We express revolt and concern over the announcements that Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia are preparing a joint celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Goce Delcev, said the Association of Historians of the Republic of Macedonia.

If such a political decision is really made, it would be a fatal blow to the Macedonian identity. Goce Delcev was one of the main ideologues of the Macedonian revolutionary struggle from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, who documented fought for the creation of an independent Macedonian state, and there is not a single document that he ever advocated for the unification of Macedonia with Bulgaria. Then the question arises what is the reason and how is the need for a joint celebration of Goce Delcev justified? Does the joint celebration mean that the Macedonian side accepts in part or in full the Bulgarian theses that Delcev was a Bulgarian who fought for the autonomy of Macedonia as a stage towards its unification with Bulgaria? Whether with the political decision for a joint commemoration of Goce Delcev, the Macedonian and Bulgarian sides are guided by a new agreement about which the public has not yet been informed? Whether with the political act of joint celebration of the great revolutionary in the Macedonian struggle for independence, the Macedonian side recognizes the Bulgarian thesis that Macedonians are an artificial Comintern creation and opens the door wide for future acceptance of other Bulgarian theses that dispute Macedonian history, Macedonian identity and the Macedonian language and the very existence of the Macedonian people, reacted the Association.