Despite the fact that true Macedonians were and are Greek people (see quotes on the below)?

Question

…the citizens of the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia, for short FYROM, (UN provisional reference, UN Resolutions #817 of April 7 and #845 of June 18 of 1993) who are mainly of Slavic and Albanian origin not only claim that they are Macedonians, regardless their Slavic/Albanian origin, but also insist that Macedonians were never Greek!!! Why do you think is that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedon, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_%28Greece%29, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Macedonia

Quotes from famous Macedonians:

Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 498 BCE to 454 BCE:

“Tell your king (Xerxes), who sent you, how his Greek viceroy of Macedonia has received you hospitably.” (Herodotus, “Histories”, 5.20.4, Loeb)

Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, 356 BCE - 323 BCE:

“Your ancestors came to Macedonia and the rest of Greece and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury. I have been appointed leader of the Greeks, and wanting to punish the Persians I have come to Asia, which I took from you... (Alexander's letter to Persian king Darius in response to a truce plea, as quoted in "Anabasis Alexandri" by Roman historian Arrian, Book II, 14, 4)

Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, 356 BCE - 323 BCE:

“Youths of the Pellaians and of the Macedonians and of the Greek Amphictiony and of the Lakedaimonians and of the Corinthians… and of all the Greek peoples, join your fellow-soldiers and entrust yourselves to me, so that we can move against the barbarians and liberate ourselves from the Persian bondage, for as Greeks we should not be slaves to barbarians. (Pseudo-Kallisthenes, “Historia Alexandri Magni”, 1.15.1-4)

Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, 356 BCE - 323 BCE:

“Now you fear punishment and beg for your lives, so I will let you free, if not for any other reason so that you can see the difference between a Greek king and a barbarian tyrant, so do not expect to suffer any harm from me. A king does not kill messengers.” (Pseudo-Kallisthenes, “Historia Alexandri Magni”, 1.37.9-13)

Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, 356 BCE - 323 BCE:

“They will be fighting for pay… we, on the contrary, shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it.” (Addressing his troops prior to the Battle of Issus, as quoted in “Anabasis Alexandri” by Roman historian Arrian, Book II, 7)

Philip V, King of Macedon, 221 BC - 179 BC:

“For on many occasions when I and the other Greeks sent embassies to you begging you to remove from your statutes the law empowering you to get booty from booty, you replied that you would rather remove Aetolia from Aetolia than that law” (Polybius, “The Histories”, 18.4.8)

Quotes from modern scholars:

R. M. Cook, British archaeologist:

“Macedonia and Epirus were the buffers of Greece in Europe...” ("The Greeks until Alexander", 1962, p. 23)

John Crossland, British archaeologist:

“Herodotus stated quite clearly that Perdiccas, the first recorded king of Macedonia, and his descendants were Greeks and there is no reason why we should not take the Father of History's word on this fundamental point.” (“Macedonian Greece", p.16, W.W. Norton & Company, September 1982)

Robin Lane Fox (born 1946), English academic and historian:

“The Macedonian kings, who maintained that their Greek ancestry traced back to Zeus, had long given homes and patronage to Greece's most distinguished artists.” (“Alexander the Great", p.48)

“To his ancestors (to a Persian's ancestors) Macedonians were only known as 'Yona takabara', the 'Greeks who wear shields on their heads', an allusion to their broad-brimmed hats.” (“Alexander the Great", p.104)



W. J. Woodhouse, Australian historian:

“This was Macedonia in the strict sense, the land where settled immigrants of Greek stock later to be called Macedonians.” ("The tutorial history of Greece, to 323 B.C.: from the earliest times to the death of Demosthenes", p.216, University Tutorial Press)

Michael Wood (b. 1948), English historian:

“Long long ago, before the days of Islam, Sikander e Aazem came to India. The Two Horned one whom you British people call Alexander the Great. He conquered the world, and was a very great man, brave and dauntless and generous to his followers. When he left to go back to Greece, some of his men did not wish to go back with him but preferred to stay here. Their leader was a general called Shalakash (Seleucus). With some of his officers and men, he came to these valleys and they settled here and took local women, and here they stayed. We, the Kalash, the Black Kafir of the Hindu Kush, are the descendants of their children. Still some of our words are the same as theirs, our music and our dances, too; we worship the same gods. This is why we believe the Greeks are our first ancestors...” (Statement made by a Kalash named Kazi Khushnawaz, "In the footsteps of Alexander the Great", p.8. The Kalash or Kalasha, are an ethnic group that lives Pakistan

