North Macedonia marks 30th anniversary of independence

By Furkan Abdula

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AA) - North Macedonia, one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, marked the 30th anniversary of its independence on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev laid floral wreath at the final resting places of former heads of state Kiro Gligorov and Boris Trajkovski, and paid tributes to their contribution for independence.

Formerly known as Macedonia, the country declared its independence following a series of political uprisings and conflicts in the early 1990s.

In an independence referendum held on Sep. 8, 1991, an overwhelming 95.3% of the population voted for an independent Macedonia.

After this declaration of independence, Turkey, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were the first countries to recognize Macedonia as an independent state.

While Kiro Gligorov was the first president of independent Macedonia, the country introduced its currency on April 26, 1992, and established its army in August of the same year.

The country became a member of the UN on April 8, 1993, but due to a dispute with neighbor Greece over the name Macedonia, it was admitted under the provisional description, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."

Negotiations for the solution of the name issue between Macedonia and Greece continued at different times despite interruptions for years.

After negotiations under the mediation of the UN, the Prespa Agreement of June 2018 saw the country change its name to Republic of North Macedonia.

While the agreement was ratified by the Greek Parliament, the quarter-century-old problem, an obstacle to the Euro-Atlantic integration of North Macedonia with its new name, was also resolved.

- NATO, EU membership

North Macedonia first became a candidate for NATO membership at the Washington Summit in 1999.

At the NATO 2008 Bucharest Summit, Macedonia failed to get an invitation to join the organization because Greece vetoed the move. Following the Prespa Agreement, North Macedonia first received an invitation from NATO to start accession negotiations in July 2018.

In February 2019, NATO member countries signed the NATO accession protocol of North Macedonia, and after the approval process of this protocol in the assemblies of the member states, North Macedonia became the 30th member of NATO on March 27, 2020.

Another significant strategic goal of North Macedonia is to become an EU member.

On April 9, 2001, the country signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement, which regulates its relations with the EU. North Macedonia, which was given the status of "candidate country" in 2005, received a recommendation to start negotiations by the EU Commission in 2008.

In March 2020, the EU formally approved North Macedonia to begin talks to join the bloc.

- Open Balkan initiative

The idea of Open Balkan (formerly known as Mini-Schengen Area) came in the early 1990s.

On July 29, 2021, the prime minister of North Macedonia, Albania, and the president of Serbia participated in the forum for regional economic cooperation in Skopje, where they signed agreements on the movement of goods, access to labor market, and cooperation in protection against disasters.

Kosovo, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which do not support this initiative, argue it does not have clear goals for the region.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar in Ankara