Serbs in Northern Macedonia

Serbs have a long history on the territory of modern Northern Macedonia. Northern Macedonia, along with the city of Skopje, was temporarily part of Raska during the reign of the great Jupan Stefan Nemani , but fully entered Old Serbia during the reign of King Stefan Milutin . After getting most of the Balkans into the Ottoman Empire , the territories of modern Serbia and Macedonia were within the framework of one state. Within the framework of the Ottoman Empire, Christians were in the position of minority peoples, the preservation of a common history and traditions was not welcomed, and the borders were blurred between Orthodox Christian peoples. Thus, in the 19th century, the young states of Serbia and Bulgaria began to put a lot of effort into proving that the local people belonged to the Serbian and Bulgarian people, respectively. As a result, in 1913, the Second Balkan War broke out between Bulgaria on the one hand and Serbia , Montenegro and Greece , and then Romania and the Ottoman Empire connected to them, on the other. As a result, Vardar Macedonia (the territory of modern Northern Macedonia) became part of Serbia, and the Slavs living on its territory were declared part of the Serbian people. After World War I, the territory of modern Northern Macedonia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes , and the Macedonians were considered southern Serbs. During World War II, most of Vardar Macedonia became part of Bulgaria, and the Slavic population was declared by the Bulgarians. At the first meeting of Serbian anti-fascists in November 1944, Macedonia was recognized as an equal participant in the Federation of Yugoslavia, and the Macedonians recognized as a separate people. At the same time, national self-determination in the territory of Vardar Macedonia was difficult, and almost the entire Slav population was recorded by the Macedonians. Unlike Croatia, where a clear separation between Serbs and Croats takes place according to religious principles, in Macedonia almost the entire Slavic population is Orthodox.

Over the past decades, the absolute and relative number of Serbs in Northern Macedonia has been falling.

The largest number of Serbs in northern Macedonia live in cities and in the northern part of the state. The communities with the largest share of the Serbian population are Chucher-Sandevo with 28.6% of the Serbian population, Staro-Nagorichane with 19.1%, Kumanovo with 10.5% and Skopje with 2.82%, where in absolute terms the largest number of Serbs live.

In Northern Macedonia, the study of the Serbian language for the Serbian minority is included in the system of primary and secondary education. There are departments of the Serbian language and literature of the Faculty of Philology of the University in Skopje.

On the second channel of national television, there is a program in Serbian. In the past, there was a Serbian channel in Skopje (TV 96). There are magazines in Serbian that are published in Northern Macedonia; Serbian print media from Serbia are also available, especially the tabloids and the yellow press. Due to political and cultural proximity, Serbian language is very often found on Macedonian TV channels and media through Serbian music, songs, films, shows, frequent appearances of Serbian singers and artists in Northern Macedonia.

In connection with the schism that occurred among the Orthodox of Northern Macedonia and the conflict between the non-canonical Macedonian Orthodox Church and the canonical Ohrid Archbishopric , which is part of the Serbian Orthodox Church , the latter was banned from serving in Northern Macedonia. This created problems for the Serbs in the exercise of religious rights.

• Serbs
• Population of Northern Macedonia