Denko Maleski

"We have used that name for centuries [sic] to try to draw a line of distinction between us as a people and the surrounding people, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, the Greeks, the Albanians. The word ‘Macedonia’ for us is not just a word, a name or a state. The word ‘Macedonia’ is part of our history, it is part of our literature, it is part of our children’s tales, it is part of our songs. It is very important to our identity. So if we eliminate the word ‘Macedonia’ from our name we would in fact create a crisis of identity . . . and we would open again a century-long debate on who these people who live here are."

"The idea of Misirkov of a separate (Slavic) Macedonian nationhood was realized during the Second World War by the Communist movement as part of the solution of the Yugoslav national question. A new native Macedonian blend that existed as a tendency for overcoming Greek, Serbian and Bulgar influences, finally came to the surface. The new Macedonian nation was born."

"The idea that Alexander the Great belongs to us, was at the mind of some outsider political groups only! These groups were insignificant the first years of our independence but the big problem is that the old Balkan nations have . . . learned to legitimate themselves through their history. In [the] Balkans, if you want to be recognised as a nation, you need to have history of 2000 or 3000 years old. So since you [the Greeks] made us to invent a history, we invent it! . . . You forced us to the arms of the extreme nationalists who today claim that we are direct descendants of Alexander the Great."