Tens of Thousands protest Macedonia's name in Greece - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE] At least 140,000 Greeks have taken to the streets of Athens in a protest about the decades-long dispute over the name Macedonia. Many Greeks object to the country of the same name calling itself Macedonia, saying it implies a territorial claim on Greece's northern Macedonia region. Protesters oppose Greek government proposals on resolving the issue. Celebrated Zorba The Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, 92, was among those addressing the crowds. Anarchists daubed red paint over his home on Saturday but he was unfazed, declaring, "I am calm and ready." [/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42937889[/url] Here we go again...

In case anyone is confused, I highly recommend listening to this 5 minute podcast on the Greece-Macedonia debacle: [url]https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-foreign-desk/explainer-98/[/url] It really is an Onion article that amazingly has been going on for several decades.

Am I correct remembering that Greece's Macedonia region wants independence?

why do people get so angry and worked up over the dumbest shit I'll never be able to fathom it

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;53109472]why do people get so angry and worked up over the dumbest shit I'll never be able to fathom it[/QUOTE] Nationalism.

[QUOTE=download;53109469]Am I correct remembering that Greece's Macedonia region wants independence?[/QUOTE] Nah, it's about a country named Macedonia, north to Greece. Can't be called Macedonia because there's a historical region named like that and it belongs to Greece. Idiotic dumbtalk basically.

The PM's of both countries are trying to agree on a composite name for the RoM (like Vardar Macedonia, Vardar being a river in the region) but even that isn't [URL="https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/02/04/582506402/for-two-countries-the-dispute-over-macedonias-name-is-rooted-in-national-identit"]good enough[/URL] I don't know much about the region and I sure as hell don't live there so my opinion is basically worthless, but I can't believe something as infantile as this is the subject of such a huge debate that's [i]preventing a country from joining the EU and NATO[/i]

I understand why its named macedonia as that was the name of the region of the yugoslavian republic that occupied it but after its dessolution i dont understand why they would take a part of greece's history and claim it as their own?All these statues of alexander in macedonia and saying that they are descendants since alexander's time is a bit insulting to greeks. [editline]5th February 2018[/editline] I think the actual number was a lot higher than that,i think one million,for some reason the police in both protests decided to list the numbers much lower. Then again its not easy to count all the people boarding 2007 buses.

Give them what they want + bailout money to help the debt Greece owes. Then let Macedonia work out how the world really works. In seriousness, there needs to be less of this nationalistic bullshit. People need to work together or shit will only get worse

So wait, people are butthurt because a country has the same name as one of Greece's regions? Better not tell anyone in my country about Georgia :v:

We got a similar problem over here. There are these squatters, who have invented all these names like sweden, norway, iceland, east-england- When really its all called Danmark. But really, what a non-issue.

[QUOTE=St33m;53109603]We got a similar problem over here. There are these squatters, who have invented all these names like sweden, norway, iceland, east-england- When really its all called Danmark. But really, what a non-issue.[/QUOTE] I feel ya brother we have these fakers to our north and south called "Canada" and "Mexico"

[QUOTE=Mifil;53109476]Nah, it's about a country named Macedonia, north to Greece. Can't be called Macedonia because there's a historical region named like that and it belongs to Greece. Idiotic dumbtalk basically.[/QUOTE] I just want to point out that to protest because of a name is like the most dumb thing ever. I mean, there's Moldova and the province of Moldova in Romania, however nobody in Romania claims the Moldovans to steal the name and history. As well as the people of Rome does not go to the streets just because Romania is called like that because of the Romans. As well as the people who live in Pavia does not go down the streets to protest about Canton Ticino's name just because there's a Ticino and the city was called Ticinum.

You know the greeks are bad when every South Slav collectively agrees that they're acting like lunatics over the dumbest nationalist shit.

Does this mean Georgians should get angry at the US?

An update to this. [url]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-macedonia-greece/macedonia-says-ready-to-change-its-name-and-end-row-with-greece-idUSKBN1FQ2OY[/url] [QUOTE]Macedonia is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name to help resolve a dispute with Greece that has held up its prospects of joining the European Union and NATO, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on Tuesday. Zaev also said his government has renamed the main airport and a key highway, which had both been named after Alexander the Great. That riled Athens as Macedonia was also the name of an ancient Greek kingdom ruled by Alexander. Zaev said the airport will be renamed “International Airport Skopje” and the highway will be called Friendship. [/QUOTE]

I think the biggest problem for the Greeks is Macedonia appropriating Alexander the Great as symbol for their nation state. Alexander's original kingdom was based in what's now the Greek province of Macedonia, while the area of the present day republic of Macedonia were more or less tribal lands. Macedonian nationalists tried to distance themselves from Bulgaria, and appropriated Alexander the Great as symbol for their nationhood during the 19th and 20th century, while the area itself has few historical ties with the historical kingdom of Macedonia.