site.btaSkopje Condemns Bulgarian Politicians' Statements

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia issued a note to condemn the statements of Vazrazhdane chairperson Kostadin Kostadinov and VMRO co-chair and MEP Angel Dzhambazki, which were made on Saturday. Kostadinov and Dzhambazki spoke at the commemoration of the 95th anniversary of Serbian deputy governor Velimir Prelic's assassination at the hands of Macedonian-Bulgarian revolutionary Mara Buneva, of which the Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski was made aware, Kovacevski himself reported on Monday.

"She [Mara Buneva] assassinated a man who had subjected Macedonian students to very severe persecutions during the so-called Skopje Student Trial. Unfortunately, the ideal of the revolutionaries of those years like Mara Buneva, that our whole nation should be united, has not yet been realized. Today we come to pay respect to a Bulgarian heroine," said Kostadinov and concluded that Bulgaria will continue to exist "as long as there is memory".

Dzhambazki said, "It is telling that today Bulgarians are present here, at this commemoration, even from opposing political organizations, from different social organizations, to show that we are a pillar of support for the Bulgarians in [the Republic of North] Macedonia. We will not allow anyone to be persecuted for their right to national self-determination".

Kovacevski said that the tone of communication with the official Bulgarian institutions is much better than it used to be. He called Kostadinov and Dzhambazki political outsiders but added that their statements cause tensions in his country. "Their goal is to provoke and to undermine the efforts of North Macedonia and Bulgaria to continue their bilateral relations in a spirit of cooperation and positivity," said the Prime Minister. He praised the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its note of protest.

Asked whether he would take more serious action, such as banning Dzhambazki and Kostadinov from entering North Macedonia, Kovacevski said that every political outsider tries to gain popularity through such provocation, and he would not contribute to their popularity by banning them.

The media in North Macedonia and the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE concurred that Kostadinov and Dzhambazki's statements were a form of provocation.