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The Macedonian Slavs are an ethnic group which inhabits
the wider Macedonian region and speaks the Macedonian language. They are generally associated with the Macedonian Orthodox Church and are said to be the
descendents of ancient Thracian, Illyrian,
and Slavic tribes. They are often called Macedonians,
although this is somewhat inexact, as several different peoples inhabit the region.
Ever since the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, when Macedonia, previously part of Rumelia, was carved up between the Balkan nations, the status of the
Macedonian Slavs has been a controversial issue. The northern
parts of the historic province of Macedonia came under Serbian rule, the southern under
Greece and the eastern under Bulgaria.
Each of the three countries has tended to regard the Macedonian Slavs as a subset of their own peoples: hence the Serbs regard them as Serbs, the Bulgarians as
Bulgarians and the Greeks as Greeks. After the Balkan Wars and especially after the
Greek-Turkish population exchanges of the 1920s, Macedonian Slavs came under severe
pressure in northern Greece, with many forced to leave the country. For many years, the Greek government denied their existence
as a national minority and many of the border villages were closed to outsiders, ostensibly for security reasons.
The issue continued to be a source of political tensions throughout the 20th
century, especially after the secession of the Republic
of Macedonia from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The creation of
the state that shares the name with a wider region was seen by many as an expression of territorial pretensions towards
neighbouring states, especially coupled with the usage of symbols from ancient Macedon. However, the Macedonian government has since modified its stance, changing the country's national symbols
and constitution in an attempt to clarify its intentions.
Serbia and Montenegro recognizes the Macedonian Slav
minority on its territory as a distinct ethnic group. The authorities in Bulgaria maintain cordial relations with them but
consider them to be Bulgarians (their ancestors and the proto-Bulgarians were both Slavic), and the Constitutional Court banned a
Macedonian Slav political party in 2000 as separatist. The Greek government has denied
legal recognition to any ethnic minorities other than Turks, and opposes the use of the term "Macedonians" to refer to the
country's Slav minority, which is centred on the northern Greek town of Florina. This
has earned Greece considerable criticism from international human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch.
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