Timeline Macedonia
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Borders Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east,
Serbia to the north and Greece to the south. Macedonians of Slav origin
are the predominant ethnic group, although ethnic Albanians account for
about a third of the population of 2 million. Traditionally the poorest
of the former Yugoslavia's six republics, Macedonia is struggling to
get its postwar economy back on track. Corruption is rampant,
joblessness is about 40 percent and the average per-capita income is
about $300 a month.
The gadulka is a Macedonian
fiddle like instrument.
(NH, 6/97, p.66)
c3000BC The
town of Ohrid was established on Lake Ohrid, the 2nd deepest lake in
the world.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)
400BC-300 BC King Bardhylus united Illyria, Molossia
(Epirus) and part of Macedonia. The Illyrian kingdom reaches its peak.
(www, Albania, 1998)
c359BCE Heraclea was established.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A10)
359BC-336BCE Philip II ruled the Kingdom of
Macedonia. He founded Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(SFC, 7/18/96, p.E1)
358 BC Illyrians were defeated by Philip II of
Macedonia.
(www, Albania, 1998)
338BCE In Greece Philip of Macedon conquered the
country and was succeeded by his son 2 years later. Athens ceased to be
a major power from this point on. Philip’s League of Corinth was
composed of impotent Hellenic states that had lost their collective
freedom at the battle of Chaeronea.
(eawc, p.13)(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)(WSJ, 4/26/99,
p.A18)
338BCE Philip II erected Olympia’s Philippeion in
Athens following his victory at Chaeronea. The round marble building
was completed by his son, Alexander.
(AM, 7/04, p.24)
336BCE Alexander inherited the throne of Macedonia
and all of Greece. He went to see the Oracle of Delphi but was
initially refused entry. He forced his way and dragged the seeress into
the temple. Plutarch wrote: “As if conquered by his violence, she said,
‘My son, thou art invincible.’” “That is all the answer I desire,”
replied Alexander. He began his campaign to acquire new territory in
Asia at age 22. Within 4 years he conquered the entire Persian Empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.50)(NG, Jan,1968
p.1,4)(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.13)
c333 BCE Hittite lands and the village known as
Ancyra (later Angora, Ankora) was conquered by Macedonians led by
Alexander the Great.
(HNQ, 4/15/02)
323BC Jun 10, Alexander died in
Persia at Babylon at the age of 32. His general, Ptolemy, took
possession of Egypt. Apelles was a painter in Alexander's court. He had
been commissioned by Alexander to paint a portrait of Campaspe,
Alexander's concubine. Apelles fell in love with Campaspe and Alexander
granted her to him in marriage. In 1984 Curtius Quintas Rufus authored
"the History of Alexander." In 1991 Peter Green authored "Alexander of
Macedon, A Historical Biography." “Alexander the Great” by Norman F.
Cantor (d.2004) was published in 2005.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.12E)(WSJ, 2/11/00, p.W6) (ON, 1/01,
p.11)(SSFC, 12/25/05, p.M3)
285BC Ptolemy II (b.c309,
Philadelphus) of Macedonia began his rule of Egypt. During his reign
(285-247) he founded the Cyprian port of Famagusta.
(WUD, 1994, p.1162)(NG, 8/04, Geographica)
199BC-150BC Early in the 2nd
century BCE the Romans made Macedonia into a province and obliterated
the city of Corinth.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
42BC Octavian and Mark Antony
defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)
9CE Emperor Tiberius of Rome
subjugated the Illyrians and divided present day Albania between
Dalmatia, Epirus, and Macedonia.
(www, Albania, 1998)
c67CE St. Paul, Catholic apostle
to the Gentiles and writer of many epistles, died. He founded one of
the first Christian churches in Europe at Philippi in Macedonia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1058,1081)
700-800 Invading Slavs assimilated the Thracians in
the area of modern Bulgaria and parts of Greece, Romania, Macedonia and
Turkey.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A2)
886 Aug 29, Basilius I, the
Macedonian, Byzantine emperor (867-886), died.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1335 The Orthodox church of St.
Atanasie and the Holy Virgin in Lesok was begun. A monastery was added
that played a role in Christian resistance to the Ottoman Empire.
(SFC, 8/22/01, p.A10)
1895 Jul 15, Stephen Stambulov,
ex-prime minister of Bulgaria was murdered by Macedonian rebels.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1903 Sep 8, Between 30,000 and
50,000 Bulgarian men, women and children were massacred in Monastir by
Turkish troops seeking to check a threatened Macedonian uprising.
(HN, 9/8/98)
1908 Feb 14, Russia and Britain
threatened action in Macedonia if peace was not reached soon.
(HN, 2/14/98)
1910 Aug 26, Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu
(d.1997), later known as Mother Teresa and care-taker of the poor in
Calcutta, was born to an ethnic Albanian family in Uskub (later Skopje,
Macedonia). In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta
and in 1979 was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her work.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)(AP,
9/26/04)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa)
1912 May, Albanians rose against
the Ottoman authorities and seized Shkup (Skopje, Macedonia).
