It's not just Greece's problem, it's also a Bulgarian problem as well, from which - an European problem. If you act like cattle, you will be treated like cattle

1. The original Macedonian territory was smaller and more southern, its inhabitants were Greeks and spoke a northern Greek dialect related to Doric, and almost all of it is located in today's Greece. 2. It's the Romans who expanded it to include Paeonia and Dardania; this is where Republic of N. Macedonia sits right now. 3. There's no mention of Slavic migrations.

Just a regular day in the Balkans

Even as a Slav I must admit that beginning of this video is misleading. Modern North Macedonians started their history where all Slavs history starts - in the swamplands of Polesia (modern Belarus, Ukraine and Poland) and there is no connection with ancient Kingdom of Macedonia. In fact Albanians have more intertwined history with Greeks than North Macedonians have. But instead going for "we conquered territories of Alexander the Great and made it out homeland" they try to cosplay as ancient Macedonians as if they were ashamed of their Slavic heritage (for God's sake Slavs conquered half of Europe and are the most numerous ethnic group in Europe and we did it without knowing how to read or write).

I mean from what i've seen North Macedonia has no relation whatsoever with ancient Macedonia as they are not ethnically Greek so I get why Greece is mad.

I have followed this situation closely for many years. However, like many others, I thought the two countries had finally resolved this dispute. But it seems not. So, do you think that the New Government in North Macedonia will try to revoke the Prespa Agreement? And what will happen if it does? Or will it just continue to undermine it in other ways? And what will Greece and the EU do if it does? As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments below.

2:20 What was that? North Macedonia is by no means related to the ancient kingdom, whose territory is almost entirely in Greece today. The territory was called Paeonia, a different kingdom. North Macedonia is not related geographically, ethnically, linguistically, or culturally to ancient Macedonia. It's very unfortunate that you made this mistake.

I'm neither Greek nor Bulgarian just someone interested in history and geopolitics but it seems like North Macedonia is a nation of roleplayers lol. Especially adopting the imagery of Alexander when he lived way before the Slavic migration to the area. I do wonder though about if Greece throwing such a fit over the name is the right approach. Like they could just let them keep the name and use it as an opportunity to try to spread more of their culture and influence into the area instead of riding on their historic influence of the area.

It's so odd that the Macedonans extol Alexander so much when it's clear that they prefer Milton.

Not just Greece, but Bulgaria too.

North Macedonia celebrating Alexander the Great is like Poland proclaiming Otto von Bismarck as a national hero

are you really saying that todays Macedonia is linked to the Hellenistic Kingdom historically?!

Imagine that you are a Slav, that you speak Slavic, that your name is Slavic, that you understand the Bulgarian language because it is the same, and yet you say that you are Macedonian

by the way, in [02:20] i guess you were confused when you said that "North Macedonia have an extraordinary History and then referred to the ancient Macedonian Kingdom etc". you wanted just to say "ancient Macedonia has an extraordinary History etc"

How exactly is North Macedonia related to the Ancient kingdom? Linguistically? Culturally? Geographically? It doesn’t seem like a helpful or even remotely accurate narrative to be spreading. Even the prespa agreement that both countries agreed on explicitly states that North Macededonia has no relation to the ancient Hellenic civilization.

But let's suppose North Macedonia did get in to the EU with its new name. There's absolutely nothing to stop it checking the name back, is there? No Chapters of the Acqui will have been broken, not anything even to sanction the state.

North Macedonia wasn't even a think back when Alexander made his Empire. It just happenes to share a name with the ancient greek empire due to them occupying part of the area that made up the original Greek kingdom of Macedon. The area though was only taken many many many centuries after. They aren't even greek they are slavs (no probelm towards the people even have some slav friends) and alexander and his empire where greek. Slavs weren't even close to a think during 300 bc

If you overlay a map of modern northern Macedonia with ancient Macedonia, there is basically almost no overlap. Macedonia is and was part of what would be considered the Greek/Hellenistic cultural sphere that would be inherited by the modern day state of Greece. Northern Macedonia is just a bunch of Bulgarians with an identity crisis, their languages are basically the same. I don’t know why they’re so desperate to claim the heritage of Macedonia when Bulgaria also has a rich and long history.

are you claiming that North Macedonia and its Bulgarian/slavic population has ties to the ancient Macedonian/Greek peoples and empire? LOL if so then you have lost all credibility and I cannot take you seriously anymore! I am not even greek by the way.

