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Finaly some refreshing true on Macedonia, samo go utnale premierot...
Macedonia
Infoplease Atlas: Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia1
National Name: Republika Makedonija
President: Branko Crvenkovski (2004)
Prime Minister: Radmila Sekerinska (2004)
Area: 9,928 sq mi (25,713 sq km)
Population (2004 est.): 2,071,210 (growth rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 13.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 11.7/1000; life expectancy: 74.7; density per sq mi: 212
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Skopje, 587,300 (metro. area), 452,500 (city proper)
Other large cities: Bitola, 84,400; Kumanovo, 78,900; Prilep, 56,900
Monetary unit: Denar
Languages: Macedonian 68%, Albanian 25% (both official); Turkish 3%, Serbo-Croatian 2%, other 2%
Ethnicity/race: Macedonian 64.2%, Albanian 25.2%, Turkish 3.8%, Roma (Gypsy) 2.7%, Serb 1.8%, other 2.3% (2002)
Religions: Macedonian Orthodox 70%, Islam 29%, other 1% (1994)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2003 est.): $13.81 billion; per capita $6,700. Real growth rate: 2.8%. Inflation: –2.6%. Unemployment: 36.7%. Arable land: 24%. Agriculture: rice, tobacco, wheat, corn, millet, cotton, sesame, mulberry leaves, citrus, vegetables; beef, pork, poultry, mutton. Labor force: 860,000; agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a. Industries: coal, metallic chromium, lead, zinc, ferronickel, textiles, wood products, tobacco, food processing, buses. Natural resources: chromium, lead, zinc, manganese, tungsten, nickel, low-grade iron ore, asbestos, sulfur, timber, arable land. Exports: $1.346 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): food, beverages, tobacco; miscellaneous manufactures, iron and steel. Imports: $2.184 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; food products. Major trading partners: Germany, Italy, U.S., Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Austria.
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 408,000 (1997); mobile cellular: 12,362 (1997). Radio broadcast stations: AM 29, FM 20, shortwave 0 (1998). Radios: 410,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 31 (plus 166 repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 510,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 6 (2000). Internet users: 100,000 (2001).
Transportation: Railways: total: 699 km (2002). Highways: total: 8,684 km; paved: 5,540 km (including 133 km of expressways); unpaved: 3,144 km (1999 est.). Waterways: none, lake transport only. Ports and harbors: none. Airports: 18 (2002).
International disputes: the Albanian government calls for the protection of the rights of ethnic Albanians in F.Y.R.O.M. while continuing to seek regional cooperation; ethnic Albanians in Kosovo continue to protest 2000 F.Y.R.O.M.-Serbia and Montenegro boundary treaty, which transfers small tracts of land to F.Y.R.O.M.; dispute with Greece over country's name persists.
1. The UN recognized the Republic of Macedonia on April 8, 1993, under the temporary name the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The U.S. recognized Macedonia as a state in Feb. 1994.
Major sources and definitions
Geography
Macedonia is a landlocked state in the heart of the Balkans and is slightly smaller than the state of Vermont. It is a mountainous country with small basins of agricultural land. The Vardar is the largest and most important river.
Government
Parliamentary democracy.
History
The Republic of Macedonia occupies the western half of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia. Historic Macedonia was defeated by Rome and became a Roman province in 148 B.C. After the Roman Empire was divided in A.D. 395, Macedonia was intermittently ruled by the Byzantine Empire until Turkey took possession of the land in 1371. The Ottoman Turks dominated Macedonia for the next five centuries, until 1913. During the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a constant struggle by the Balkan powers to possess Macedonia for its economic wealth and its strategic military corridors. The Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, ending the Russo-Turkish War, gave the largest part of Macedonia to Bulgaria. Bulgaria lost much of its Macedonian territory when it was defeated by the Greeks and Serbs in the Second Balkan War of 1913. Most of Macedonia went to Serbia and the remainder was divided among Greece and Bulgaria.
In 1918, Serbia, which included much of Macedonia, joined in union with Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. Bulgaria joined the Axis powers in World War II and occupied parts of Yugoslavia, including Macedonia, in 1941. During the occupation of their country, Macedonian resistance fighters fought a guerrilla war against the invading troops. The Yugoslavian federation was reestablished after the defeat of Germany in 1945, and in 1946, the government removed the Vardar territory of Macedonia from Serbian control and made it an autonomous Yugoslavian republic. Later, when President Tito recognized the Macedonian people as a separate nation, Macedonia's distinct culture and language were able to flourish, no longer suppressed by outside rule.
