• Greece officialy denied the use of then name Macedonia after the Balkan wars
  This is the most inaccuret Slavic argument.
  There are several examples of state institutions and private businesses carrying the name Macedonia which operate in Greece. since the early 1900s.
  • The society of Macedonian studies (1939)
  • The "Macedonia" newspaper (1912)
  • The museum of the Macedonian struggle
  • The museum of ancient Macedonia
  • The Macedonian theatre
  • and hundreds more
  Greece has been actively using the name Macedonia since its liberation from the Ottoman empire. If Greece's official position was to "deny the existence of Macedonia" how would it be possible for hundreds of private companies to be named after Macedonia?

• Greece has changed the "Macedonian" names of locations in the Macedonia region.
  The Greek names are older than the Slavic ones and most of them have their roots in ancient Greece. A characteristic example is Thessaloniki. This city was founded in 315 bc by the Macedonian general Kasssandros and it was named after Alexanders' sister - Thessaloniki. How did the Greeks change the name from Solun to Thessaloniki if that was the original name? The name Thessaloniki is even mentioned in the bible by St Paul. Why did he adddress his letters (epistoles) to the people of Thessaloniki and not the to the people of Solun?
  What about the Greek names of towns inside FYROM used during the Ottoman times? Did Greece change them as well?

• Today's "Greeks" and ancient "Hellenes" have no relation between them.
  How is it possible for the people who live in the same region, speak the same language and have the same names and culture not to be descedants of the ancient inhabitants of the region? Similarily we could say that today's Egyptians are not descedants of ancient Egyptians and today's Chinese people are not descedants of ancient Chinese.
  The simple truth which some people refuse to accept is that Greece is the international name of the country while Hellas is the name in the native language. There are many examples of countries which use two different names such as:
  Deutschland - Germany
  Nederland - Holland
  Suomi - Finland
  Switzerland - Helvetia
  

• There is a large Macedonian minority in Greece
  There is no "Macedonian minority" in Greece because there is no such nationality. There is a small group of people who speak a Slavic dialect which is in fact different from what is claimed to be the "Macedonain language" These people are not a "Macedonian minority" as they consider themselves Greeks. There is also an even smaller group of Slav propagandists who are trying to create a Macedonian minority in Greece. Anyone who didn't consider him/herself Greek could and should have left Greece during the exchange of populations in 1919.

• One milion people in Greece believe that they are Macedonians
  During the last general elections (1996) their political party gained 3.485 votes (official result). Of course there is no doupt of the integrity of the election procedures since Greece is a member of the European Union. If there was such a large number of "Macedonians" in Greece wouldn't be easy for them to stand up against the "Greek occupation"?

• Greece acquired illegaly Agean Macedonia in 1913
  Greece acquired 51% of Macedonia in 1913 as a result of the treaty of Buchurest. I don't think that an international treaty is ileegal. Furthermore Greece in 1913 was not a powerfull country to acquiare any land it desired. This land was "given" to Greece bacause it historiacly belonged to Greece and its residents were Greek.

• What gives Greece the right to name another country? This issue is straightforward, every country has the right to call itself whatever it wishes.
  This is a misleading statement. The author knows very well why Greece is objecting to the use of the name Macedonia. In fact every country has the right to chose its own name as far as it does not belong to another country's history. The name Macedonia belongs to the Greek history. Greece has the right to protect its history and national heritage.

• Saints Cyril and Methdje (or Kirl and Metodi) were not Greeks but Macedonians.
  Saints Cyrilos and Methodios wre Greeks born in Thessaloniki and this is clearly mentioned in the Bible, so arguing against it is not very smart. Furthermore Pope John Paul the B' in an official apostolic homily to the entire Catholic Church proclaims that Methodius and Cyril "Greek brethren born in Thessaloniki" are consecrated as "heavenly protectors of Europe". John Paul B' repeated this statement in a speech delivered in the church of Saint Clements, in Rome.

• Ancient Macedonians were not Greek
  This is answered elsewhere in this site.

• Ancient Macedonians fought against Greece thus they were not Greek
  This argument is very commonly used. However those who use it seem to forget that the ancient Greek city states were largely independed of each other which often led to wars between them. Some well-known examples are the Peolloponisian was between Athens and Sparti, the Athenians quest in the island of Mitilini, the brutal war between Sparti and Thebes and many more. A war between two ancient Greek regions does not mean that one of them was not Greek.

• Greece stole the Macedonian history
  Greece does not 'steal' history. It has its own lenghty and respected history. It is the only thing that Greece has plenty of it. The Greek history and culture is respected by all the countries in the world. People who don't have their own history need to 'steal' someone else's...

• "Linguistic science has at its disposal a very limited quantity of Macedonian words. A very limited quantity in this case is a quantity indeed, that Greeks cannot ignore."
  This argument proves the Greek point that the "Macedonian language" was a Greek a dialect. There only exists "a limited quantity of Macedonian words" because the Macedonian dialect had "limited" differences from the Greek language.
  It would not possible for the ancient "Macedonan language" to disappeared after what Alexander achieved.

• "If Philip united and not conquered the Greeks why did Alexander leave 25.000 men of his army in Macedonia when he is about to face the strongest and most nomerous army in the world?"
  Simply because no sensible leader would go on a quest taking ALL his army with him and leaving his homeland unprotected!
  And of course he did not leave 25.000 men in Macedonia because he was affraid of the Greeks. Macedonia had lots of real enemies at its northen border (Illyrians, Dardanians,Paionians etc).

• "If Macedonians were Greek then why only 30% of Alexander's army were Greek?"
  The right question to ask is 'why as many as 30% of Alexanders army were Greek?' How many Illyrians or Dardanian were in Alexanders army? After all Macedonians and Greeks wre supposed to be 'enemies'. The Macedonians 'conquered' the Greeks according to the Slaivc version of Macedonian history. The fact that Alexander took so many Greeks with him shows if he considered Greeks enemies or not.

• "Alexander I was the only Macedonian who took part n the Olympic games"
  As Ernst Badian says
  "No Macedonian appears on the list of Olympic victors that have survived (a fair proportion of the whole) until well into the reign of Alexander the Great."
  which proves that long after Alexander I, Macedonias took part and won the Olympic games.
  There is also evidence that King Archelaos took part in the Olympic games as well. This information comes from the Thessalian Thrasimachos.

• There are no ancient monuments written in the Macedonian language because Greek archaeologists destroy them when they are recovered.
  Even if we accept that this is true what happened to the monuments in the rest of Macedonia?
  What about the monuments found in FYROM and Bulgaria?
  What about the monuments found on Alexander's route in Asia?
  Why aren't there any "non Greek Macedonian monuments" ?
  Oh, I know why! The Greek archaeologists must have destroyed them as well !!!

• If in fact, "Macedonia is Greece", how come they feel the need to emphasize, to shout, and to proclaim over and over again? After all, we never hear them proclaiming that "Thebes is Greece", or "Sparta is Greece".
  I would say that this argument is at least stupid if I hadn't found it on the web site of someone who looked rather smart. Anyway, if FYROM wanted to be named "Republic of Thebes" or "Republic of Sparta" who would shout out "Thebes and Sparta are Greek". But they are claiming to be Macedonians so we shout that
  "MACEDONIA WAS GREEK"
  "MACEDONIA IS GREEK"
  "MACEDONIA WILL BE FOREVER GREEK"

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If you have an argument which is not answered on this page please ask me