Re: Macedonia Naming Dispute: Solved?
In reality, there was of course not a single Ottoman province named Macedonia. The term was reinvented by Western observers in the 19th century, probably because it sounded more romantic and appealing to the poets and students of Heidelberg than Vardar valley or Vilayet of Selanik. So much for the hilarious ramblings of oversensitive nationalists about cultural genocide or the continuous and uninterrupted memory of the ancient kingdom. The entire dispute can basically be described as a tragicomic fight about who is going exclusively play with the best toy, Alexander and his military reputation. It's the only figure of the region that can be recognized by the European and American audiences, for whose approval and compliments Macedonian and Greek tribalists so desperately crave for. Indeed, a perfect combination of comedy and sadness.
Originally Posted by
Alastor
Speaking of realpolitik here is a fairly interesting article that has already caused a fair amount of controversy.
It definitely looks plausible and confirms my early suspicions. Initially I was a bit surprised that the notoriously populist government of Greece managed to accept a compromise, but at least the leadership, contrary to the 70%, is capable of maturely evaluating its priorities. The main reason about why the controversy has remained unsolved for so long is that there is hardly any potential gain for Athens. The trade benefits are minimal (especially after the collapse of the embargo) and easily overshadowed by the enormous political cost. The perpetuation of the tension allowed officials to distract society from more pressing problems and gave an excellent chance to "patriotic" opportunists, from major opposition leaders to Nazis and book-salesmen to financially and politically profit from the anger of the mob. Obviously, SYRIZA is a center-left party, so it's less dependent on the triggered clowns protesting somewhere around an isolated lake, but still, the party will experience some losses. They were probably promised a gift concerning the country's huge debt as a compensation. Of course, that's called negotiation, not colonialism, because nobody forced a specific option to Greece. It's the use of grossly emotional vocabulary like that for why so many refuse to take the Greek position seriously.
Originally Posted by
AnthoniusII
Everyone has the right to identify him self AS LONG AS:
Does not steal any other nation's historical heritage.
Does not use that stealing to promote agggresive stance against other nation.
Historical heritage is not owned. It's not like Greece has the copyright for the Argeads, no matter what some racist bloggers may say in the Internet. This is why Macedonia abandoned the Vergina Sun, which was indeed copyrighted by Greece, as a flag symbol, but is not legally obligated to change its name. Secondly, the accusation that the Macedonian authorities use the name as a justification for an imperialist foreign policy has already been debunked numerous times, so there's no need to repeat it, in the futile hope of convincing an innocent reader. There's not a single instance of Skopje officially endorsing irredentism, because the modern mindset has evolved a lot the 19th century hysterics about wars, tribes, racial purity, exceptionalism and conquests. That's what the Macedonian Constitution says about the matter:
The Republic of Macedonia has no territorial pretensions towards any neighboring state.
Originally Posted by
AnthoniusII
Question: You mentioned that Greeks stolen a heritage earlier. Can you become more spesific?
Umm, I didn't. I'm not a tribalist and the use of the verb "stealing" would be inaccurate, for the reasons I cited above. What I really said was "arbitrarily identified". For the complete list, you probably need to consult the history books of the elementary school. I suppose that it begins from the Cycladic culture and ends around the Palaeologean dynasty. We are lucky that no other nation decided to identify itself with the Minoan civilization. Just imagine the outrage if Malta built a statue of a topless woman next to a bull. We would be talking about the unprovoked hostility of the Maltese war-hawks and how that piece of art is, in reality, an elaborate part of the cunning Maltese plan to annex Rhodes, reestablishing the hated Order of Hospitallers, by exploiting its strategic alliance and economic investment in Cyprus, together with a massive uprising of the persecuted Maltese minority in the Dodecanese. Third Balkan War would be too little to describe this unprecedented holocaust.