On Sept. 8, 1991, Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia and asked for recognition from the European Union nations. It became a member of the UN in 1993 under the provisional name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) because Greece vociferously protested Macedonia's right to the name, which is also the name of a large northern province of Greece. To Greece, the use of the name implies Macedonia's interest in territorial expansion into the Greek province. Greece has imposed two trade embargoes against the country as a result.
Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians continued to rise during the Kosovo crisis, during which more than 140,000 refugees streamed into the country from neighboring Kosovo. Most of the refugees returned to Kosovo in 2000.
The long-simmering resentment of Macedonia's ethnic Albanians erupted into violence in March 2001, prompting the government to send troops into the heavily Albanian western section of the country. The rebels sought greater autonomy within Macedonia. In Aug. 2001, after six months of fighting, the rebels and the Macedonian government signed a peace agreement that allowed a British-led NATO force to enter the country and disarm the guerrillas. In Nov. 2001, Macedonia's Parliament agreed to constitutional amendments giving broader rights to its Albanian minority. Albanian became one of the country's two official languages.
In Sept. 2002 elections, a center-left coalition ousted the governing coalition, which had been embroiled in previous years' guerrilla insurgency. Branko Crvenkovski of the Together for Macedonia coalition became the new prime minister. In Feb. 2004, President Boris Trajkovski was killed in a plane crash. Prime Minister Crvenkovski was then elected president, and former Interior Minister Hari Kostov became prime minister.
Republic of Macedonia1
National Name: Republika Makedonija
President: Branko Crvenkovski (2004)
Prime Minister: Radmila Sekerinska (2004)
Area: 9,928 sq mi (25,713 sq km)
Population (2004 est.): 2,071,210 (growth rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 13.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 11.7/1000; life expectancy: 74.7; density per sq mi: 212
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Skopje, 587,300 (metro. area), 452,500 (city proper)
Other large cities: Bitola, 84,400; Kumanovo, 78,900; Prilep, 56,900
Monetary unit: Denar
Languages: Macedonian 68%, Albanian 25% (both official); Turkish 3%, Serbo-Croatian 2%, other 2%
Ethnicity/race: Macedonian 64.2%, Albanian 25.2%, Turkish 3.8%, Roma (Gypsy) 2.7%, Serb 1.8%, other 2.3% (2002)
Religions: Macedonian Orthodox 70%, Islam 29%, other 1% (1994)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2003 est.): $13.81 billion; per capita $6,700. Real growth rate: 2.8%. Inflation: –2.6%. Unemployment: 36.7%. Arable land: 24%. Agriculture: rice, tobacco, wheat, corn, millet, cotton, sesame, mulberry leaves, citrus, vegetables; beef, pork, poultry, mutton. Labor force: 860,000; agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a. Industries: coal, metallic chromium, lead, zinc, ferronickel, textiles, wood products, tobacco, food processing, buses. Natural resources: chromium, lead, zinc, manganese, tungsten, nickel, low-grade iron ore, asbestos, sulfur, timber, arable land. Exports: $1.346 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): food, beverages, tobacco; miscellaneous manufactures, iron and steel. Imports: $2.184 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; food products. Major trading partners: Germany, Italy, U.S., Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Austria.
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 408,000 (1997); mobile cellular: 12,362 (1997). Radio broadcast stations: AM 29, FM 20, shortwave 0 (1998). Radios: 410,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 31 (plus 166 repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 510,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 6 (2000). Internet users: 100,000 (2001).
Transportation: Railways: total: 699 km (2002). Highways: total: 8,684 km; paved: 5,540 km (including 133 km of expressways); unpaved: 3,144 km (1999 est.). Waterways: none, lake transport only. Ports and harbors: none. Airports: 18 (2002).
International disputes: the Albanian government calls for the protection of the rights of ethnic Albanians in F.Y.R.O.M. while continuing to seek regional cooperation; ethnic Albanians in Kosovo continue to protest 2000 F.Y.R.O.M.-Serbia and Montenegro boundary treaty, which transfers small tracts of land to F.Y.R.O.M.; dispute with Greece over country's name persists.
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