The dispute between Macedonia and Bulgaria over the historic legacy of VMRO leader Goce Delcev continues to fester. Bulgarian historian Georgi Nikolov, in an interview with 24 Casa, said that the Macedonian position on Goce Delcev is the result of “100 years of brainwashing”.

Bulgaria insists that Goce Delcev is a Bulgarian hero and demands that Macedonian history books are rewritten to contain this fact. The Bulgarian position is that Macedonians are in fact Bulgarians, and the Government in Sofia is using the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty, which calls for a redaction to history books, to push this narrative on Macedonia.

Macedonians are thinking in a certain way about Goce Delcev, but this was the product of nearly 100 years of brainwashing. This is why Macedonian historians should be kind enough to return to the historic sources, as our experts do, Nikolov said.

The dispute is to some extent an intra-Bulgarian one. The ruling conservative Bulgarian party GERB is blaming the left of national treason over its 1946 decision to bring Delcev’s body to Skopje for burial. This acknowledged that Delcev fought for an independent Macedonia, and not to expand Bulgaria toward Ottoman held lands.

A proposal from the Macedonian side to set October 7th, when the body was interred in the St. Spas church in Skopje, as a date when the two countries will jointly celebrate the hero, sparked outrage in GERB, which turned its rhetoric toward Macedonia, but also toward the Bulgarian opposition Socialist Party, which is the historic heir of the Communist Party which agreed to give Delcev’s body to Macedonia.

The Communists easily gave away his mortal remains, complains Nikolov, in what has become a political talking point for the Bulgarian right.

The Bulgarian Government threatened that it will block Macedonia from joining NATO and opening EU accession talks unless history books in Macedonia are rewritten to declare Delcev as a Bulgarian and a different date is set when he will be jointly honored.