THE FALL OF THE IRON CURTAIN AND ITS IMPACT ON THE GREEK MACEDONIAN RELATIONS

Abstract

The aim of our research is not to present the development of the Macedonian – Greek relations
and the disagreement about the Constitutional name of our country, but to point out that the
conflict existed even before the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Main Greek thesis up to a day for
their stance towards Macedonia, is based on the "irredеntism” on our part, on stealing history and
on nonexistent Macedonian minority in Greece, because, according to the Greeks, the
Macedonian nation does not exist. However, we will point out several occasions which will paint
a different picture concerning the one we know today. That's why we will focus at several critical
moments in the Greek – Yugoslav relations caused by the Macedonian question, the problem of
the irredentism in the relation between Belgrade, Skopje and Athens, which even to date, after
the signing of the Prespa agreement, occasionally drifts as an argument on the side of Greek
officials the question of ancient Macedonia, an argument that was not visible in the period
between 1944 and the proclamation of the Macedonian independence.