Politicians from Macedonia and Bulgaria should be aware that geopolitical games in some possible scenarios can cause harmful consequences for both countries, said MANU president Ljupco Kocarev at Tuesday’s scientific gathering dedicated to the life and work of Krste P. Misirkov. Speaking about the current relations between Skopje and Sofia and the negotiations that are being held in a bid to overcome the historical differences, Kocarev said that he hopes that there will be no concessions from the Macedonian side.

Unfortunately, today we are faced with unprincipled blackmail and threats and unscientific arguments, a preposterous claim that the Macedonian identity and the Macedonian language have Bulgarian roots. An absurd request for Macedonia to define its national genesis as required by a neighboring country, he said.

Some other academics also compared the challenges faced by Misirkov with today’s events, again sharply criticizing the negotiations with official Sofia.

Macedonia’s exposure to decades-long ultimatums in the EU integration process due to identity disputes is proof of the vitality of hegemony and the complementarity of Balkan cultural and political pretensions.

After 75 years of statehood of Macedonia, the old appetites of some of our neighbors have increased, new questions and old wounds have opened. They are attacking what is most sacred to us. We are witnessing that some agreements are being made behind the backs of the Macedonian people.

But despite the firm stance of some academicians at the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the softened stance of the Bulgarian side and the optimism of the Macedonian side, the joint commission found itself in a methodological deadlock after the last meeting, as Macedonian historian and chairman Dragi Gjorgjiev said, the colleagues from Sofia tended to impose the Bulgarian narrative around the revolutionary Goce Delcev.