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List:       kde-i18n-doc
Subject:    Re: Macedonia
From:       "Theodore J. Soldatos" <theodore () eexi ! gr>
Date:       2000-07-06 17:56:12
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Vladimir Vuksan wrote:

> Romania ? I wasn't aware there was a region called Macedonia in Romania.
> Perhaps in Greece. It is a fact that Greece and Republic of Macedonia
> have differing views on the name of Macedonia is a known fact. Calling
> something "former" in my opinion is stupid since former means that it is
> not any more in existence. If it is not existant why bother including it
> at all. If Macedonia is an incorrect term put in Republic of Macedonia.

And the Greek view now... :-)

Macedonia is a region in Greece. It also was a Republic of Yugoslavia, when
Yugoslavia included more republics than Serbia and MonteNegro. When the
Republic of Macedonia became a separate country, the constitution of that
country stated that the Greek region of Macedonia is a part of the Republic of
Macedonia under the control of Greece, and that this region must be liberated.
Go figure what happened next... :-) Greece asked of the name and the
constitution to be changed. Nationalists of both countries started making
protests etc... The subject somehow cooled down with the acceptance of Former
Yugoslavic Republic Of Macedonia (FYROM) as the "official" name of the country
in international organisations (United Nations etc). Of course, people from
FYROM call their country Macedonia and Greek "hardcore" nationalists call the
same country Skopje (wich is the name of the capital city and it's of course
wrong). My personal opinion, Stephan: If you use "FYROM", people from FYROM
will protest (they already do... :-). If you use "Macedonia", people from
Greece will protest. Using FYROM gives you the plus of a somehow "official"
name. And please note that i don't protest, because i don't like the whole
concept of Earth divided in countries. 

As you can easily understand, you are in a difficult position involving
politics, and not any politics, but Balcan politics. The situation is much more
complicated in historical terms (this thing goes back to the Balcan wars in the
start of the 20th century), and the above is a simple description of the events
of the last decade (after Yugoslavia splitted) from the perspective of a
non-nationalist Greek. People from many ethnic groups have been forced to move
out of their homes and around Balcan during the 20th century due to politics
and the whole thing is a mess. Do your best. :-)

T.

-- 
Theodore=J.=Soldatos=_\_="There=is=always=a=bug=somewhere",=said==HAL=to=the==
=  theodore@eexi.gr =_/_==Ultimate=Programmer,=and=turned=off=the=air=supply.=
=   bafh@hellug.gr  =_\_="Everybody=knows=the=war=is=over,====================
=   tsol@space.gr   =_/_==everybody=knows=the=good=guys=lost"===Leonard=Cohen=
=====================_\_============ http://w4u.eexi.gr/~theodore ============
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