(www, Albania, 1998)
1912 Aug 25, Different
nationalities battled with each other in Macedonia.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1912 Oct 18, The First Balkan War
broke out between the members of the Balkan League-- Serbia, Bulgaria,
Greece and Montenegro--and the Ottoman Empire. A small Balkan War broke
out and was quelled by the major powers. Albanian nationalism spurred
repeated revolts against Turkish dominion and resulted in the First
Balkan War in which the Turks were driven out of much of the Balkan
Peninsula. Austria-Hungary’s 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
spurred Serbian efforts to form the Balkan alliance with its
neighbors. As a result of the war on Turkey, Serbia doubled its
territory with the award of Northern Macedonia. Albanian leaders
affirmed Albania as an independent state. [see Oct 8]
(V.D.-H.K.p.290)(CO, Grolier’s/ Albania)(HN,
10/18/98)(HNQ, 3/27/99)(www, Albania, 1998)
1912 Oct, Fighting against Turkish
dominion began throughout Macedonia.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1912-1913 During the Balkan Wars the Kingdom of
Greece acquired Macedonia from the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1912 Dec 4, An armistice was
signed to end the First Balkan War. Following several victories over
the Ottoman army, coalition forces occupied Macedonia and forced the
Ottoman Empire to seek an armistice.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jun 24, Greece and Serbia
annulled their alliance with Bulgaria following border disputes over
Macedonia and Thrace.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1913 Jun 29, Anticipating
assistance from Austro-Hungary the Bulgarian army attacked its former
allies. This Second Balkan War was at first waged entirely on
Macedonian soil. Bulgaria defeated Greek and Serbian troops.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jul 10, Rumania entered the
Second Balkan War war and four days later the Ottoman Empire joined the
general assault on Bulgaria. Faced with four fronts, Bulgarian armies
were defeated piecemeal and the government at Sofia was forced to seek
peace. Atrocities were widespread. For example, in pursuing the
Bulgarian army Greek forces systematically burnt to the ground all
Macedonian villages they encountered, mass-murdering their entire
populations. Likewise, when the Greek army entered Kukush (Kilkis) and
occupied surrounding villages, about 400 old people and children were
imprisoned and killed. Nor did the Serbian "liberators" lag behind in
destruction and wanton slaughter throughout Macedonia. In Bitola,
Skopje, Shtip and Gevgelija, the Serbian army, police and chetniks
(guerrillas) committed their own atrocities.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1916 Nov 16, French adjutant-chief
Eugene Rouges died with several of his men when a German artillery
shell exploded in their trench in Gradesnica, Macedonia. In the 1990s
villagers began finding a liquid fortune in vintage cognac buried in
the old trenches.
(AP, 7/23/07)
1917 Nov 21, German ace Rudolf von
Eschwege was killed over Macedonia when he attacked a booby-trapped
observation balloon packed with explosives.
(HN, 11/21/99)
1929 Oct 3, The Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia. It included the regions of Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia,
Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Macedonia. King Alexander I renamed
the Balkan state called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes,
Yugoslavia. The Kingdom had been formed on December 1, 1918 and was
ruled by the Serbian Karageorgevic dynasty. It included the previously
independent kingdoms of Serbia and Macedonia, the Hungarian-controlled
regions of Croatia and Slovenia, the Austrian province of Dalmatia,
Carniola and parts of Styria, Carinthia and Istria.
(AP, 10/3/97)(HN, 10/3/98)(HNQ, 3/26/99)(LCTH,
10/3/99)
1963 Jul 26, Skopje, Yugoslavia,
was destroyed by earthquake and over 1,000 were killed.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1967 The Orthodox church in
Macedonia broke free from its Serb overlords.
(Econ, 9/10/05, p.50)
1990 Nov, A party that advocated a
confederation of independent states of Yugoslavia won power.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1991 Macedonia gained independence
from the former Yugoslavia. Its president was Kiro Glogorov. A quarter
to a third of the population is Albanian. Its population is about 2
mil. Its capital is Skopje.
(www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mk.html)
1992 April, The denar was
introduced to replace the old Yugoslav dinar currency.
(WSJ, 11/27/95, p.A-7C)
1993 Jul, The first American
ground troops entered the former Yugoslavia as 300 Americans joined a
UN peacekeeping force in Macedonia.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1993-1999 Feb 28, The US Operations Deny Flight,
Provide Promise, Deliberate Force, Decisive Edge, Joint Endeavour and
others began in Bosnia and Macedonia. They cost $9.7 billion to date
and left 4 US casualties with 5 wounded.
(WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A8)
1934 Oct 9, In Marseilles, a
Macedonian revolutionary associated with Croat terrorists in Hungary
assassinated King Alexander of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister
Louis Barthou. The two had been on a tour of European capitals in quest
of an alliance against Nazi Germany. The assassinations brought the
threat of war between Yugoslavia and Hungary, but confrontation was
prevented by the League of Nations.
