The Republic of North Macedonia today marks the 35th anniversary of its independence from the former Yugoslav Federation, achieved through a popular referendum that declared the country an independent and sovereign state.
At the time, the referendum was boycotted by Albanians in Macedonia, who sought autonomous status and were dissatisfied with the position granted to them in the country’s new Constitution. According to official estimates at the time, more than 95 percent of citizens who participated in the referendum on September 8, 1991, answered positively to the question: “Are you in favor of an independent Macedonia with the right to enter into a future alliance of sovereign states of Yugoslavia?”
The referendum was preceded by the Declaration of Independence, which the first multiparty Parliament of Macedonia adopted on January 25, 1991. The will of the people for an independent state was formally confirmed through the Declaration on the Acceptance of the Referendum Results, adopted by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia on September 18, 1991.
The next important step in strengthening the state was the adoption of a new Constitution on November 17, 1991. The events that laid the foundations of independent Macedonia were overshadowed by the boycott of the referendum by part of the ethnic Albanian community and the lack of support for the new Constitution from Albanian MPs. Ten years later, the Constitution was amended following the 2001 conflict and the signing of the Ohrid Framework Agreement.
Bulgaria was the first country to recognize Macedonia’s independence, followed by Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and others.
The country achieved monetary independence with the introduction of the denar on April 26, 1992, and later established its own army, which celebrates its anniversary on August 18.
The country’s international legal personality was definitively confirmed on April 8, 1993, when Macedonia was admitted by acclamation to the United Nations General Assembly as the 181st member of the world organization. However, due to Greek opposition and pressure over the country’s name, its UN membership was established under the provisional reference “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.”
An agreement resolving the dispute with Greece was reached on June 17, 2018, under which the country adopted the name North Macedonia.
North Macedonia has so far established diplomatic relations with 170 countries around the world, while under its constitutional name it has been recognized by 135 states, including three permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, the Russian Federation, and the United States.
During the years since independence, North Macedonia has faced a series of problems and difficulties. In 2020, it became the 30th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
