Macedonia: What’s in a Name?
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 September 2018
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The name ‘Macedonia’ is hotly disputed by two neighbouring nations. The Greek province of Macedonia and the country calling itself the Republic of Macedonia border Lake Prespa. The villagers on the lake’s shores share a language and a culture, but it’s impossible to cross or drive around the lake because of the dispute with Greece over the Republic’s name. After years of stalemate, the governments of the two countries have agreed on a new name, the Republic of Northern Macedonia. But this has sparked angry protests by nationalists on both sides of the border. As The Republic of Macedonia prepares to hold a referendum on its name on 30 September, Maria Margaronis visits both sides of the lake to find out why this issue is so contentious - and how a painful history is being exploited by the far-right, politicians, and other interests on both sides. What do local people - and the lake stand to gain once the dispute is settled? And what’s holding them back? Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou (Image: Greek protest against Macedonia name change. Credit: Giorgos Georgiou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading this podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:03.3 | I'm the presenter Maria Margaronis, my family is Greek |
| 0:07.1 | and I've been hearing about this mysterious place |
| 0:10.0 | the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for years. |
| 0:13.5 | That country's become a bit of a bogeyman for Greece |
| 0:16.4 | because many Greeks think that it shouldn't call itself Macedonia at all. |
| 0:20.4 | Macedonia is only Northern Greece. |
| 0:24.0 | Now Greece and the Republic of Macedonia have finally come up with a new name they might both be able |
| 0:28.4 | to live with, and I've never been to the Republic of Macedonia, so this seemed like a perfect moment. |
| 0:33.6 | What better place to go to than Lake Brespa which is between the two countries? |
| 0:38.1 | Me and my producer Chloe Hadjimathio decided to go and find out more. |
| 0:51.0 | In the middle of the Balkans, there's a deep wide lake formed a million years ago, home to many rare species and thousands of birds. |
| 0:55.0 | It's bordered by Greece to the south, Albania to the west, and the Republic of Macedonia to the north and east. |
| 1:04.0 | But the solid stone or mud brick houses are the same on every side, |
| 1:08.0 | as is the Slavic language spoken here for centuries. We're on a curitimu. |
| 1:15.0 | Mona a sea. |
| 1:17.0 | Yha! |
| 1:21.0 | We're on a boat with Acekaran Filofsky who lives in the village of Dupene on Lake Prespa's Macedonian shore. |
| 1:29.0 | On the starboard side is the Republic of Macedonia with the village Dupenin and behind us is Northern |
| 1:37.4 | Greece, Greek Macedonia. |
| 1:40.3 | But you cannot cross from Greece into the Republic of Macedonia or the other way. |
| 1:45.2 | There's no border and you're not allowed to cross by water either. |
... |
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