The Embassy of Bulgaria in Skopje called for the border crossings and roads between Bulgaria and North Macedonia not to be blocked. This is stated in a post on the official Facebook page of the diplomatic mission, signed by the Bulgarian Ambassador to North Macedonia Zhelyazko Radukov.
The Embassy thanks Bulgarian institutions, organizations and citizens for the expressed support for the mission “in the current particularly difficult conditions“.
On June 15, a man set fire to two cars of our embassy in Skopje. The arson occurred in front of officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia, who did not take action to prevent the incident.
At the same time, the diplomatic mission states that it supports the “right to peaceful civil protest as a fundamental right in any truly democratic society“, but also appeals “not to provoke the blocking of border crossings or roads between Bulgaria and North Macedonia“.
According to the embassy, Bulgaria's national interest requires the country to remain open to its southwestern neighbors, by promoting cultural exchange, contacts between separated families, as well as economic cooperation and trade.
“This is the best way to oppose hatred“, the mission states. They add that it is precisely by maintaining ties between the two societies that the closeness between the peoples and the benefits of both the common history and “our common future in a United Europe“ can be emphasized.
The publication also emphasizes that the expression of dissatisfaction and concern regarding the events in Skopje should have a “constructive and European character“.
The embassy also sends a message to certain media and public figures in North Macedonia, calling the qualification of Bulgarian organizations as “anti-Macedonian“ due to different assessments of bilateral relations and the policies of the authorities in Skopje “ unfounded and unproductive“.
According to the diplomatic mission, pluralism is an essential feature of democracy and its manifestation “is not directed “against“ nobody“, but aims to promote public dialogue and create conditions for better understanding between the two countries.