Bulgaria Says No to Macedonia Becoming 'Northern Macedonia'

[poiuytrewq0987]

Bulgaria is strictly against the inclusion of a geographical term in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's potential new name, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has declared.

Borisov believes that names like "Northern Macedonia" would be completely unacceptable, since this geographical term would include Bulgarian regions, giving rise to territorial claims.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister told the TV+ private channel that different versions of FYROM's potential future name have been discussed with Bulgaria, including "Northern Macedonia."

"I said that we would not accept it, since tomorrow they will state that Blagoevgrad is Macedonian," Borisov pointed out, referring to a Southwestern Bulgarian city.

Macedonia is registered at international organizations as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia because of the name dispute, rather than Republic of Macedonia at Greece's insistence, which fears the name "Macedonia" might spur territorial claims for its northern regions.

Greece and international intermediaries have suggested that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should adopt a name such as "Republic of Northern Macedonia" or "Republic of Macedonia-Skopje", which have been rejected by the Macedonian authorities.

Commenting on Serbia's new President, Tomislav Nikolic, Borisov said he respected Serbia's choice and is ready to cooperate with him, as well as with Boris Tadic, who is expected to become Prime Minister. He reiterated that Bulgaria supports all countries from the Western Balkans in their European integration bids.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=140079

[poiuytrewq0987]

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has reiterated Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's position that Bulgaria does not agree with FYROM calling itself "Republic of Northern Macedonia" as a way to resolve its name dispute with Greece.

Earlier on Friday, Borisov said the name "Republic of Northern Macedonia" is absolutely unacceptable for Bulgaria, referring to the Greece-Macedonia dispute for the name of the latter, in which Greece is concerned that Macedonia's state name could be used to make claims on Greek districts with the same geographic name.

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Mladenov spoke at an international conference in Sofia entitled, "The Balkans in the Global World: Encouraging the Region's European Perspective".

He told Macedonian reporters that he does not like the "constant harassment" of Bulgaria on part of Macedonia, apparently referring to the anti-Bulgarian hate language often employed by Macedonian media and even some state officials.

"We were the first to recognize our neighbor under the name "Republic of Macedonia." We were the first sovereign state to recognize its independence, and there is no change in this respect," Mladenov declared.

The questions he got asked by the Macedonian reporters were as follows, "Why are you angry at the Macedonian leadership?"; "Why does the policy of disappointment on your part lead to a cold peace between Bulgaria and Macedonia, and there are no contacts between the two nations?"

"Bulgaria isn't intervening in the dialogue between Macedonia and Greece about the name dispute because this is a bilateral thing but when different options are put on the table, we too have our positions on that," Bulgaria's top diplomat explained.

Mladenov underscored his view that all countries in the Balkans must subscribe to the European rules, realizing their EU perspective.

"All of our issues – bilateral, historical, political, commercial, infrastructural, whathaveyou, can only be resolved in this context," he said.

Mladenov also reiterated Bulgarian PM Borisov's words that Bulgaria has always been backing up Macedonia's integration with NATO and the EU.

"Whether and how it will be realized – this is primarily up to Macedonia itself, and the reforms going on there, and, of course, the finding of a compromise solution with Greece on the bilateral dispute," he added.

"We've been living in the Balkans for a long time, we know each other very well, we know our customs, and habits," Mladenov concluded.

Macedonia is registered at international organizations as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia because of the name dispute, rather than Republic of Macedonia at Greece's insistence, which fears the name "Macedonia" might spur territorial claims for its northern regions.

Greece and international intermediaries have suggested that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should adopt a name such as "Republic of Northern Macedonia" or "Republic of Macedonia-Skopje", which have been rejected by the Macedonian authorities.

Since the early Middle Ages, all the way to the first half of the 20th century, Macedonia and its Slavic population were considered part of the Bulgarian nation not just by Bulgaria but also by its neighbors and the international community. This is why from its National Liberation in 1878 till 1944 Bulgaria waged five wars attempting to unite all of the Bulgarian-populated lands in the Balkans, including Macedonia – after the San Stefano Treaty of March 1878 providing one state for almost all Bulgarian-populated regions was revised three months later by the European Great Powers in the Treaty of Berlin leaving the regions of Thrace and Macedonia out of Bulgaria.

