Η διένεξη για την ονομασία της Δημοκρατίας της Μακεδονίας μέσα από τις στήλες των αναγνωστών του αθηναϊκού τύπου (1991-1995 & 2004-2005)

In the early '90s, and while the 'Macedonian issue' is unknown or forgotten for the majority of greek society, reverts impetuously to the forefront of public debate. The claim of the neighboring state, following a referendum of its residents, to become independent from crumbling Federal Yugoslavia and get the name, Republic of Macedonia, came up as challenge and national threat. The attack of 'ethnic truth' from a neighboring and even fragile state caused the most massive mobilization of the post-dictatorship period. The new-Macedonian issue was not only subject to foreign policy. Surpassed the bilateral relations and diplomacy and arrived to become an expanded discussion and controversy over issues of identity and symbols. It was finally developed into a broad and important topic, which undoubtedly related with the values, ideological orientation and character of greek society at the time. The public discourse, throughout the 'crisis', remained superficial and emotive. The use and reproduction of stereotypes and prejudice was the norm. The consolidated view of unbroken linguistic and cultural continuity of the Greek nation in combination with the undisputed racial superiority of the Greeks over other Balkan peoples, stood the cornerstones of the greek argument. The whole issue was presented detached from its past and denervated from its actual parameters. The minority dimension, although it was the one that gave rise to the greek reaction, was finally suppressed. The emphasis was on 'falsification of history and culture’. The Media played undoubtedly key role in the formulation and promotion of the new nationalist discourse. These undertook the so-called 'campaign of information' and 'enterprise of mobilization' of the public.In my thesis I tried to analyze the discourse expressed during the ‘crisis’ and aimed to defend the "inalienable laws' of Hellenism. My goal however, wasn’t to focus on the official national discourse, but on the way it was diffused and adopted or rejected by the whole society, or better, by what we call public opinion. So, I approached the Macedonian question through the discourse expressed by the readers of the athenian newspapers in the periods 1991-1995 and 2004-2005, and more specifically in the letters-articles drafted and sent to the column of readers. It’s about an archival material consisting of 500 letters of seven major newspapers of Athens. The results obtained by quantitative and qualitative content analysis and then classified by the central arguments (and ultimately, stereotypes).Through this material, I attempted to evaluate critically the representations and manipulations of neo-Macedonian crisis, to identify and interpret the arguments put forward by the official state, in cooperation with the media and uncritically adopted by the public. Through metaphors and politicalor historical references, these texts renegotiate conceptually both the present and the past. The way someone puts the issues for discussion, like the choice of words, always means a lot. Through the items displayed or contrary, degraded and concealed, someone can consider the inclusion of national ideology in the language itself.