I admire your courage, Professor. Diving headfirst into the Powderkeg that remains the Balkans is not good for one's mental well-being. Still, there must be discussion about such sensitive matters. Calm, polite and reasonable analyses such as yours are all the more required, considering how emotionally charged these situations are .Hope you are faring well!

If North Macedonia decides to ditch the Prespa Agreement, some folks in Greece might take this as proof that the far-right was right all along-that the agreement really wasn't in Greece's best interest. This could give far-right groups a boost, especially in Northern Greece where these identity issues are hot-button topics. We'd likely see this issue pop up a lot in upcoming election campaigns, with far-right parties playing up nationalistic feelings to rally more support.

James, I have 2 simple questions. Have you been to Alexandria in Egypt? Because I did various times and can assure you they all consider Alexandar the Great as Greek and use the Arabic word Al-Yunan (just like Turkish Yunanistan). You will see Greek writings in many places. This script cannot be read by today's North Macedonia. Also why is the modern Macedonian language the closest to Bulgarian and not Serbo-Croatian? 🙂

".. do not forget Greece, Alexander ..It was for her sake that you launched your whole expedition, to add Asia to Greece .." Arrian [Anabasis of Alexander 4.11.7] «.. τῆς Ἑλλάδος μεμνῆσθαί σε ἀξιῶ, ὦ Αλέξανδρε ἧς ἕνεκα ὁ πᾶς στόλος σοι ἐγένετο, προσθεῖναι τὴν Ἀσίαν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ..» Ἀρριανός [Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἀνάβασις 4.11.7]

North Macedonia is quite an interesting country, they are essentially Bulgarians that Serbians convinced into believing that they are ancient Greeks. Much of the claiming of ancient (Greek) Macedonian history only began under Yugoslav rule or independence. I guess it's the only way that the state could form an identity for its people as a nation, similar to Western Europe during the rise of state-sponsored nationalism over a century ago. Such a silly thing to threaten EU membership over too

I like how the Prespa Agreement is described as a "peace agreement." It seems like war.....war never changes.

I am suggesting to you do some research on how the Macedonians in the Greek North (that's what the region was called until 1988 when it was changed to Macedonia) during the Metaxa regime cυτ out the tongues of some Macedonians if they heard them speaking in Macedonian.There was also a secret ροιice eavesdropping on people under the window because their language was forbidden even in their homes

James.... I see that you are adding a smiley emoji when referring to some of your previous videos on the topic and feedback you had. I think you shouldn't do that since for many folks on the Balkans, these issues are still very real and important. I'll give you my perspective (as a bulgarian who wants nothing but warmth, friendly, and mutually supportive relations between bulgarians and macedonians) on why Macedonia keeps having issues with its neighbors. Today's Macedonia is a brand new country, only 30 ish years old. However, not only the country, but generally the macedonian nation itself is brand new (on the scale of European history) emerging during the 20th century as a split from the bulgarian nation. As every new nation macedonians are looking and in pursuit for identity. Identity that will firmly establish the modern country of Macedonia and will differentiate them from the neighboring nations. To do that, they took the path of borrowing big chunks of the Alexander Ancient Kingdom's history and bulgarian medieval / renaissance history. Naturally, neither of the neighbors liked that. If macedonians admit the fact that they are young, newly emerged nation, they won't have any issues with their neighbors. Of course i understand that nobody "owns' the history in such sense but they are objective historical facts from which we can't and we shouldn't escape.

I am sorry but you confuse things. Macedonia as geographical location and an old Greek population has nothing to do with current North Macedonia, who are Slavs/ Bulgarians. It’s like saying USA has a rich history of of Siberian and Asian people who are known as Clovis people thousands years ago.

Good Morning James, It is often disappointing these days when a historic agreement is reached and with a change in administration in one of the parties involved, it gets revoked - as it happened with the US Iran deal. That said, I am curious with one of the terms you used - 'peace agreement'. To the extent I know, the two sides were never engaged in violent conflict ? Is it common to use this term in the context? In order to not trigger emotions in the comments section, I would take one of the most obscure 'disputes'- in future if Portugal were to dismiss its claim on Olivença against Spain, would it be considered a peace agreement given these two sides were never in active conflict over it? Have a good weekend.

