The Haemus [Greek] peninsula should be permitted to revert back to it's primordial roots. Re-Hellenization goes a long way to achieving that.
Slavdoms interest in the Haemus has always been territorial, from since the first settlement of early Slavic-tribes on imperial Byzantine soil. Lest we forget, it is in the Slavic interest to make the simple-minded peoples of FYRoM Macedonians....expanding Slavdom southwards means gaining Greek [Macedonian] territory. Slavist revisionism and pseudo-history scripted FYRoM a history that went against the long established mainstream historical narrative. They scripted FYRoM an ethno-genesis story that was so crude and so crass, the sciences rejected both, on scientific-academic grounds.
FYRoM chasing Macedonian-Identity is less than half the complete story. The peoples there carry elements of Macedonian, but they must carry more native Paeonian stuff in their biological make-up if the sciences are to be believed. Looking at the complete ideological-picture, taking into account the genetic-science, the philology, the demography and the historical context in which FYRoM developed into the place it has become today, has more to do with the politics and interests of the Haemus-peninsula rather than promoting honest scientific research to find out the truth about FYRoM's ethnogenic origins.
If Slavists want to connect the peoples of FYRoM to the ancient-Macedonian Identity, they shall struggle on the basis, FYRoM's ancient-Identity is rooted in Paeonia. It was a fundamental mistake to chase Macedonian-Identity when the general science reject such action. FYRoM's Identity today is Slavic, language and culture attest to that...the only way of connecting modern-FYRoM to ancient-Paeonia is through some Greek-speaking Eastern-Romans, the ones who Slavicized themselves [[by force][by free will]] during the dark middle-ages.
Looking at the complete picture: FYRoM is Central to the Haemus [Greek] peninusula...all the tribes of the Haemus live there. Searching for ancient roots has to pass through Greek-speaking Byzantines, the path of least resistance, only through this line do the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM connect back to their native-Haemus ancestors - Paeonians, Dardanians, Thracians, Hellenes, all in that order!
What kind of Macedonia can it be when there is nothing Macedonia there, in the way of peoples, language, culture, history! FYRoM is more Paeonia than Macedonia in terms of ancient-geography...the peoples there must be Slavicized Greco-Romans, this the only way of connecting modern-FYRoM to ancient-Paeonia through the path of least resistance.
It makes sense when one takes into account the genetic science of the region. Native means connecting more to Paeonians than to Macedonians, on the basis, the actual Kingdom of Macedon was not where FYRoM is today, it was situated far further south.
Paeonia remained Greek-speaking, even under latin-Roman rule. The latinized, Romanized areas of the Haemus were far north from where FYRoM is today. The reason Slavic is spoken there now is because of Slavicization. The native Greco-Roman population must have intermingled with Slavic settlers, adopting [[by force][by free will]] their language and culture.
Slavists want FYRoM to chase a Macedonian-Identity...but
what kind of Macedonians can they be, when Macedonians were simply not around during the time of Slavic arrival to the Haemus, academically referenced to have taken place at the top-end of the 6th Century AD. Slavs met Greco-Romans there, not Macedonians.
To make things fit, Slavists invented 1001 Theories Ideas and Conjectures to make Macedonians out of FYRoM's Slavic speaking population...it was all done in vain, pure indulgence, to push the Slavic-interest further south to where Greece is today.
Nothing can break the bonds between Macedonians and other Greeks - FYRoM can attest to that because from there, Slavists tried their damnest to break those fraternal-ties in order to secure Slavic ones...but they were told in no uncertain terms, that Slavic ties to Macedonians do not exist, general science can attest to that.
The strength of feeling in feeling Macedonian, shall lead the peoples of FYRoM to Hellenize. Indirectly, this phenomenon is already happening - the decour, the look, and the feel of the place is increasingly Hellenic, in style and in substance. Slavists did not cater for this, they never calculated for it, that too much Makedonist-Indoctrination can make Slavicized Greco-Romans from Paeonian Haemus-stock, Re-Hellenize themselves.
We know it takes approximately two hundred years [4 generations] to assimilate exogenous genes and haplogroups into the host ethno-linguistic culture. We know this because it happened to the original asiatic-Bulgar tribes. Bulgars were not Slavic to begin with but within 4 generations they became full-on Slavs. From the 9th Century AD, Bulgars were walking and talking like Slavs because Slavic cultural and linguistic space assimilated them over time.
Greeks have been Hellenizing NoN-Greeks for Millennia. Peoples in close proximity to them adopted Hellenism, the Greek-Hellenic language knowledge and culture willingly and voluntarily. A resiliant and dominant peoples, the Greeks spread Hellenism far beyond the Haemus [Greek] peninsula, the primordial homeland.
The genes and haplogroups one carries today may not reflect faithfully ones current ethnic-feelings or national-pride. Ethnicity transcends blood and Dna - language and culture transcend genes and haplogroups.
