Verified answer

Even before a typical Greek opens his or her mouth, I can tell you exactly what they are going to say when it comes to the Macedonians: "Macedonians don't exist", "Macedonians are Greek", "Tito created the Macedonian identity", "Macedonians are cultural and historical thieves", and of course the subject of this BIG Greek lie, "Macedonians are Slavs who came to the Balkans during the 6th century AD".

As you can see from the answers above mine (till now), Greece has done a wonderful job in indoctrinating its people with powerful anti-Macedonian propaganda. One also gets the impression that these Greeks are clueless about the reality of the Macedonian situation.

Greeks, at least the ones who wrote these answers, seem to talk in black and white clear cut terms about what happened 1,500 years ago, forgetting that from then until 1913 there were no borders between present day Greece and Macedonia. Whoever invaded Macedonia surely did not spare Greece. So if we are to believe mainstream history then it should be well known to these Greeks that the Slavs who invaded Macedonia also invaded Greece down to its deepest southern fringes. So if the modern Macedonians are Slavs, then so are the modern Greeks.

History also tells us that the present Greek-Macedonian border was erected after the Balkan Wars as a result of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest. This is simply an artificial border that never existed before 1913. So how can modern Greeks claim that what is south of this border is "Pure Greek" and what's north of it is "Slav"? If we are to accept this "Greek claim" then we must also accept the idea that "pure Greeks" and "Slavs" co-existed in a borderless region for 1,500 years side by side without any contact between them. We must also ignore history and the fact that Greece became a nation state for the first time in 1829 and on its territory lived Slavs, Albanians, Vlachs, Turks and a variety of other ethnicities.

Our internet warrior Greeks seem to have forgotten that modern Greece annexed 51% of Macedonia fully intact and loaded with "Slav" speaking Macedonians as recently as 1913 and those Macedonians whom they call Greeks today were certainly not Greeks then.

From the answers above one gets the impression that some Greeks want the Macedonians to go away. There is no room for Macedonians in the Balkans. Greeks see their world in black and white, "pure Greeks" and "Slavs" even though it is clear both entities are made from the same raw materials which begs the question "how do Greeks distinguish between "pure Greeks" on one hand and "Slavs" on the other? What is the criterion that distinguishes these groups from one another? More importantly, why is one group the "pure Greeks" deserving of the full Macedonian heritage with full rights and privileges while the other group the "Slavs" are deserving of NONE and have no rights or privileges whatsoever. Are they not both indigenous people of the same land?

By their own testimonies the Greeks admit that the so called "Slavs" have been living in Macedonia since the 6th century AD, that's 1,500 years or equivalent of 75 generations. How long do a people have to live on a land before it can call itself indigenous? How long must a people live on a land to have rights? More importantly, why do Greeks believe Macedonian lands belong to them and not to the people that lived on them for 75 generations? Besides how can these Greeks justify that these lands belong to them? Do they have deeds or proof that they are the true inheritors? How do we know that they are not imposters and the "REAL" swindlers of the Macedonian lands and heritage? Have these Greeks never bothered to ask themselves (a) what gives them the right to these lands and (b) why are Macedonians excluded from these rights? Have they never bothered to ask (a) what makes them "pure Greeks" and their neighbours "Slavs" and (b) why they have full rights and privileges and the so called "Slavs" have none, not even the most basic human rights?

THE TRUTH:

The truth is Macedonians are not "Slavs", they are Macedonians. They speak the Macedonian language practice Macedonian traditions, have their own folklore and enjoy their own Macedonian music. Unlike the Greeks who have an imposed language, the Macedonian language is the mother tongue of the Macedonian people which has been with them for at least 75 generations. The Greek language, on the other hand, was imposed on the Greek people after Greece became a nation state for the first time in 1829.

The reason Greeks call Macedonians "Slav" is because in their minds "Slavs" are apparently an unworthy species of human that does not deserve to grace Macedonian lands or have any human rights. This goes back to the "Aryan" haydays when it was popular to abuse people for various reasons, reminiscent of what the Nazis did to the Jews. Even though this type of practice is no longer popular and most of its practitioners fell off the "Aryan" bandwagon a long time ago, it app

Macedonian Greek

Oooh, there's a hot topic right there. Both "so called" Macedonians and Greeks are falsely indoctrinated. Macedonians are ancients people who lost their identity as they moved forwards in time. A lot were being hellenized at fist (mostly starting with Alexander the 1st) and then were being slavicized (modern Macedonians. Some (far fewer) become hellenized and remained "Greek" (northern Greeks) and the rest were assimilated in other national identities (Turks, Bulgarians, even Albanians).

