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Ever since the Balkan Wars of 1912- 1913, when Macedonia, previously part of Rumelia, was carved up between the Balkan nations, the status of the Macedonian Slavs has been a controversial issue. The northern parts of the historic province of Macedonia came under Serbian rule although the pre-war Serb-Bulgarian agreement relegated it to Bulgaria, the southern under GreeceGreece formally called the Hellenic Republic (in Greek: ) Hellenike Demokratia , is a country in the southeast of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. It is bounded on land by Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania and the northeastern under BulgariaThe Republic of Bulgaria is a republic in the southeast of Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the east, Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north along the river Danube.. Each of the three countries has tended to regard the Macedonian Slavs as a subset of their own peoples: hence the SerbsSerbs Total population: 11 million (est. Population: ; Serbia and Montenegro: 6,674,470 ; Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1,479,930 ; Croatia: 201,631 (2001) (580,000 in 1991) ; Slovenia: 38,964 (2002) ; FYROM: 35,939 (2002) ; Albania: 10,000 ; Romania: 22,725 (2 regard them as Serbs, the BulgariansBulgarians are a Slavic people that today lives mainly in the Republic of Bulgaria and Macedonia, but also in Greece, the Ukraine, Moldova, USA and other countries. Bulgarians are descendants of two peoples Southern Slavs, who settled on the Balkan penins as Bulgarians and the GreeksSee The Greeks for the financial term for the set of measures derived from the Black-Scholes option pricing formula, named for the use of the Greek alphabet to denote parameters. Greeks in Ancient History In Latin literature, Graeci (or Greeks in English) as Greeks. Though the majority of the Macedonian Slavs regarded themselves as BulgariansBulgarians are a Slavic people that today lives mainly in the Republic of Bulgaria and Macedonia, but also in Greece, the Ukraine, Moldova, USA and other countries. Bulgarians are descendants of two peoples Southern Slavs, who settled on the Balkan penins before the Balkan Wars, there was a substantial pro- GreekThe word Greek has a number of meanings relating to Greece, including: Architecture of Ancient Greece Art in Ancient Greece Greek alphabet Greek colonies Cuisine of Greece Ethnic Greek Greco-Turkish relations Greece Hellenes History of Greece History of M faction in southern Macedonia and a smaller pro-Serbian one in northern Macedonia. After the Balkan Wars, the Macedonian Slavs from northeastern Greece were forcefully resettled in Bulgaria, whereas those living in north-western Greece came under severe pressure, especially after the Greek-Turkish population exchanges of the 1920s, with many forced to leave the country and emigrate, for the most part, to Canada and Australia. For many years, the Greek government denied their existence as a national minority and many of the border villages were closed to outsiders, ostensibly for security reasons.
The issue continued to be a source of political tensions throughout the 20th century, especially after the secession of the Republic of Macedonia from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The creation of the state that shares the name with a wider region was seen by many as an expression of territorial pretensions towards neighbouring states, especially coupled with the usage of symbols from ancient Macedon. However, the Macedonian government has since modified its stance, changing the country's national symbols and constitution in an attempt to clarify its intentions.
Serbia and Montenegro recognizes the Macedonian Slav minority on its territory as a distinct ethnic group. The authorities in Bulgaria maintain cordial relations with them but consider them to be Bulgarians. Bulgaria and Greece maintain that the Slavs in Macedonia before the 1940s regarded themselves as Bulgarian, Greek or Serbian and that the Macedonian Slav nationality was a later development in only the Yugoslav part of Macedonia. The Bulgarian Constitutional Court banned a tiny Macedonian Slav political party in 2000 as separatist. The Greek government has denied legal recognition to any ethnic minorities other than Turks, and opposes the use of the term "Macedonians" to refer to the country's Slav minority, which is centred on the northern Greek town of Florina. This has earned Greece considerable criticism from international human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch.