After decades of conflict, Greece’s Parliament finally decided to recognize the name of a neighboring country. That country wants to be called Macedonia, but Greece refuses to let that stand. They’re so angry over the name that in an epic level of petty, they have blocked the country from joining NATO and have hamstrung their relations with the European Union.
Why are they so ticked off? Macedonia is also the name of a region of Greece, one that holds great historical significance for Greek people, most notably because it is the birthplace of Alexander the Great. They feel that the country of Macedonia is trying to co-opt that history, or even trying to claim territory in northern Greece.
Up to this point, most of the international community has known the country as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYROM, a long and cumbersome name that still angered the Greeks. (The ‘Former Yugoslav’ part of the name refers to the fact that the country is one of several that emerged from Yugoslavia when it fell apart.)
The final agreement that the Greek Parliament came to, as negotiated by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and partners from the European Union and Macedonia, was to refer to the country as North Macedonia. To outsiders it would seem like a reasonable compromise (that probably could have been made a very long time ago), but many Greeks are still not satisfied. Polls show that a majority of the country does not approve of the change and protests have raged on in the capital Athens. Some members of Parliament shouted “traitor” at the politicians voting to approve the measure.
For now, the matter seems to have reached a political solution, and North Macedonia should be able to move forward as a larger partner in the international community now that Greece isn’t blocking it from doing so. But it seems unlikely that either side will be forgetting the conflict anytime soon.
