site.btaPresident Radev Expects North Macedonia's Leadership to Convince Its Citizens, Not Bulgaria, It Is Building Democratic State

Commenting on Sofia-Skopje relations on Thursday, President Rumen Radev said: "The leadership of the Republic of North Macedonia should convince its citizens, not Bulgaria, that it is building a democratic state. A state where there is no shooting or burning of Bulgarian clubs, where Bulgarians are not subject to systematic harassment, physical violence or frame-up trials." He added that North Macedonia's leadership will be able to claim it is building a modern multi-ethnic society when it finds it in itself to include the compatriots of Gotse Delchev in the Constitution.

Radev talked to reporters at the 16th annual conference of the Balkan countries Chiefs of Defence in Sofia.

Asked if he felt responsible that there were repressions against Bulgarians in North Macedonia during his term, Radev said: "I was the person who, in 2021, first raised the issue of the rights of Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia with all European institutions and partners. I stood up for this for a year, two vetoes at the Enlargement Council, until the EU partners and institutions agreed that there is a problem, that it is not bilateral, but a European problem because it is about the Copenhagen membership criteria."

"It was thanks to these efforts and the condition I set - that the Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia must be included in the Constitution as an essential condition for the opening of EU membership talks - that the negotiating framework in the French proposal was drawn up."

According to the President, this process has been instilled for decades. "This is a whole doctrine based on anti-Bulgarian ideology. It will obviously take time for the Republic of North Macedonia to rank among the democratic states and we should aid this process," Radev said. 

He said the protocol between the two countries is an integral part of the negotiating framework and there has been no progress on it. It is about textbooks, hate speech, the media, the opening of the archives and the apology for the ethnic repression of Bulgarians over the years.

Taking a question about a statement made by North Macedonia's Prime Minister Kovachevski, who compared Sofia-Skopje relations to Moscow-Kyiv relations, Radev said: "Are there people in Bulgaria who identify themselves as Macedonians - yes, there are. Those people have the same rights as all Bulgarian citizens. They are not persecuted, there are no frame-up trials, no arson, no shootings, no beatings. They can work in the administration at all levels, they can run for office and hold any elective position in Bulgaria," the President said. "They have full rights, nobody restricts them or persecutes them. This is the big difference. In contrast, Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia are subject to systematic harassment," Radev said.

Addressing the general debate "United for Europe" at 4th Summit of the Council of Europe in Reykjavik on Wednesday, Prime Minister Kovachevski said, as quoted by MIA news agency of the Republic of North Macedonia: "North Macedonia is internationally recognized as a successful model for functional multiethnic society and democracy. All international human rights reports confirm this fact. The accusations stated at this Summit by the representative of Bulgaria are totally ungrounded and are coming from a country that disrespects judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe’s standards in the area of human rights."

Kovachevski also said: “The discourse widely used by Bulgaria towards North Macedonia is unfortunately very similar to the discourse of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine. It is unacceptable that false and ungrounded accusations are misused for political purposes at this crucial junction of the history of Europe."

He was referring to Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova who talked about systematic violation of the rights of Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia and recalled a number of cases of aggression "against people because of their declared Bulgarian identity", as well as "the adoption of a special law against associations".