(HN, 10/9/98)
1994 Greece put a 2-year embargo
on Macedonia for usurping the name of a northern province.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A22)
1995 Pres. Gligorov, leader of
Macedonia, was critically hurt in a car bomb attack in Skopje,
Macedonia.
(WSJ, 10/4/95, p.A-1)
1996 Apr 9, Yugoslavia and
Macedonia established diplomatic relations.
(WSJ, 4/9/96, p.A-1)
1996 Macedonia opened a stock
exchange.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1997 Jul, Three ethnic Albanians
were shot to death during riots after police removed an Albanian flag
from the town hall.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.A11)
1997 Sep 17, In Macedonia the
mayor of Gostevar, Rufi Osmani, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on
charges of inciting ethnic hatred in the July riots.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.A11)
1998 May 28, NATO Ministers agreed
to help Albania and Macedonia strengthen their border patrols.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A16)
1998 Oct 18, In Macedonia
elections were held and the opposition coalition later claimed victory
by winning 44 seats of the 120-seat Assembly. Ljubco Georgievski became
the prime minister.
(SFC, 10/20/98, p.C12)(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A26)
1998 Nov 1, A 2nd round of
elections was scheduled. Right-wing parties unseated the ruling
ex-Communists. The center-right coalition of VMRO-DPMNE and Democratic
Alternative parties won 59 of the 120 seats in parliament.
(WSJ, 11/2/98, p.A1)(SFC, 11/3/98, p.C3)
1998 Dec 2, Macedonia agreed to
provide a base for NATO to get to Kosovo it the need should arise.
(WSJ, 12/3/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan, Prime Minister Ljubco
Georgievski took office after an alliance led by his center-right
Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity ousted the former
Communists, who had been in power for 8 years.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 9, China severed
relations with Macedonia after the government in Skopje recognized
Taiwan.
(WSJ, 2/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 24, China announced that
it would veto a Security Council resolution to renew a UN peacekeeping
force in Macedonia, which had recently established relations with
Taiwan.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb, Ismail Bexheti (40), an
ethnic Albanian and a Muslim, was appointed as the police chief in
Tetovo. Most of his officers were Slavic Christians.
(WSJ, 5/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 29, Albania and Macedonia
appealed for help as thousands of refugees fled Kosovo on the 6th day
of bombing. NATO said Serbs were targeting ethnic Albanian leadership
for executions and the US accused Milosevic of "crimes against
humanity."
(WSJ, 3/30/99, p.A1)(SFC, 3/30/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 31, Three peacekeeping US
soldiers were captured by Serb forces near the Yugoslav-Macedonia
border. James Stone, Stevem Gonzales and Andrew Martinez were shown on
Serbian TV. Azen Syla, founder of the KLA, said that his guerrilla
supply lines from Albania were cut off when the bombing began. Yugoslav
soldiers herded ethnic Albanians onto trains bound for the Macedonian
border as NATO bombing continued for the 8th day.
(SFC, 3/31/99, p.A1,12)
1999 Apr 3, Macedonia, overwhelmed
by some 70,000 Kosovar Albanians, declared that it won't accept any
more refugees unless they are sent on to other European countries.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 5, In Macedonia ethnic
Albanians were blocked at the border due to extremely slow processing
by government officials. Political stability was feared and the UN was
denied a mandate to process the refugees.
(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A8)
1999 Apr 7, In Macedonia the
government evacuated a huge refugee encampment overnight and sent them
to locations in Albania, Greece and Turkey.
(SFC, 4/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 14, Some 3,000 refugees
reached the border of Macedonia and another 7,000 were expected.
Another 3,000 arrived in Albania. An estimated 18,000 were making their
way to Montenegro. Over the last 3 weeks 305,000 arrived in Albania,
121,000 in Macedonia, and 61,000 in Montenegro.
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 16, NATO troops began to
pull out of refugee camps in Macedonia. Management of the camps was
turned over to Macedonian NGOs supervised by the UNHCR. Refugees were
reported to be in fear of the Macedonian police.
(SFC, 4/16/99, p.A17)
1999 Apr 16, Thousands of refugees
poured out of Kosovo as NATO blasted oil refineries, military barracks
and airports around Yugoslavia. At least 5,000 refugees crossed into
Macedonia, and 8,000 into Albania. Some 100,000 were believed to be
enroute to Macedonia.
(SFC, 4/17/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 20, NATO bombing
continued in Yugoslavia. The UN refugee agency in Macedonia declared
its camps full beyond capacity and left 2,000 to 3,000 refugees at the
border. Another few thousand crossed the border to the hamlet of
Milana. The border with Albania was again opened but only a few crossed
over.
(SFC, 4/21/99, p.A1,10)
1999 Apr 21, Macedonia allowed
another 3,000 Kosovo refugees to enter from the frontier.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Apr 26, Over 2,000 ethnic
Albanians arrived from Kosovo.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A8)
1999 Apr 27, Up to 5,000 ethnic
Albanians entered Macedonia and many more were said to be following.