The question is (as with other treaties): are there ways to protect what has become international law against potential violators? For instance, North Macedonia joined NATO as part of the deal with Greece, yet there is no possibility that it would loose its position in the alliance should it decide to depart from the Prespa Agreement. So what is it that protects an international agreement? When an individual breaks the law, there are immediate and very precise consequences. But the consequences for a state breaking international law are very vague, thus making international law weak in its implementation

Pozdrav braćo Makedonci iz Beograda. Nikada sjeverna, samo Makedonija 🇷🇸❤🇲🇰

It's quite important to mention that when you talk about "the history of Macedonia", it means the history of the region Macedonia (not the country), which includes the territories in North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, potentially in Serbia and Albania as well. Furthermore, President Gordana instead of using "President of the Republic of North Macedonia", she said: "President of Macedonia", which is kinda concerning too.

If these guys are so obsessed with claiming the heritage of Alexander and ancient Macedonia then they should just stop speaking Slavic and adopt Greek, they are only ridiculing themselves by their weird claims.

EU accession? North Macedonia like other countries in Europe (as in whole world) have a nationalistic and populist government. Since they couldn't able to secure the sweet money of Brussels and just stay out licking the ears of their voters. Many other countries in EU with similar governments would like to do leave but since they are in, it is soooo sweet the funds (and have see the example of Brexit) to say no and leave.

There never was a peace agreement - the voter turnout for the referendum achieved only a mere 37%, but yet it was somehow pushed through by the EU and US backed political opposition. The phrasing of the referendum is also inherently flawed being: "Are you in favour of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?" What if an individual supports EU membership, which Macedonia still hasn't been granted, but opposes a name change? What if an individual supports a name change, but opposes NATO membership?

tell me who's maps (or which maps exactly, not just surface readings) you used to reconstruct this and I will tell you

Macedonia to the Macedonians 🇲🇰☀️🌞

“[FYRO]Macedonian nationalism, as distinct from other South Slavic peoples is, moreover, a relatively new concept, introduced and encouraged by dictator Josip Tito, upon the creation of a separate Macedonian Republic within the Yugoslav federation in 1946. Prior to this, the area generally known as Vardarska banovina (the district of the Vardar river) was considered simply an extension of its southern Slavic neighbors, either Serbians to the north, or Bulgarians to the east. Slavs arrived in the Balkan Peninsula only in the 6th century AD, and therefore have nothing to do with the well-known classical kingdom of Macedonia, which dominated the rest of Greece, the Near East, Egypt and Persia under Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE.” Encyclopedia of World Geography, Volume 1, 2006, p.564:

Very well informed indeed. Two remarks only. 1. When the country was officially under the name FYROM, in all official documents of EU, UN and USA were referred to as "Macedonian", as opposed to today that is "North Macedonian". 2. The current government which voted against the Prespa agreement, never finalized the remaining aspects of the deal. You should have emphasized these more. It is very important for understanding both the importance of the agreement for Greece and today's North Macedonian reaction. The deal was a half win for both countries. Finally there were agreements for the Greek air force to patrol North Macedonian borders, a deal that was never applied from the current government of Mitsotakis.

It’s encouraging that the EU and broader international community should show respect for a formally-agreed treaty between Greece and North Macedonia, however it was made. To do otherwise would make the world order even more chaotic and dangerous than already it is. 🤷‍♂️

You would think that North Macedonia, a small landlocked state needing development, would do everything possible to reasonably get along with and integrate with neighbors.

The signing of the Prespa agreement was political move the incubant PM of Greece signed, as he knew he would be loosing upcoming elections. What you call "North Macedonia" is not geographically, ethnically, linguistically connected to the empire of Alexander the Great. "Macedonian" Is a slavic language that has nothing to do with Alexander the Great in any way. Calling themselves "Macedonia" is just an attention seeking move to distinguish themselves from other slavic countries.

And does anyone know how this agreement came about? It was signed illegally by the foreign minister and international agreements are signed by the president and he was excluded!!! There was a referendum and it failed!!!! So if someone now talks about democracy it is ridiculous

Is there any other international conflict which has parallels with this one?

Good video and a lot of truth in it.. And also should be known that after the balkan wars the part of Macedonia that is taken by Greece was in the following decades permanently cleaned from the macedonians in it, and it was colonised by greeks from nowadays Turkye, and the parody is that nowadays greeks objects to accept that we are macedonians and they claim that the colonists are the right macedonians... They can tell what ever they want we know we are Macedonians and will remain so...

