Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Macedonia-related articles
historical reference. Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump. |
As of July 2009, the contents of this page have been superseded by a new WP:MOSMAC2 ). |
To write and edit Macedonia-related articles, please follow the conventions below. Note
- see Wikipedia:Manual of Style for general cases
- see Wikipedia:Historyfor notes on the style of history articles
- see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English) for general use of English names in articles.
There are two chief modern claimants to the name of Macedonia; see
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
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 "
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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
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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.)
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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.
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In articles dealing only with the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia as a group | Use " Macedonians "
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In articles dealing with the predominant ethnic group of the Republic of Macedonia | Use " ethnic Macedonians "
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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
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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
CountryNaming conventions (country)
Deprecated names (country)The following names are deprecated:
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ProvinceThe Greek province is called " ethnic Macedonian nationalists of the United Macedonia movement. Therefore, the following naming conventions apply:
Naming conventions (province)
Deprecated names (province)The following name is deprecated:
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People naming issues
Ethnic groupNaming conventions (ethnic group)The same logic should be applied to the name of the largest ethnic group of the country (Macedonians (ethnic group)):
Deprecated names (ethnic group)The following names are perceived as pejorative and should never be used. Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy must always be borne in mind.
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Regional groupNaming conventions (regional group)The inhabitants of Greek Macedonia share a strong regional identity. Greeks is the default ethnic description. However, in many cases where people are especially related to the particular province, a regional description may be required, and the following conventions should be used:
Deprecated names (regional group)
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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
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:
- state the person's name;
- the person's name can be included in both Macedonian and Bulgarian, with the language order following their ethnicity (see below). That is, if the person was an ethnic X, but also considered an ethnic Y, the language order should be XY;
- state where the person was born and died (where appropriate, comment on whether the town is now in the Republic of Macedonia, Greece or Bulgaria, and what country it was part of at the time (usually, the country of birth will be the Ottoman Empire)); and
- state the person's ethnicity/ethnicities.
The guidelines for addressing the person's ethnicity are as follows:
- where the person did not verifiablyself-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;
- state that the person "is considered an
- where the person verifiablyself-identified as either Macedonian or Bulgarian, but this self-identification is disputed:
- state that "Person Z was a Macedonian poet/writer/academic/etc, but is considered an ethnic Bulgarian in Bulgaria" (where applicable, you may also include a basis for the counterclaim); or
- state that "Person Z was a Republic of Macedonia" (where applicable, you may also include a basis for the counterclaim);
- where the person verifiablyself-identified as Macedonian and Bulgarian at different times in their life:
- the last verifiableself-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."
- the last
These guidelines should only apply to persons born before 1944 (recognition of the
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
Country languageNaming conventions (country language)
Deprecated names (country language)Matching deprecated names of the country and people also exist for the language; these should be avoided. The abstand ) between two languages, a language is a language if its speakers say so.
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Regional dialectNaming conventions (regional dialect)
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Ancient languageNaming conventions (ancient language)
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Why these decisions?
Background
The
- Republic of Macedonia - used by the country itself, plus about two-thirds of the United Nations' member states, including the US, Russia and China;
- former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - used by the UN and about one-third of its member states, plus the European Union (including Greece) and many other international organisations.
- Macedonia (without any modifiers) - widely used by English-language news media both for the country and the Greek province.
- Greek Macedonia - used to refer to the Greek province with a modifier mainly for disambiguation purposes.
- Aegean Macedonia - used to refer to the Greek province, may be a controversial term in certain contexts (see #Province).
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
Naming standards set by external organisations are not automatically applicable to Wikipedia. For instance, the UN and most international organisations recognise the
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
- ^ 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.
- ^ for example maps that list the United States of America as "USA"
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in accordance the MoS guideline for naming the country, above.
- ^ a b for example "A rock band from the Republic of Macedonia and a jazz quartet from Greek Macedonia released a joint CD"