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Macedonia

Landlocked country in southeast Europe, bounded north by Serbia, west by Albania, south by Greece, and east by Bulgaria.

Government

Macedonia has a democratic multiparty parliamentary system. Under its 1991 constitution it has a 120-member single-chamber assembly, the Sobranje, elected by universal suffrage for a four-year term under a system of representation. The president, who is head of state and of the armed forces but has a largely ceremonial role, is directly elected every five years for a maximum of two terms. The prime minister is appointed by the president, from the candidate who has majority support in the assembly. Other ministers are elected by the assembly.

History

The ancient region of Macedonia (of which the present-day republic comprises only a part) was originally settled by the Slavs in the 6th century. It suffered a series of conquests: by Bulgars in the 7th century and converting to Christianity in the 9th century; by Byzantium in 1014; and by Serbia in the 14th century. It became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1355. In the 19th century there were a number of attempted uprisings against the Ottomans by Macedonians fighting for independence It was then divided between Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece after the Balkan Wars 1912-13. After World War I Serbian Macedonia (equivalent to the present-day republic) became part of the federal state of Yugoslavia and demands for greater autonomy were made. During World War II it was occupied 1941-44 by Bulgaria, an Axis power allied to Nazi Germany. Bulgaria's harsh rule led many Macedonians to support Tito's Communist Partisans resistance movement. In the post-war period, Macedonia became a republic within socialist Yugoslavia and tensions resurfaced between ethnic Macedonians and the Serb-dominated federal government.

Independence achieved

After the death of Yugoslav President Tito in 1980, it became increasingly apparent that the federal structure would not hold. Macedonia sought independence but the presence of a large Albanian minority, and objections by the Greek government to a state bearing the same name as a region in northern Greece (and the territorial claim that that might imply), made the transition difficult. In a September 1991 referendum ethnic Macedonians overwhelmingly backed independence, but the poll was boycotted by the republic's Albanian and Serb minorities. Independence was declared in 1992 and the new state became a member of the United Nations (UN) in April 1993 under the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece sought to block formal European Union (EU) recognition. In December 1993, six EU member states formally recognized Macedonia, as did the USA in February 1994. Greece responded by imposing a trade embargo on the republic, which led to energy shortages and forced a state of emergency to be declared in December 1994. In September 1995, after the European Commission had put pressure on Greece to change its stance, and after Macedonia agreed to redesign its flag (removing the Vergina Star of the Macedonian dynasty of Alexander the Great) and amend two articles of its constitution to remove any suggestion of possible claims on the Greek region of Macedonia, Greece officially recognized Macedonia and restored diplomatic relations.

In 1989, the Macedonian Communist Party relinquished its dominant role and a multiparty constitution was adopted in 1991. The first post-independence presidential elections, held in October 1994, were won by the incumbent Kiro Gligorov and the ruling four-party coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP), the Socialist Party (SP), and the Liberal won a clear victory in the parliamentary elections. Branko Crvenkovski, who had been prime minister since 1992, continued. President Gligorov was seriously injured in a car bomb assassination attempt in Skopje in October 1995.

Macedonia was peaceful during the Yugoslav wars of the early 1990s but was destabilized by mounting unrest in neighbouring Kosovo. This led the UN to station a UN Preventative Deployment Force in Macedonia (UNPREDEP) in the country, with around 1,000 troops.

Increasing support for nationalists

In November 1998 the ruling Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), which had governed the country since independence, lost power in the general election of October-November 1998 to a coalition of right-wing parties. This included the nationalist Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) and the Democratic Alternative (DA), a new pro-business party founded by Vasil Turpurkovski. The VMRO-DPMNE leader, Ljubco Georgievski, became prime minister and vowed to end corruption, encourage private enterprise and foreign investment, and improve inter-ethnic relations. In 1999, Boris Trajkovski of VMRO-DPMNE, won the presidential election, but inherited an economy in recession, caused by a collapse in trade with Serbia, and unemployment figures approaching 40%. He declared his eventual goal for Macedonia to be membership of NATO and the EU.

March-June 2001 fighting with Albanian guerrillas

In March 2001, heavy fighting broke out between Macedonia's security forces and ethnic Albanian fighters in Macedonian villages in the north and west, near the border with Kosovo. The fighting spread along the border, but was particularly concentrated around Tetovo, Macedonia's second-largest city, where the majority of the population are ethnic Albanians. Many supported the aim, though not the means, of protesting against what was perceived as the second-class citizenship status of Albanians in Macedonia. Albanians formed 30% of Macedonia's population, and up to 60% are unemployed. Some also supported the aim of creating a ‘Greater Albania’ from regions in Kosovo and Macedonia. Following the shooting of two policeman in the capital, Skopje, Macedonian tanks shelled the hills around Tetovo on 20 March, and five days later, the army stormed Albanian rebel positions in the area. Rebel activity decreased following the attacks, and the government sought talks with moderate Albanian representatives.

In May 2001, Prime Minister Georgievski formed a a new government of national unity, but ethnic fighting continued as Macedonian troops stepped up their offensive against ethnic Albanian insurgents in northern villages, while NATO and the EU urged peace. The conflict had displaced more than 70,000 people. In July 2001, under pressure from NATO, the government and the ethnic Albanian guerrillas signed ceasefire agreements.

Peace deal

On 13 August 2001, Albanian and Macedonian leaders signed a Western-brokered peace accord that promised ethnic Albanians something closer to equality in the state, while ethnic Albanian rebels agreed to give up their separatist demands and hand over their weapons to NATO soldiers. Around 4,500 NATO peacekeeping troops, including 1,900 British soldiers, went to Macedonia for Operation Essential Harvest to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels. A smaller German- and French-led force remained after September 2001 to oversee the continuing peace process.

In October 2001, ethnically-mixed police units were deployed to areas of Macedonia seized by ethnic Albanian rebels during clashes with government troops. In November 2001, Macedonia's parliament approved constitutional amendments to devolve greater power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority, and in March 2002 international donors responded by pledging US$515 million of aid.

Leadership changes

The SDSM, led by Branko Crvenkovski, won the September 2002 assembly elections and he became prime minister. He was elected president in April 2004, after President Trajkovski died in an air crash in February 2004. Former interior minister Hari Kostov became prime minister, but was replaced in November 2004 by Vlado Buchkovski, the new SDSM leader. Parliamentary elections in July 2006 were won by the centre-right VMRO-DPMNE and its leader, Nikola Gruevski, became prime minister in August 2006, heading a coalition government which included the Democratic Party of Albanians. With a third of the population unemployed, the government's key challenge was to improve the rate of economic growth, which had averaged 3% a year since 2003.

In 2005 the country was officially recognized, under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as a European Union candidate state.

Yugoslavia