The State Anti-Discrimination Commission (KSZD) found that the recently opened Bulgarian cultural club “Vanco Mihajlov”, named after the controversial commander and Nazi collaborator, is violating the right of Macedonian citizens not to be discriminated.
The opening of the club, in the city of Bitola which had its entire Jewish population killed in the Holocaust, sparked outrage. Singer Lambe Alabakoski, in protest, set fire to the entrance weeks after it was opened in a ceremony attended by top Bulgarian state officials.

The association of World War Two partisan fighters appealed to the Anti-Discrimination Commission and KSZD President Vesna Bendevska met with them in Bitola.

It was determined that there is continued and repeated harassment, which is a serious form of discrimination, carried out toward the members, the families, the supporters and followers of the Association of Fighters, but also toward the Macedonian people, and all communities in the Macedonian society. We recommend to the association to remove all problematic elements in its name, statute and program in 45 days, as well as to remove its Facebook content that is causing harassment, linked to the person and work of Ivan Vanco Mihajlov immediately, and no later than in 30 days, Bendevska said.

Mihajlov took over the VMRO organization and fought for an independent Macedonian state, while also largely insisting on the Bulgarian character of the Macedonians. This earned him the enmity of both Serbia and Bulgaria and he spent World War Two in Zagreb, as associate of Croatian pro-Nazi leader Ante Pavelic.