each dialect to the standard languages (abstand) and the speakers' self-identification. (As however the vast majority do not have a Bulgarian or Macedonian national identity, linguists base their decisions on abstand alone.) Now, these people mainly identify as ethnic Greeks. The Christian portion of Greece's Slavic-speaking minority are commonly referred to as Slavophones (from the Greek Σλαβόφωνοι Slavophōnoi — literally "Slavic-speakers") or Dopii (which means "locals" in Greek). The vast majority of them espouse a Greek national identity and are bilingual in Greek. They live mostly in the region of Western Macedonia and adhere to the Greek Orthodox Church. The fact that the majority of these people self-identify as Greek makes their number uncertain. The second group is made up of those who seem to reject any national identity (Greek or Slav Macedonian) but have distinct ethnic identity, which they may call "indigenous" (dopia), Slavomacedonian, or Macedonian. The smallest group is made up of those who have a clear Macedonian national identity and consider themselves as part of the same nation that predominates in the neighboring Republic of North Macedonia. A crucial element of that controversy is the very name Macedonian, as it is also used by a much more numerous group of people with a Greek national identity to indicate their regional identity. Slavic speakers also use the term "Macedonians" or "Slavomacedonians", though in a regional rather than an ethnic sense. Until and including the 1951 census the question of mother tongue was asked throughout Greece, so this gives a rough idea as to the size of this group, and later estimates are usually based on this figure. The national identity of this community has frequently been loaded with political implications. The Politis-Kalfov Protocol signed on September 29, 1925 purported to recognize the Slav-speakers of Greek Macedonia as Bulgarians, but this protocol was never ratified. A short lived agreement was signed August 1926, which recognized them as a Serbian minority. In the 1951 census, 41,017 people claimed to speak the Slavic language. See also Demographics of Greece Hellenization Cultural assimilation Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Grecomans Human rights in Greece Iraqis in Greece Notes References Abstracts "Focus: Minorities in Greece--historical issues and new perspectives", Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas Review by Adamantios Skordos (History and Culture of South Eastern Europe) 5, 2003. Articles from a conference held in Berlin. Richard Clogg, ed., Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society,