Open AccessТHE AGREEMENT WITH THE REPUBLIC OF GREECE ON RESOLUTION THE DISPUTE OF NAME AND MACEDONIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY
Author(s) -
Temelko Risteski,
Sejdefa Dzhafche,
Vesna Sijić
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
knowledge
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2545-4439
pISSN - 1857-923X
DOI - 10.35120/kij3301059r
Subject(s) - macedonian , the republic , political science , constitution , law , ratification , treaty , geography , ancient history , history , politics , philosophy , theology
On 17.6.2018, in the village of Nivitsi on the Greek coast of Prespa Lake, the heads of diplomacy of Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kodzias, signed the "Final Agreement for Disputes described in Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993) of the United Nations Security Council to cease the validity of the 1995 Interim Accord and to establish a strategic partnership between the parties."According to the Agreement, the new name the Republic of Macedonia is "Republic of North Macedonia". It will be used erga omnes, that is, at every opportunity both in the country and abroad. The terms "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" in relation to the Republic of North Macedonia denote its territory, language, people and their characteristics, with their own history, culture, and heritage. The official language of the country is Macedonian, while citizenship is "Macedonian / Citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia". The agreement was also signed by UN mediator Matthew Nimetz. This agreement, also known in the public, as the Prespa Treaty, ended the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece.Following the ratification of the Agreement by the parliaments of the two countries, it commenced its implementation. In the procedure for its implementation, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia adopted four amendments at its session on 11 January 2019: amending the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia in the Republic of North Macedonia, amending the preamble to the Constitution of the Republic, amending Article 3 and replacement of Article 49 of the Constitution (Amendments XXXIII to XXXXVI).The signing of the Agreement divided the Macedonian public. Some (the majority) supported and still support the Agreement, some strongly opposed it. The opposition has regularly been followed by criticism on the Agreement. The criticisms often contained two theses: the first of them was that by the implementation of the Agreement the identity of the Macedonian people would be lost, and the second, always related to the first, that the identity of the Macedonian state would be lost. In this paper we have made an effort to prove the inaccuracy of those theses by applying the method of content analysis based on the principles of formal logic and the dialectical method.