Another 2,000 entered at the Lojane border post.
(SFC, 4/28/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 29, In Macedonia another
6,500 refugees arrived. 3 refugees were killed by a mine as they
attempted to cross the border northwest of Blace.
(SFC, 4/30/99, p.A13)
1999 May 3, British PM Tony Blair
visited the Stankovec I refugee camp in Macedonia and pledged to double
Britain's aid from $32 million to $64 million.
(SFC, 5/4/99, p.D1)
1999 May 14, In Macedonia Hillary
Clinton announced a $21 million aid package to support Kosovo refugees
and the Macedonian people who have helped take them in.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A10)
1999 May 18, NATO missiles hit at
least 4 cities in Yugoslavia and one woman was reported killed and 12
injured. Some 1000 ethnic Albanians crossed into Macedonia.
(SFC, 5/19/99, p.A14)
1999 May 23, Some 14,000 ethnic
Albanians crossed the border from Kosovo to Macedonia in the last 2
days.
(SFC, 5/24/99, p.A12)
1999 May 25, As many as 150,000
Kosovo refugees were reportedly bound for Macedonia.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 29, In Macedonia a NATO
soldier from Norway was arrested for a car crash that killed a
Macedonian official, his wife and daughter.
(WSJ, 8/31/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 31, In Macedonia
elections Tito Petkovski, representing the former communist Social
Democratic Party, led with 38% of the vote vs. Boris Trajkovsky (VMRO)
with 24.6%. A runoff was scheduled in 2 weeks.
(SFC, 11/2/99, p.A14)
1999 Nov 14, Boris Trajkovsky (43)
of the right centrist VMRO DPMNE party was the winner in a runoff
election with 53% of the vote. Some 35,000 people later protested the
results.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.D2)
1999 Nov 28, The high court
nullified the election results in 230 mainly Albanian districts and
threw Boris Trajkovsky's victory into doubt.
(WSJ, 11/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 5, A repeat ballot in 239
contested polling stations upheld the election of Boris Trajkovsky and
the ruling coalition.
(SFC, 12/6/99, p.A14)
1999 Caroline Baron founded Film
Aid Int’l. as a one-time trial to show films to the refugees in
Macedonia. The project was later expanded Africa.
(WSJ, 10/23/02, p.B1)
1999 The 2 million population
included about 25% ethnic Albanians.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.A12)
2001 Mar 4, Macedonia sealed its
border with Kosovo after 3 soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with
ethnic Albanian rebels.
(WSJ, 3/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 5, In Macedonia heavy
fighting against ethnic Albanian rebels continued for a 2nd day on the
border with Kosovo.
(SFC, 3/6/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 9, Ethnic Albanian rebels
launched attacks on Macedonian and Yugoslav forces on the Kosovo
border. 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 3/10/01, p.A8)
2001 Mar 12, Yugoslavia and NATO
agreed to use their forces to squeeze Albanian rebels from separate
flanks as the rebels signed a cease-fire.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A15)
2001 Mar 14, The ethnic Albanian
National Liberation Army (UCK) extended its fight to Tetovo, the
country’s 2nd largest city.
(SFC, 3/15/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 15, Prime Minister Ljubco
Georgievski said that a direct involvement of NATO troops might be
required to stem rebel attacks.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A14)
2001 Mar 16, Albanian rebel mortar
shells exploded in Tetovo.
(SFC, 3/17/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 18, The government
ordered a general mobilization to counter the guerrilla assault.
(SFC, 3/19/01, p.A8)
2001 Mar 19, NATO asked for
additional troops in Kosovo to help stop Albanian guerrillas from
crossing into Macedonia. Macedonia moved tanks and troops into Tetovo.
(SFC, 3/20/01, p.A10)(WSJ, 3/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 20, Security forces began
a heavy attack against guerrilla fighters and issued an ultimatum that
weapons be laid down.
(SFC, 3/21/01, p.12)
2001 Mar 21, The government
rejected a rebel cease-fire and planned to proceed with its military
offensive.
(SFC, 3/22/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 22, Two Albanians were
killed by police at a checkpoint when they appeared to pull grenades.
The EU urged Macedonia to show restraint and intensify discussions with
Albanian militants.
(SFC, 3/23/01, p.D4)
2001 Mar 24, Macedonia began using
attack helicopters against ethnic Albanian rebels.
(SSFC, 3/25/01, p.C2)
2001 Mar 25, The government sent
infantry troops backed by tanks and helicopters into the hills above
Tetovo to push back ethnic Albanian insurgents.
(SFC, 3/26/01, p.A8)
2001 Mar 28, Macedonia began final
assaults on rebels near the Kosovo border as political talks were set
to begin.
(SFC, 3/29/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 29, Macedonian forces
chased rebels into Kosovo and 3 people were killed from mortar fire in
Kosovo.
(SFC, 3/30/01, p.A16)
2001 Mar 30, Macedonia declared a
successful conclusion to their offensive against ethnic Albanian
insurgents.
