<a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=GR">Greece</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=MK">Macedonia, The Republic of</a>

The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Macedonia for the Macedonians (VMRO-MNM), is a racist/nationalist political party and terrorist group operating in Macedonia.  The name Vnatresno-Makedonska Revolucionerna Organizacija (VMRO) was first used in the late 19th century by Macedonian rebels opposed to Ottoman rule.  The group remained active after the First World War, seeking to undo the partition of Macedonia ordered by the Treaty of Versailles.  After being successfully suppressed by the USSR during the Cold War, Macedonian nationalism has experienced a resurgence in the years since the Iron Curtain fell, as the Balkans has again become a hotspot of ethnic tension.  <P> In Macedonia today, the VMRO name is attached to many different political parties, including the ruling party, the Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), and the leading mainstream opposition party, the VMRO-VMRO.  However, the name is also used by the extremist VMRO-MNM, which believes that a greater Macedonia should be established, incorporating ethnic Macedonians from Greece, Bulgaria, and elsewhere.  In a manifesto written by group leader, Ljupco Mircevski-Trepet, the VMRO-MNM listed a plethora of grievances ranging from US and UN support for the Kosovo Liberation Army (who they consider terrorists) to the difficulties Macedonians have securing visas for travel elsewhere in Europe.  <P> The most troubling tenet of the group's philosophy is its strongly anti-Albanian stance and its support for ethnic cleansing to remove Albanians from the Republic of Macedonia.  In May of 2001, the group was implicated in the planning of riots which targeted an Albanian neighborhood in the city of Bitola.  The riots were apparently in response to the killing of four Macedonian soldiers by Albanian rebels in an area near Bitola.  Windows were broken, businesses destroyed, and many people injured in the violence.