Usually, language generates ethnicity...cultural elements, they can either be picked-up or passed-on, in accordance with the start of your ethno-linguistic journey, to the moment you became integral to the cultural-linguistic people-group that accepted your ancestors into their fold - 4 generations back.
Conclusion: Macedonians are Greek on the basis of their own historical testimonies...a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock from since >3 Millenniums. What they were before they became Greeks is of no concern but only to those who seek to become them, before Macedonians became Greeks.
When Slavists attempt to make the Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM Macedonians...in name, in language, in nationality, in ethnicity, they are taking something away from the Greeks, something primordially Hellenic. There already exists a natural time-served process which can Hellenize FYRoM's South-Slavs to make them bona-fide Macedonians, but it takes 4 generations to complete!
The Central Haemus Republic...this name better reflects the geography there, and the demography there. The Central Haemus Republic can accomodate Macedonians of all persuasions, from Slavic-speakers to Greek-speakers, to Albanian-speakers - Haemus-peoples, One and All!
The Central Haemus Republic becomes home to all the tribes of the Haemus...from Paeonians to Dardanians, and from Macedonians to Thracians - Brother-peoples, One and All!
FYRoM becomes 'The Central Haemus Republic' to end a dispute which has pitted Greek against Slav, Hellenism against Slavdom, Historian against Politician, Academic Reference Points against Political Ideology.
The name dispute between FYRoM and Greece over the improper use of the Macedonian name by the former, against the legitimate concerns of the latter, is almost a generation old...the name dispute has reached the early years of it's third decade, still unresolved. The situation could stay this way for another generation but for FYRoM aspiring to join the western worlds most prestigious economic and security structures of the EU and NATO. To join these institutions, FYRoM must compromise on the name it freely chose for sovereign state-name, nationality, language and ethnicity.
The Central Haemus Republic ends the name dispute between FYRoM and Greece in an instant and at a stroke, paving the way for the former to join the EU and NATO, with no obstruction from the latter. Greece welcomes FYRoM into the western fold and FYRoM fulfills it's long term ambition and aspirations - Happy Days!
The Central Haemus Republic is not pipe-dream. It is neither unrealistic nor fantasy but a concerted pragmatic way of ending a name-dispute which has gone way past it's remit for polarizing agendas and causing trouble, in a region of the world that can do without those destabilizing things.
FYRoM's ex-Yugoslavs are not Macedonians, how can they be when they are South-Slavs. We already know their forebears tribal names, we know their ethnogenic make-up and we know the chronology from when they first entered and established a foothold in the Eastern-Roman Empire [Byzantium].
To say they are "Macedonians" flies in the face of the material-evidence, it defies academic logic and historical verity. The historical record has served academia well in the past, enabling scholars to Interpret, depict and Illustrate European history with other peoples histories.
To make alterations to the long established mainstream historical narrative requires consensus, no one country can just script themselves a history which is so way-off track from the mainstream it clashes with other peoples histories and conflicts with what has already been established...world-academia will simply reject it, and in FYRoM's case it has already done exactly that.
Only fools and hardened propagandists see South-Slavs as Macedonians, with roots and connections to Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity.
Greece is the natural and legitimate heir-inheritor of the Imperial Byzantine Empire...the cultural inheritor of that legacy. Modern-Greeks trace their heritage and immediate ancestors back to Imperium Romanum, Romania - the Official name of the Eastern-Roman Empire. The Byzantines traced their heritage and immediate ancestors back to ancient-Greece. Ancient-Greeks traced their heritage and immediate ancesters back to Mycaenean proto-Greeks. In this way, we can see and evaluate a cultural-linguistic continuum that links modern-Greeks to previous generations of Greeks in somewhat fragmented but discernible fashion.
It becomes difficult to include FYRoM into that matrix-continuum...unless ofcourse, we include them in the same way we do modern-Greeks. FYRoM then, connects to ancient-Macedonians through the Byzantine Greco-Roman line, but this implies they are Slavicized-Byzantines in which case they become partially-Greek, with only partial-rights to the ancient-Macedonian name, heritage, and legacy - messy, right!
When those Slavists in FYRoM started to mess with the ancient-Macedonians, they opened-up a hornets-nest of stings that keep on stinging...a pandoras-box of conflicts and confusions that pits classicist-historian scholars against political-expediances. In the poltical-realm FYRoM has right and entitlement to name itself Republic of Macedonia but in the academic-realm, FYRoM's national history clashes and conflicts with the long established mainstream historical narrative.
The in-fighting between the academic-realm and the political-realm has led to both taking a different approach, both realms decided to look at the problem from the moral-ethical point of view. A decision has been made...The Onus is on FYRoM to compromise, to find a proper more suitable name for country-name, nationality, language and ethnicity.
This stand-off has placed FYRoM in a deep political quagmire, something self-inflicted and entirely of it's own doing. The international community are not entirely sure what to do, so this young fledgling country is put into quarantine, isolated until a solution is found to the long running name-dispute it has been engaged in with Greece for nigh-on one-generation.