Do you know why Greece is so scared of one little country like Macedonia?

Just a few corrections. The new Macedonian president signed the Presidential oath with the formal new name the 'Republic of North Macedonia'. However, she verbally didn't say 'Republic of North Macedonia' when repeating the oath. Instead, she just said Macedonia instead of 'Republic of North Macedonia'. It was the common practice of previous President Pendarovski to verbally say either Macedonia or North Macedonia and Greece never complained. There is nothing wrong with this. It's like a politician from the United States saying America instead of the United States of America or a British politician saying Britain instead of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This is just a storm in a tea cup, just another Greek politician being a typical drama queen ahead of elections. You forgot to mention that after the name was changed in the parliament contrary to the will of the opinion as expressed in the referendum, there was a veto by France to stop the opening of EU negotiations with Macedonia. The French then found another country to do their dirty work in Bulgaria. The Russian supported Bulgarian President was happy to oblige by carrying out his Russian and French orders.

Engaging with historical retrospectives on North Macedonia requires acknowledging the impact of the 1934 Comintern resolution. It significantly influenced the (forceful) development of Macedonian national identity. Thoughts?

Macedonia!!!! Never North!!

Imposing orders is not an agreement!! A criminal 'agrement' is not an agreement!!

What are your thoughts on Tigray getting independence from Ethiopia? They have article 39 in their constitution that allows it, but there’s many complexities with international recognition

Thanks for the video professor. I think the good news is that the deal has been signed and the country’s name officially changed, so while politics and posturing continues, the largest and most obstructive issue has now been removed from the table. A couple of notes: • for clarity’s sake, in future videos about this topic it might be a good idea to start the history by saying “the region” (rather than “Macedonia”) has a long history”, avoiding any implication that the current political entity is related to past Macedonian polities, and perhaps as part of the history add that over time the region became majority Slavic-speaking, though with other significant minorities. • although known in international fora, the Olympics, etc as the FRYOM, the country’s official name was always simply the Republic of Macedonia, until the recent agreement that saw it renamed to Republic of North Macedonia Thanks as always for the video!

If the Macedonians and the Greeks were the same people, then there was no need for Alexander the Great to call himself King of the Macedonians and the Greeks, but just King of the Greeks. In his five-century old book Mauro Orbini says that because the Macedonians have their own language, which didn’t just fall from the sky, it is clear that they have always spoken the same language. If that was true in 1525, when the book was written, then it is very probable that Alexander and Samoil spoke the same language. According to Orbini, Alexander, Samoil and Saint Clement would have no problem understanding each other in their mother tongue in 1525.

Considering the amount of resistance to the deal from both sides, it seems to be a good deal actually. There is a sayng in germany: A good deal is a deal where both sides are equally unhappy.

It should be called either West Bulgaria or Vardaria (after the river). There's actually a very old tradition of Macedonian identity being perceived as a "better version of Bulgaria", similarly to the German identity in Austria between the world wars when Austria said its more German than (protestant) Germans (Prussians) mainly because of their catholicism.

So... North Macedonia is trolling Greece big time?

Never north,only Macedonia!!🙏👍

To the uninitiated, looking at this issue for the first time, it seems audacious for one country (or several) to require another country to change its name! On pain of not acceding to the EU or other associations.

The only purpose of the Prespes agreement was to enter Northern Monkeydonia into NATO and was fostered by the U.S and by Germany. It was never meant to be a real solution to the problem . They just kicked the can forward! Now its time for the next episode, however the job is done since N.M is part of NATO.

The new president did not call the country The Republic of Macedonia. She called the country “Macedonia” Please correct your video.

Unfortunately, the provocative tone of the new government led by VMRO-DPMNE is a byproduct of the current Bulgarian blockade for European integration. After years of staleness in domestic Macedonian politics and absence of anti-corruption reforms by the outgoing social democratic (SDSM) government, the main topic in the political environment (both to VMRO-DPMNE's pleasure, and to SDSM's lack of choice) became Bulgaria's pressure for constitutional reform. Considering the whole eternity that our county has waited for EU integration, the massive support for the conservative VMRO-DPMNE is a show of exhaustion in the face of a new attack against the identity of Macedonians by Bulgaria (and one that I most sincerely consider unreasonable). The change of our country's name was perceived as the final arduous step towards the start of a real integrative process. Following Bulgaria's new demands, Macedonians feel skeptical about more incoming complaints (and vetos) from one of our neighbors about some part of our identity. Quite frankly, I myself as a staunchly pro European left leaning voter am disappointed by EU's approach towards Bulgaria's obstructive demands that stoke more anti-Greek conservative behavior domestically. Great video as always. All the best!