Answer 1

The answer is simple: that’s what they are taught to do. FYROM territory was named “Macedonia” by the Ottoman Turks sometime in the19th century for geographical reasons, despite the fact that FYROM occupies only 1/10 of the actual ancient Kingdom of Macedon, while authentic Macedonia in Greece occupies 9/10 of the ancient Kingdom of Macedon. So beacuse Ottomans named their land "Macedonia", they think it is really Macedonia and they are real Macedonians...!

To be more specific:

FYROM, a very new -since 1991- state in the Balkans with citizens mainly of Slavic and Albanian origin decides to use and monopolize the Greek terms Macedonia and Macedonians which was given to them by Tito in 1944, despite the fact that those terms are used for 2800 years to describe the actual Macedonia, a Greek land and the actual Macedonians, a Greek people.

The citizens of FYROM would have every right to identify themselves as ‘Macedonians’, only in case they were of Greek origin, which they are not, or in case the term had just a geographical meaning (even if that geographical meaning is very recent, since late Ottoman era…) like as if a man of Italian origin who was born and lives in the USA is an American or a man of English origin who was born and lives in Australia is an Australian. But because the terms Macedonia and Macedonians are used since ancient times to describe Greek land and Greek people, the citizens of FYROM cannot and should not identify themselves as Macedonians because they simply are not Macedonians, like as if an Italian who lives in the USA might be an American , but by no means is a Native American or an English who lives in Australia might be an Australian but by no means is an Aboriginal!

FYROM only occupies less that 10% of the actual ancient Macedonia. The middle and northern parts of FYROM (with the capital, Scopje) did NEVER belong to the ancient Kingdom of Macedon. It belonged to ancient Paionia and the ancient Paionians were enemies of the ancient Macedonians. Furthermore, FYROMians are of Slavic and Albanian origin. Then why on earth do they want to call their country “Macedonia” when more than 90% of the historic ancient Macedonia is outside their border??? Why on earth do those Slavic and Albanian people want to identify themselves and their land with a Greek name, -especially when both of these terms, Macedonia and Macedonian are used since antiquity to describe Greek people and Greek land and only recently the person that lives in Geographic Macedonia, yet not ethnically but geographically- while at the same time ATTEMPTING TO MONOPOLIZE that name, despite the fact that it is already in proper use by Greece and Greeks since ever?

Indeed Greeks are right on the issue, as anyone who respects truth will agree.

Answer 2

nicely, ultimately somebody who speaks out of his curious recommendations and not out of his hatred or jealousy for Greeks... i think of. i won't be able to commend for the completed united states yet in my case,the certainty that i will no longer be unique Greek continuously made me think of. So what I did next, I took the try! particular, particular the DNA try, the only that "islander" has a link to. After a rapid cheek swab, a pair of hundred money and a few waiting weeks ...voila! the outcomes have been definitive and proved my united states of commencing place,interior the Aegean sea. I strongly advise it to you too, it is going to sparkling any recommendations and hopes which you will have any genetic links to us. As for the only with the Slavic nickname above, I advise she stops counting factors of Greek YA customers in any different case she'll pass nuts (if she did no longer already).Now, heavily, who spends slightly too lots time in right here? and he or she could shop the deepest classes for herself... to learn English writing :) yet another very final thought: the country of commencing place is generally the placement you have been born and raised in. yet your united states is likewise the placement the place your heart is, no remember the place your ancestors got here from. it relatively is why we Greeks and our little ones and our little ones little ones,little ones,little ones will continuously be and (maximum severely) sense Greek!

Answer 3

I believe the Greek position to be the correct position on this issue.
I Cr 13;8a

Answer 4

Why do people always talk about Greek people, I find Greeks way too self involved, we do not care about their roots