“Goce would roll in his grave if he knew he is being negotiated away”

The growing dispute between Macedonia and Bulgaria over the ethnicity of legendary VMRO leader Goce Delcev, brought back to light one of the final statements of Katerina Trajkova Nurdzieva, one of Delcev’s descendants.

Two years ago, the World War Two partisan fighter said that “Goce Delcev would roll in his grave” if he knew that negotiations are taking place to declare him as something other than a Macedonian.

Goce and his family were dedicated only to Macedonia. Preserve the name clean, don’t let anybody take it from us. He gave his life knowing that he is dying for Macedonia. The only word on his lips was Macedonia, Trajkova said in a statement filmed shortly before she died.

Trajkova was the wartime secretary of Macedonian partisan leader and first post-war President Metodija Andonov – Cento.