Bulgarian member of the European Parliament Andrey Kovatchev called on the Macedonian historians to accept that Goce Delcev and a series of other historic figures were ethnic Bulgarians.

Goce Delcev self-identified as a Bulgarian and in his honor, he would never have wanted that we divide over him. We tell them, you will not be less of Macedonians if you accept that we have a shared history. You can self-express yourselves as you wish but have no right to do so to dead historic figures, Kovatchev said in dual TV interviews in Bulgaria and in Macedonia.

Kovatchev comes from the ruling Bulgarian GERB party, whose leader Boyko Borisov yesterday announced that Macedonia may have to “mature” a while, and accept the historical narrative promoted by Bulgaria, before being allowed to open EU accession talks.

According to Kovatchev, the historic narrative in Macedonia, on social media and in history books, such as discussing the Bulgarian role in World War Two, is a provocation aimed against Bulgaria. Besides Delcev, Kovatchev named other figures such as Rajko Zinzifov, Gligor Prlicev and the Miladinovci brothers as people who Macedonian historians must accept as Bulgarians.