Macedonia to change its name after deal reached with Greece

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44401643

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to become the Republic of North Macedonia

27-year naming dispute with Greece comes to an end after both sides agree name change

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cp...ecemaccomp.gif
Protests over the naming dispute have been held over the years in both Macedonia (left) and Greece (right).

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Originally Posted by BBC News

Greece has reached a deal on the name of its northern neighbour, which called itself the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

After 27 years of talks - and many protests - they have settled on the name Republic of North Macedonia, or Severna Makedonija in Macedonian.

Greece had objected to the name Macedonia, fearing territorial claims on its eponymous northern region.

It had vetoed the neighbour's bid to join Nato and the European Union over the issue.

The new name will now need to be approved by the Macedonian people and Greek parliament.

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27 years to decide that... lego_party

I always associated Macedonia (the country) with Alexander the Great so I'm glad that it has changed.

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Originally Posted by Zak

I always associated Macedonia (the country) with Alexander the Great so I'm glad that it has changed.

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He was actually born in Pella, which was the capital of Macedonia at the time but is in what's now Greece :P that's most of the reason for this taking so long to happen, the Greeks are (somewhat ironically) worried about their states being taken over by expanding neighbours cough cough

NO MORE FYRM AT EUROVISION

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Originally Posted by FlyingJesus

He was actually born in Pella, which was the capital of Macedonia at the time but is in what's now Greece :P that's most of the reason for this taking so long to happen, the Greeks are (somewhat ironically) worried about their states being taken over by expanding neighbours cough cough

NO MORE FYRM AT EUROVISION

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Yeah I knew he was born in Pella. When did Greece acquire the region that was once a part of the Kingdom of Macedon then? I somewhat naively thought that Pella was in the region of Macedon which was a part of Ancient Greece. I'm not even sure when the concept of "countries" as we know them today were conceived :P

Any insight would be fab! :)

Ancient Macedonia was farrrrrrrrrrrr larger than the modern country, so lots of northern Greece (including Pella) and pretty much all of Albania was part of it - then of course the entirety of Greece and Thrace when Phillip and Alexander decided to conquer the world :P kinda rude of them but that's what kings did I guess. The area as it is NOW is totally different in terms of borders because of the Ottoman Empire which pretty much claimed that everything they owned was just Turkey, and then after various wars of independence and losing WWI that all disbanded and shit got carved up. The country now known as Macedonia is just a blob in the middle really, half of it in old Macedonia and half in what used to be Thrace