Greece, with global academic-diplomatic support is seen to be holding the moral and ethical high-ground. FYRoM is seen internationally to being an opportunistic culture thief, an abuser of the system...western rights and freedoms we take for granted to further an Ideology called Makedonism - South-Slavs are taught from an early age to see themselves as Macedonians and to see ancient-Macedonians as Slavs.
To persuade the west, FYRoM's revisionist pseudo-historians scripted the statelet a national history that was so crude and so crass, it made Macedonians Slavic-speakers - proto-Slavs, where Alexander the Great becomes Aleksandar Veliki, the first Czar of the Slavs. Young Slavic children in FYRoM believe they speak Macedonian, the same language as the ancient-Macedonians, they also believe they live on ancient-Macedonian soil. Ofcourse, none of these things are true but the damage has already been done...try to explain to FYRoM's children, pupils or students that Macedonians have always been Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples and they disbelieve it with a passion. For them, Greeks are different from Macedonians, in accordance with their indoctrination.
Nobody sees FYRoM as Macedonia, the land where Macedonians come from except for Turkey - Greeces natural enemy and long time foe. Turks were FYRoM's main benefactors, they were instrumental in spreading FYRoM's propaganda through global Media assets they had access to but lost...now FYRoM is alone in the world, shoved-up a siding, isolated, kept at arms length, at a distance until the political leadership there decides to fix the problem with Greece.
Makedonism set-out to de-Hellenize Alexander the Great and the ancient-Macedonians from antiquity, but in the event Makedonism ended-up de-Slavicizing the South-Slavs it was meant to make Macedonians.
The Slavic-speaking peoples of FYRoM, weened on Makedonism for almost a generation now see themselves as less Slavic and more Macedonian...an uncatered for reaction to the Ideology that was meant to make them Macedonians but in the Hellenic sense.
The more Makedonism attracted South-Slavs towards the allure of having Alexander the Great for ancestor...the more it pulled them away from Slavdom, and the more it pushed them stealthily towards Hellenism.
The visual affect of Makedonism inside FYRoM is very striking...everywhere you go in that country Hellenic themes structures and synergies prevail, above and beyond the Slavic ones.
Makedonism in FYRoM is having the opposite effect it was designed for...to blur the distinction between Macedonians and other Greeks. Makedonism is actually Re-Hellenizing FYRoM, incrementally and stealthily.
FYRoM's pre-Slavic population spoke Greek in the same manner as other Byzantines...FYRoM's Slavic ancestors Slavicized them during the middle-ages.
Makedonism in FYRoM was designed to de-Hellenize Macedonians in order to make them Slavic but the opposite is happening...Makedonism is actually making FYRoM more Hellenic. The look and feel of the place is taking on a distinctly Hellenic look.
And if a slither of old-Macedonian land is nowadays found inside FYRoM territory, when did the smallest part of something ever define the whole part of something. Under what rights and conventions does FYRoM have to claim the whole of Macedonia for itself, when the smallest part has never been used to define the whole complete part of something.
FYRoM touts for recognition as 'The Republic of Macedonia' on the basis, the political leadership there work to establish a Macedonian nation-state peopled by Macedonian-speaking ethnic-Macedonians...the Slavic-speaking peoples there believe they live on ancient-Macedonian soil and speak
the same Macedonian-language that was spoken in ancient times.
When Communist-Slavists from WWII wartime Yugoslavia decided to take northern-Greek territory by stealth or by military means, they went for the military option first. By 1949, Greece had ejected all Communist fighters from Hellenic soil...most of which were Commy-Greeks but amongst them were Commy South-Slavs from neighbouring countries - FYRoM's grand-fathers and great grand-fathers.
With the military option used-up, the stealth option remains as the only other way of taking northern-Greek territory from Greeks. Slavists dropped Communist-Ideology for Capitalist-Ideology and became free-marketeers. Using their newfound western rights and freedoms, they learned to abuse the system. FYRoM insists, it has the political right to self-determine in the manner they wish and see fit...so they fight to get recognized under their freely chosen name 'Republic of Macedonia'
A NoN-Greek Macedonian Nation has never existed outside of Hellenism....to establish one now would be Anathema for Greeks, something to take-up arms for, to return Macedonia back to Hellenism, something that was given without the permission of the Greeks.
If Greeks are not permitted to own the Macedonian-name on the basis, names cannot be owned...then recognition at least, that it was Greeks who originated the name in the first place. Regional tribal-names are important to Europeans - more important to the people-groups that created them in the first place.
There is nothing authentic-Macedonian in FYRoM...not the peoples, nor the land - Greeks have right to defend and protect their history, their heritage and their cultural-inheritance from the culture-thieves who learned to abuse the system to get recognized as Republic of Macedonia.
Macedonians have self-declared Greek for >3 Millenniums. I respect Macedonians for continuing to self-determine in the tradition of their ancestors...Who got bottle to Rubbish This! Who is that imbecilic they want to contest it!