Macedonian historians have strongly denounced the memorandum which Bulgaria distributed to the European Council and is using as a basis to block Macedonia’s EU accession talks.

The extensive memorandum was leaked today and it in Bulgaria declares that the Macedonian nation did not exist until 1944 and declares it the legacy of the Yugoslav communist regime. According to Bulgaria, the “Slavic population of the region had a clear Bulgarian identity” before the Second World War. The memorandum also disputes the Macedonian’s right to use the name “Macedonia”.

The content of the document speaks more about Bulgaria’s European partners who are going along with it, than for Bulgaria itself. The pronounced attempt to humiliate the Macedonian people, the falsification of Macedonian history and the undignified denial of the Macedonian nation is evidence of fascist behavior coming from the Bulgarian political leaders, and from their European backers. This is happening in the 21 century. It is not up to the EU or Bulgaria to determine how a nation will self-identify, how it will refer to its country and to the language it speaks. This is a major precedent for the entire enlargement process, said professor Natasa Kotlar – Trajkova.

According to professor Kotlar, the Macedonian nation was developed over a long period of time, with a distinct ethnic, cultural and political whole, through a lengthy struggle to establish its own state. She called on the Macedonian Government to strongly denounce the Bulgarian memorandum and to respond with a note addressed to all EU member states.

Historian Todor Cepreganov adds that the document paints a picture of Bulgaria as a country trapped in its nationalism and is neither a statement of good neighborly relations or an act between two friendly countries.

This is an open blackmail against everything that we self-identify with – our language, nation, history and culture. It’s Nazism to the core. There is an uninterrupted historic continuum of the Macedonian people of over two millennia. Despite all attempts to deny our history, we continue to persevere. Bulgaria is shameless when it goes before the EU and demands that we ourselves abolish our nation. But the EU continues to tolerate Bulgaria’s behavior, making it an accomplice in their demands, Cepreganov said.