MACEDONIA

Republic of Macedonia
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This article is about the country in Europe. For other uses, see Macedonia.
For an explanation of terms related to Macedonia, see Macedonia (terminology).
Република МакедонијаRepublika MakedonijaRepublika e MaqedonisëRepublic of Macedonia



1Macedonian is designated as the primary official language. As of June 2002, any language spoken by at least 20% of the population is also an official language. At present, only Albanian fulfils this requirement, but it can only be used as prescribed by law (e.g. issuing official documents, when communicating with government offices, in municipal self-government) and always in addition to Cyrillic Macedonian. In communities where over 20% of the population speak another language, that language can be used as a municipal official language along with Macedonian and any other official languages; such languages include Turkish, Serbian, Romany and Aromanian.
The Republic of Macedonia (Macedonian: Република Македонија / Republika Makedonija, listen (help·info), Albanian: Republika e Maqedonisë), often referred to as Macedonia, is a landlocked country on the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It borders Serbia to the north, Albania to the west, Greece to the south, and Bulgaria to the east. As the result of a naming dispute with Greece, in 1993 it was admitted to the United Nations under the provisional name the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), pending resolution of the dispute.[1]
The capital is Skopje, with 500,000 inhabitants, and there are a number of smaller cities, notably Bitola, Prilep, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Ohrid, Veles, Štip, Kočani, Gostivar and Strumica. It has more than 50 natural and artificial lakes and sixteen mountains higher than 2,000 meters (6,550 ft) above sea level.
The country is a member of the UN and the Council of Europe and a member of La Francophonie, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Since December 2005 it is also a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership.