A video showing late FYROM President Kito Gligorov admitting that modern-day people living in the small Balkan state north of Greece had no historical ties with the ancient Macedonians or Alexander the Great was aired on news site Vecer.mk.

It is the first time the specific video, considered taboo in the small country, appeared in the media of FYROM. The footage had initially appeared in 1992 on Greek TV at the height of the name dispute between Greece and FYROM, when nationalist rhetoric in FYROM was rampant, with mainstream politicians claiming the people of FYROM were the direct descendants of Alexander the Great and the custodians of ancient Macedonia.

“At a time when we are still fighting “against” or “in favour” of the “Macedonian identity” even in the 21st century, it is important to see the statement of our first President, Kiro Gligorov,  made on March 6, 1992, explaining who we are”, the newspaper writes. “Three years down the road, our country changed its national flag with a newly created project by Miroslav Garchev, as well as the name of our state at FYROM (in the text FYROM)”, the paper said.

The showing of late FYROM President Gligorov’s statement, in a response to a Greek journalist’s question, was banned under the Gruevski government, as it exposed the fallacy of the made-up ideology that FYROM originated from the ancient Macedonians.

The FYROM political establishment under the nationalist fervour of the times had attempted to discredit Gligirov as someone out of touch with reality for many years in an effort to debunk his views, even going so far as dubbing him a traitor.