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Republic of Macedonia Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Flag Coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia Coat of arms
Motto: Слобода или смрт (Template:Lang-en)
Anthem: Денес Над Македонија (Transliteration: Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) (Template:Lang-en)
Capitaland largest city	Skopje
Official languages	Macedonian, Albanian
Government	Parliamentary republic
Independence
• Water (%)	1.9%
Population
• 2005 estimate	2,034,000 (143rd)
GDP (PPP)	2004 estimate
• Total	$14.914 billion (121st)
• Per capita	$7,237 (82nd)
HDI (2003)	0.797 high (59th)
Currency	Macedonian Denar (MKD)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Calling code	389
ISO 3166 code	MK
Internet TLD	.mk
Macedonian is designated as the primary official language. As of June 2002, any language spoken by at least 20% of the population is also an official language (Albanian fulfils this requirement) but it can only be used as prescribed by law (e.g., issuing official documents, when communicating with government offices, in municipal self-government) and always in addition to Macedonian in Cyrillic. In communities where over 20% of the population speak another language, the language becomes a municipal official language with Macedonian and any other official languages; such languages include Turkish, Serbian, and Romany.

The Republic of Macedonia (Template:Lang-mk, Template:Lang-sq, Template:Lang-tr, Template:Lang-rmy, Template:Lang-sr), sometimes referred to as Macedonia, is an independent state on the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. The country borders Serbia to the north, Albania to the west, Greece to the south, and Bulgaria to the east. As the result of a naming dispute with Greece, it has also accepted the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as a formal title.

The capital is Skopje with more than 600,000 inhabitants. It has a number of smaller cities, notably Bitola, Prilep, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Ohrid, Veles, Stip, and Strumica.

The Republic of Macedonia is often called a land of lakes and mountains. There are more than 50 natural and artificial lakes and sixteen mountains higher than 2,000 metres (6,550 Template:Ft) above sea level.

The country is member of the UN, Council of Europe, associate member of La Francophonie, World Trade Organization (WTO), Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, since December 2005 it is a candidate for joining the European Union, and is also expecting NATO membership.

History

The lands governed by the Republic of Macedonia were previously the southernmost part of Yugoslavia. Its current borders were fixed shortly after World War II when the government of Yugoslavia established the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, recognizing a Macedonian ethnicity as distinct from the Serbs and as a separate nation within Yugoslavia.

In the past, these lands came under a number of ancient states and former empires; Paionia, the kingdom of ancient Macedon (which gave its name to the whole Macedonian region). It must be noted though, that the ancient kingdom of Macedon was centered in what is known today as Greek Macedonia and its boundaries did not exceed the town Bitola.Later, in 146 BC, the area became part of the Roman and Byzantine empires, and the medieval Bulgarian and Serbian states. In the 14th century the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

Following the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the region of Macedonia was divided between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. The territory of the present-day Republic of Macedonia was then named Južna Srbija, "Southern Serbia". After the First World War Serbia joined the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929, the kingdom was officially renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and divided into provinces called banovinas. So called "Southern Serbia", including all of what is now the Republic of Macedonia, became a part of the Vardar Banovina.

In 1941, Yugoslavia was occupied by the Axis Powers and the Vardar Banovina was divided between its neighbors, Bulgaria and Italian-occupied Albania. Harsh rule by the occupying forces encouraged many Macedonians to support the Communist Partisan resistance movement of Josip Broz Tito. After the end of the Second World War, when Tito became Yugoslavia's president, the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was established. The People's Republic of Macedonia became one of the six republics of the Yugoslav federation. Following the federation's renaming as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, the People's Republic of Macedonia was likewise renamed, becoming the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. It dropped the "Socialist" from its name in 1991 when it peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia. A few very minor changes to its border with Serbia were agreed upon to resolve problems with the demarcation line between the two countries.

