Respecting the rights of people with Bulgarian identity, as well as of Bulgarian citizens living in the Republic of North Macedonia, is a political issue. It is enshrined in various documents, it is enshrined in the declaration of the National Assembly of October 2019 and we are obliged to react accordingly, Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov said Sunday. He spoke in response to the words of Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski that the case of the Bulgarian Hristian Pendikov, who was beaten up in Ohrid, was being politicised.
According to Milkov, the issue of relations with Bulgaria is actually a matter of internal political debate in the Republic of North Macedonia. He said that in Bulgaria, there is a largely established internal consensus on how the country should develop relations with its neighbour North Macedonia. In this sense, Milkov said he believed that this issue is not part of the internal matters of Bulgaria and will not be, including in the election campaign. At least not to the extent that this is happening in North Macedonia, where one of the most acute issues of confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties is precisely the relations with Bulgaria, Milkov noted. He admitted, however, that in some sense this could happen in Bulgaria too. "I admit that it cannot be completely ruled out as far as individual details of how exactly our relations with North Macedonia should be built, but on the main things we have a consensus and in this consensus is our strength," the Minister said.
He said that considering the case of the attack on Pendikov, one can refer to the statement of the Macedonian prosecution office from the very beginning. Milkov said that in the first hours after the incident, he had the feeling that there was some stampede there. "Immediately afterwards they had to admit that it was a hate crime. The prosecutor himself said that he was attacked precisely as a Bulgarian and because he is a Bulgarian, which is unquestionably a hate crime. In this sense, I believe that the statements of Bujar Osmani, who visited Sofia, were also true," Milkov said and thanked his colleague for this gesture.
Milkov said that in the first hours after the incident, he had the feeling that there was some stampede there. "Immediately afterwards they had to admit that it was a hate crime. The prosecutor himself said that he was attacked precisely as a Bulgarian and because he is a Bulgarian, which is unquestionably a hate crime. In this sense, I believe that the statements of Bujar Osmani, who visited Sofia, were also true," Milkov said and thanked his counterpart for this gesture.
However, according to Milkov, Osmani had relativised the situation in a sense and tried to share responsibility for incidents of this nature, saying that hate crimes and hate speech should stop on both sides of the border. "In that sense it is also an indirect recognition that this is a hate crime, it cannot be otherwise," Milkov said. He added that they should wait for the investigation of the case, which will come up with conclusions.
"The problem with this whole situation and this approach is that we very often have crimes of this nature that go unpunished or not investigated at all. We have the crimes that were committed against the headquarters of the clubs, we had attacks with firearms included. We have hate crimes, hate speech, which are committed every day, and against Hristian Pendikov, they were committed while he was in hospital. He was receiving threats and insults on his phone related to the fact that he feels he is Bulgarian," the Foreign Minister explained.
He said that the Bulgarian side would provide data on the likely authors of the insults so that they could be identified.
For now, Pendikov is staying in Sofia because it is considered unlikely that it is safe for him to return to North Macedonia, Milkov added, saying that when assurances are received that he can be safe, then he will most likely return.
/YV/
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