Macedonia has a long and rich history, North Macedonia has not. It's just slavs cosplaying as Greeks.

really interesting - I love the way you go wayyyy back in time with these explainers! maybe you could do a video about the current state of EU candidate countries ... I'd love to understand why certain countries are opposing other countries joining the EU.

Professor, I’m struggling to understand the part of the video that is pointing out the Roman territory of Macedonia also included Ancient Macedonian history beforehand. Is this to point out why modern Macedonians should want uphold the Prespa in some way? Or is this to show people (especially many Greeks) that North Macedonia does somewhat have a connection to the ancient kingdom so they should stop being so stubborn about the name? Or maybe you’re just merely informing us the historical background so people understand where the name dispute stems from, and calling it “rich” in an effort to satisfy both sides? I genuinely don’t know.

What? Who "has a long history"? "North" what? 🧐🧐🧐

This is not a "naming dispute" but an identity dispute which manifests itself through the refusal to accept the new name. The identity of ethnic Macedonians claims continuity from the kingdom of Ancient Macedonia and rejects Greek claims over that heritage, which as you said is ridiculous as it was a Hellenistic state. The name solution was designed to disentangle and separate the identity from ancient Macedonia which rightfully belongs to Greece. Yet when you do your history lesson you start from ancient Macedonia meaning you trace continuity from Alexander the Great which is exactly what ethnic Macedonians do and is the source of the conflict.

Amazing and insightful video, James! It’s amazing how something so trivial like a similar name for outsiders be a divisive and thorny topic for governments to even consider ending peace deals. But it is nevertheless understandable to a certain extent. I think North Macedonia will eventually have to accept the validity of the peace agreement while pushing their identity assertions to its limit given integration with EU is better in the long term compared to being isolated or even dependent on alternatives like China or Russia. Keep up the amazing work, James! Hope you’ll consider covering more on Southeast Asia in your list.

Грк за забрана на употреба на името Македонија kzfaq.info/get/bejne/es2dd9pqxNbIqpc.htmlsi=275cT-dIzLjAzQAu

By George Zarkadakis As a kid growing up in Greece in the 1970s, I had to learn not one, but three Greek languages. First, it was the demotic parlance of everyday life, the living words people exchanged at the marketplaces and in the streets. But at school, we were taught something different: It was called "katharevousa" - "cleansed" - *a language designed by 19th-century intellectuals* to purify demotic from the cornucopia of borrowed Turkish, Slavic and Latin words. Finally, we had to study ancient Greek, the language of our classical ancestors, the heroes of Marathon and Thermopylae. We were supposed to learn "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" in the original, by heart, in case some time machine transported us back to Homeric times. As it happened, most of us managed to learn none of the three, ending up mixing them in one grammatically anarchic jargon that communicated mostly the confusion of our age.

2:25 I am surprised you stated that North Macedonia is anyhow linked to Alexander the Great. The cornestone of the Prespa Agreement is that North Macedonia will refrain from claiming any connection with Alexander the Great and the ancient Macedonian symbols.

From all the conversation, I gather it's like the Republic of Turkey (or Türkiye, should I write?) changing its name to the Byzantine Republic. Yeah, it's the same land, but different people.

Very well done analysis! Good job, I respect your work.

Professor I think at around 2:20 you made a mistake calling the ancient kingdom of Macedonia as "North Macedonia"

They gained the southern part of Macedonia for the first time by occupying in 1913 with th Balkan wars begging right after with repressive regime towards ethnic Macedonians,…and now they dare to blackmail us? Lol

LOL you managed to do the first 3 minutes without mentioning the Ancient Greeks or Byzantine Greeks legacy or the Greek province of Macedonia --- that will annoy the Greeks watching :)

Professor, thank you for the great educational contents.

Macedonans want to be called Macedonans, not in the name of expansion, but in the name of nationhood. América and the world at large should help this innocent nation.

