Socialist Republic of Macedonia

The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (Macedonian: Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija) was one of the six constituent countries of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and a socialist nation state of the Macedonians. After the transition of the political system to parliamentary democracy in 1990, the Republic changed its official name to Republic of Macedonia in 1991, and with the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia, it declared itself an independent country on September 8, 1991.

History

The first Macedonian state was proclaimed under the name Democratic Macedonia (Macedonian: Демократска Македонија, Demokratska Makedonija) at the First Plenary Session of the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia during the National Liberation War of Macedonia in World War II. It was set up on August 2, 1944 in the Bulgarian occupation zone in Yugoslavia. This date is now celebrated by ethnic Macedonians as the day they were first allowed to freely state their nationality. It was chosen intentionally, as it was the date of the Ilinden Uprising against the Ottoman rule in 1903.