The country officially celebrates 8 September 1991 as Independence day, with regard to the referendum by registered voters endorsing independence from Yugoslavia. The Republic of Macedonia remained at peace through the Yugoslav wars of the early 1990s but was destabilized by the Kosovo War in 1999, when an estimated 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo took refuge in the country. Although they departed shortly after the war, soon after, Albanian radicals on both sides of the border took up arms in pursuit of autonomy or independence for the Albanian-populated areas of the Republic. A short war was fought between government and ethnic Albanian rebels, mostly in the north and west of the country, in March–June 2001. This war ended with the intervention of a NATO ceasefire monitoring force. In the Ohrid Agreement, the government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority. The Albanian side agreed to give up any separatist demands and to fully recognise all Macedonian institutions. In addition, according to this accord the NLA was to disarm and hand over their weapons to a NATO force. In 2005, Macedonia was officially recognized as a European Union candidate nation.

Politics

The Republic of Macedonia is a parliamentary democracy with an executive government composed of a coalition of parties from the unicameral legislature ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and an independent judicial branch with a constitutional court. The Assembly is made up of 120 seats and the members are elected every four years.

The role of the President of the Republic is mostly ceremonial, with the real power resting in the hands of the President of the Government. The President is the commander-in-chief of the state armed forces and a president of the state Security Council. The President of the Republic is elected every five years and he or she can be elected twice at most. The current President is Branko Crvenkovski.

With the passage of a new law and elections held in 2005, local government functions are divided between 78 municipalities ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help); singular: Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The capital, Skopje, is governed as a group of ten municipalities collectively referred to as "the City of Skopje". Municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia are units of local self-government. Neighbouring municipalities may establish cooperative arrangements.

Judiciary power is exercised by courts, with the court system being headed by the Judicial Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and the Republican Judicial Council. The assembly appoints the judges.

The country's main political divergence is between the largely ethnically-based political parties representing the country's Slav majority and Albanian minority. The issue of the power balance between the two communities led to a brief war in 2001, following which a power-sharing agreement was reached. In August 2004, the Republic's parliament passed legislation redrawing local boundaries and giving greater local autonomy to ethnic Albanians in areas where they predominate.

International relations

Republic of Macedonia is a member of a number of international organisations such as the United Nations, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Council of Europe, associate member of La Francophonie, World Trade Organization (WTO) etc. It is seeking to join NATO and the European Union, although its accession to either is unlikely to occur before 2008 and 2012, respectively. In December 2005, the leaders of the EU formally named it as a candidate country but did not set a date for starting entry talks.

The United States Agency for International Development has underwritten a project called Macedonia Connects which has made the Republic of Macedonia the first all broadband wireless country its size or larger in the world. The Ministry of Education and Sciences reports that 461 schools (primary and secondary) are now connected to the internet. In addition, the Internet Service Provider named On.net has created a MESH Network to provide WIFI services in the 11 largest cities/towns in the country.

Naming dispute

See also: Naming issue

The Republic of Macedonia is commonly referred to as 'Macedonia', but the name is also used to designate the wider geographical region of Macedonia or the Greek region of Macedonia.

Due to a dispute between the governments of the Republic of Macedonia and Greece over the name, the United Nations agreed to a provisional name — "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) (Template:Lang-mk — when it became a member state in 1993. Most international organizations adopted the same convention, including the European Union, NATO, the International Monetary Fund, the European Broadcasting Union, and the International Olympic Committee, among others. However, an increasing number of countries have abandoned the UN provisional references and have recognised the country as the "Republic of Macedonia" instead. These include three of the five permanent UN Security Council members, the United States, Russia, and the People's Republic of China.

From 1992 to 1995, the two countries also engaged in a dispute over the republic's first flag, which incorporated the Vergina Sun symbol, a symbol of the ancient Kingdom of Macedon. Its adoption by the Republic of Macedonia, on 3 July 1992, was seen as a reaction by Skopje to Athens's pressure to change the name. This aspect of the dispute was permanently resolved after an interim accord between the two states, when the flag was changed by an act of parliament, in October 1995.

The name dispute has not prevented Greece and the Republic of Macedonia from engaging in military and security co-operation, cross-border investments, and cultural exchanges. The November 2005 European Commission report states that, "Relations with Greece have improved in the last few years. Greece is the most important investor in the country (57% of the total foreign investments) and trade has been constantly increasing."

The EU recognises the country as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) and this is the only name by which the country may hold negotiations with the EU. Resolution of this issue is not a precondition for membership, but if the dispute is not settled "FYROM" may be the official name of the country in the EU institutions even after eventually achieving full membership .