Did his nose manage to walk out in protest as well?

*Ironically, until 1988, Greece's well-documented policy was that Macedonia did not exist, and it violently tried to eradicate its very existence. Then, for fear that it would lose the part of Macedonia that it annexed in 1913, Greece's propaganda machine changed course to claiming that Macedonia's land belongs to them, while the people still do not exist* *Greece did not call Macedonia but “The New Territory” in 1913. They was renamed the Governorate-General of Northern Greece in 1955 because it was combined with the Governorate-General of Thrace. It was renamed to the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace in 1988*

Konstantinos Mitsotakis (the father of the current greek Prime Minister) said that he 'doesn't have a problem with the name of the country Macedonia but doesn't want to create a second minority problem in Greece' (he considered the ethnic Turks to be the first minority problem).

10:39 Correction - she used the term "Macedonia", not "Republic of Macedonia".

This again, huh? My main issue with this is that this shows that some countries can have proportionally too much power in certain situations; in this specific issue, it is Greece. So, Greece and Macedonia are two countries, right? And they have a dispute, OK? But one party winning means that 193 other countries who have absolutely no stake in the matter have to follow suit? And the EU liberum veto means that something as overall insignificant as this is a stumbling block for MK membership? I dunno, it just doesn't seem right. If Greece was to call Macedonia something, then let them, and if Macedonia wants to call itself something, well, let it. And if the 190+ of us want to follow one or the other or even do something 3rd, then please let us?

Great video professor. Do you think North Macedonia should join the EU? I am asking because when a eastern european country joins a lot of its young population goes to the west and never returns. This happened to my country - Bulgaria. In the past few years a lot of people have returned but it took more than a decade for the living standert to improve (and this is still just for people with university diploma. Normal jobs are still ridiculously low paid). Does North Macedonia have that time? I know that in large part thanks to EU Romania is closing its living standard to Western Europe, but could North Macedonia do the same and will it be in time so their young population will choose to stay? We certainly are not in the same position as the romanians. While Bulgaria is much better now than before 2007 we still have a lot of problems and while a teacher salary can provide a so so living it's very hard save money if you live alone and pay rent. Hope to read your answer.

Hey dude, what are you talking about: “North Macedonians are speaking south Slavic language”!?!? The language is Bulgarian, the name of the country is Greek. This country is Soviet communist creation. But “south Slavic language…” Sure, USA and Canada are speaking Western European language, how about that?

There is no need to argue, the correct name is Vardarska, it is also a historical name.lol

Thank you for doing this video. Here are my 2 cents as a person that has been under the direct influence by this (and much more other) issue. I will try to be objective as possible and I am always open to a debate and an intelligent discussion. First and foremost this is not the first breach of the agreement. According to the Prespa agreement the contry's name is officially North Macedonia, erga omnes, since there were proposals that the country uses one name of foreign policies and another for internal. Now the nationality of the population is Macedonian, not North Macedonian and this is where the agreement is breached the most, since the population tends to be addressed as North Macedonian. Of course my opinion was that this was a very smart move from the Greek diplomacy when they were making their concessions, understanding that a mistake like this will most probably happen, since for most countries like Northern Ireland, North Korea, the natonalities and languages still include the corresponding adjestives. The majority of the current population, Macedonians, are predominantly Slavic and no they are not Bulgarians, in fact genetically they resemble more to the Serbs than the Bulgarians. Only the super stubborn and "illiterate" part of them think they are the direct decendents of Alexander The Great, and ignore the fact that on that region throughout history there were constant wars and migrations, from Ancient Macedonians and Ancient Greeks to Slavs, Celtcs, Avars, Pechenegs, Germanic, Nordic, Norman, Anglo Saxon, Turkic (even Catalan) people and god knows what else. But the real question is what about the current population that lives in todays Greece? What do they have in common with the Ancient Macedonians and Alexander and do they have the right to monopolize the name Macedonia/Macedonian? I don't want to make this an essay, but I will just ask one question, Alexander the Great and a lot of the Ancient Macedonians was said to be fair haired. Walk around the streets of todays Thessaloniki and Athens and count the number of people with fair hair. Normal and civilzed people that understand that the true meaning of improving todays society is by learning from history and focusing on the future by uniting in science and knowledge, reach an agreement and move forward improving their bilateral relations. Do the Germans or Italians claim Otto The Great only for themselves? And that is only one of the countless examples that the Dutch, the French, the Brits, the Spanish could do exactly how its currently done by some of the countries in the Balkan region. On the other hand stubborn fools hold to an idiotic thing like their last straw of hope for some kind of meaning. I can talk for days and months about this subject and write an essay, but I don't think people will read it so just wanted to point out some short notes.

