Of the six Yugoslav brothers, who is the most aggrieved? This is the country!
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was once made up of six member countries, and Croatia and Serbia are undoubtedly the most representative teams in world football.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia are not as well-known as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia, but they are stronger than Macedonia. Of course, Macedonia has ceased to be the country it is now, but has been renamed North Macedonia.
North Macedonia is far inferior to the other five countries in terms of popularity and economic power, and it is also the worst economy of the six. Croatia and Slovenia are pro-Western and have the highest level of economy among the six countries.
The economy of Serbia (including Montenegro in the early days) is not bad, and Bosnia and Herzegovina has the support of a large number of homofaith communities. After the independence of Montenegro, the small country and the widows lived happily. However, North Macedonia is a landlocked country and does not receive support from any country or region except those of the same faith.
There are many landlocked countries in Eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, but their economies are not bad. North Macedonia's problem is the lack of access to the sea, and to get it, there are three options.
First, through Kosovo into Montenegro, and then into the Adriatic Sea.
North Macedonia enters the Adriatic Sea via Albania. 2. Head south through Greece to the Aegean Sea. North Macedonia faces many challenges when passing through Albania.
Although North Macedonia has a population of only 2.09 million, Macedonians make up 54 and Albanians make up nearly 30. Because of this demographic structure, Albania will see the interests of the Albanians of North Macedonia as its own, often demanding some concessions from North Macedonia, which will not usually fully cooperate.
After the outbreak of the Kosovo War in 1999, 400,000 Albanians fled to North Macedonia and settled there, where they began to demand independence.
Kosovo, on the other hand, is the brother of Albania, similar to Romania and Moldova. As a result, North Macedonia faces many constraints on its access to the sea through Albania.
What's more, due to the relative backwardness of North Macedonia, they do not have a railway to Albania, and the cost of transportation is greatly increased. Despite this, North Macedonia still has a route to Thessaloniki, the second largest port in Greece and the second largest city.
Therefore, they had the option of heading south through Greece.
Among neighboring countries such as Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia and Greece have the worst relations. This is mainly due to Greece's dissatisfaction with the name "Macedonia".
Greece argues that the name has territorial claims to the Macedonian region of northern Greece. In ancient Western legends, the territory of the great Emperor Alexander included what is now northern Greece.
Greek civilization and the fabled Macedonian Empire are inextricably linked. In modern times, Macedonia became part of Yugoslavia, and Greece categorically refused to recognize the name "Macedonia" for the reasons mentioned above.
For example, in the eighties of the last century, university degrees and diplomas in Skopje, the capital of the Macedonian constituent states, were not recognized by Greece. At that time, Macedonia also had the protection of Yugoslavia, and after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Macedonia became a country with only 2The small country of 570,000 square kilometers, due to its lack of relatives in the international community, suffered a great loss in this "historical" confrontation with Greece.
Macedonia, which is located between the three major powers of Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, has always struggled to gain recognition of its independence from the three countries, especially Greece. Despite Macedonia's insistence on using "Macedonia" as its name, Greece is firmly against it and has used all available resources internationally to impose sanctions.
Because of Greece's hardline stance, Macedonia was forced to use the name "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" when it joined the United Nations in 1993. A year later, Greece took advantage of its Aegean port to impose an embargo on the landlocked country of Macedonia.
Macedonia spent more than a year constantly explaining to Greece that it had no territorial ambitions for the northern regions of Greece. Eventually, Greece lifted the ban in September 1995.
However, Macedonia has long regarded the legendary Macedonian Empire as its great history, such as the retro-style change of some place names after 2006, which caused extreme alarm in Greece.
Macedonia and Greece are in their own interests to join the EU or NATO, and Greece's opposition is the only obstacle. In order to solve this problem, Macedonia has canceled its previous decision to show more goodwill to Greece, and although there is opposition within the two countries, the mainstream still hopes to reach a compromise as much as possible.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, Russia's power was greatly affected, and Serbia, as the successor of Yugoslavia, could not compete with other countries in the Balkans.
Nevertheless, Serbia remains an important strategic pillar for Russia abroad due to the special alliance between Russia and Serbia. NATO wants to be able to take control of the Balkans and will try to encircle Serbia, if not easily overthrown.
Many of Serbia's neighbors have joined NATO, but the dispute between Macedonia and Greece could have a negative impact on NATO's Balkan strategy. Therefore, NATO considered it necessary to intervene in the dispute over the names of Macedonia and Greece.
Macedonia and Greece successfully resolved their name dispute on June 12, 2018, with the mediation of NATO. Five days later, the two countries signed the Prespa Agreement.
Lake Prespa is located between the two countries, and the choice of this place is also meaningful.
After compromises and concessions on both sides, Macedonia agreed to change its name to North Macedonia, which Greece accepted. Greece was more concerned that North Macedonia no longer adhered to its historical Macedonian empire, and North Macedonia agreed to this compromise.
Although changing the name of the country is a humiliation for North Macedonia, it is for the future of the country, and North Macedonia must make concessions to Greece.