1. Macedonia
By Emily Braun

2. Demographics Official name: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Area: 25,713 km2
Population: approx. 2,063,122 people
Ethnicity: Macedonian Slavs, Albanian
Religion: Orthodox Christian, Islam
Language: Macedonia similar to Bulgarian

3. Physical Geography Parts of Macedonia are mountainous.
Three main lakes
Lake Ohrid
Lake Prespa
Lake Dojran
Vardar River runs through the middle.

4. Religious Diversity 67% of the population are Orthodox Christian
30% are Muslim
This trend follows ethnicity very closely with the Albanian pop being mostly Muslim

5. Ethnic Diversity Macedonian Slavs are the largest group at 67%
Followed by the ethnic Albanians at 23%, which is the main source of diversity

6. Ethnic Diversity
Ethnic Albanians live mostly near the border of Albania and Kosovo
No other huge pockets of ethnicity found besides them.
Large number of Roma found throughout the country

7. Disputes With Macedonia
Bulgaria is arguing with Macedonia about its language.
Greece is trying to claim its name.
Albania is trying to take its land and claim the people

8. Bulgaria’s Language Argument
Language is extremely important to a country because it signifies that the people are different from others.
The Bulgarians claim that Macedonians stole their language.
They sound the same to those people that can not tell the difference
Macedonians claim that the language is separate from Bulgarian.

9. The Macedonian Alphabet

10. The Bulgarian Alphabet

11. The Facts
By comparing both alphabets one can see that there are some very clear differences.
The grammar form is very different when spoken.
They also have different pronunciation and word choice.

12. Greater Albania
In class we talked about the possible expansion of Albania into Kosovo and Northwestern Macedonia
Albanian nationalists wished to include all ethnic Albanians in the country by expanding the borders.
This expansion would take most of Macedonia and make it Albania.
Macedonia would have to split and the Slavic state would be smaller than it already is.

13. The Effect on Macedonia
Dark orange is Albania today.
Light orange is the idea for “Greater” Albania
End up splitting Macedonia in half.

14. Ethnic Battle “Greater” Albania means war in Macedonia
The Albanians are not happy since they are a minority and have not gotten the rights that they deserve.
Causing conflict in Albanian minority areas

15. War Has Begun In March 2001 an official war started
Buildings were bombed on both sides
Macedonians trying to stop Albanians from taking over
Albanians trying to keep land already have
Many Albanian fighters are from Kosovo

16. Fleeing due to conflict, 2001
Albanian citizens being let into the area by an Albanian customs officer.
They had just crossed the border from Macedonia into Albania.
Many Albanians have fled the area into Albania due to the fighting.

17. The War Surges On Ethnic Albanians inside a Macedonian village.
Want more rights from the Macedonian government. .

18. Enter NATO NATO was not directly involved
Helped to seal border with Kosovo
Stop more ethnic Albanians from entering the war
Prevent more weapons from entering country
Did not actually help with the fighting; protected Albanian rebels from government troops

19. Peace Talks
Macedonian government wanted to end war and start peace talks
They give in to some of the Albanians’ requests from the National Liberation Army (NLA)

20. Negotiations Albanian language second official language
Increase state-funded higher education in the Albanian language
Equal status of Orthodox, Muslim, and Catholic religions
Changes in the constitution
Increasing minority power in parliament
Ethnic Albanian police commanders
Border authority of local governments

21. Macedonia Today Past President died in a plane crash
New President was elected April 14th
Albanian issue was a major part in the elections
Branko Crvenkovski, the former prime minister, was elected
Plans to keep Macedonians and Albanians at peace

22. Bibliography
Macedonia.org. “Macdonia.org.” Internet. and
Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of,” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corp.
Infoplease. “Area and Population of Countries.” Internet.