European Union candidacy and membership

The EU leaders on the meeting held in Thessaloniki in 2003 promised western Balkan countries that they will become an integral part of the EU, once they meet the established criteria. As part of the ongoing efforts to expand its membership, the European Union (EU) granted the Republic of Macedonia candidate status on 17 December 2005, but with no promise of when such negotiations could start. France had made a budget deal as a condition for granting Macedonia candidate status and Greece agreed not to veto the decision on the premise that the name dispute will be resolved. Macedonia applied for full membership on 22 March 2004. Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Bučkovski hailed the decision as a "one-way ticket" to the EU for his country.

According to the EU, namely in accordance with its Copenhagen criteria, the main obstacles towards eventual EU membership for Republic of Macedonia concern good relations with neighbouring countries and reforms to its judicial and police systems. Also, growth rate lags behind that of most EU members, unemployment is high, and foreign investment is relatively low. The decentralisation process imposed after the six-month conflict in 2001 still requires full implementation. In principle, the relatively low population and European characteristics of the Republic promise few strains on the EU budget. On a press conference held in March 2006, German chancellor Angela Merkel suggested a privileged partnership for potential members. Following the refusals of European constitution by the French and Dutch voters, EU is in a period of reflection (time to decide what to do next) that can last for several years. This decision seems to delay the prospect of EU membership for candidates like Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey for some period. French warned that they want strict application of the notion of absorption capacity for the EU - a concept which has existed since 1993 but which has rarely been highlighted.

In February 2006, the Republic became the fourth member of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), joining Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. CEFTA acts as 'sandbox' to encourage joint efforts for the integration of participating countries in Western European institutions and look for opportunities for close economic and political co-operation.

Political divisions

In August 2004, Macedonia was reorganised into 84 municipalities (opštini; singular: opština), 10 of which comprise Greater Skopje; this is reduced from the previous 123 municipalities established in September 1996. Prior to this, local government was organised into 34 administrative districts.

Geography

It is a landlocked country that is geographically clearly defined by a central valley formed by the Vardar river and framed along its borders by mountain ranges.

Macedonia's terrain is mostly rugged, located between the Šar and Rhodope that frame the valley of the Vardar river. Three large lakes — Lake Ohrid, Lake Prespa and Dojran Lake — lie on the southern borders of the Republic, bisected by the frontiers with Albania and Greece. Ohrid is considered the oldest lakes and biotopes in the world . The region is seismically active and has been the site of destructive earthquakes in the past, most recently in 1963 when Skopje was heavily damaged by a major earthquake, killing over 1,000.

The Republic of Macedonia also has scenic mountains. They are belong to two different ranges: Dinarska and Rodopska. The Dinarska range is the oldest with subsequent erosion; the Rodopska range is younger offering rugged, alpine sceneries. Ten highest mountains in the Republic of Macedonia:

• See also: Mountains of the Republic of Macedonia

Economy

Today the Republic of Macedonia is considered a country with an intermediary-developed industry, with continuing growth of the industrial production. The process of transition in the country economy was triggered in 1995. The Republic of Macedonia has arrangements with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank. The Republic of Macedonia has an open economy, highly integrated into international trade, with a total trade-to-GDP ratio of 79.5%. The most important sectors are agriculture and industry. The service sector also grew in the past few years. Work force education and skills are competitive, but without adequate jobs. The country's economic policy is to attract foreign investments and to increase employment rate. One of the biggest features of the country economy is the fiscal discipline which maintained stable course of the currency for a long period. The country also makes effort to develop Small and Medium-Size Enterprise sector.

Looking back, the country together with Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Kosovo belonged to the less developed regions in the former Yugoslavia. It suffered severe economic difficulties after independence, when the Yugoslav internal market collapsed and subsidies from Belgrade ended. In addition, it faced many of the same problems faced by other former socialist East European countries during the transition to a market economy.

The outbreak of the Yugoslav wars and the imposition of sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro caused great damage to the Republic's economy, with Serbia constituting 60% of its markets prior to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Matters worsened when Greece imposed a trade embargo on the Republic between 1994–95. Some relief was afforded by the end of the Bosnian war in November 1995 and the lifting of the Greek embargo, but the Kosovo War of 1999 and the 2001 Albanian crisis caused further destabilization.

