On Greek-Macedonian Conflict (1991-1995)

The problem of Macedonian is an important and complex problem in Balkan Peninsula. For long time, various antinomy and disputes about Macedonian region emerged in history. The problem of Macedonian caused Greek-Macedonian Conflict that kept on nearly 4 years after independence of Republic of Macedonia in 1991. It was the focus of disputes whether " Macedonia" can be used as the name of a country or nation. Greece strongly objected Macedonia for using this name and immediately demanded from the international communities not to recognize the country. It is greatly debated about which one has the right to be called Macedonians between Greek and Macedonians. The conflict between two countries is involved in a series of historical, national, cultural and diplomatic problems, which grew into Greece' s practicing economic blockade to Macedonia. As a result, economic difficulty came into Macedonia. Moreover, the relationship between two countries was so dangerous that may lead to arms. By means of the widespread concerns and active effort of the international communities, Greece and Macedonia eventually signed the Interim Accord in 1995, and the Greek-Macedonian relationship came to be normalization.This thesis discussing Greek-Macedonian Conflict bases on absorbing the thoughts and results of people in the past, adding up my deep researches and studies, and expresses my viewpoints among some problems.By showing the historical changes in Macedonian regionclearly, this thesis is discussing the inevitable reasons thatcaused Greek-Macedonian Conflict. Macedonian Name Disputing wasthe fuse of the conflict, which made Balkan Peninsula situationbecome tenser and tenser including a series of fighting. In fact,this conflict was not only a national conflict but also anationalistic crash between Greek and Macedonians, witch wasinvolving historical and cultural factors, transnational ethnicproblems and relating to the national sovereignty, territorialand cultural resources and so on. From the view of their ownstandpoints, two countries attacked each other, which causedbeneficial contradiction. This conflict can' t get away from therise of the nationalism in international environment after theCold War, and geographic political characteristics in BalkanPeninsula as well as the interference of big countries increasedthe complexity of this problem. It was very difficult to solvethis sensitive problem from the standpoint of narrow nationalism.Moreover, the peace and stability of international situationwould be affected greatly as well. Therefore, this conflict andhow to deal with it provided much experience and training for everycountry which would face the similar one.