Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 23:33, 20 May 2007

The following is a proposed Misplaced Pages policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption.

These guidelines deal with the naming of articles related to Macedonia. Please follow the conventions below. If you disagree with any of the conventions, please discuss in the talk page.

To write and edit Macedonia-related articles, please follow the conventions below. Note

• see Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style for general cases
• see Misplaced Pages:History for notes on the style of history articles
• see Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (use English) for general use of English names in articles.

Political entity naming issues

Background

The Republic of Macedonia is a country in south-eastern Europe, situated between Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. Since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, it has been embroiled in a dispute with Greece concerning its use of the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a northern region of Greece. The dispute remains unresolved, but three names for the republic and two names for the province are in general use in English-language sources:

• Republic of Macedonia - used by the country itself, plus about half of the United Nations' member states, including the US, Russia and China;
• former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - used by the UN and about half of its member states, plus the European Union (including Greece) and many other international organisations.
• Macedonia (without any modifiers) - widely used by English-language news media both for the country and the Greek province.
• Greek Macedonia - used to refer to the Greek province with a modifier mainly for disambiguation purposes.
• Aegean Macedonia - used to refer to the Greek province, may be a controversial term in certain contexts (see below).

A number of other variant names derived from former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are also in use:

• FYROM
• FYRO Macedonia
• FYR of Macedonia
• FYR Macedonia
• FY Republic of Macedonia

A United States envoy has also proposed the name Republika Makedonija-Skopje, but this has not been accepted by any party to the dispute.

These multiple overlapping names are often a cause of confusion on the part of:

• Misplaced Pages's editors, who may be uncertain about which name to use;
• Misplaced Pages's readers, who may not understand what the name means (e.g. if the acronym "FYROM" is used without spelling it out) or which Macedonia — the country or the Greek region — is being referred to.

To reduce the scope for confusion and promote consistency across Misplaced Pages articles, this page sets out conventions for describing the Republic of Macedonia.

Misplaced Pages standards

Misplaced Pages's approach to dealing with disputed placenames is set out in Misplaced Pages:Naming conflict. The naming conflict guidelines operate alongside the guidelines on general naming conventions and naming conventions for common names.

Naming standards set by external organisations are not automatically applicable to Misplaced Pages. For instance, the UN and most international organisations recognise the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan) as Chinese Taipei. Despite this, Misplaced Pages uses Republic of China as the name for the entity that governs the island of Taiwan.

This is because Misplaced Pages's naming conflict guidelines mandate that articles on self-identifying entities should use the name, or an English translation thereof, chosen by the entity in question. ("Misplaced Pages does not take any position on whether a self-identifying entity has any right to use a name; this encyclopedia merely notes the fact that they do use that name.") Therefore the fact that the UN, the EU or any individual country uses a particular name for an entity does not require Misplaced Pages to use the same name; however when discussing the UN, the EU or any individual country, its internal policies on the naming issue should be respected. This guideline is explained in further detail below.

Quotations and references should be exact, including whatever form of the names the original used. Quotations in foreign languages should have the names translated literally.

Qualifiers

Since both entities consider themselves Macedonia, and their citizens Macedonians, we should avoid such terms as Greek Macedonia and Slav Macedonia which might be read as qualifying their Macedonianity; unless necessary for clarity. Experience shows that malign intent will be perceived where unintended.

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Country

Naming conventions (country)

• The name Macedonia (used by itself without modifiers) should not be used to refer to the country, due to the need to differentiate between the country and the Greek region, unless the meaning is unquestionably clear. In particular, the first mention be phrased as a link to Republic of Macedonia, except for articles about organisations, states, events and international relationships which prefer a different form (see below).
• The name Republic of Macedonia is the established term that Misplaced Pages generally uses to refer to the country, as determined by the naming conflict guidelines. The country-level article is at Republic of Macedonia and all sub-level articles also use Republic of Macedonia, as do the related templates. This name should be used in all articles other than the exceptions set out below.

• The names former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYR Macedonia should be used in articles about organisations, states, events and international relationships where the subject in question uses either of these names, if the country is mentioned specifically and exclusively in relationship to such an organization and in representing the point of view of the modern Greek government and of those who agree with it.

• If the consensus of writing in English about a certain subject and the Republic is to use "former Yugoslav" or "FYR", include it at least once. Note that the initial "f" in "former" should not be capitalised unless it occurs at the start of a sentence.

• The name FYROM should be avoided for general use, except in contexts where other long country names are also abbreviated, or in articles which already use former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYR Macedonia. In such cases, the first use of former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYR Macedonia should always be followed by (FYROM) if the abbreviated term is to be used later in the article. See Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style#Acronyms and abbreviations.

Deprecated names (country)

The following names are deprecated:

• Pseudomacedonia, Republic of Skopje, Republic of Vardar should never be used for general purposes. Neither name is widely recognised and their use is exclusively associated with a particular nationalist point of view. Misplaced Pages's neutral point of view policy must be borne in mind.

• Republika Makedonija-Skopje should never be used for general purposes, as it is an as-yet unagreed proposal without any official standing or recognition.

• FYRO Macedonia, FYR of Macedonia and FY Republic of Macedonia are non-standard variants of former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia / FYROM and should not be used. Instances of these terms should be replaced by Republic of Macedonia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYR Macedonia as appropriate to the circumstances described in the section above.

