Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Macedonia-related articles

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

To write and edit Macedonia-related articles, please follow the conventions below. Note

There are two chief modern claimants to the name of Macedonia; see

Macedonia, Greece. For the rationale for these guidelines, see #Why these decisions?
, below.


Qualifiers

Since both entities consider themselves Macedonia, and their citizens Macedonians, we should avoid such terms as Greek Macedonia and Slav Macedonia which might be read as qualifying their Macedonianity; unless necessary for clarity, as explained below. Experience shows that malign intent will be perceived where unintended.

References and quotes

Quotations, references, and sourced material must be exact, using the form of the name(s) that the original document used. Quotations in non-English languages should have names translated literally. Where a name would create an ambiguity within an article, the usual convention of making a notation in [brackets], without altering the source text, should be followed.

Wikilinking

All wikilinks to the country should point to

Republic of Macedonia
directly or indirectly (through a valid redirect). You can either use a pipe (the | symbol) to direct a wikilink at this article, e.g.: [[Republic of Macedonia|former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia]], or use the redirect itself, e.g.: [[former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia]], provided that the latter redirects to the page for the country.

Similarly, wikilinks to the Province should point to Macedonia (Greece) directly (normally masked) or through a valid redirect. The text [[Macedonia (Greece)|]] will display as Macedonia.

Images

For images, the same conventions should be used as for article text. Acronyms such as RoM or FYROM should be used only when there is not enough space on the image to display the full name; the acronym used should be chosen based on the conventions used for the article.

Limited space

If there are space constraints, as may occur in tables and infoboxes, good editors will consider calling either the Province or the Republic Macedonia despite the possible ambiguity. Measures to maintain clarity, like footnotes, are generally advisable.

Summary guidance

The following table summarises the detailed guidance given in the remainder of this manual of style.

Templates are affected only insofar as they actually appear in articles. Unless a template is transcluded at the head of an article, it may be assumed not to be the first reference to either Macedonia; consequently, if the context makes unquestionably clear which Macedonia is meant, it may use Macedonia to refer either to the Republic or the Province, as indicated. If the transclusion of the template would be ambiguous, edit the article in which it is transcluded.

Situation Convention
Naming of articles relating to the Republic of Macedonia Use "
Republic of Macedonia
"
In articles in which only the Republic of Macedonia, and not the Greek province, is mentioned Use "
Republic of Macedonia
" the first time, then "Macedonia" for further mentions
In articles in which only the Greek province, and not the Republic of Macedonia, is mentioned Use "the Greek province of Macedonia" or "Macedonia, Greece" the first time, then "Macedonia" for further mentions
In articles about international political organisations or cultural/athletic events that use specific Macedonia-related terminology Use the terminology adopted by the organisation or event in question (e.g. "former Yugoslav
FYR Macedonia
" etc.)
In articles dealing only with the internal affairs of Greece No consensus. "
Republic of Macedonia
" can be used (NB - the "f" in "former" should be uncapitalised). If in doubt, leave as is.
In articles dealing only with the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia as a group Use "
Macedonians
"
In articles dealing with the predominant ethnic group of the Republic of Macedonia Use "
ethnic Macedonians
"
In articles where there is a need to distinguish the aforementioned ethnic group from the other ethnic groups inhabiting Macedonia Use "Macedonian Slavs" or "Slavic Macedonians" to distinguish them from the other ethnic groups in the region
In articles dealing with the Greeks of Macedonia Use "
Greek Macedonians
In articles dealing only with the majority language of the Republic of Macedonia Use "Macedonian language"
In articles where there is a need to distinguish between the modern Macedonian language and Greek dialects or the ancient Macedonian language Use "Macedonian Slavic" or "Slavic Macedonian" to distinguish it from "Macedonian Greek" and the Ancient Macedonian language

Political entity naming issues

People naming issues

Macedonian/Bulgarian ethnicity controversy

There is a great deal of controversy over some people from the pre-1944 period who were born in what is now the

Republic of Macedonia, Greek Macedonia or Blagoevgrad Province (Bulgaria), with Macedonians claiming them as ethnic Macedonians, and Bulgarians claiming them as ethnic Bulgarians
.