Point is that it is genetically true that those that call themselves Macedonians nowadays do descend mostly from ancient Macedonians, but they also differ quite match. For example their language is south Slavic language, ancient Macedonian was a hellenic language, the customs may be similar though.

What Greeks offer as a counter-argument is that Greeks speak (still) a hellenic language (like the ancient Macedonians) but that doesn't make them equivalent to them. Most Greeks have no genetic relationship to the ancient Macedonians (they're hardly their descendants). But a few do.

So yeah none can truly claim heritage from the Ancients, "Macedonians" have the genes but lost the language, Greeks have the language but not the genes.

Keep in mind though that Alexander did identify himself as a Macedonian and a Hellen (a bit of how a modern day Italian identifies himself as an Italian, and a European). That's why most scholarly work identify the ancient Macedonians as a greek or a hellenized state.

What a load of nonsense. If you understand anything about the ancient world you'll understand that Greece was not a nation but a collection of city states that both loved and hated each other. Macedonians were no different to Spartans or to Athenians in the way they interacted, in the way they had political rivalries, in the differences in language etc. dialects existed as they do today. Differences existed between Hellenic populations as they do today. Southern Greeks still call northern Greeks Bulgarians in jest or in anger today. Today many Slavic Macedonians refer to certain Greek tribes calling ancient Macedonians as barbarians but forget to mention that Macedonians called Spartans barbarian just the same. Slavic Macedonians think they can rewrite history and Greeks want to deny the Slav Macedonians the right to morph or assimilate into whatever identity they like. The facts are that Pella is the birthplace of important Ancient Macedonian kingdoms and that Alexander the Great spread the Greek language and culture throughout the world. Every single ancient relic and inscription from Macedonian is in Greek. The evidence is plain and simple. Even the word Macedonia is a Greek word. This said I should point out that the migration of Slavic tribes into the Hellenic world from the 6th century gives rise to assimilated populations. These tribes mixed in with local people and created variations of the original identity. When Yugoslavia was formed, these varying identities ironically resembled city states much like the ancient Hellenic tribes. Serbs and Slavic Macedonians speak a very similar language but not exactly the same, follow the same religion etc. Yet many hate each other despite their similarities.

Personally I think the Slavic Macedonians have a right to their identity without their ill conceived ideas of rewriting history. They are part Macedonian and part Slav as the Greek Macedonians are part Macedonian and part Greek as the Spartan population is part Spartan and part Greek. Macedonia from ancient times encompassed a great territory. Today's Slavic Macedonians live in North Macedonia and as a gesture of good will and historical accuracy should rename their country as such. The Greeks should support this and should rename their state or province known as Macedonia as South Macedonia. Frankly neither country should monopolize the name as neither country fully contains ancient Macedonia within its sovereign borders.

Finally, the Greeks should be proud that the Slavic Macedonians identify themselves with the Ancient Hellenic Macedonians, they mixed into the gene pool, they adopted the religion and many Hellenic customs and in many ways became more Hellenic than they were Slavs. Both the northern and southern Macedonians can lay claim to their ancient identity, irrespective of current language or religion or custom. Thus the Greeks should not try to deny the Northern Macedonians right identify with ancient Macedonia and the Slavic Macedonians shouldn't try to place a wedge between the Hellenic Macedonians of ancient times and the modern Greeks of today. I hope both these proud peoples can overcome their political self serving agendas and find common ground in friendship derived from their shared ancient heritage.

Macedonia Vs Greece

Well here is the truth!!!! Macedonia stole the name from Greece which is the name Kentriki Makedonia (Central Macedonia) which is located in Northern Greece. If you see the country Thessaloniki on the map that is where Kentriki Makedonia is. Thessaloniki is the capital of Kentriki Makedonia. The so called "Macedonians" who call themselves only Macedonians have no right to call themselves Macedonians because if they call themselves that then they are calling themselves the Macedonians in Northern Greece. So if I hear someone call themselves just Macedonians then you will be called a Yugoslavian/Slavic because it's the truth. FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia) is a lie!!!! They think they can still a name from our beloved motherland and then ignore it. Greece will fight for the great country names. Macedonia -cough- Yugoslavia is the big fake here. I had a Grandfather and his grandfather said to his father that his nothing but Macedonian but then the last words my Grandfather's Father said to his father was "I am Greek-Macedonian and I always will be". I am proud to have had a Grandfather who believed that. May God rest his soul :(

LONG LIVE GREECE!!!!!!!!!

