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Northern Macedonia will remain part of the Western Balkans if it does not allow citizens living in the country to freely express their national identity, said Slavi Trifonov, chairman of the Bulgarian parliamentary party “There is such a people,” commenting. results of the census in Northern Macedonia.
According to results published on Wednesday (March 30th) by the State Statistical Office, about 3,500 Bulgarians live in northern Macedonia.
In a reaction on Facebook, Slavi Trifunov, whose party is part of the Bulgarian government, said it was absurd to think that so many Bulgarians live in northern Macedonia, when, according to him, in the last two years alone, 16,692 Macedonian citizens of the North have received Bulgarian passports.
“According to Bulgarian law, in order for a citizen of Northern Macedonia to obtain a Bulgarian passport, he must prove his Bulgarian roots. Thus, over 100,000 citizens of Northern Macedonia have confirmed their Bulgarian roots in Bulgaria, but in Northern Macedonia they are afraid to be called ‘Bulgarians’. Why in a normal European country, where Northern Macedonia claims to be a member, would a person be afraid to say what it is? “This is not a normal European country,” Trifonov wrote.
“If Northern Macedonia wants to be a normal, European country and be part of the European Union, then its citizens will have to freely declare their affiliation and their rights must not be violated. “Until that happens, Northern Macedonia will be part of the Western Balkans,” said Trifonov, chairman of the Bulgarian parliamentary party. “There is such a people.”
His reaction comes a day before expert groups from both countries meet in Skopje to discuss differences over the historical past.
Sofia, in November 2020, blocked the start of negotiations for the European membership of Northern Macedonia, making the settlement of the dispute over the Macedonian identity, language and culture conditional.REL
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