The Macedonian economy has since made a sluggish recovery, though the extent of unemployment, the grey market, corruption and a relatively feeble legal system continue to cause significant problems and a low growth rate. The Republic still has one of the lowest per capita GDPs in Europe.

Since the end of the Greek embargo, Greece has become the most important business partner of the Republic of Macedonia. Many Greek companies have bought former state companies in the country, such as the oil refinery Okta, the baking company Zhito Luks, marble mine in Prilep, textile facilities in Bitola etc.

Growth barely recovered in 2002 to 0.9%, then rose by 3.4% in 2003, 2.9% in 2004, and 3.7% in 2005. The past few years saw a significant rise in the economy and with the recent candidacy for the EU, the country should be making rapid progress.

Demographics

Population

The Republic of Macedonia has a population of approximately 2,070,000 citizens, according to the last population census in 2002. In the urban areas are inhabited 58% of the population.

Following is a list of the largest Macedonian cities (according to the 1994 census data as the latest one doesn't provide info about the city populations:) and municipalities (according to the 2002 census data ():

• See also: List of cities in the Republic of Macedonia

Ethnicities

The Republic of Macedonia is an ethnically diverse country. The largest ethnic group in the country are the Macedonians. In the last population census, approximately 1,300,000 inhabitants declared themselves to be Macedonians, representing 64.2% of the total population. Approximately 500 000 inhabitants are declared as Albanians, representing 25.2% of the population. They are concentrated mostly in the western and north-western part of the country. Smaller minorities include Turks (78,000 or 3.9%), Roma (54,000 or 2.7%), Serbs (36,000 or 1.8%) and Aromanians or Vlachs as they are called in census (9695 or 0,4%). Slavic Muslims or Bosniaks as they are officially called in census represent 0,8% of total population and include Torbesh, Gorans and Pomaks. Before independence, the census recognised them as Muslims by nationality and "Bosniaks", the current name, is quite controversial as most Macedonian Muslims have no connection with Bosnian Muslims or with Bosnia at all. In smaller numbers, many other minorities exist, namely Montenegrins, Croats, Slovenes (all constituting a small presence of people from the former Yugoslavia), Egyptians and Circassians who live in a handful of villages. A number of people declare themselves Bulgarians. These other minorities account for less than 2.5% of the population of the country. The Macedonian national census records all these ethnic groups, but the smaller ones are not enumerated separately in the final report of the census.

• See also: Macedonians
• See also: Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia
• See also: Human rights in the Republic of Macedonia

Languages

A wide variety of languages are spoken in the Republic of Macedonia, reflecting its ethnic diversity. The official and most widely spoken language is Macedonian, which belongs to the South Slavic language group. Structurally, it is closer to Bulgarian than to other Slavonic langages, though it contains many words of Greek origin. Its current form was codified after WWII and has accumulated a thriving literary tradition.

Other languages including Albanian, Turkish, Serbian, Aromanian, Romani, Greek and Megleno-Romanian are spoken roughly in proportion with their associated ethnic groups.

Although Macedonian is designated the country's official national language and languages spoken by over 20% of the total population are also designated official (at present only Albanian fulfills this requirement), in municipalities where at least 20% of the population is from other ethnic minorities their individual languages are used for official purposes in local government.

Religion

The majority of the population belongs to the Macedonian Orthodox Church (66%). Muslims comprise 29% of the population and other Christian denominations comprise 0.2%. The remainder is recorded as "unspecified" in the 2002 national census. Most of the native Albanians, Turks and Bosniaks are Muslims, as are a minority of the country's ethnic Slavic Macedonian population, known as Macedonian Muslims. Altogether, there are more than 1200 churches and 400 mosques in the country. The Orthodox and Islamic religious communities have secondary religion schools in Skopje. There is an Orthodox Theological college in the capital.

