MACEDONIA

Macedonia was a part of Ottoman empire since 1371. Following their own interests and aims to conquer and partition the European part of Ottoman Turkey, the neighbouring Balkan states Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro decided to start a war. The Treaty between Serbia and Bulgaria signed on March 12th 1912 (with a secret annexe) included a possibility for the transformation of Macedonia into an autonomous region and anticipated the arbitration of the Russian Tsar. In such form, this agreement was a compromise to avoid the territorial separation and partition of Macedonia. After Greece and Montenegro joined the agreement, a Balkan Alliance was formed and it immediately began preparations for a war against the Ottoman Empire. In autumn 1912 the Balkan allies declared war on Turkey. Believing that this war would bring the long-expected freedom, the Macedonian people took active part in the First Balkan War with their own regiments (chetas) and voluntary units. The victories of the Balkan allies over the Turkish army conditioned Turkey to sign a cease-fire and a short-term truce.

But immediately after the first Balkan war new bloodshed started among the Balkan allies who could not reach an agreement as how to partition the territories taken over from Turkey. The partition was carried out by force of arms and sanctioned by the Bucharest Peace Treaty signed on August 10th, 1913 according to which all the Balkan states expanded their territories. Macedonia was not only denied its autonomy which had originally been one of the causes of the war against Turkey, but it was forcefully divided and partitioned by the neighboring Balkan states. Greece seized southern part of Macedonia, Serbia won the central Vardar region and the Pirin part with the Strumica vicinity was given to Bulgaria.

After the establishment of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Vardar Macedonia had been constituent part of that state till 1941. Following the April war of 1941, in accordance with the Vienna Agreement of April 24th between the foreign ministers of Italy and Germany concerning the division of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Vardar part of Macedonia was divided between Bulgaria and Italy, Bulgaria occupying four- fifths and Italy one-fifth of its territory.
The Macedonian people responded to the fascist occupation by organizing an insurrection.

When Bulgaria was defeated and conquered by Soviet Red Army, German troops took over Macedonia and declared independent Macedonian state. This state issued own stamps on October 28th, 1944. That were overprinted Bulgarian stamps (PIC).

After WW2 Macedonia became one of the republics of Yugoslavia. When a further life within the federation became impossible, the Macedonian people, like the Slovenes and the Croats, opted for an independent life, for life in a sovereign and independent state.

The people of the Republic of Macedonia achieved their independence in the period from September 1990 to September 1991 in a peaceful, democratic and legal way. The process towards the independence of the Republic of Macedonia began with the Amendments to the Republic's 1974 Constitution adopted in September 1990. These Constitutional Amendments explicitly proclaimed the right of the Macedonian people to self-determination, including the right to secession from the Yugoslav federal community, authorizing the Assembly of the Republic to decide on this issue by a two-thirds majority vote of all its members. The decision concerning the exercise of the right to self-determination was to become valid following its acceptance in a referendum by the majority of all citizens of the Republic enjoying the right to vote. Democratic elections were held on November 11, 1990 to the Assembly of the Republic and the assemblies of the municipalities, in which a number of political parties took part.

Soon after its constitution on January 25, 1991, the newly-elected Assembly, adopted a Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Republic, by which, among other things, the Republic of Macedonia was defined as a sovereign state, which would decide independently about its future relations with the states of the other peoples of Yugoslavia. In the referendum held on September 8, 1991, the vast majority of the citizens voted in favor independent state.

On the basis of the results of the referendum, the Assembly of the Republic adopted and proclaimed the new Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia (On November 17, 1991), which confirmed the state's name, and the Republic of Macedonia was defined as it sovereign, independent, democratic and welfare state.
Macedonia started issuing stamps in 1991. Click here to see some of them.