After both World War I and World War II, however, Serbia/Yugoslavia kept control of 40% of the territory of the geographic and historical region of Macedonia, the so called Vardar Macedonia (which in 1991 became the Republic of Macedonia), Greece retained about 50% of the region – the so called Aegean Macedonia, while only 10% of the region – the so called Pirin Macedonia – remained in Bulgaria.

The foundations of the contemporary Macedonian nation were invented in 1943-4 by Yugoslavia's communists at a special congress that also proclaimed the creation of a Macedonian language and a Macedonian alphabet designed to differentiate the dialects spoken in the region of Macedonia from the Bulgarian language and to underline the creation of a distinct Macedonian national identity. The rationale of communist Yugoslavia and of Serbia before that for the creation of a distinct Macedonian nation being to weaken Bulgaria.

In the recent years, however, with the democratic transitions in the region, the "ethnic Macedonian" identity has been eroded, with dozens of thousands of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia receiving Bulgarian citizenship based on their Bulgarian origin.

Unlike Greece, which gets enraged by FYROM's moves toying with the cultural heritage from the Antiquity period and is tangled with Macedonia in the notorious name dispute, Bulgaria's governments traditionally react to propaganda fits by Skopje with disregard, while the general public in Bulgaria accepts them with ridicule. To the extent that Bulgaria has made any claims towards Macedonia, those have boiled down to the refusal to allow Skopje to hijack Bulgaria's historical heritage from the Middle Ages and the 19th century Revival Period.

Bulgaria was the first sovereign nation to recognize the independence of the Republic of Macedonia in 1992.


Tags: FYROM, greece, territorial claims, Boyko Borisov, Blagoevgrad, Northern Macedonia, macedonia, name dispute, Macedonian media, Macedonian language, Berlin Treaty, San Stefano Treaty, Skopje, Bozhidar Dimitrov, name dispute, greece, Aegean Macedonia, Pirin Macedonia, Vardar Macedonia, Southwest Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad District, Georgi Dimitrov, USSR, Joseph Stalin, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Tito, Josip Broz Tito, Bulgarian Communist Party, Communist Bulgaria, communist regime, Macedonians, macedonia, FYROM, propaganda, Omo Ilinden Pirin, Nikola Poposki, Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=140108

[Midori]

Like anyone here cares about their opinion

[Archduke]

Like anyone here cares about their opinion

We know that you are pro-serbian, but Bulgaria will be always connected to Macedonia, we are like Macedonia's big brother, and you have to care about our opinion, like it or not.

[Midori]

We know that you are pro-serbian, but Bulgaria will be always connected to Macedonia, we are like Macedonia's big brother, and you have to care about our opinion, like it or not.

I'm pro Yugoslavian, not pro-Serbian. And what you say isn't true at all. You can go to some Macedonian forum and ask them what they think about Bulgaria. Just don't say I didn't warn you...

Btw I respect your country, we are Slavic brothers and sisters, but you have to get over the fact that Macedonia isn't part of Bulgaria.

[Archduke]

I'm pro Yugoslavian, not pro-Serbian. And what you say isn't true at all. You can go to some Macedonian forum and ask them what they think about Bulgaria. Just don't say I didn't warn you...

It is true, you just can't realize it. We do everything good for Macedonia, and still there is hate. And your beloved "Yugoslavia" is guilty for this hate. You know, turko-mongols, tatars, asians etc. Also majority of croats and slovenes hate the yugo era, only serbs and serbo lovers like it, tell me if i am wrong.

Btw I respect your country, we are Slavic brothers and sisters, but you have to get over the fact that Macedonia isn't part of Bulgaria.

Where did i said that Macedonia is aprt of Bulgaria?

[Lithium]

Like anyone here cares about their opinion

Seems like you have some problems with us too, there must be a reason for your harsh reaction. Anyway, the interview was taken by Macedonian journalists

[Midori]

Seems like you have some problems with us too, there must be a reason for your harsh reaction. Anyway, the interview was taken by Macedonian journalists

Not at all. I'm just saying what the people here really think.

Would Bulgarians care about the Macedonians' opinion about their country's name? Not at all.

[Archduke]

Not at all. I'm just saying what the people here really think.

Would Bulgarians care about the Macedonians' opinion about their country's name? Not at all.

We will never have such a problems, after all we are not a fake country.

[Lithium]

Not at all. I'm just saying what the people here really think.

I can understand why, it must be because of the way your politics and medias present our country. I just read the news how the words of our prime minister have been changed by your medias. Even he says that it's not his business to deal with the name of your country, he only cares about the ridiculous territory claims it could lead to.