North Macedonia

North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. North Macedonia is a landlocked country bordering with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's 1.83 million population. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.

Quotes

 * [T]he country - and I am determined to call it Macedonia - has a perfect right to exist. The population is overwhelmingly Macedonian, with a distinctive language, culture and history. It is poorer than some of the other old Yugoslav republics, but considerably richer than Albania. The people are civilised, friendly and highly educated. Even my tour guide had an MBA... From now on I will call our esteemed EU partner "the former Ottoman possession of Greece".
 * David Cameron, "The Macedonian job" (10 September 2003), David Cameron Diaries, United Kingdom: The Guardian


 * [T]he Republic of Macedonia is strongly determined to continue to build friendly and good-neighborly relations.
 * Branko Crvenkovski, as quoted in "US snubs Greece over Macedonia" (4 November 2004), BBC News, United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation


 * Today over Macedonia, is being born the new sun of liberty. The Macedonians fight for their own rights! The Macedonians fight for their own rights!
 * Vlado Maleski, "Denes nad Makedonija" (1943)
 * Original Macedonian: Денес над Македонија се раѓа, ново сонце на слободата! Македонците се борат, за своите правдини!


 * Macedonia has succeeded over the last 16 years to build a state architecture of equal opportunities. Every single citizen can be engaged in politics, in culture, the economy, in education, in media, and there are schools for everyone in their mother tongue, news for everyone in their mother tongue, politics for everyone in their mother tongue—sometimes too much.
 * Antonio Milososki, as quoted in "Macedonia Fights for its Name" (25 March 2008), Newsweek


 * It is very important to send a new signal of confidence and hope that this (Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo) accession (into the European Union) process is wanted by the EU (European Union) with great seriousness, and that it also has a realistic chance if everyone makes an effort.
 * Olaf Scholz, cited in: "Scholz backs giving chance to Western Balkans on EU membership" in Aljazeera, 10 June 2022.