Alexander the great, when 2 countries arguing over copyrights in a nutshell

If the country is called Macedonia: the Greeks are unhappy because it negates their historical heritage. If the country is called North Macedonia, but with the denomination of "Macedonian" for the language and people, then Bulgaria is unhappy because it negates their cultural heritage in the region. Also, Greece is still unhappy. And if the country is called anything other but "Macedonia", then it negates the identity of the people living in the country. Sounds like there could be no compromise. Although I have a proposal that is going to infuriate everyone equally: Republic of North Alexandria and West Bulgaria

She said "Macedonia" and not "Republic of Macedonia".

As a Swede, with no ties to the Balkans, I find the Naming conflict with Greece and the argument with mainly Bulgaria about what to call their language confusing. I have watched enough videos to hear the different sides' opinions but it would be interesting to get a bit more of a deep dive into this subject because I do find it confusing why these topics are so important to everyone involved.

I don't see a problem Macedonians van call themselvs how they want in their country called Macedonia, Macedonia for the Macedonians.

Macedonia is part of the Greek culture. The names (Alexander, Philip, olympiada, Aristotelis, Macedonia, etc) are all of Greek origin. In Greek language this names have a meaning, but in slavic they are random translated words. Even the era of Alexander's campaign was named as HELLENISTIC(GREEK) ERA and not a macedonian or slavic era, or sametihing. The scripts, coins, texts of that period are all in Greek and not in slavic. Why? The macedonians participated in Olympic games, where only Greeks could participate. Macedonian kingdom was connected with Greece and not wuth tha slavs coming into the region in 7th century.

1539 Theseus Ambrogio Albonese (1469-1540/41) is an Italian humanist from the period of the Italian Renaissance, representative of Christian (Catholic) Kabbalism and harbinger of Orientalism. His most important work is the book Chaldaicam linguam, Syriacam, atque Armenicam, & decem alias linguas. Published in 1539, in which the church psalms are translated from several languages, and the languages ​​of the time and the alphabet used by the peoples as a means of written communication are recorded. In his book, he makes a language alphabetic parallel between several languages ​​such as Latin, Greek, Dalmatian , Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew... including Macedonian, which is listed as a separate language apart from Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian. You can freely find that book of his in the original on the net.

There is also a Greek minority!

Mickoski said today that he can call his country as he likes and if Greece wants, she can take a case to the Hague 🍿

I still can't understand why a Slavic people want to adapt a non-Slavic name and its heritage. There is no linguistic nor historic link there. As a Greek, I wouldn't like my country to be called South Bulgaria or, even worst, just Bulgaria. Anyway, a deal was struck in good faith and I thought it was behind us. Now instead of putting their energy into growth and prosperity, they latch on an identity that isn't theirs in a self-destructive manner...

Maybe they should change their name to "Bits and Pieces of Eastern Albania and Western Bulgaria"....

We been Occupant for over 500 years from Turkey 🇹🇷 , Greece🇬🇷 , Serbia🇷🇸 and Albania🇦🇱. It’s about ime to leave us alone and give as a freedom . We are Original Macedonians🇲🇰and we want are Origimal name and language 🇲🇰❤️🙏🙏

Macedonians never claim Greek history. In fact, Greeks have taken Macedonian history and claimed it as their own. We are two distinct tribes: Macedonian and Hellenic. Macedonians speak a Slavic language, have a different appearance compared to modern Greeks. Macedonia is our historical homeland, and we've lived there since the beginning. In 1913, Macedonia was unjustly divided: part went to Greece, part to Bulgaria, and part to what was left of Macedonia became part of Yugoslavia. As a Macedonian living in the region known as Egejska Makedonia, I can speak from personal experience. We have faced oppression from the Greek state for years. We were forced to change our names to Greek names and were punished for speaking Macedonian at home. This oppression has continued since 1913. We seek justice for Macedonia and Macedonians against the abusive actions of the Greek nation. We want to be united with our fellow Macedonians, speaking our own language and preserving our cultural identity. The division of Macedonia was injustice against our people and our nation. Egejska Makedonia is Macedonian, not Greek, and we should never have been separated into three. The modern Greek state tries to rewrite history and deny our heritage. They claim to protect their history while erasing ours. This is a violation of human rights and an injustice against the Macedonian people. Macedonians are bullied both within and outside Greece. The Macedonian region, which includes majority Macedonians, was unjustly given to Greece. We demand justice and an end to this abuse and discrimination. We should be allowed to express our identity and live without fear. Macedonians deserve recognition and respect for our history and culture.

