Alright guys! This is going to be
the most controversial video I've made since Armenia and Azerbaijan. As you know, we follow the alphabetical
English list of countries in the UN. That being said, as the UN, EU, European Council, and NATO
all give the same title for this country. This episode is going to go under 'F' for
"Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". However, I will refer to this country as the Republic of Macedonia as over 130 countries call it that on their own terms, and because it's shorter and easier to say. Okay? Are we good? Cool? โซ โซ โซ โซ It's time to learn geography! โซ NOW! Hey everyone, I'm your host Barby. For those of you who know nothing about this country
or why I'm trying to take so many precautions. Basically all you have to know is that in almost every aspect, this place is
actually pretty plain, simple and chill. It's just the name that starts all the drama. You might be wondering why.
Well, we will explain in a bit But first, let's talk about where it is. So, the Republic of Macedonia-- Am I good? I know you don't like it but
can you just at least maybe tolerate it if I just use this title for the video
for abbreviating purposes? Greece: No problem. Please, just continue your lesson. Thank you. So, the Republic of Macedonia is kind of like a
country that got mixed up, tossed around flipped, turned upside down and I'd like to take a moment just sitting right here to tell you how this country became a place with such an affair. OH! High five! First of all, the country is landlocked and located in the Balkan Peninsula of Southeast Europe, surrounded by Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and depending on which side of the
sovereignty debate you stand on, Kosovo and Serbia. Guys, it's the Balkans, Europe's
most dysfunctional family. The country is divided into 9 regions with the capital Skopje located in the
North central part of the country where a quarter of the entire population lives. It's also the historical birthplace of Mother Teresa and in the city square it has a statue of Alexander the Great. Greece: Look, they immortalized
Alexander the Great, in their land. Oh, and they named their airport after him too. Greece: ... The country only has two main civilian airports: Skopje Alexander the Great International and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle International,
by Lake Ohrid. Ohrid is a popular tourist and vacation spot, however, the second and third largest cities are Bitola, Kumanovo in the Northeast of Skopje. The E-75 highway is the longest and busiest road that traverses the entire country North to South. Fun little side note! In the Republic of Macedonia, the sidewalks are
actually used for both walking and parking. To this day, the legacy of the Ottoman
times is well preserved in places like the Gazi Hajdar Kadi Mosque in Bitola. Tetovo is kinda like the Albanian capital of the country as it has the highest Albanian population in the country, adorned with geometric and floral motifs all over. In the west, we reach the strange
town/micronation of Vevฤani which declared itself its own republic and
even has its own currency called the linฤnik. Now, if there's any structure that just straight-up dominates the landscape though, it would have to be monasteries,
churches, fortresses and mosques. I did four like this, that's weird. This is how I made a four. Ones, like St. John the baptist monastery, which supposedly has the forearm of St. John the baptist embellished with extremely intricate wood carvings in the interior. The Kale fortress in Skopje and the Tsar
Samuel fortress in Ohrid stick out too. So, those are some of the most noticeable sites,
but you're probably still wondering "Okay, that's nice but what does any of this have
to do with the country's controversial name?" We'll explain that in just a little bit
in the demographics section, but first let's slowly keep you distracted
from the inevitable rage fest by telling you more about the pretty
mountains and rivers and stuff... All right, let's have one more round
of plain objective fact reporting before the gray zone of doom
comes up in the next section. In the simplest way I can put this, the country is about 80% mountainous and basically split in half by the longest river, the Vardar that flows North
to South and emptying in the Aegean Sea. On the west of the river you have the Dinaric Alps with the tallest peak Mt. Korab along the border of Albania. The general South Balkan region that the country lies on sits on the subduction zone between the European and African plates
cut right in the Mediterranean. Therefore, the Republic of Macedonia is subject
to some earthquake activity every so often. The Republic of Macedonia is famous for
two things: tobacco, and opium. The opium here is the national treasure which has disputably the highest quality in the world, with about 14 morphine units per specimen. Rep. of Macedonia: Yeah, sorry Afghanistan.
Hang in there though, you're doing good. The crop is mostly used for pharmaceuticals
and is transported all over Europe. There is also the Peshna cave in Makedonski Brod
which is famous for looking like Helm's deep in Lord of the Rings. Close by Skopje, you can't miss
the Matka valley with the canyons. Of course, the price trophy of the
country would have to be Lake Ohrid. One of the oldest and deepest lakes in Europe
with over 200 different endemic species. Including the Ohrid trout which is
one of the national animals. Some national dishes include meat pie and Ajvar relish made of crushed bell peppers and garlic. Sometimes referred as vegetable caviar. Even though sometimes Serbians
will say that they created it. And that's about it! Stay tuned. France is coming up next! Oh yeah... Uh, how did this country get their whole
name controversy dispute thing, right ah. Oh boy, well uh... Here comes the train wreck. I'll do my best. Transition? Oh boy... This is going to be just dandy.
