Background
Until 1913 the majority of the Slav population of all three parts of Macedonia had Bulgarian identity. During World War II, most parts of Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria, and the local Slavic-speakers were regarded and self-identified as Macedonian Bulgarians. Not until much later did the process of Macedonian national identity formation gain momentum. After 1944, Communist Bulgaria and Communist Yugoslavia began a policy of making Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of new Balkan Federative Republic and stimulating there a development of distinct Slav Macedonian consciousness. The Greek communists as well as its fraternal parties in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, had already been influenced by the Comintern and it was the only political party in Greece to recognize Macedonian national identity. The region of Vardar Macedonia received the status of a constituent republic within Yugoslavia and in 1945 a separate Macedonian language was codified. The local Bulgarian population was proclaimed to be ethnically Macedonian - a new nationality meant to be different from the Bulgarians.
Read more about this topic: Ethnic Macedonians In Bulgaria
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