Theflag ofNorth Macedonia (Macedonian:Знаме на Северна Македонија;Albanian:Flamuri i Maqedonisë së Veriut) depicts a stylized yellow sun on a red field, with eight broadening rays extending from the center to the edge of the field. It was created byMiroslav Grčev and was adopted on 5 October 1995.
The eight-rayed sun derives from thenational emblem[1] and represents the "new sun of Liberty" referred to in "Denes nad Makedonija" ("Today over Macedonia").[2] The first post-Yugoslav flag of the country, adopted in 1992, known as the Kutlesh flag, featured theVergina Sun, a symbol that had been discovered atAegae, the first capital and burial ground of the ancient kings ofMacedon. Greece imposed a year-longeconomic embargo in order to persuade the country to remove it from its flag, resulting in the current design.
The modern Macedonian state was proclaimed underground on 2 August 1944 by theAnti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM), the state's supreme legislative and executive body until 1946. The state was originally known as Democratic Federal Macedonia[3][4] and was renamed the People's Republic of Macedonia in 1945. The ASNOM became operational in December, shortly after the German retreat. The flag was adopted during ASNOM's secondplenary session in December. The first version of the flag depicted a gold-edged five-pointed red star centred on a red field.
Flag of Socialist Republic of Macedonia (1946–1992)
The flag of the Republic of Macedonia between 1992 and 1995, bearing theVergina Sun
In 1992,Todor Petrov, president of the nationalist Macedonian diaspora organizationWorld Macedonian Congress, proposed theVergina Sun as the national symbol of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia).[7] On 11 August 1992, the newly independent Republic of Macedonia adopted the new flag to replace the old Communist "red star" insignia. The flag depicted the "Vergina Sun" symbol, a stylised yellow sun centred on a red field with eight main and eight secondary rays emanating from the sun, each tapering to a point. This ancient symbol was named after the Greek town where it had been discovered in archaeological excavations of theancient Macedonian city ofAigai.
The Vergina Sun was regarded by Greece as a symbol of continuity betweenancient Macedonia and modern Greek culture, and in particular as a symbol of theArgead dynasty ofPhilip II of Macedon and his sonAlexander the Great. From the late 1970s it had also been adopted by many both in Greece and the then Socialist Republic of Macedonia to symbolise historical connections with ancient Macedonia and had been paraded in demonstrations by Greeks and ethnic Macedonians at home and abroad.[8]
The flag, the new state's constitution and its name all became the focus of a dispute between the two countries, during which Greece imposed an economic blockade on the Republic from February 1994. In July 1995, Greece lodged a request with theWorld Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for exclusivetrademark protection to the Vergina Sun.[9]
Greek objections also prevented the flag from being flown at theUnited Nations Headquarters building inNew York City. The blockade was lifted in October 1995 when an agreement was reached to change the flag, modify the constitution and resolve thenaming dispute throughUnited Nations-sponsored negotiations.[10] The change of the flag was at first not accepted by conservative Macedonians, nationalists, and Greek patriots. In the first years after the change, both flags were officially flown for a long time. Between 1995 and 1998, in the municipalities where then-opposition partyVMRO-DPMNE ruled, only the old flag was flown from institution buildings. Popular opinion was divided about the merits of changing the flag. As part of thePrespa Agreement (Article 8) of 2018, which resolved the naming dispute, the government ofNorth Macedonia committed to removing the Vergina Sun from all public spaces and from public use, including its use in flags.[11] It started removing the symbol since 12 August 2019.[12]
The Second Party (i.e. North Macedonia)shall not use again in any way and in all its forms the symbol formerly displayed on its former national flag. Within six months of the entry into force of this Agreement, the Second Party shall proceed to the removal of the symbol displayed on its former national flag from all public sites and public usages on its territory. Archaeological artefacts do not fall within the scope of this provision.
Toni Deskoski, Macedonian professor of International Law, argues that the Vergina Sun is not a Macedonian symbol but a Greek symbol that is used by ethnic Macedonians in the nationalist context ofMacedonianism and that the ethnic Macedonians need to get rid of it.[13]
In 1995, the Macedonian government appointedMiroslav Grčev to draft a proposal for a new flag.[6] Grčev went on to propose 12 designs for the flag that would have a sun in the center. Eventually, Grčev's last proposal was accepted – the design where the sun rays are on the entire surface of the flag.[14] On 5 October 1995, the current flag ofNorth Macedonia was adopted by theMacedonian parliament.[15] The flag represents a golden sun with eight rays on a red field.
^Hamilakis, Yiannis (2009).The Nation and its Ruins: Antiquity, Archaeology, and National Imagination in Greece. Oxford University Press. p. 131.ISBN978-0199572908.From the late 1970s onwards, and as the dispute over Macedonia intensified, this motif became extremely popular, almost to the point of becoming an unofficial national crest and symbol, in both Greece and the Yugoslav Republic. Countless commercial adverts, logos, shopfronts, T-shirts, pins, medals, and posters, were carrying it, along with its official endorsement in a 100-drachma Greek coin with the head of Alexander on one face and the 'sun' on the other, on postage stamps, and on official campaign posters distributed throughout Greece and abroad.
^Deskoski: Vergina Sun flag is not Macedonian, we need to get rid of this Greek symbolArchived 2021-05-11 at theWayback Machine, Republica.mk: "The Vergina Sun flag was a national flag for only three years and that was one of the biggest mistakes. Neither the Ilinden fighters nor the partisans in the National Liberation War knew that symbol. That flag is the biggest hoax of Macedonianism. We need to unanimously reject and get rid of this Greek symbol. Let the Greeks glorify their symbols."
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![Flag construction sheet.[17]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aConstruction_sheet_of_the_flag_of_North_Macedonia.svg)
