Republic of Macedonia

Government: Parliamentary Republic
Official language: Macedonian
Religion: Eastern Orthodox
Time zone: UTC +1
Currency: Macedonian denar
Capital: Skopje
Area: 25 713 кm2
Population: 2 066 718
Phone code: +389
Internet domain: .mk


Useful information:
Republic of Macedonia(in Macedonian: Република Македонија) is a country in South-east Europe, in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. On the east it borders with Bulgaria, on the south – with Greece, on the north with - Serbia and on the west with Albania.

The modern state borders of Republic of Macedonia are formed at the end of World War II. It was formally incorporated in Yugoslavia in 1946 under the name of People’s Republic of Macedonia. That was the time when the Yugoslavian government started an active campaign towards forming of modern Macedonian nation. As a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Socialistic Republic of Macedonia is the fourth largest country by territory and population. The modern state was founded in 1991, after holding referendum for independence. This is the only republic that split peacefully from former Yugoslavia. In January 1992 Bulgaria was the first country to recognize its independence. In 2001, two years after the war in neighboring Kosovo, some armed insurgency broke out between the Albanian separatists and the Macedonian government forces. After a short confrontation, in August 2001 all came to an end with the signing of the Ohrid Agreement.

Since December 2005 Republic of Macedonia is a candidate-member of EU. However its integration is obscured by many obstacles – mostly by the impaired relations with neighboring Greece, involving the argument about its name. Also because of the disagreement of the Greek people concerning the constitutionally appointed name of the country its membership in NATO is not yet finalized.