Our relationship with Bulgaria changed when the country violated Article 2 of the Friendship Treaty, which specifies that Sofia will assist our European path, won’t hinder or block us. Since, we saw two vetoes and issues over our language. No progress can be made with blackmail. There’s need for mutual trust and respect in order achieve progress in dialogue over issues, Deputy PM for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov said on Friday regarding the announcement of changes in textbooks and monuments.

According to the leader of VMRO DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, the announcement of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev that as part of the solution to lift the Bulgarian blockade is to remove the “Bulgarian fascist occupation” designation in the Macedonian history textbooks, is shocking.

According to the Jewish community, the removal of the “Bulgarian” designation from the fascist occupation is a distortion of the historical truth and they state that they have a number of facts about it. In their written statement they say that Macedonia during the Second World War was divided into two occupation zones – one from Italy and the other from Bulgaria. The part where the Jews lived was under the occupation of the Bulgarian regime.

The Jews from Macedonia during the Second World War were deported by the Bulgarian regime, and not by the Italian who then occupied Western Macedonia. Instead of removing “Bulgarian”, the wording of the then Bulgarian fascist occupation authorities could be used. Today’s modern Bulgaria should absolve itself of the fact that it was part of the Axis alliance and directly participated in the Holocaust of the Jews. In order to exempt the current generations, to free them from the burden of the past, it is necessary to publicly apologize for the actions of the wartime Bulgarian regime, reads the statement of the Jewish community.