Greece and the Macedonian Question: an assessment of recent claims and criticisms

Abstract

This review essay evaluates Greece's role in certain central aspects of the Macedonian Question based on a sustained engagement with key claims recently made by Andrew Rossos in his significant, comprehensive and trenchant critique of Hellenism. Rossos makes the case for the non‐Greek ethnicity of the ancient Macedonians, a necessary first step for the propagation of a Greater Macedonia position, according to which all of geographic Macedonia should exclude Greece and belong to its purported Slavic ‘Macedonian’ majority. After the presentation of the available surveys and information, it is concluded that the Greater Macedonia theoretical edifice is ultimately unsustainable and thus cannot delegitimize the Greek presence and actions in the region. Next, the argument that a huge ‘Macedonian’ minority, possibly numbering in the hundreds of thousands, resides in contemporary Greece is assessed by focusing primarily on Greek electoral politics and results. Finally, after the scrutiny of the relevant documents and other evidence, Rossos' suggestion that Greece conspired with Milosevic's Serbia to partition the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is evaluated. The essay concludes by emphasizing that nationalist historiographies should not be used to impede the necessary path of all the Western Balkan states towards Euro‐Atlantic integration.

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