site.btaPeaceful Civil Blockade of Bulgaria-North Macedonia Border Crossings Planned for June 21 Called Off after Bulgarian Embassy Appeal

The Macedonia Foundation is calling off a 120-minute peaceful civil blockade of all three border crossings between Bulgaria and North Macedonia planned for June 21.

The Foundation's President Viktor Stoyanov announced this on Thursday after earlier in the day Bulgaria's Ambassador in Skopje Zhelyazko Radukov posted an appeal urgently requesting the organizers not to block border checkpoints or roads between the two countries. The call-off decision was taken after talks with Foreign Ministry officials and with Radukov.

Stoyanov said that the institutions in charge had been notified to cancel the protest policing arrangements so that resources can be optimized and unnecessary tensions in the border areas avoided.

Stoyanov explained to BTA that his organization usually synchronizes its initiatives with the institutions and has therefore determined that at this point such protest actions, including an even brief blocking of the border, would be counterproductive. The organizers have found that such form of pressure may entail additional pressure and require substantial administrative and police resources.

The President of the Foundation said that his organization will provide further details on their future alternative initiatives in support of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia at a news conference at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.

He stressed the existence of "serious public interest and a build-up of social tensions on the subject", which he defined as "civil energy" and "righteous indignation". In his opinion, this energy should be channelled into other productive forms of action.

On June 17, Stoyanov told BTA that the protest was intended basically to voice disagreement with the policy pursued by the authorities in Skopje towards people in North Macedonia self-identifying as Bulgarians. The protesters were planning to demonstrate support for these Bulgarians who, in his words, "are subjected to judicial prosecution, pressure or discrimination".

Stoyanov explained that the initiative had been cleared with the Bulgarian authorities and would take the form of a peaceful civil protest. The organizers expected hundreds of Bulgarian citizens to attend and called on more people to join in. "The purpose of the peaceful blockade is to show the government in Skopje that it is wrong in its policy towards individuals with Bulgarian identity," the President of the Foundation said. He stressed that the organizers did not intend to cause long-term hindrances to travellers, which is why the protest would be limited to two hours.

"I don't think that this peaceful protest is some sort of provocation or escalation of tensions. The escalation and provocations come from Skopje and from the persistent actions against Bulgarians in that country," he commented.

Replying to a question, Stoyanov said he did not expect the protest to result in an immediate change in the way the authorities in Skopje treat Bulgaria. He nevertheless expects them to realize that the rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia are "an important topic for the Bulgarian people".

The President of the Foundation argued that discontent had been building up in Bulgarian society in recent years over cases of violence, court trials and vandalization against Bulgarians and Bulgarian institutions in North Macedonia. In his opinion, Bulgarian diplomacy is trying to maintain a civil tone in bilateral relations but this has not produced the desired results in terms of improving the situation of Bulgarians in that country. 

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Bulgaria's Ambassador in Skopje Zhelyazko Radukov expressed support for the right to peaceful civil protest as a fundamental right in each genuinely democratic society.

"The interest of our State requires from us to be open to our southwestern neighbours, to foster their familiarization with contemporary Bulgarian culture, to encourage contacts between long divided families, to deepen economic cooperation and trade," the Ambassador writes. "This is the best way to oppose hatred. Only thus can we remind our neighbours of how close we are and of the benefits of both our common history and our common future in united Europe. The discontent and concern of Bulgarian society about what is going on Skopje should be expressed in a constructive and European form," the diplomat argues.