Greeks in North Macedonia

Greeks in North Macedonia
Total population
	294
Languages
	Greek and Macedonian
Religion
	Eastern Orthodox Church
Related ethnic groups
	Ethnic Greeks

Greeks (Macedonian: Грци, Grci [ɡr̩t͡si]) in North Macedonia form an ethnic minority numbering 294 individuals per 2021 census.^[1]

Current status

Greeks are mainly settled now in the cities of Gevgelija (Greek: Γευγελή, Gevgelī́) and Bitola (Greek: Μοναστήρι, Monastī́ri).^[2] Today most Greeks in the country are political refugees who fled Greece due to the Greek Civil War^[3] and their descendants.^[4] Ethnologue also cites Greek as an "immigrant language" in the Republic of North Macedonia.^[5] In 2002, 422 individuals declared themselves as Greeks in the census.^[6] The 2021 census recorded 294 individuals declaring their ethnicity as Greek.^[1]

Aromanians

There is a historical controversy surrounding a Greek minority within North Macedonia, that stems from the Ottoman era statistical treatment of Aromanian population groups in the country, which in their majority used to identify themselves as Greeks as part of the Rum millet.^[7] A large number of Aromanians with Greek identity left the region after the Balkan Wars, with Florina in Greece witnessing the arrival of a large Greek-speaking commercial population from Monastiri (Bitola).^[8] The present-day community is a remnant of the formerly larger Aromanian community of the part of Macedonia that fell within the borders of the Kingdom of Serbia after the Balkan Wars.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15] Today, the Aromanians in North Macedonia are an officially recognized minority group numbering ca. 10,000 people, although some estimates put this number higher.

Notable historical personalities

The following people were born during Ottoman times in what is today North Macedonia:

Theodoros Adam, chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Charalambos Boufidis, chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Petros Christou (1887-1908), chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Georgios Karaiskakis (-1910), chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Evangelos Koukoudeas, chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Eleni Karinte, first love of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Dimitrios Lalas (1844/48-1911), composer and musician
Georgios Modis (1887-1975), jurist, politician, writer and participant in the Macedonian Struggle
Theodoros Modis, merchant, scholar and participant in the Macedonian Struggle
Traianos Nallis (1874-?), politician
Pantelis Papaioannou (c.1880-1907), chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Theofylaktos Papakonstantinou (1905-1991), writer and politician
Anastasios Pichion (1836-1913), educator and participant the Macedonian Struggle
Michail Sapkas (1873-1956), politician and doctor
Dimitrios Semsis (1883-1950), violinist
Michael Sionidis (1870-1935), chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Alexandros Svolos (1892-1956), President of Political Committee of National Liberation during WW2
Dimitrios Tsapanos (1882 or 1883-), chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Dimitrios Tsitsimis, chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Georgios Vafopoulos (1903-1996), poet, writer, teacher and journalist
Antonios Zois (1869-1941), chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle
Fanula Papazoglu (1917-2001), classical scholar, epigrapher and academic