North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister: Bulgarian Clubs should Change their Names

"The names of the Bulgarian clubs in the Republic of North Macedonia must be changed." This is what the foreign minister of the state Bujar Osmani told bTV. In recent months, two Bulgarian clubs were opened - "Ivan Mihailov" in Bitola and "Tsar Boris III" in Ohrid. A few days ago, the secretary of the club in Ohrid, Hristiyan Pendikov, was attacked and severely beaten.

"The governments of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia have different agendas. They want friendship. They want friendship, partnership, cooperation," Osmani said.

However, according to him, there are small groups of provocateurs on both sides. Recently, a gun was fired at the Bulgarian club in Ohrid. Osmani did not respond specifically to a question about the progress of the investigation into this incident.

"We encourage the Bulgarian community to unite, to open clubs. The names that were chosen are perceived as a provocation by a large part of society. As a representative of an ethnic group that has gone through similar problems, I can advise the Bulgarians in North Macedonia to do this process carefully, so that there are no suspicions of malice," Osmani added.

And added:

"We should not enter into a scientific debate about the role of these historical figures. If the majority of Macedonians feel offended, let us understand this sensitivity of the people".

According to representatives of the Bulgarian community there, however, there would have been resistance against these clubs, regardless of what they were called.

Recently, special legislation was adopted in the Republic of North Macedonia, according to which the names of these clubs must be changed, Osmani recalled....