The ethnicity of many of these figures is disputed, and many either did not publicly self-identify as Macedonian or Bulgarian, identified as both Macedonian and Bulgarian at various stages of their lives, or their self-identification is disputed.

It is unlikely that the dispute over the ethnicity of these people will ever be resolved, and therefore for these persons, the following guidelines should be used:

The guidelines for addressing the person's ethnicity are as follows:

  • where the person did not
    verifiably
    self-identify as Macedonian or Bulgarian:
    • state that the person "is considered an
      Republic of Macedonia
      ";
    • in the case of revolutionaries, the categories [[Category:Bulgarian revolutionaries]] and [[Category:Macedonian revolutionaries (ethnic group)]] can be added;
  • where the person
    verifiably
    self-identified as Macedonian and Bulgarian at different times in their life:
    • the last
      verifiable
      self-identification should be the operative one;
      • for example, if Person Z self-identified as Macedonian in 1901 and as a Bulgarian in 1902, the wording should be: "Person Z was a Bulgarian, although he/she had also previously identified as a Macedonian.";
      • if Person Z self-identified as a Bulgarian in 1901, and as a Macedonian in 1902, the wording should be: "Person Z was a Macedonian, although he/she had also previously identified as a Bulgarian."

These guidelines should only apply to persons born before 1944 (recognition of the

WP:DUE
).

The wording is a suggested format only, and need not be copied exactly, however, the wording should adhere to the general principles of the guideline.

Language naming issues

Why these decisions?

Background

The

Republic of Macedonia is a country in south-eastern Europe, situated between Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. Since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, it has been embroiled in a dispute with Greece concerning its use of the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a northern region of Greece
. The dispute remains unresolved, but three names for the republic and two names for the province are in general use in English-language sources:

A number of other variant names derived from former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are also in use (not all equally common):

  • FYROM
  • FYRO Macedonia
  • FYR of Macedonia
  • FYR Macedonia
  • FY Republic of Macedonia

Other names such as Republika Makedonija-Skopje, New Macedonia and Upper Macedonia have been proposed by various parties, but they have not been endorsed by the parties to the dispute and are not in general use.

These multiple overlapping names are often a cause of confusion on the part of:

  • Wikipedia's editors, who may be uncertain about which name to use;
  • Wikipedia's readers, who may not understand what the name means (e.g. if the acronym "FYROM" is used without spelling it out) or which Macedonia — the country or the Greek region — is being referred to.

To reduce the scope for confusion and promote consistency across Wikipedia articles, this page sets out conventions for describing the Republic of Macedonia.

Wikipedia standards

Wikipedia's approach to dealing with disputed place names is set out in

those for common names
.

Naming standards set by external organisations are not automatically applicable to Wikipedia. For instance, the UN and most international organisations recognise the

Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan) as Chinese Taipei
. Despite this, Wikipedia uses Republic of China as the name for the entity that governs the island of Taiwan.

This is because Wikipedia's naming conflict guidelines mandate that articles on self-identifying entities should use the name, or an English translation thereof, chosen by the entity in question. ("Wikipedia does not take any position on whether a self-identifying entity has any right to use a name; this encyclopedia merely notes the fact that they do use that name.") Therefore the fact that the UN, the EU or any individual country uses a particular name for an entity does not require Wikipedia to use the same name; however when discussing the UN, the EU or any individual country, its internal policies on the naming issue should be respected.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Example: "In other news, FYR Macedonia ranked 18th in Eurovision"; "Karolina, who last year competed in Eurovision, returned to the Republic of Macedonia". The first sentence is about Eurovision, the second sentence is not.
  2. ^ for example maps that list the United States of America as "USA"
  3. ^ For example, in listing the members of the Parliament in Athens, it is clear that the Macedonia in question is the Greek province, not the Republic.
  4. ^ This depends on circumstances; when the province is not particularly important to the whole article, as in the list of parliamentary members, it would be silly.
  5. ^ a b c or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in accordance the MoS guideline for naming the country, above.
  6. ^ a b for example "A rock band from the Republic of Macedonia and a jazz quartet from Greek Macedonia released a joint CD"