It's very easy for a non existing nation to try to steal history from a neighbor country. Macedonia, as Thrace, as Thessaly, as Epirus, as Peloponnese, etc are parts of Hellas. Skopians are nothing but a mix of Slavs, Albanians and Turks. Also, Slavs migrated the Balkan peninsula around 1500 years ago, so they have nothing Hellenic to declare themselves as Macedonians. They speak a Slavic language. Macedonians speak Hellenic. Alexander the Great also was Macedonian, not Skopian nor Ilyrian nor Peonian. He was born in Macedonia. His parents were Macedonians, his teachers were Macedonians,etc. No relation to Skopians. It is like asking an Englishman whether he is from England or Britain. He is both. The same goes for Macedonians. They are both Hellens and Macedonians, like Thracians, like Thessalians etc. There is absolutely no evidence to relate Skopians to Macedonians. All non Skopian historians state it clearly. Macedonias are Hellens, not Skopians. They just are supported by the Americans who recognized them as Macedonians in order to spread hatred among countries to sell weapons, and by Turks who hate us.

Makedonia in Greece occupies a larger area than the country of FYROM.

It is a province that has a cohesive Greek culture throughout.

FYROM is made up of 30% Albanians, plus smaller minorities of self identified Bulgarians, Turks and Romas. So if you subtract that from the population of 1.8 million you get?

Makedonia in Greece has a poplulation of 2.4 million, all Greek, no disputes.

Also, please remember that Mt Olympus is in Makedonia Greece. It was the home of the 12 ancient Gods of Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Posiodon, Artemis, Demeter etc. They were worshipped throughout Hellas in the ancient world and the city of Athens was named after one of these Gods on Mt Olympus in Makedonia.

Alexander the Great was educated by Aristotle.

If you go to any of the ancient sites in Makedonia, eg King Phillip s tomb in Vergina, you will find only Greek inscriptions. If you can read Greek, you ll be able to read them too.

@plostad Dude you have no clue about Byzantine or Ancient history and your arguments have more holes in them than swiss cheese. Please get off the internet and stop insulting our intelligence with your petty talks. First things first: Your language is slavic whether you like it or not. Take your last names for example. All slavic. Ancient Macedonians used Greek names and claimed their descent from the sons of Hercules and Achiless. Macedonians evern participated in the Olympics an honour reserved only for Greeks. Further proof of ancient history is needless. The nationality of the ancient Macedonians had never been questioned before and no recent findings indicate that they were not Greeks.

Now about Byzantine history. During Byzantine era Slavs invaded the Balkans and finally settled with the Byzantine permission to the lands that now form Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Several other communities were created later under a Byzantine policy which moved large portions of this population in Byzantine populated lands to diminish revolt risks and possible nationalism. This was partly achieved as it did not avoid the creation of the kingdoms of Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria etc. Was there a Macedonian Kingdom? NO beause there was no Macedonian nation. Yes the Greeks are not as pure as their ancient ancestors were but the same is true for most nations in the world no matter what they make themselves to believe.

No one is denying privileges to the the citizens of F.Y.R.O.M. A nation doesn't take its name from a and but it gives this land a name. Adopting the name of Macedonia (which in a form of ancient greek means tall)creates unprecedented historical theft.They should find their own history though. And when we are on the rights section I would really like to know the rights of the Albanians that live in their country. I hear they are not treated very well.

That best answer sounds like a drunk answer.

So you say "Macedonians" from FYROM - and there's a good reason they're obliged to use that name, speak Macedonian and are not slavs...then why do Bulgarians speak the exact same language and the rest of former Yugoslavia a similar language.

hmm ,as a brit who has visited both countries for long period of time i feel that the greeks have to coin a "phrase rested on their laurels" and forgotten they are no longer the race that became known as greeks , they like many countries have been occupied by others for many centuaries. so how can they be pure and untainted by this?

as even the british have been invaded ,and we have invaded others and inevitably prizes of women as well as treasures were brought to our empire ,are we to believe that the children of these couples were killed or ejected from the country of birth? no i dont think so.

would the Greeks drop the national identity of Greek and call themselves Macedonian?

if they are so sure of their ownership of their "Macedonia" WHY does it occupy so little of their country?

are we to believe the earliest settlers of Greece were keeping the borders even then?

dont be so stupid ! volunteer your people for DNA analysts to determine your pure lineage . it could be done, and it could put an end to this rubbish.

this smacks of a Hitler type Aryan race that only exists in easily led minds.

for a ancient diluted race ,be thankful you can still retain the title Greek!!