site.btaUPDATED Interior Minister to Head Bulgarian Delegation to Skopje for Gotse Delchev Birth Anniversary

Bulgaria's Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev and Deputy Interior Minister Ventsislav Katinov will pay a floral tribute at the grave of revolutionary Gotse Delchev in Skopje on Saturday. February 4 marks the 151th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, the Interior Ministry said in a press release on Friday.

The Foreign Ministry reported that Demerdzhiev will be heading an official Bulgarian delegation to Skopje. In accordance with the diplomatic practice, the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje has officially informed North Macedonia's authorities of this in three notes verbales: one of February 2 and two of February 3, the press release reads.

The foreign ministers of the two countries are in constant contact, and so are the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje and North Macedonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the press release reads further.

"We expect the authorities of the Republic of North Macedonia to ensure unobstructed access to the St Spas Church, where Gotse Delchev's grave is, both to the Bulgarian delegation and to the Bulgarians from Bulgaria and from North Macedonia wishing to pay tribute," the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier on Friday, North Macedonia's Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski called for a dignified marking of Gotse Delchev's birth anniversary and reiterated that "the Ministry of Interior and the government will make that possible".