In addition, several alternative names (metonyms) have been coined by Greek nationalists who reject any use of the term "Macedonia" by any country other than Greece. These names are not in general use but may be used by some supporters of this point of view:

• Republic of Skopje
• Republic of Vardar

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Province

The Greek province is called "Macedonia". This is the preferred self-identifying name. It is also acceptably referred to as "Greek Macedonia", and "Macedonia, Greece" in general English usage, mainly for disambiguation purposes (although most Greeks will consider the disambiguation a pleonasm). The name "Aegean Macedonia" is also found in scholarship, but its use is not advised as it is the name used by irredentist ethnic Macedonian nationalists of the United Macedonia movement. Therefore, the following naming conventions apply:

Naming conventions (province)

• The name Macedonia (used by itself without modifiers) should not be used to refer to the province, due to the need to differentiate between the country and the Greek region, except in contexts where the meaning is unquestionably clear.
• The names Macedonia, Greece or Greek Macedonia is the established term that Misplaced Pages generally uses to refer to the province, as determined by the naming conflict guidelines. The province-level article is at Macedonia (Greece) and all sub-level articles should use these two names, as should the related templates.

Deprecated names (province)

• The name Aegean Macedonia should be avoided for general use, except in articles describing the irredentist concept. Note that Aegean Macedonia can be considered offensive for some Greeks, but the Greek government has not raised issue.

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People naming issues

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Naming conventions (ethnic group)

The same logic should be applied to the name of the largest ethnic group of the country (Macedonians (ethnic group)):

• Macedonians or ethnic Macedonians can be used in all articles related to the country, where there is no need for disambiguation.
• Macedonian Slavs or Slav Macedonians in contexts where there is need for disambiguation.
• There is a substantial Albanian minority in the Republic, and other non-Slavic minority groups. The citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, collectively, should not be referred to as Slav Macedonians, even to disambiguate them from the Greek citizens living in the Province. If Macedonians is ambiguous with either group, the full form is recommended.
• The construct from the Republic of Macedonia can and should be used for groups of people from the Republic whose ethnicity is mixed or unknown, or when disambiguation is needed.

Deprecated names (ethnic group)

The following names should never be used, as they are exclusively associated with a particular nationalist point of view, have no general or official recognition and are seen as offensive by citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. Again, Misplaced Pages's neutral point of view policy must be borne in mind.

• Skopians
• Fyromians
• Bulgaroskopians

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Naming conventions (regional group)

The inhabitants of the Greek Macedonia share a strong regional identity. Greeks is the default ethnic description. However, in many cases where people are especially related to the particular province, a regional description may be required, and the following conventions should be used:

• Macedonians should generally be avoided to prevent confusion with the ethnic group, unless already unquestionably clear from the context.
• Greek Macedonians or Macedonian Greeks is not comparable to "American-Greeks" in the sense of being of ethnic Macedonian descent but living in Greece (or vice versa). It is a separate regional group of ethnic Greeks that lives mainly in the Greek region of Macedonia. The use of the modifier (Greek/s) is advised in all articles for disambiguation purposes with the citizens of the republic.
• The construct from Greek Macedonia can be used for groups of people from the Greece whose ethnicity is mixed or unknown, or when disambiguation is needed.

Deprecated names (regional group)

• Aegean Macedonians or Aegeans should be avoided because it may have double meaning. It is used by members of the ethnic group for describing their compatriots that happen to originate from the Greek region, and rarely by western scholars for describing the Greek inhabitants of the region. It can also be considered offensive for Greeks under certain contexts.
• Grkomani, a derogatory term used to refer to those members of a slavophone minority in Greece who self-identify as Greeks in their majority.

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Language naming issues

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Naming conventions (country language)

• Macedonian can be used where the context is limited to the country, and there is no need for disambiguation.
• Macedonian Slavic or Slavic Macedonian in articles where there is need for disambiguation with the Greek dialects of the Greek Macedonians and/or Ancient Macedonians.
• On dealing with the language used in the Republic, follow the consensus of present scholarly usage. The History of the Macedonian language is controversial; and the dialects now so called have also been called West Bulgarian or South Serbian. If its independent existence before 1944 is not germane to the context, avoid the question.
• The term "Macedonian branch of the South Slavic languages" is appropriate in articles on linguistic issues where other languages are also classified in similar terms.

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Naming conventions (regional dialect)

• Macedonian dialect should be used in article where the context is limited to Greece and there is no need for disambiguation.
• Greek Macedonian dialect or the Macedonian dialect of the Greek language should be used in articles where there is need for disambiguation with the Slavic language.
• Ancient Macedonian should be used for the language of Ancient Macedonia.

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Wikilinking

All wikilinks to the country should point to Republic of Macedonia directly or indirectly (through a valid redirect). You can either use a pipe (the | symbol) to direct a wikilink at this article, e.g.: ], or use the redirect itself, e.g.: ], provided that the latter redirects to the page for the country.

Images

For images, the same convention should be used as for articles. The acronyms RoM and FYROM should be used only when there is not enough space on the image to display the full name.

Footnotes

1. e.g. the European Union, NATO, the United Nations. Articles which have as their subject (mere mention is not enough) facets and agencies of these bodies, like the Euro, or the Eurovision Song Contest should follow the usage of the body or the agency, if it differs.
2. Example: "In other news, FYR Macedonia ranked 18th in Eurovision"; "After competing in Eurovision, Karolina returned to the Republic of Macedonia". The first sentence is about Eurovision, the second sentence is not. If a subject does not have a formal/prevalent position on the matter, "Republic of Macedonia" can be assumed.
3. for example maps that list the United States of America as "USA"
4. For example, in listing the members of the Parliament in Athens, it is clear that the Macedonia in question is the Greek province, not the Republic.
5. ^ for example "A rock band from the Republic of Macedonia and a jazz quartet from Greek Macedonia released a join CD" Cite error: The named reference "pft" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

• Misplaced Pages proposals