Bulgaria is doing more harm to itself by putting pressure on Macedonia, because the more negative it is towards the Macedonians, the more the Macedonians strengthen their identity in relation to the Bulgarian hidden intentions.

Historian Gjorgji Cakarjanevski said in an interview with “Lokalno” that according to the arbitrary estimates of Bulgaria, there can be no 120,000 Bulgarians on the census in our country, ie the Bulgarian authorities cannot count Macedonians who obtained Bulgarian passports as “theirs”.

He says that as a historian-interviewer in the past and now he collects statements from Macedonians and that the public should know that before being issued a Bulgarian passport in Bulgaria, they go to a notary in Macedonia and there certify statements declaring their Macedonian nationality and their intention to obtain Bulgarian passport exclusively for personal needs, mostly for work in the EU.

I have collected such statements from many of our people who for various reasons were forced to obtain Bulgarian passport, but mostly from drivers because they drive outside Macedonia through European countries and need such a passport only for existential nature, and not because of some Bulgarian feelings, says Cakarjanevski.