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North Macedonia 🇲🇰
Basic facts
Official name: Republika e Maqedonisë së Veriut/Република Северна Македонија (Republika Severna Makedonija) (Albanian/Macedonian) (Republic of North Macedonia)
Capital city: Skopje
Population: 2 million (2023)
Demonym: North Macedonian
Type of government: unitary parliamentary republic
Head of state: Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova (President)
Head of government: Hristijan Mickoski (Prime Minister)
Gross domestic product (purchasing power parity): $44.05 billion (2023)
Gini coefficient of wealth inequality: 30.7% (medium) (2019)
Human Development Index: 0.765 (high) (2022)
Currency: denar (MKD)
Fun fact: In 2018, a British baby was born on the same date as his North Macedonian father and grandfather.
Etymology
The country’s name comes from the Greek kingdom of Makedonía, which ultimately derives from the ancient Greek makednós (“tall”). Therefore, the name could be translated as “land of the highlanders/the tall ones”.
“North” was added in 2019 to solve a long-standing dispute with Greece over its Macedonia region, as a requisite to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Geography
North Macedonia is located in Southeast Europe and borders Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, Albania to the west, and Kosovo to the northwest.
There are seven main climates: cold steppe in the center and southeast, Mediterranean-influenced warm-summer humid continental in parts of the southeast and center, hot-summer humid continental and humid subtropical in parts of the north, south, and west, subtropical highland in the southwest, subarctic in parts of the center and northwest, and warm-summer humid continental in the rest. Temperatures range from −4 °C (24.8 °F) in winter to 32 °C (89.6 °F) in summer. The average annual temperature is 11.8 °C (53.2 °F).
The country is divided into 84 municipalities (komunat/opštini). The largest cities in North Macedonia are Skopje, Kumanovo, Bitola, Prilep, and Tetovo.
History
6200-4500 BCE: Starčevo culture
5400-4500 BCE: Vinča culture
7th century-168 BCE, 150-148 BCE: Macedonia
512-499 BCE, 492-479 BCE: Achaemenid Empire
4th century-28 BCE: Kingdom of Dardania
338-322 BCE: Hellenic League
146 BCE-476 CE: Roman Empire
476-1204 CE, 1242-1392, 1403-1423: Byzantine Empire
681-1018: First Bulgarian Empire
1185-1396: Second Bulgarian Empire
1346-1371: Serbian Empire
1365-1913: Ottoman Empire
1389-1444: Principality of Kastrioti
1882-1918: Kingdom of Serbia
1893-1912: Macedonian Struggle
1903: Kruševo Republic
1908-1946: Tsardom of Bulgaria
1912-1913: First Balkan War
1912-1915: Serbian occupation
1913: Second Balkan War
1915-1918: Bulgarian occupation
1918-1929: Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
1929-1941: Kingdom of Yugoslavia
1941-1944: Albanian occupation
1944-1946: Democratic Federal Macedonia
1946-1963: People’s Republic of Macedonia
1963-1991: Socialist Republic of Macedonia
1991-2019: Republic of Macedonia
2001: insurgency
2019-present: Republic of North Macedonia
Economy
North Macedonia mainly imports from the United Kingdom, Greece, and Germany and exports to Germany, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Its top exports are accelerators, tobacco, and bread.
It has copper, gold, iron, silver, and zinc deposits. Services represent 66.5% of the GDP, followed by industry (25.2%) and agriculture (8.4%).
North Macedonia is a member of the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Demographics
Macedonians represent 58.4% of the population, and Albanians account for 24.3%. The main religion is Christianity, practiced by 60.4% of the population, 46.1% of which is Eastern Orthodox.
It has a negative net migration rate and a fertility rate of 1.5 children per woman. 59.4% of the population lives in urban areas. Life expectancy is 76.4 years and the median age is 38 years. The literacy rate is 98%.
Languages
The official languages of the country are Albanian and Macedonian, spoken by 66.4% and 25.1% of the population, respectively. Aromanian (0.3%), Bosnian (0.4%), Romani (1.9%), Serbian (1.2%), and Turkish (3.5%) are national minority languages.
Culture
North Macedonian culture has Bulgarian, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Serbian influences. People are very patriotic and community-oriented.
Men traditionally wear a white shirt (koshula), a vest (djemadan), a cloth belt, baggy pants, high socks, leather sandals (opintsi), and a woolen cap. Women wear a white, embroidered blouse (riza), a vest (elek), a woolen dress or skirt, white tights, opintsi, and a white headscarf.