No matter what I say in any angle in this section. Someone is going to disagree
and throw sharp objects at me. But, this is my job... This is the life I chose... Come on Barby, you can do this! Hey! Uh... We haven't done a Bob Saget joke in a while. Duh, I'm Bob Saget. I wear dad pants
and I once sat on a pizza. Okay, first of all. The country has about
2 million people and was the only former Yugoslav republic to gain
independence without any bloodshed. About 65% of the nation identifies as ethnically Macedonian and a quarter are Albanians and rest are made up of groups like
Turks, Romanis, Serbs and Bosniaks. The currency is also the Macedonian Denar,
they use the 'C', 'E', 'F' type outlets and they drive on the right side of the road. Now, let's begin the discussion... First of all, what exactly are some distinguishing
traits of people that identify as "Macedonian"? Well, for starters, just like we
explained in the Bulgaria episode. They have Slavic roots and speak a Slavic based language that is very similar to Bulgarian. Most people in both countries can
understand each other just fine, and many have relatives and family
that live in each other's countries. The people of this country have been tossed around
over and over again in the past millennia, and it wasn't until the Balkan wars
that things really got cracking. For those of you who don't know, the Balkan
wars basically just went like this: - Round 1 - Oh no, we don't like the Ottomans. Let's fight them, yeah... - Round 2 - Bulgaria: What the?! We had an agreement, you screwed it all up. You're all dead! And that's about it. Essentially the area that takes up the parameters of modern-day Republic of Macedonia were sort of the product of Yugoslavia after World War II. First, they were called Vardar Banovina and then it became the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. To this day, Macedonians claim that they are descendants of Alexander the Great and the ancient Macedonians that were mixed
in with the Slavic tribes that migrated into the area in the 6th century AD. Then, in 1991 Yugoslavia broke up and that was when the whole modern mess with Greece really heated up. I mean, it was already kind of heated before
that but this just made things a lot worse. To this day, Greece deliberately opposes
the usage of the title "Macedonia" as they claim the name is historically
inseparable from Greek heritage and they are the only ones that have the right
to use the name, let alone the symbols. And shortly after they said that, the Republic of Macedonia started to use the... symbols. Yeah, that didn't really help the conflict. One thing that both Greeks and Macedonians can
agree on is that historically, there was a region called Macedonia that expanded under Alexander
the Great all the way from the Balkans to India. Where they disagree on is who the Macedonians
and Alexander the Great really were, which... I'm going to try my best, kind of went like this: Greece: You guys are constructing a narrative
and appropriating our heritage and symbols and it all started with Tito.
Macedonia is an inherently Greek title and you guys are not Greek,
let alone Hellenistic in any way. Rep. of Macedonia: Uh, we never claimed to be
Greek and neither was Alexander the Great. He was ethnically Macedonian which was a
separate distinct group apart from the Greeks with mixed in with our Slavic forefathers
after they arrived centuries later. Greece: Dude, the Macedonians were Greeks.
They spoke Greek, they had the same culture, they worshiped the same gods, they spread
the Greek language across the empire, Alexander the Great was taught by Aristotle.
They were Greek! Rep. of Macedonia: Yeah, he spoke Greek, he also
spoke Persian and a ton of other languages, and if they were Greek, why would they go to
war with ton of other Greek cities so often? He spoke the original Macedonian
language first, and then propagated the Greek culture as it was seen as advantageous. Greece: That's just a lie your leaders have told you to set up footing for future claims against Greek territory. Macedonia has been the name of our
North region for over 3000 years with real Greek Macedonians today living in that area. Rep. of Macedonia: Huh, yeah, that totally
explains the actions of Ioannis Metaxas in 1913. Greece: I knew you would bring that up. Look, I know that was tragic and horrible but it's completely irrelevant to the actual documented, archaeologically corroborated, historical facts that you can't deny. Rep. of Macedonia: Huh, then clearly
you need a history lesson. Greece: NO, YOU DO! Rep. of Macedonia: YOU DO! Greece: YOU DO! Bulgaria: So uh guys, the Pirin region... Rep. of Macedonia: AAAAA! Disclaimer: this is pretty much just what the governments and radical nationalists say. Most of the general Greek and Macedonian populations don't really care too much about this issue. To this day, the UN, EU, European Council have all somewhat cited with Greece agreeing to appoint the title "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" Many Greek and Macedonian politicians have said
that they would maybe be willing to settle on a new compound country name that deliberately distinguishes the country apart from the word Macedonia. Some suggestions include: Slavo-Macedonia,
Upper-Macedonia or Northern-Macedonia. But for now, the one that kind of unofficially
stands at a somewhat not perfect but not too rage inciting national title is
"The Republic of Macedonia". So anyway! Macedonians love wrestling and handball. Wrestler Saban Trstena being considered a national icon as he won a gold metal in 1984. The men's handball league made four appearances in the World Championships. Some notable Macedonians throughout history include: poets Blaze Koneski, Kole Nedelkovski, painter Petar Manzev, pianist Simon Trpฤeski, Academy Award nominated director Milฤo Manฤevski. - I know, "ski, ski, ski, ski, ski" - And of course, even though she was ethnically Albanian, Mother Teresa was born in Skopje. All right, I think it's time to move on.