(SFC, 3/31/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 31, Rebels engaged
government troops in a firefight.
(SSFC, 4/1/01, p.C5)
2001 Apr 28, In Macedonia 8
government soldiers and police were killed by rebels near the Kosovo
border.
(SFC, 4/30/01, p.A8)
2001 May 1, Slavs rioted in Bitola
and trashed Albanian shops following the funerals of soldiers killed in
a rebel ambush. US Sec. of State Powell met with Pres. Trajkovski.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A8)
2001 May 3, Troops backed by
helicopter gunships began a fresh offensive against ethnic Albanian
rebels after 2 soldiers were killed and one kidnapped in an ambush.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.A13)
2001 May 6, Macedonian forces
lobbed shells into villages seized by ethnic Albanian rebels.
(SFC, 5/7/01, p.C1)
2001 May 7, Prime Minister
Georgievski said parties agreed to form a coalition government to
include all main ethnic Albanian and Slav parties.
(WSJ, 5/8/01, p.A1)
2001 May 9, Macedonian forces
intensified assaults on suspected ethnic Albanian positions.
(WSJ, 5/10/01, p.A1)
2001 May 10, Macedonian and Serb
leaders agreed to work together to fight ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
(WSJ, 5/11/01, p.A1)
2001 May 12, The Parliament
approved a national unity government. The VMRO, DPA, SDSM and PDP made
the move to avert an all out war.
(WSJ, 5/14/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A14)
2001 May 15, The new unity
government ordered a halt to attacks on ethnic Albanian rebels but
warned them to clear out of northern villages within 2 days or face
full-scale assaults.
(SFC, 5/16/01, p.A10)
2001 May 20, Government troops
shelled ethnic Albanian positions in response to machine gun and sniper
fire.
(SFC, 5/22/01, p.A11)
2001 May 24, Albanians said that
government fire killed 7 civilians.
(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.A1)
2001 May 25, Government troops
began a ground assault against rebels and some 3,000 civilians fled the
area.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.B12)
2001 May 29, Key leaders agreed to
set aside a dispute over a joint declaration signed by ethnic Albanian
politicians and a guerrilla leader that did not require an immediate
stop to fighting.
(SFC, 5/30/01, p.A10)
2001 Jun 1, The government offered
amnesty to the ethnic Albanian militants if they lay down their weapons.
(SFC, 6/2/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 5, US Defense Sec. Donald
Rumsfeld visited Macedonia as Albanian rebels clashed with government
troops near Tetovo.
(WSJ, 6/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 6, The government
threatened to declare a state of war after 5 soldiers were killed in an
attack by ethnic Albanian rebels.
(SFC, 6/7/01, p.A12)
2001 Jun 8, Rebels seized
Aracinovo, 5 miles from Skopje, without firing a shot.
(SFC, 6/13/01, p.D2)
2001 Jun 10, Ethnic Albanian rebel
leader Commander Hoxha threatened to take the insurgency into the
cities unless government stopped fighting in the north.
(SFC, 6/11/01, p.A10)
2001 Jun 11, In Macedonia ethnic
Albanian rebels and the government announced cease-fires.
(SFC, 6/12/01, p.A10)
2001 Jun 12, Macedonia broke ties
with Taiwan and restored relations with China.
(WSJ, 6/13/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 12, Gunmen shot dead
Naser Hani (42), an intermediary between militants and government
parties.
(SFC, 6/14/01, p.C3)
2001 Jun 14, Macedonia asked for
NATO troops the help disarm ethnic Albanian rebels. NATO Sec. Gen. Lord
Robertson ruled out military
intervention.
(SFC, 6/15/01, p.D6)
2001 Jun 15, Rebels declared a
unilateral cease-fire as politicians began talks to resolve the crises.
(SFC, 6/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Jun 22, Government troops
ended an 11-day cease-fire and attacked ethnic Albanian rebels with
tanks and helicopter gunships.
(SFC, 6/23/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 25, In Skopje rioting
erupted after US troops escorted rebels away from the capital.
(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 5, The government and
ethnic Albanian rebels signed a cease-fire agreement under pressure
from Western powers. Fighting continued.
(SFC, 7/6/01, p.A16)
2001 Jul 20, Two int’l. monitors
and their interpreter were found killed by a land mine near Tetovo.
(SFC, 7/21/01, p.E1)
2001 Jul 22, Ethnic Albanian
rebels attacked government forces in the Tetovo area.
(SFC, 7/23/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 23, In Macedonia security
forces engaged ethnic Albanian rebels in fierce fighting around Tetovo.
Macedonian mobs in Skopje, angered by Western efforts at mediation,
attacked symbolic targets.
(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A6)
2001 Jul 30, Peace talks dragged
into a 3rd day as rebels controlled part of Tetovo.
(SFC, 7/31/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 4, Ethnic Albanian rebels
lobbed mortars at Macedonian police stations near Tetovo.
