Macedonia has had to jump through hoops to be accepted due to Greece's rather parochial sensibilities. As an American, where we usurped the entire continent's name, I understand unbridled patriotism - so I can't really denigrate the Greeks for possess it as well.
I have already explained how Greeks made the country change their name from Macedonia to North Macedonia to make the Greeks happy.
And the Statue of Alexander the Great had to be renamed "The Warrior" because Greece claims Alexander the Great (and will not accept he had male lovers, but that is another story).
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| "The Warrior" - but everyone knows it is Alexander |
Well they also had to change their flag. There original flags are below, including the current 8 ray sun. The 16 ray sun, their original post-Yugoslavian flag, is called the "Vergina Sun". But the Geek province of Macedonia claimed it, and the national flag was changed. In 2019 touchy Greeks got an agreement that the image of the "Vergina Sun" would not be used in ANY capacity in Macedonia.
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| Old flag on left, new flag on right. Greeks were majorly offended by the first one. |
Once the country changed their flag, Greece still tried to keep them out of NATO - albeit unsuccessfully. Now with the name change, Greece has let them try to get into the EU.
In talking with Macedonians, they are very excited about the EU membership, because the EU requires a lot of democratic and anti-corruption changes. Changes that the people don't think would happen otherwise.
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