Aegean Macedonia

Aegean Macedonia (Macedonian: Егејска Македонија, romanized: Egejska Makedonija; Bulgarian: Егейска Македония, romanized: Egeyska Makedonia) is a term describing the region of Macedonia in Northern Greece.

Although Greek Macedonia does have its coastline along the northern Aegean, the province is more than anything else dominated by its high mountain ranges and broad, grassy plains, rather than by its coastline (with the exception of the Chalkidiki peninsula, which is a popular holiday destination in the southernmost part of central Macedonia and noted for its beaches).The origins of the term seem to be rooted in the 1910s; most of its early appearances were in the writings of Bulgarian authors.

A native of the region, former exile communist, teacher of Greek in Tashkent[9] and local historian, Pavlos Koufis, says in Laografika Florinas kai Kastorias (Folklore of Florina and Kastoria),[10] that, “[During its Panhellenic Meeting in September 1942, the KKE mentioned that it recognises the equality of the ethnic minorities in Greece] the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) recognised that the Slavophone population was ethnic minority of Slavomacedonians].

The first section of the term determined their origin and classified them in the great family of the Slavic peoples.” The name "Aegean Macedonia" contains on the one hand a reference to a geographical area which, since Homeric times, is historically associated with the Greeks (the Aegean), but, as expressed above, there is also the experience that it is used by irredentist organizations in the Republic of North Macedonia and beyond who support a United Macedonia, contrary to the desires of the people living in the area.

Writing in 1953, Lazar Mojsov seems surprised that the Greeks find the term "Aegean Macedonia" insulting, and uses it frequently, noting that "...Politis (former Greek minister of external affairs) didn't miss the opportunity to attack even the very term "Aegean Macedonia", stating that it was "coined by the communist propagandists".