site.btaParliament Alerts EU to Institutional Pressure against Member of Bulgarian Community in North Macedonia

Stoyan Taslakov, chairman of the Committee on Policies for Bulgarians Abroad, has alerted European institutions, the political groups in the European Parliament, as well as the Bulgarian MEPs to another case of institutional pressure against a representative of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia. Dragi Karov, a long-time public figure from the town of Veles is being prosecuted for his openly declared Bulgarian identity.

Taslakov expresses strong concern over the fact that within just two weeks there have been repeated acts of state pressure against citizens who identify themselves as Bulgarians. According to Stoyan Taslakov, Karov’s case represents yet another example of a “worrying trend of systematic discrimination and hostile attitude” towards the Bulgarian community in the country.

"The Bulgarian state must loudly and persistently state its position every time a Bulgarian is subjected to pressure and persecution because of his or her origin. Silence in such cases is not neutrality, but complicity in injustice", says Taslakov.