Citizens are reporting that they are receiving official birth certificates in which the field declaring the citizenship is marked with forward slash lines – //////.

The field used to say “Macedonian”. Under the Prespa treaty, it was expected that in the future this designation will say “Macedonian / citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia”, but even this conditional use of the adjective “Macedonian” seems to be out the window.

The Plusinfo news site reported that, after receiving complaints from citizens, they have asked the agency in charge of issuing birth certificates about the change, but received no answer.

This sparked outrage in the social media. Commentators are sharing the ////// sign in protest and former political prisoner Bogdan Ilievski posted an edited version of the Macedonian national anthem.

ДЕНЕС НАД //////////// (блескава верзија 2019)————————————————————–Денес над…

Gepostet von Богдан Илиевски am Dienstag, 6. August 2019

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev insisted that under the treaty he agreed with Alexis Tsipras, the adjective “Macedonian” will be used in Macedonia.