Let's jump into diplomacy. Well, as you can probably guess. The Republic of Macedonia is kind of surrounded by neighbors that have some kind of issue with them. The general stereotype is that Serbia doesn't recognize their church, Bulgarians don't recognize their sovereignty, Albanians don't recognize the
Western border and Greece... Yeah, you can kind of already guess. However, it's the 21st century
and the millennial generation really doesn't care too much
about their grandparents' drama. Borders are totally open. People travel back and forth between these countries and trade is consistent as long as you've got a good
bottle of Balkan wine to share. Serbians are generally close as their split from the republic was the only one without bloodshed. Even though some political points are disputed,
they're still cool. And Bulgaria is like the country where the Republic of Macedonia kind of sneaks into
the EU through a loophole in the passport system. In which you can totally qualify if you have
family in Bulgaria, which many Macedonians do. Turkey still gets along nicely with them,
however it's been favoring Albania and Kosovo a little bit more these days. Their best friends however, and out of all
the Macedonian geograpeeps I asked, more or less, most of them agreed that Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are probably their closest allies. These *three countries all share a deep history of being former Yugoslav republic states that go way back. Have you ever had friends that you made while you were all being punished for something at the same time? Yeah, that's kind of how it is with these guys. They've seen so much struggle and
hardship together and still managed to smile back at each other the entire time. Brandon: It's like Breakfast club! Yeah! It's like Breakfast club. In conclusion: just saying the word
Macedonia incites a lot of opinions and frustrations with certain groups of people and I'm not going to pretend I have an answer to all of this. The Balkans will always be indescribably complicated. It's just interesting how a simple name can
cause so much uproar. Names matter. Let that be a lesson for you today. Restez ร l'รฉcoute. France sera le prochain!
[Stay tuned. France is coming up next!]
That was... Pretty good! Most neutral video I've seen talking about the name dispute.
I feel like the issue could have been solved a while ago, but Gruevski has really burned all the bridges with his antiquisation policy. Ironically his family are originally from Greece (near Florina/Lerin) but were forced to flee after the Greek Civil War. I've always assumed he has some deep seated hatred against Greece because of this which inspires him to pursue these batshit insane statue-building policies.
I actually visited the country for the first time this summer. Skopje has been really destroyed sadly, but Ohrid and Prespa are absolute treasures of Macedonia/the Balkans/Earth and long may they remain that way.
Nice presentation. Being politically correct sure is hard..
I think people don't get the main dilemma here. From my view the problem isn't the name, the problem is that Macedonians are altering historical facts to fit their political perspective. History shouldn't be used as a political tool first and foremost. Second, you are teaching false facts to your children and to your students. I am sorry but Alexander the Great was Greek, the ancient Macedonians spoke greek and their shared the same culture with the greek city states. There was no such thing as a Macedonian language in ancient times at least we have zero evidence for that so far, you just can't claim such a thing when you can't back it up. You are slavs, not the descendants of the Macedonians. It is false, by this logic my people could claim that we are the descendants of the Romans because Romans lived in Pannonia. Just for the record I am a history student and that is one of the main reasons why I am frustrated by this kind of application and manipulation of history.
I think Barby got confused or something. There already is a video about Bulgaria.
He mentioned that he made this video now based on the name of the country in the UN and other international organizations, however the (provisional) name of the country includes the article 'the' and in the UN system is listed under the letter T, right after Thailand :-) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_United_Nations
Fucking triggered !
Bulgaria and Macedonia kinda reminds the relations of Romania and Moldova.
Bulgarians living in Yugoslavia and taking a Hellenic name.
SUCH CONFUSION.
Always wondered why they didn't want to make up a new name. Hell, "Fyromania" or "Fyromia" based on the acronym, would be interesting enough.