There have been issues regarding freedom of religion and the suppression of the Serbian Orthodox Church from which the Macedonian Orthodox Church seceded. After the negotiations between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the canonically-unconstitutional and unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church failed, the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric was established after one Macedonian Orthodox bishop, Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid, defected. The reaction of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was to order the state to issue arrest warrants for all clergy of the Ohrid Archbishopric and to prevent bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church from entering the Republic of Macedonia. Bishop Jovan was jailed for 18 months .

• See also: Macedonian Orthodox Church
• See also: Human rights in the Republic of Macedonia

Culture

See also: Macedonian culture (Slavic)

The Republic of Macedonia has a rich cultural heritage in art, architecture, poetry, and music. It has many ancient, protected religious sites. Poetry, cinema, and music festivals are held annually.

Macedonian music styles developed under the strong influence of Byzantine church music. Macedonia is among the countries with the most beautiful preserved Byzantine fresco painting, mainly from the period between the 11th and 16th centuries. There are several thousands square metres of fresco painting preserved, the major part of which is in very good condition and represent masterworks of the Macedonian School of ecclesiastical painting.

In Macedonia the past meets the present. Its age-old architecture and monasteries and churches of exquisite beauty make an interesting contrast to the super modern new architecture. Most of the Macedonian monasteries, built in various periods, and particularly those built between the 11th and 15th–16th centuries, have been completely preserved until today. The Macedonian collection of icons, and in particular the Ohrid one, is among the most valuable collections in the world today. After the Sinai and the Moscow collection of icons, it is third in importance in Orthodoxy. From a Byzantological aspect, it is unique.

The most important cultural events in the country are the Ohrid Summer festival of classical music and drama, the Struga Poetry evenings which gather poets from more than 50 countries in the world, Skopje May Opera Evenings, International Camera Festival in Bitola, Open Youth Theatre and Jazz festivals in Skopje etc.

• A list of famous Macedonians
• Music of the Republic of Macedonia
• Macedonian language
• Public holidays in the Republic of Macedonia.

Gallery

• Lake Ohrid
• Monastery of Holy Mother - Kichevo
• National park Pelister
• Bitola town
• Mount Korab
• Šar mountain
• St. Panteleimon church near Skopje
• Bitola town
• Mount Korab – The highest mountain in the country
• Mosaic from Heraclea Lyncestis - near Bitola
• Mount Korab
• St Panteleimon on the site of St. Clement’s Monastery, Plaosnik, Ohrid St Panteleimon on the site of St. Clement’s Monastery, Plaosnik, Ohrid

See also

• Macedonia (terminology)
• Communications in the Republic of Macedonia
• Foreign relations of the Republic of Macedonia
• Military of the Republic of Macedonia
• Transportation in the Republic of Macedonia
• Public holidays in the Republic of Macedonia

External links

Official government sites

• Assembly of Republic of Macedonia
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Resource Management
• Ministry of Culture
• Ministry of Defense
• Ministry of Economy
• Ministry of Education and Science
• Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning
• Ministry of Finance
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Labor and Social Policy
• Ministry of Local Self-Government
• Ministry of Transport and Communications
• Official Government website
• President of Republic of Macedonia
• State Electoral Commission Republic of Macedonia

Other, unofficial web sites

• Macedonia Official tourism portal
• The first webpage dedicated to the Republic of Macedonia has general information about the country
• Development and Civil Society Issues on the FYR of Macedonia
• Macedonia.co.uk, shows Macedonia to the World and Brings the World to Macedonia
• Macedonia Becomes First All Wireless Country
• Republic of Macedonia and the Balkans Discussion Forum
• A website with general information about the state
• macedonia :: general information
• "Interim Accord between the Hellenic Republic and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", United Nations, 13 September 1995
• Macedonia Competitiveness Activity
• Macedonian Discussions
• Detailed Profile of Macedonia from the Encyclopedia of Nations
• Macedonian Heritage FAQ from the Greek perspective
• A collection of articles which argues against the Greek definition of Macedonia
• a Macedonian search engine
• Macedonian search engine, indexing Macedonian and English-language content
• News from Macedonia
• Organization for the European Minorities' reports on Macedonia
• Photos of Macedonia
• UNGA Resolution about the use of the provisional reference
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Macedonia
• Macedonian newspaper in Bulgaria

• Republic of Macedonia