As an ethnic Dutch-Macedonian I'd like to thank you @JamesKerLindsay for making this video about one of my countries of origin. I'd like to mention a few relevant facts that weren’t addressed in the video that I think shed an interesting light on this conflict. 12:12 - The incoming government in my view doesn't actually need to pass new amendments to the constitution to undo the name change. This due to the fact that the original constitutional amendments for the name change, as approved in various votes from October 2018 to January 2019 in the Macedonian parliament, have been illegally influenced in such a manner that render these amendments null and void - that is, if Macedonia is a democratic country that is ruled by law. This because the government of then PM Zoran Zaev didn’t have the required two-thirds majority in parliament to change the constitution. To combat this, Zaev exerted inappropriate and illegal control over the public prosecutor and the judiciary in order to blackmail 8 opposition (VMRO) MP’s into voting for his constitutional changes. Those 8 MP’s helped pass a highly controversial amnesty law for ongoing (!) criminal proceedings against three of them, with three others having been benefited in different legal proceedings, and the remainder got allegedly bribed by lucrative government contracts. He as the head of the executive power of the government essentially abused the judicial power to illegally influence the legislative power. In a democratic country that is ruled by law, this is a massive violation of the principle of separation of powers, that renders the involved changes to the constitution null and void. The country therefore never legally changed its name in the first place. Macedonia’s Constitutional Court should declare so and reinstate the last legally valid Constitution in the country. Then the government should undo all implementations of the agreement. And afterwards Greece can complain to the ICJ in The Hague for being in NATO with the Republic of Macedonia.. 2:20 - It’s not really fair to the ancient Macedonians (but they’re all dead now anyway) to state that “North” Macedonia’s history begins with their ancient kingdom. The name of the land surely did start with them and their kingdom. But a lot has happened between ancient and modern times. The relationship between ancient and modern Macedonians is genetic at best. There is broad scientific consensus that the Slavic invaders starting from the 5th century mixed with the local population. But that local population didn’t regard themselves as Macedonians (while genetically speaking they very likely were their heirs) anymore already for a few centuries. Nevertheless, an “unbroken” connection isn’t required for modern Macedonians to have a right to call themselves as such. Their presence in the region of Macedonia as a whole, of over 1,500 years up until today, is. And this is significantly longer than today’s Greeks from their Macedonian province who have been taught only sine the 1980’s to regard themselves as the real descendants of the ancient Macedonians (purposefully done by nationalist Greek forces in response to the decline of Yugoslavia). Also, the idea of modern ethnic Macedonians that they’re descendants of Alexander the Great and ancient Macedonians didn’t fell out of thin air, neither in 1945 or in 1991. In fact, it was the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek state, starting almost 200 years ago, that taught the Slavs of Macedonia this, while the Ottoman Empire began to decline. Not as a selfless gift, but because Greece wanted to conquer Ottoman Macedonia and Hellenise (or Greekify if you will) the (mostly Slavic) population. A territory that never has been ruled by a Greek state until then by the way. The descendants of those Slavs that were Hellenised in this period regard themselves today as Greeks (and probably also vehemently as the only real Macedonians..) without having any clue of their actual Slavic history. This has been carefully swept under the carpet. And those Slavic Macedonians who didn’t Hellenise fully in the end got exterminated or expelled and continue to suffer from misplaced Greek nationalism and fascism to this day. In closing, it’s both funny and sad to see here in the comments how so many Greeks are so uninformed about their own history. When it comes to the Macedonian Question, the Greek public is filled with lies and distortions, in large part due to the forced nation-building processes that took place mostly between the second Balkan War and the fall of Yugoslavia. Which is a disgrace to the legacy of the ancient Greeks for sure. Thankfully the relationship between them is also genetic (and linguistic, fair enough) at best.