Historian Mihajlo Minovski calls on the Government to withdraw from the Zaev – Borisov treaty with Bulgaria, and from the joint committee of historians. In an interview with Republika, Minovski said that otherwise, Bulgaria will continue to impose its position that all Macedonians are Bulgarians. He cites the recent move by the Bulgarian President Rumen Radev to declare Goce Delcev as hero of “Macedonian Bulgarians”.

You can be Macedonian or a Bulgarian. But now this term is being introduced and it’s not by accident. It is meant to cause divisions in the Macedonian nation. If there are Macedonian Bulgarians, they will want to promote their cultural and historic past, their heroes and monuments. This can’t be allowed, Minovski said.

He notes that Bulgaria had the fortune to be liberated from the Ottoman Empire sooner, by great powers. Macedonia, on the other hand, grew its liberation movement led by Goce Delcev. “Delcev is the symbol of the Macedonian identity, the ideal for the creation of a Macedonian state”, says professor Minovski.

Bulgaria claims Delcev as a Bulgarian hero and demands that Macedonia organizes joint events to honor him. It is using the 2017 treaty Zaev signed as excuse to block Macedonia from opening its EU accession talks until it accepts the Bulgarian demands.

The proper solution is that the Government notifies Bulgaria that, after five years, the treaty has proven to be unimplementable and that we are withdrawing from it. After that, we can begin negotiations as even parties, Minovski says.