(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 5, Rival factions agreed
to restructure the police force and removed a major barrier to a peace
accord.
(SFC, 8/6/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 6, Peace talks hit a snag
over government demands for a quick rebel disarmament.
(SFC, 8/7/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 7, Police conducted a
predawn raid in Skopje and 5 members of the National Liberation Army
were killed.
(SFC, 8/8/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 8, Political leaders
initialed a peace agreement as rebels ambushed an army convoy and
killed 10 soldiers.
(SFC, 8/9/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 9, Government forces
battled rebels for control of Tetovo and one policeman was killed. A
peace agreement was scheduled to be formally signed Aug 13.
(SFC, 8/10/01, p.A12)
2001 Aug 10, Two mines hit
military trucks near Skopje and 7 soldiers were killed. The army
retaliated with an assault on Ljuboten.
(SFC, 8/11/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 10-12, Security forces
killed 6 ethnic Albanian civilians and burned at least 22 houses in the
village of Ljuboten. Another 3 were killed from indiscriminate shelling
and another died when shot while fleeing.
(SFC, 9/6/01, p.E4)
2001 Aug 12, Macedonia's interior
minister Ljube Boskovski watched from a distance as police under his
control rampaged through Ljuboten, killing seven ethnic Albanian men
and torching and blowing up houses. In 2007 defendants Boskovski and a
top police official faced a possible punishment of life imprisonment.
The policemen who allegedly carried out the killings were not on trial.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2001 Aug 13, In Macedonia a peace
deal was signed by rival leaders of the 2 main ethnic groups and paved
the way for NATO troops to arrive and disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.
Representatives of the EU, USA and NATO helped Macedonian politicians
produce a plan for peace at Lake Ohrid called the Ohrid agreement.
(http://tinyurl.com/y8j2yh)(AP, 8/13/02)(Econ,
10/21/06, p.62)
2001 Aug 14, Albanian guerrillas
agreed to disarm under NATO supervision and the government agreed to
extend amnesty for the fighters.
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 15, NATO authorized 400
first wave peacekeepers for Macedonia.
(SFC, 8/16/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 17, NATO’s 1st advance
troops of Operation Essential Harvest arrived in Skopje.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.10)
2001 Aug 19, Government shelled
the rebel-held village of Neprusteno for 4 hours.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 21, In Macedonia a 14th
century monastery, St. Atanasie and the Holy Virgin, in Lesok was
bombed. Each side blamed the other.
(SFC, 8/22/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 22, NATO members gave
formal approval for alliance soldiers to collect weapons from Albanian
guerrillas in Macedonia.
(SFC, 8/23/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 23, NATO soldiers
streamed into Macedonia as part of a mission to help end 6 months of
ethnic hostilities by collecting and destroying rebel weapons.
(AP, 8/23/02)
2001 Aug 24, Rebels agreed to hand
over some 3,000 weapons. The government had earlier charged that the
rebels had 85,000 weapons.
(SFC, 8/25/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 26, An explosion at a
hotel in Celopek killed 2 Macedonian Slavs.
(SFC, 8/27/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 27, In Macedonia NATO
troops began collecting rebel weapons and one British soldier was
killed when a suspected block of concrete was thrown at his vehicle by
Macedonian youths.
(SFC, 8/28/01, p.A6)(WSJ, 8/28/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, NATO troops suspended
arms collections to await a parliamentary vote on proceeding forward
with the peace accord.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 9, EU foreign ministers
agreed on the need for a new int’l. military force to provide security
in Macedonia after NATO withdrawal.
(SFC, 9/10/01, p.B1)
2001 Sep 17, Macedonia approved
the deployment of a modest NATO security force.
(WSJ, 9/18/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 20, NATO troops began the
3rd stage of Essential Harvest.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.D3)
2001 Sep 25, NATO agreed to keep
troops in Macedonia beyond the Sep 26 expiration of its mission.
(WSJ, 9/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 27, Ethnic Albanian
rebels declared that they had formally disbanded and were returning to
civilian life.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D4)
2001 Oct 4, Macedonian security
forces, in opposition to external warnings, took control of 3 ethnic
Albanian villages but met with resistance from others.
(SFC, 10/5/01, p.D4)
2001 Oct 9, Macedonia decreed
amnesty for rebels.
(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 11, Police found a cache
of arms in an area held by ethnic Albanian rebels.
(WSJ, 10/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 21, In Macedonia Pres.
Boris Trajkovski approved a plan to deploy ethnically mixed police
units in areas that had been seized by ethnic Albanian revels.
(SFC, 10/22/01, p.B2)
2001 Nov 12, Three policemen were
killed in fighting following the seizure of hostages by ethnic
Albanians near Tetovo in response to a police raid.
(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 16, The parliament
adopted constitutional changes giving ethnic minority Albanians more
rights.
