National Identity
National Identity
According to Oxford English Dictionary, national identity is
“a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive
traditions, culture, and linguistic or politic figures. North Macedonia has a
complicated and somewhat confusing sense of national identity. From my
research, it doesn’t seem to be as defined or obvious as other European
countries’ national identities. They have historically had an incessant need to
convince the rest of the world they are independent and their own country after
they declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Had Greece not been so
stubborn with Macedonia’s name, North Macedonia would not have worked so hard
to convince the world of their independence.
What Makes Macedonia’s National Identity Complex
Religion has historically held importance for the
Macedonians since the Ottoman Empire. During that time, the Slavic Christian
peasants most likely wouldn’t have identified as Bulgarian or Greek, they would’ve
identified as Christian first (Stojanovski et al., 2014, pp. 300-301). The reason
they didn’t have Macedonian as an option was because Macedonia, at that time,
hadn’t yet started to develop. In general, the Macedonian Slavs didn’t have a
clear sense of identity- their identity was mostly shaped from the neighboring
churches, the Patriarchy of Constantinople and the Bulgarian Exarchate (Stojanovski
et al., 2014, p. 300). Religion was very important then and it still is today
with 92% of Macedonians self-identifying as religious (CIA World Factbook,
2022).
The inter-ethnic relations and conflicts Macedonia has had
since its independence also influenced their national identity. The most infamous
conflict Macedonia was a part of was with the ethnic Albanians living in
Macedonia. Ethnic Albanians make up 24.3% of the population (CIA World Factbook,
2022). The conflicts and issues the Macedonian government had with the ethnic
Albanians all tie back to the ethnic Albanians’ perceived economic and
political inequities; they felt like they were being treated as second-class
citizens. In 2001, the ethnic Albanians began attacking the Macedonian military
over these perceived inequities. To end the conflict, the Macedonian government
and the ethnic Albanians signed an agreement called the Ohrid Framework
Agreement. The Ohrid Framework Agreement prevented further escalation of violent
conflict and it also made a rule determining when a language becomes a co-official
language- once more than 20% of the population speaks it at a municipal level (Milenkovska
& Taševska Remenski, 2016). Since Albanian is spoken by over 20% of the
population, it should’ve been made a co-official language with Macedonian but
it wasn’t until January 2019.
Language has also had an effect on Macedonian national identity.
The most important conflict North Macedonia has had with another country over
their language was with one of their neighbors, Bulgaria. Bulgaria was very
careful when they were the first country to recognize North Macedonia as an
independent country because while they did acknowledge their independence, their
leadership specified the recognition of Macedonia as an independent nation did
not equate to recognizing Macedonia as a distinct nation (Stojanovski et al.,
2014, p. 305). If the Bulgarian government recognized Macedonia as its own
distinct nation, that meant they would also be recognizing the Macedonian
minority all over the country, which they hadn’t done since 1958 (Ethnic
Macedonians in Bulgaria 2023). In the field of international relations, no
one has to recognize a language or a nation because it is a fact it exists (Stojanovski
et al., 2014, p. 305). Part of the reason Bulgaria wouldn’t recognize the
existence of Macedonia is they wouldn’t recognize Macedonian as its own
separate language from Bulgarian. In the 19th century, the language
Macedonian was still referred to as Bulgarian, so it’s not surprising Bulgaria
didn’t want to acknowledge the language was different and that there was a
completely different identity tied directly to that separate language. The
Bulgarian Constitutional Court even went as far as violating Article II of the
European Convention on Human Rights by declaring a Macedonian political party
as unconstitutional (Stojanovski et al., 2014, p. 306). The head of the
Bulgarian government was also sneaky when he signed an agreement that
Macedonian was the constitutional language of Macedonia because he wasn’t
technically recognizing the language as a separate language from Bulgarian (Stojanovski
et al., 2014, p. 307).
The name of Macedonia also had a very important impact on
the Macedonian national identity. Since their independence, Greece has
vehemently opposed the idea of Macedonia having the name Macedonia because they
would then have to share the name. When I say they vehemently opposed the use
of the name Macedonia, I mean they really hated the idea of it. As a member of
international groups, Greece had the power to block or veto Macedonia’s membership
to these organizations, the two biggest being NATO and the EU. Since having a
membership to these organizations is a big deal, the Macedonian government
spent so much money and energy trying to get these memberships for years (Stojanovski
et al., 2014, p. 310). The Greek used the pressure and their power as already
existing members to try and scare off Macedonia from joining (at least with that
name). For instance, they had their military do exercises near the Macedonian
border (Stojanovski et al., 2014, p. 309). Some Greek politicians thought they
should change those tactics and instead should invest in Macedonia’s economy
until Macedonia relied heavily on Greece’s money (Stojanovski et al., 2014, p.
309). They both signed an Interim Accord in 1995 that, surprisingly, did not
hold up. In 2008, Greece went against the agreement, specifically Article 11,
by vetoing Macedonia’s membership to NATO. They finally came to agreement and
Greece allowed Macedonia to use the name North Macedonia in 2019.
Othering
According to Anna Triandafyllidou “the identity of a nation is defined and/or
re-defined through the influence of ‘significant others.” (Triandafyllidou, 1998,
p.594). There are two main significant others, external and internal,
each with 3 subtypes. Macedonia has an internal significant other which are the
ethnic Albanians who live in North Macedonia. Historically, ethnic Albanians
have lived in North Macedonia specifically in the northwestern part (Albanians
in North Macedonia, 2023). Even though the second form of internal significant others
the ethnic Albanians are typically refers to immigrant communities, they
qualify because they are an ethnic minority (Triandafyllidou, 1998, p. 601).
In the ethnic Albanians case, they are an internal significant other due to the
difference in language and religion from the ethnic majority- the ethnic Macedonians.
The majority of ethnic Albanians follow Islam which differs from the ethnic
majority’s main religion, Macedonian Orthodox Christianity (Albanians
in North Macedonia, 2023). Besides the difference in religion, the difference in
language is also a great signification to the internal other. Ethnic Albanians
speak Albanian which has been difficult to get governmental support for. For
years, Albanian wasn’t taught in schools nor was Albanian used for instructions
in schools. The Macedonian government didn’t acknowledge Albanian as a
co-official language for years until they finalize recognized Albanian as a
co-official language in 2019.
Word Count:
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References
Central
Intelligence Agency. (2022). North Macedonia. Central Intelligence
Agency. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/north-macedonia/
Milenkovska,
M., & Taševska Remenski, F. (2016). Macedonia after the 2001 conflict:
Towards social cohesion and reconciliation? Southeast European and Black Sea
Studies, 16(3), 447–459.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2016.1204731
Stojanovski,
S., Marlov, D., & Ananiev, J. (2014). Macedonian Question Reframed:
Politics, Identity and Culture in Republic of Macedonia. Balkan Social
Science Review, 295–322.
Triandafyllidou,
A. (1998). National identity and the 'other'. Ethnic & Racial Studies,
21(4), 593–612.
Wikimedia
Foundation. (2023, February 6). Albanians in North Macedonia. Wikipedia.
Retrieved February 7, 2023, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanians_in_North_Macedonia#
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