Throughout its history, the present-day territory of Macedonia has
been a crossroads for both traders and conquerors moving between the
European continent and Asia Minor. Each of these transiting powers
left its mark upon the region, giving rise to a rich and varied
cultural and historical tradition.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the territory of
Macedonia fell under the control of the Byzantine Empire in the 6th
and 7th centuries. It was during this period that large groups of
Slavic people migrated to the Balkan region. The Ottoman Turks
conquered the territory in the 15th century; it remained under
Ottoman Turkish rule until 1912.
After more than four centuries of rule, Ottoman power in the region
began to wane, and by the middle of the 19th century, Greece,
Bulgaria, and Serbia were competing for influence in the territory.
During this time, a nationalist movement emerged and grew in
Macedonia. The latter half of the 19th century, and continuing into
the early part of the 20th century, was marked by sporadic
nationalist uprisings, culminating in the Ilinden Uprising of August
2, 1903. Macedonian revolutionaries liberated the town of Krushevo
and established the short-lived Republic of Krushevo, which was put
down by Ottoman forces after 10 days. Following Ottoman Turkey's
defeat by the allied Balkan countries--Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro,
and Greece--during the First Balkan War in autumn 1912, the same
allies fought the Second Balkan War over the division of Macedonia.
The August 1913 Treaty of Bucharest ended this conflict by dividing
the territory between Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. The 1919 Treaty
of Versailles sanctioned partitioning Macedonia between The Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Bulgaria, and Greece. In the wake of
the First World War, Vardar Macedonia (the present day area of the
Republic of Macedonia) was incorporated into the newly formed
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
Throughout much of the Second World War, Bulgaria and Italy occupied
Macedonia. Many citizens joined partisan movements during this time
and succeeded in liberating the region in late 1944. Following the
war, Macedonia became one of the constituent republics of the new
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito. During
this period, Macedonian culture and language flourished.
As communism fell throughout Eastern Europe in the late 20th
century, Macedonia followed its other federation partners and
declared its independence from Yugoslavia in late 1991. Macedonia
was the only republic of the former Yugoslavia whose secession in
1991 was not clouded by ethnic or other armed conflict, although the
ethnic Albanian population declined to participate in the referendum
on independence. The new Macedonian constitution took effect
November 20, 1991 and called for a system of government based on a
parliamentary democracy. The first democratically elected coalition
government was led by Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski of the
Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and included the ethnic
Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP). Kiro Gligorov became
the first President of an independent Macedonia.
President Gligorov was the first president of a former Yugoslav
republic to relinquish office. In accordance with the terms of the
Macedonian constitution, his presidency ended in November 1999 after
8 years in office, which included surviving a car bombing
assassination attempt in 1995. He was succeeded by former Deputy
Foreign Minister Boris Trajkovski (VMRO-DPMNE), who defeated Tito
Petkovski (SDSM) in a second-round run-off election for the
presidency on November 14, 1999. Trajkovski's election was confirmed
by a December 5, 1999 partial re-vote in 230 polling stations, which
the Macedonian Supreme Court mandated due to election
irregularities.
In November 1998 parliamentary elections, the SDSM lost its
majority. A new coalition government emerged under the leadership of
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski of the Internal Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National
Unity (VMRO-DPMNE). The initial coalition included the ethnic
Albanian Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA).
During the Yugoslav period, most of Macedonia's Slavic population
identified themselves as Macedonians, while several minority groups,
in particular ethnic Albanians, retained their own distinct
political culture and language. Although interethnic tensions
simmered under Yugoslav authority and during the first decade of its
independence, the country avoided ethnically motivated conflict
until several years after independence. Ethnic minority grievances,
which had erupted on occasion (1995 and 1997), rapidly began to gain
political currency in late 2000, leading many in the ethnic Albanian
community in Macedonia to question their minority protection under,
and participation in, the government. Tensions erupted into open
hostilities in Macedonia in February 2001, when a group of ethnic
Albanians near the Kosovo border carried out armed provocations that
soon escalated into an insurgency. Purporting to fight for greater
civil rights for ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, the group seized
territory and launched attacks against government forces. Many
observers ascribed other motives to the so-called National
Liberation Army (NLA), including support for criminality and the
assertion of political control over affected areas. The insurgency
spread through northern and western Macedonia during the first half
of 2001. Under international mediation, a cease-fire was brokered in
July 2001, and the government coalition was expanded in July 2001 to
form a grand coalition which included the major opposition parties.
The expanded coalition of ruling ethnic Macedonian and ethnic
Albanian political leaders, with facilitation by U.S. and European
Union (EU) diplomats, negotiated and then signed the Ohrid Framework
Agreement in August 2001, which brought an end to the fighting. The
agreement called for implementation of constitutional and
legislative changes, which laid the foundation for improved civil
rights for minority groups. The Macedonian parliament adopted the
constitutional changes outlined in the accord in November 2001. The
grand coalition disbanded following the signing of the Ohrid
Framework Agreement and the passage of new constitutional
amendments. A coalition led by Prime Minister Georgievski, including
DPA and several smaller parties, completed its parliamentary term.
In September 2002 elections, an SDSM-led pre-election coalition won
half of the 120 seats in parliament. Branko Crvenkovski was elected
Prime Minister in coalition with the ethnic Albanian Democratic
Union for Integration (DUI) party and the Liberal-Democratic Party
(LDP).
On February 26, 2004 President Trajkovski died in a plane crash in
Bosnia. Presidential elections were held April 14 and 28, 2004.
Then-Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski won the second round and was
inaugurated President on May 12, 2004. The parliament confirmed Hari
Kostov, former Interior Minister, as Prime Minister June 2, 2004,
but Kostov resigned on November 15 of the same year. On December 17,
2004, former Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski was confirmed by
parliament as Prime Minister, maintaining the coalition with the
ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the
Liberal-Democratic (LDP) parties.
With international assistance, the SDSM-DUI-LDP governing coalition
completed the legislative implementation of the Ohrid Framework
Agreement, which is a precondition for Macedonia's integration into
Euro-Atlantic institutions. A November 7, 2004 referendum opposing
completion of this process failed, freeing the way for the
government to complete Framework Agreement implementation.
Local elections were held in March-April 2005 under a new
territorial reorganization plan that consolidated the overall number
of Macedonia's municipalities and created a number of
ethnically-mixed municipalities in which ethnic Albanian populations
were dominant. The process of decentralization began in the new
municipalities in July 2005 and is continuing.
The July 2006 parliamentary elections resulted in a VMRO-DPMNE-led
government under Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski assuming power, in
coalition with DPA, NSDP, and several smaller parties. The new
government, which was confirmed in office by a parliamentary vote on
August 26, 2006, stated its commitment to completing Framework
Agreement implementation and reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing
NATO and EU membership.
At NATO's Bucharest Summit in April 2008, all 26 NATO Allies agreed
Macedonia had met the criteria for membership. Consensus on
extending a NATO membership invitation could not be reached, due to
the unresolved dispute with Greece over Macedonia's name.
Following the Bucharest Summit, the opposition DUI party, in
collaboration with the governing VMRO-DPMNE and DPA parties, called
for the dissolution of parliament and for early parliamentary
elections, which were held in June 2008. On July 26, Prime Minister
Gruevski was reconfirmed in office with a new coalition along with
the DUI party and one smaller party. Next regular parliamentary
elections should be in 2012. |
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