site.btaBulgarian Foreign Ministry Sends Note to North Macedonia Embassy to Protest Attack on Bitola Cultural Centre

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to the Interim Head of the Embassy of North Macedonia in Sofia, Vladimir Krastevski, after the Ivan Mihailov Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Bitola, North Macedonia, was set on fire on the early morning of Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

At an extraordinary meeting, Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova condemned the arson attack. It was stated that such acts of vandalism are not only expressions of hate on a national basis and intolerance towards the activity of non-governmental organizations as a key part of civil society, but they also contradict democratic values and operating principles of the civilized contemporary European system.

After the act on Saturday, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska visited Bitola. Genchovska told BTA this was an act of vandalism. The police in Bitola have committed to solve the case as soon as possible. She added that surveillance cameras show that the act had been committed in cold blood and in broad daylight (the alert was submitted at 5 a.m. local time).

A Bulgarian Foreign Ministry delegation is paying a working visit to North Macedonia over the weekend, June 4-5. The trip is part of the efforts to address the two neighbours' outstanding bilateral issues related to the implementation of the Treaty on Friendship, Good-neighbourliness and Cooperation between Sofia and Skopje. The talks are expected to focus on the European integration of North Macedonia.

The Ivan Mihailov Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Bitola was formally unveiled on April 16 in the presence of Bulgaria's Vice President Iliana Iotova, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and many other politicians.