Introduction

Stephen Sacker is in Scopu, the capital city of one of Europe's youngest nation states. North Macedonia became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991 and will be called Republic of North Macedonia in 2019. The name change was done to resolve a long-running dispute with Greece which had been blocking its bid for EU membership. Right now North Macedonia's biggest beef is with neighbouring Bulgaria,. A former occupier of North Macedonian territory which still seeks to project linguistic, cultural and historical power over its neighbour.