On October 11th, as Macedonia celebrated the 80th anniversary of the uprising against the Fascist occupiers in World War Two, VMRO-DPMNE held its central rally in Prilep – one of the two cities where the uprising began. In his remarks, opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski accused Zoran Zaev, who was in Prilep earlier in the day in a controversial visit, of selling out the Macedonian national identity and the legacy of the partisan struggle.

When we are not involved in elections, Zaev is selling away the holiest legacies of our people, including our Anti-Fascist struggle. When we are not having elections, Zaev says that the Bulgarians were not Fascists during the Second World War, but were mere administrators here. He is scraping off the text from the plaques from the war. He is erasing our history and identity, Mickoski said, noting that, by contracts, in an election year, Zaev’s comments in Prilep today were full of patriotic chest-thumping.

Zaev is under strong pressure from Bulgaria to fully implement the treaty he signed with Prime Minister Borisov in 2017, including a thorough rewriting of the Macedonian history and redefining of the Macedonian national identity.