Architecture
Traditional houses in North Macedonia have stone and whitewashed walls, tile roofs, balconies, and many windows.
Cuisine
The North Macedonian diet is based on dairy products, meat, potatoes, and vegetables. Typical dishes include makalo (a dish of garlic and mashed peppers), pastrmalija (an oval pie with meat cubes on top), rol oblanda (rolled layers of wafer cookies and caramel filling), selsko meso (pork and mushroom stew with cheese, onion, and tomatoes), and tavče gravče (beans with onion and peppers).
Holidays and festivals
Like other Christian and Muslim countries, North Macedonia celebrates Orthodox Christmas, Orthodox Easter Monday, and Eid al-Fitr. It also commemorates New Year’s Day and Labor Day.
Specific North Macedonian holidays include Saints Cyril and Methodius Day on May 24, Republic Day on August 2, Independence Day on September 8, Day of the Macedonian Uprising on October 11, Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle on October 23, and Saint Clement of Ohrid Day on December 8.
Saint Clement of Ohrid Day
Other celebrations include the Galičnik Wedding Festival, when people who moved out of the village return and many engaged couples get married; the Ohrid Summer Festival, which features classical music and drama, and the Struga Poet Evenings.
Ohrid Summer Festival
Landmarks
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe and Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region.
Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region
Other landmarks include the Church of Saint George, Galicica National Park, Lake Prespa, Marko’s Towers, and the Vodno Mountain.
Galicica National Park
Famous people
Cedi Osman - basketball player
Filiz Ahmet - actress
Grigor Parlichev - writer
Kaliopi - singer
Maja Hill - painter
Marko Blazhevski - swimmer
Nataša Petrović - actress
Nick Vanoff - dancer
Olivera Nikolova - writer
Toše Proeski - singer
Marko Blazhevski
You can find out more about life in North Macedonia in this post and this video.
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Ish-drejtori i Doganës: Mini Shengeni nuk ia sjell asnjë të keqe Kosovës
Ish drejtori i Doganës së Kosovës, Naim Huruglica, ka thënë se ka keqkuptime kur përmendet Mini Shengeni në Kosovë, pasi që sipas tij shumica e njerëzve nuk e dinë saktë se çfarë do të thotë kjo duke thënë se mendimi i tyre është “gjithçka vjen prej Serbisë është e keqe”.
Ish i pari i Doganës së Kosovës ka thënë se në dokumentin e marrëveshjes së Mini Shengenit në të cilin janë marrë vesh presidenti i Serbisë së bashku me kryeministrin e Maqedonisë së Veriut dhe kryeministrin e Shqipërisë atëherë nuk mund të gjendet asgjë në të që bie ndesh me CEFTA-në apo Procesin e Berlinit.
“Aty vetëm ritheksohet nevoja që vendet e Ballkanit Perëndimor të punojnë në drejtim të lehtësimit të tregtisë me mallra dhe shërbime. Kosova nuk ka çka humbë nga këto iniciativa sepse ne jemi vendi i vetëm që në realitet nuk paraqet asnjë barriere për të tjerët që ta shfrytëzojnë tregun e Kosovës për eksportin e mallrave por edhe të shërbimeve të tyre. Ne jemi ata që vuajmë për të drejtën e lëvizjes edhe të eksportit në vendet e tjera”, është shprehur Huruglica në Klan Kosova.
Tutje, Huruglica thotë se Mini Shengeni nuk ia sjell asnjë të keqe Kosvoës dhe se njerëzit në vend po e ngatërrojnë Mini Shengenin me Unionin Doganor, pasi që sipas tij, kur thuhet “Uninoni Doganor” atëherë të gjitha kontrollet kufitare hiqen mes vendeve anëtare dhe vendet anëtare e bëjnë një buxhet të përbashkët ku i derdhin ato mjete dhe e vendosin mënyrën e menaxhimit të atyre mjeteve se ku do të shkojnë.
“Mini Shengeni Ballkanik nuk ia sjell asnjë të keqe Kosovës. Këtë po e them me një kusht të vetëm që Kosova të jetë e barabartë dhe pyetja është se a do të pranonte në rastin konkret se ashtu si shkruan në ambulë të marrëveshjes ku shkruan “kryeministri i Republikës së Shqipërisë, kryeministri i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut”, të jetë një rresht ku thuhet “kryeministri i Republikës së Kosovës””, është shprehur Huruglica, njofton Klankosova.tv.
The post Ish-drejtori i Doganës: Mini Shengeni nuk ia sjell asnjë të keqe Kosovës appeared first on Gazeta Express.
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