A Macedonian Mix

Walking around Skopje, the pleasant capital city of Macedonia, I was constantly finding myself subconsciously puzzled as to which part of the world I was in.

One minute I would be in the Macedonia of old, with the Greek heritage that set loose Macedonian king Alexander the Great onto the world. Then I’d see the boxy concrete Soviet apartment block structures and think, oh right, I’m in eastern Europe. And then I’d turn the corner and see a veiled woman walking past a cafe selling Turkish delights and glance up to see a minaret from a local mosque. Wait, where am I again?

All three.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (they want to call it Macedonia but the Greeks are up in arms about this because their northern province is also called Macedonia) does indeed trace its roots to the Macedonian kingdoms of old. However, centuries of Ottoman rule have also led to the country being 33% Muslim. After the Ottoman collapse the country was absorbed into Serbia following the First World War and after WWII became one of the six republics of socialist Yugoslavia. In 1991 Macedonia peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia, the only Yugoslav republic to emerge from the 1990s without being drawn into the bloody wars that gripped the other five and is a current candidate for both EU and NATO membership.