Building the New Macedonian identity: A study on the "Skopje 2014 Project"

This thesis focuses on the "Skopje 2014 Project", which is at the center of the "antiquity" process and policies initiated by the VMRO DPMNE nationalist government in Macedonia in 2006. The "antiquity" process and the "Skopje 2014 Project" are the result of the national identity crisis that Macedonians experienced especially after the 1990s and the dilemma of Macedonian national thought. Because of the historical and political conditions in the Balkans since the emergence of Macedonian nationalist thought and movement, the Macedonian nation and its national identity have lived in a crisis. This crisis is about the non-recognition of the Macedonian nation and its national identity by the others. To put it more concretely, it is that Macedonia is not recognized by neighboring countries such as Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. Their non-recognition of Macedonians as a separate ethnic community and of the Macedonian nation and national identity constitutes the national identity crisis Macedonians have experienced. From the 19th century, when the first ideas for a separate Macedonian ethnic group and the first sprouts of Macedonian pro-nationalism emerged, a separate Macedonian ethnic or national group, especially its slavic origins, has either been completely rejected by neighboring peoples or the language, history, myths that are components of national identity etc. not recognized. This non-recognition or denial of the Macedonian nation and national identity thus posed a systematic problem. With the Skopje 2014 Project, the aim is to build a new national narrative and a new Macedonian national identity that will overcome this systematic crisis that Macedonians are exposed to. This new national narrative and national identity is based on a "new" and different historical past.