Macedonia’s recommendations for Bulgarian textbooks are largely meaningless and we can accept them without any problem. Simply, the colleagues tried to present something against our requests, regardless of what it was about, reads a text published on “24 casa” by the member of the Bulgarian team of the joint history commission, Ivan Ilchev.

Unfortunately for them, however, they have nothing to represent about antiquity and the medieval period. And in my opinion, the real disputes will come when we get to the 19th and 20th centuries. Things before that are 99.99 percent clear, says Ilchev.

He recalls that when the talks began, he hoped that the members of the joint commission would enter into scientific discussions.

But something completely different turned out – the Macedonian colleagues, among whom there are some recognized historians, saw the talks as a trade in the market – “you give to me, I give to you”. They were looking for some balance. And from seeking such a balance, their five recommendations were born, which actually do not affect anything essential in the Bulgarian history textbooks, writes Ilchev.