MACEDONIA

Republic Of Macedonia = Aegean Macedonia = Pirin Macedonia = Mala Prespa

Macedonia for the Macedonians United and Free

Macedonian Sun O Kutlesh Symbol of the Macedonian Nation

The ancient territory of Macedon included, in addition to the areas of the present-day Macedonia, large parts of present-day northern Greece and southwestern Bulgaria. This ancient kingdom reached its height during the reign of Alexander III ("the Great"), who extended Macedon's influence over most of Asia Minor, the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and even parts of India. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Macedon Empire gradually declined, until Rome conquered it in 168 BC and made it a province in 148 BC.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the territory of Macedonia fell under the control of the Byzantine Empire in the 6th and 7th centuries. It was during this period that large groups of Slavic people migrated to the Balkan region. The Serbs, Bulgarians, and Byzantines fought for control of Macedonia until the late 14th century, when the Ottoman Turks conquered the territory; it remained under Turkish rule until 1912.

After more than four centuries of rule, Ottoman power in the region began to wane, and by the middle of the 19th century, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia were competing for influence in the territory. During this time, a nationalist movement emerged and grew in Macedonia. The latter half of the 19th century was marked by sporadic nationalist uprisings, culminating in the Ilinden Uprising of August 2, 1903.

Macedonian revolutionaries liberated the town of Krushevo and established the short-lived Republic of Krushevo, which was put down by Ottoman forces after 10 days. Following Ottoman Turkey's defeat by the allied Balkan countries--Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece--during the First Balkan War in autumn 1912, the same allies fought the Second Balkan War over the division of Macedonia. The August 1913 Treaty of Bucharest ended this conflict by dividing the territory between Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles sanctioned partitioning Macedonia between The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Bulgaria, and Greece. In the wake of the First World War, Vardarian Macedonia (the present day area of Macedonia) was incorporated into the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

100 years ago under the leadership of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), Macedonians rose up to liberate themselves from the Ottoman Turk with aims of creating a free and independent Macedonian State. Exactly ten years later their hopes, dreams and aspirations were dashed when Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia fought over, conquered and partitioned Macedonia in the 1912-1913 Balkan wars. Even though their struggle did not achieve desired results, the Ilinden Uprising was forever imprinted on the Macedonian consciousness. August 2nd, 1903 will forever be remembered as the day the Macedonian people rose and fought for freedom, liberty and self-rule.

Even though history has clearly recorded the 1903 epic Macedonian struggle, Greece and Bulgaria refuse to acknowledge it and the existence of a Macedonian nation. As a direct result of this non recognition, the Greek and Bulgarian States over the years have committed numerous acts of aggression against the Macedonian people including ethnic cleansing, population expulsions, burning of villages, tortures, murders, property confiscation and systemic discrimination.

Forced assimilation by both states have robbed the Macedonian people of their basic freedoms including the freedom to assert their nationality, to speak their mother tongue (Macedonian) in public, to practice their religion and to enjoy their culture. In the name of Hellenism, in their attempts to forcibly assimilate the Macedonian nation, Greek authorities have erased all Macedonian toponyms and peoples names and replaced them with Greek sounding ones. Even today, Greece and Bulgaria refuse to acknowledge the existence of Macedonians in their respective territories.

The only desires Macedonians have today are for Greece and Bulgaria to recognize them as "Macedonians" and to grant them some basic human rights like the right to speak Macedonian, the right to attend school in the Macedonian language, the right to practice religion and the right to enjoy Macedonian culture without fear of persecution.

There are many Macedonians who have been wronged over the years, like the Macedonian Refugee Children of Greece who were exiled after the Greek Civil War (1945 to 1949) by the Greek State and are still not allowed to return home, even to visit ailing relatives. Greece must take immediate measures to deal with these problems.