(SFC, 11/17/01, p.A17)
2002 Mar 2-3, Macedonia police
killed 7 men who allegedly attempted an ambush near Butel, a suburb of
Skopje. Police said the attackers were probably Pakistanis. Foreign
officials later discounted these assertions and suspected that they
were illegal immigrants. A 2 year investigation followed in the
so-called "Rastanski Lozja" action, and revealed police staged the
killing to show they were participating in the U.S.-led campaign
against terrorism. A bomb blast at the Macedonia consulate in Karachi
on Dec 5, 2002, killed 3 people in apparent retaliation.
(SSFC, 3/3/02, p.A15)(WSJ, 3/8/02, p.A8)(SFC,
4/5/02, p.H1)(AP, 4/30/04)(SFC, 5/1/04, p.A7)
2002 Aug 29, In western Macedonia
police killed two ethnic Albanians after gunmen abducted at least five
people from a bus, as tension soared. The 5 abducted people were
released after 2 days.
(AP, 8/30/02)(AP, 8/31/02)
2002 Sep 14, In Macedonia an
ethnic Albanian was killed and two were wounded in a clash with police,
as tensions soared on the eve of key elections.
(AP, 9/14/02)
2002 Sep 15, Voters chose
candidates for the 120-seat assembly from 30 parties. The Macedonian
side was led by the center-right VMRO party, which rules in a coalition
with the Democratic Party of Albanians, and the formerly communist
Social Democrats, which was well ahead of the VMRO in pre-election
polls. Ethnic Albanians were represented mainly by the DPA and the
Democratic Union for Integration, a new party led by former rebel
leader Ali Ahmeti, which was leading among ethnic Albanian parties in
pre-election polls.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2002 Sep 15, In Macedonia the
opposition led by Branko Crvenkovski swept the ruling coalition from
power in the country's first elections since last year's armed
uprising. Premier Ljubco Georgievski confirmed the nationalists’ defeat.
(AP, 9/16/02)(WSJ, 9/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 5, In Pakistan a bomb
exploded at the Macedonian Consulate and 3 people were killed. Revenge
for a Mar 2 killing of 7 militants in Skopje was suspected.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.A16)
2003 Mar 31, In Macedonia the EU
began its first military operation by taking over peacekeeping duties
from NATO.
(AP, 3/31/03)
2003 Sep 7, Macedonian police
clashed with ethnic Albanian militants in the volatile north, and
reported killing several men in what they said was a major sweep
against groups that threaten the Balkan country's fragile peace.
(AP, 9/7/03)
2003 Nov 1, Macedonia launched a
lottery to reduce the number of light arms held by the public. An
amnesty for turning in arms was set to expire Dec 15.
(SSFC, 12/14/03, p.A14)
2004 Feb 26, Macedonian President
Boris Trajkovski, a moderate leader who helped unite his ethnically
divided country, was killed when his plane crashed in bad weather in
mountainous southern Bosnia.
(AP, 2/26/04)
2004 Apr 14, Macedonians voted to
replace the president who was killed in a February plane crash.
(AP, 4/14/04)
2004 Apr 15, Branko Crvenkovski,
Macedonia's PM, took the lead in elections to replace the president who
died in a plane crash, but he didn't get enough votes to avoid a runoff.
(AP, 4/15/04)
2004 Apr 28, Macedonians chose
between a liberal prime minister and a nationalist candidate in
presidential elections. Front-runner Branko Crvenkovski, the current
PM, and right-wing opposition politician Sasko Kedev, a U.S.-educated
doctor with little political background, competed in the runoff
election for the mostly ceremonial post. Oremier Crvenkovski claimed
victory and Kedev claimed fraud.
(AP, 4/28/04)(WSJ, 4/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 18, A militant group in
Iraq said it had executed two Macedonian men accused of spying for the
US. Macedonia has 32 soldiers stationed in Taji, north of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 Nov 4, Greece sharply
protested a US decision to recognize the former Yugoslav state on its
northern border as "Macedonia."
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 7, In Macedonia voters
cast ballots on a referendum that would repeal a Western-brokered law
that effectively grants local autonomy to the country's ethnic
Albanians. The referendum fell short of a required 50% turnout.
(AP, 11/7/04)(WSJ, 11/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 10, Macedonia politicians
gathered at Lake Ohrid to recommit themselves to a reconciliation
process begun there in 2001.
(Econ, 11/13/04, p.57)
2004 Nov 15, Macedonia’s PM Hari
Kostov resigned over disagreements with ethnic Albanian coalition
partners.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 18, The Macedonian
parliament accepted the resignation of PM Hari Kostov and his cabinet,
leaving President Branko Crvenkovski 10 days to select a new premier.
(AFP, 11/18/04)
2004 Dec 28, Albania, Bulgaria and
Macedonia gave political support to a $1.2 billion private trans-Balkan
pipeline that will allow Russian and Caspian crude oil to avoid Turkish
waters.
(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A7)
2005 Mar 14, The Hague tribunal
indicted former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski for war
crimes.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 27, Macedonians cast
ballots in municipal elections, but the voting was marred by
irregularities that could potentially harm the country's ambitions to
join NATO and the EU.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Jul 27, Bishop Jovan
Vraniskovski in Skopje, Macedonia, was sentenced to at least 18 months
in jail for “instigating national and religious hatred.”
