Macedonia History

 Professor Victor Friedman is one of the world’s foremost experts on Balkan languages, and has been studying them for almost four decades, since 1993 as a linguist at the University of Chicago. Professor Friedman has a special place in his heart for Macedonia, which he first visited in 1971. This year finds him back in the country, as the recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Grant from the US Department of Education and a research grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.(All opinions expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily represent those of the funding organizations.) Balkanalysis.com Director Christopher Deliso caught up with Professor Friedman recently in Skopje for an interview. Their engrossing and wide-ranging conversation, covering everything from linguistic history, politics and lobbying to national identity and multiculturalism, is reproduced below for our readers. Christopher Deliso: Victor, thanks for taking the time to discuss your ideas and your research, ...

  Is there a connection between Scotland and Macedonia? Interestingly, we have to mention here that we talk about connections that some of the Scots themselves trace with the ancient Macedonians. So we can discover the following statement on the homepage of the well known scottish Gordon Clan: The origin of the Gordon clan in Scotland was not Gaelic. The Gordon clan is originally from Normandy, where their ancestors are said to have had large possessions. From the great antiquity of the race, many fabulous accounts have been given of the descent of the Gordons. Some derive them from a city of Macedonia, called Gordonia (close to modern day Gevgelija) .  Some Scottish sources seem to testify to an origin from the city of "Gordonia" (near Gevgelija, near the Macedonian-Greek border). Sir Walter Scott also tells us that the Scottish forces under William Wallace would "resemble those of the Macedonian phalanx": The favourite Scottish order of battle somewhat resembled t...

 The old part of Ohrid or ancient Lychnidos on Lake Ohrid in Macedonia was an island in the period from the late Bronze Age to the arrival of the Romans. This is shown by the geological and archaeological research carried out as part of the five-year project "Border studies, identity research and cultural contacts in the border area of ancient Macedonia". The project was led by the Archaeological Museum of Macedonia and the Institute of Classical Studies of Charles University in Prague, in cooperation with the German Archaeological Institute, the Geological Institute in Prague and the South Bohemian University from the Czech Republic and the Institute for Protection of Cultural Heritage and Museum of Ohrid. The head of the project, Pero Ardžanliev from the Archaeological Museum of Macedonia, explains in an interview with MIA that during the geological investigations in the plain, i.e. the part where modern-day Ohrid is located, lake sediments were discovered, this is the proo...

 For the first time in North America, Macedonian archaeological artifacts will be exhibited at the international exhibition “The First Kings of Europe”, presenting artistic excellence in the field of social and religious forms characteristic of various stages of prehistory. The exhibition The First Kings of Europe is the result of the initiative of the Field Museum from Chicago and cooperation with the Institute and Museum - Bitola, the Gevgelija Museum and the Institute and Museum - Prilep. The national coordinator of the exhibition is Goce Naumov, who made a selection of several Neolithic, Neolithic and Iron Age objects found at the Vrbjanska Chuka, Shuplevec and Milci sites. These objects, along with hundreds of other artifacts from 23 Balkan museums, show the gradual social development of prehistoric communities that gradually transformed from egalitarian tribal organizations in the Neolithic to the first European kingdoms in the Balkan Iron Age. – The exhibition is initiated b...

  With genotyping, which we will publish soon, we managed to prove whether our ancestors were Slavs or ancient Macedonians. You can change history, but not your genes! You can, with various agreements, change the history textbooks, change the books, force historians to write according to the government's demands to change history, but you cannot change the genes and the blood that flows in our veins! Literally, the history of Macedonia flows in our veins. After the announcement of the results, all hypotheses about the origin of the Macedonian people should be closed and what we will claim should be made official. Even what we have so far as a result, will cause an earthquake among the Macedonian public, geneticist Dzundev says in an exclusive interview for Macedonian newspaper VEČER. Who is Dimitar Dzundev, the man the world knows about, but few in his native Macedonia? I was born in Gevgelija, where I completed my primary education, and then continued to secondary school in Skopje...

 An overview map of the Republic of Macedonia by the American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, from 1994 shows among other details "occupied Macedonian territories". The overview map is entitled "The former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, summary map", the United States Central Intelligence Agency is named as the contributor. The map was published in Washington, D.C. by the Agency in 1994, three years after the independence of the Republic of Macedonia. "Historical Macedonia" On the overview map we find a smaller map on the lower right side, which undoubtedly belongs to the column "Eras of Historical Control" (times of historical control). We see the borders of historical Macedonia drawn with blue markings. The marking covers areas in four countries: The Republic of Macedonia ("Vardar-Macedonia"), Greece (Aegean-Macedonia), Bulgaria (Pirin-Macedonia) and Albania (around Lake Ohrid). As a little legend we discover a remark on the map ...

 Once More into the Fray To the objective observer who has followed the unending contamination of politics in Macedonia, the events that have unfolded in the country since independence can only be viewed as an absolute tragedy. In addition to being held back from economic development, the Macedonians have been robbed of their dignity and cultural heritage. The culprits responsible for this predicament are found both inside and outside of Macedonia. Although diminishing by the day, the hope of those Macedonians who have maintained their integrity is to end this nightmare as soon as possible so they can right the wrongs inflicted upon them and take back control of their destiny. However, the nightmare is not yet over. The perpetual cowardice of politicians in Macedonia has given way to greed and treachery, leading them back into the footsteps of Judas to beg for another 30 pieces. Only this time, the malevolence of Caiaphas comes not in the form of a rapacious Greece, which has quenc...