The Foreign Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, and the country's Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski, sent an appeal on Friday, related to the celebration of February 4, the 151st anniversary of historical figure Gotse Delchev's birth.
In his address, Osmani said that on February 4, when respects are paid at the grave of Gotse Delchev, respect should also be paid to his vision of amicable competition between nations. "I call for a dignified, peaceful celebration of the day in which we pay tribute to his ideal for advanced societies and for building civilizational values," said Osmani in his address to the public in the Republic of North Macedonia, stressing that every citizen of Bulgaria, and of any other country, is welcome in North Macedonia and that everyone should treat his country and people with respect.
"We are a country with a European perspective. With our traditions of inter-ethnic dialogue, cohesion and peaceful resolution of bilateral disputes, we are an example in the world. Let's not allow provocateurs to steal our European future or tarnish the image we have built as a country," said Osmani in his address.
The Interior Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Oliver Spasovski, also called on all citizens to remain calm.
"We need to de-escalate a situation that irresponsible politicians, groups and individuals want to worsen. We will not allow any escalation, incident or humiliation of the Macedonian people and country by anyone. I want to send a clear message to political entities and politicians to be responsible in this process. Since irresponsibility is not good for the citizens and the state, peace and stability is a responsibility of each one of us," said Spasovski.
The celebration of Gotse Delchev's anniversary on February 4 was assessed as a high security risk at a meeting of the Security Council under the President of the country, Stevo Pendarovski.
Gotse Delchev is part of the shared history between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, which is has been a point of contention, especially in light of recent tensions between the two countries,.
The Patriotic Union of VMRO-DPMNE stated that they will organize a "guard" at Gotse Delchev's grave. Since the beginning of the week there has been a police presence around the Church of St. Spas in Skopje, where Gotse Delchev's grave is located. Since Thursday evening the neighboring streets have been closed, and as part of the anniversary celebration on Saturday, one of them will have a special traffic regime so that those who wish to honour Gotse Delchev can do so.
/DT/
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