Answering a question related to the latest attack against the King Boris III Bulgarian culture club in Ohrid, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski stressed: "When these clubs were opened, I said that they could only be seen as provocation because of the names they were given, which arouse negative feelings among the citizens because they [the names] are associated to the most negative part of European history. I called for opening cultural and information centres that will bring people closer together".
The attack, the third since the club's opening in October and the second in the past four days, occurred on Wednesday evening when an unknown assailant shot with a firearm at the club, leaving two holes in the club's window.
Kovacevski recalled that he had urged the citizens to behave with dignity and in a European manner. He again referred to the amendments in the Associations and Foundations Act passed by the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia on November 2, banning names which are considered controversial in North Macedonia because of their relation to certain historical periods. The amendments are retroactive and existing clubs have a three-month period in which they must change their names.
Kovacevski believes that Bulgaria and North Macedonia should cooperate through official cultural and information centres, such as the one that North Macedonia has in Sofia, the one it plans to open in Blagoevgrad, the one Bulgaria has in Skopje.
In his words, North Macedonia’s Culture Ministry and Bulgaria’s Culture Ministry are in touch and representatives of theirs will soon meet.
The new building of the Bulgarian Culture and Information Centre in Skopje will be officially opened on Friday. The ceremony will be attended by Bulgarian caretaker Culture Minister Velislav Minekov and North Macedonia’s Cultural Minister Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska.
/BR/
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