(Econ, 9/10/05, p.50)
2005 Dec 17, Macedonia moved a
step closer to realizing its dream of EU membership when the bloc's
leaders gave their blessing for it to start membership talks.
(AFP, 12/17/05)
2006 Feb 16, In southern Iraq 2
Macedonians working for a cleaning company were abducted in Basra. A $1
million ransom was demanded for their release.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2006 May 7, Vice President Dick
Cheney endorsed the NATO membership aspirations of Croatia, Albania and
Macedonia.
(AP, 5/7/06)
2006 Jul 5, Macedonia held
parliamentary elections. President Branko Crvenkovski urged a free and
fair vote in a country struggling to ease tensions between majority
Macedonian Slavs and the ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up about
a quarter of the nation's population.
(AP, 7/6/06)
2006 Jul 6, PM Vlado Buckovski
conceded defeat to the nationalist opposition in Macedonia's
parliamentary elections, a vote considered crucial for the tiny Balkan
nation's aspirations to join the EU and NATO. Nikola Gruevski led the
winning VMRO-DPMNE party.
(AP, 7/6/06)
2006 Aug, In Macedonia within 3
days of the new government taking office as many as 544 managers and
top officials from state companies were sacked or shunted aside.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.62)
2007 Macedonia renamed Skopje
airport for Alexander the Great.
(Econ, 4/4/09, p.55)
2008 Jan 12, A Macedonian Army
helicopter returning from a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia crashed in
foggy conditions, killing all 11 people on board.
(AP, 1/13/08)
2008 Apr 12, Macedonia's lawmakers
voted to dissolve parliament and hold early elections, following a
dispute with neighboring Greece that halted the Balkan nation's bid to
join NATO.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Jun 1, Macedonia's
parliamentary election was marred by violence in Albanian areas and
suspected fraud, with one person shot dead and nine wounded, and voting
halted in one town after a gun battle. PM Nikola Gruevski scored an
overwhelming election victory but monitors criticized violence that
marred the poll and could delay the country's progress towards EU
membership. The government said it will repeat voting in 22 poling
stations that were shut down due to shootings or alleged ballot fraud.
(Reuters, 6/1/08)(Reuters, 6/2/08)(WSJ, 6/2/08,
p.A10)
2008 Jun 7, Macedonia’s State
Election Commission announced it would nullify results from 193 polling
stations after detecting fraud and other irregularities in the June 1
violence-marred parliamentary election.
(AP, 6/8/08)
2008 Jun 15, A peaceful repeat
vote at dozens of polling stations in Macedonia confirmed the ruling
coalition's landslide victory in parliamentary elections that had
initially been marred by violence.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2008 Jun 23, Vlado Taneski (56), a
Macedonian journalist jailed on suspicion of murdering at least two
women in crimes he wrote about for his newspaper, was found dead in his
cell.
(AP, 6/23/08)
2008 Jul 5, Macedonia’s leading
party said PM Nikola Gruevski has agreed to form a coalition government
with the main ethnic Albanian party to aim at getting its NATO and EU
bids back on track.
(Reuters, 7/5/08)
2008 Jul 17, Macedonia's main
opposition party walked out of parliament after its deputy leader was
arrested and charged in a corruption probe.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Oct 9, Montenegro and
Macedonia recognized Kosovo's independence, despite opposition from
Serbia, which called the moves by its Balkan neighbors a betrayal and
expelled the Montenegrin ambassador from Belgrade.
(AP, 10/9/08)
2008 Oct 10, Serbia expelled the
Macedonian ambassador, reflecting its fury over the recognition of
Kosovo's independence by its closest neighbors.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 The population of Macedonia
was about 2 million with about a quarter of them being ethnic Albanian.
(Econ, 6/7/08, p.64)
2009 Jan 6, A natural gas crisis
loomed over Europe, as a contract dispute between Russia and Ukraine
shut off Russian gas supplies to six countries and reduced gas
deliveries to several others. Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania,
Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Mar 22, Macedonia held
elections. The governing party's Gjorgje Ivanov (49) emerged as
favorite to win the presidency in an April 5 runoff vote against
51-year-old Social Democrat Ljubomir Frckoski.
(AP, 3/23/09)
2009 Apr 5, Macedonia’s
conservative candidate Gjorgje Ivanov (49) won the runoff election in a
landslide with about two-thirds of the popular vote.
(WSJ, 4/6/09, p.A8)
2009 Sep 5, The sightseeing boat
Ilinden, carrying 55 Bulgarian tourists, sank in Lake Ohrid on
Macedonia's western border, and 15 people drowned.
(AP, 9/5/09)(AFP, 9/6/09)
2009 Oct 16, Kosovo's authorities
said they have demarcated a disputed border with Macedonia, a scene of
tensions in the past.
(AP, 10/16/09)
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