The burning of the diplomatic cars is indeed a provocation against the Bulgarian state. This was said in the program “This Sunday“ Angel Dimitrov, Chairman of the Joint Commission on Historical Issues between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia.
“Naturally, the embassy and the Bulgarian diplomats, who enjoy extraterritoriality, became the object of an absolutely unacceptable act of encroachment“, he pointed out.
According to him, this is a very serious incident, because there are no consequences only thanks to the attention and quick reaction of the Bulgarian diplomats. “They are the people who immediately extinguished the burning cars“.
“Both cars were flooded, so it was not just a formal expectation that the fire would spread from one to the other. Such drastic attacks against diplomatic missions rarely happen, but it is not the first this year - there was an attack with stones on the building“, recalled Dimitrov.
In his words, if we return to the attacks against the Bulgarian presence in the Republic of North Macedonia, we must immediately recall that there were attacks against the cultural clubs in Ohrid and Bitola.
“In 2000, the first Bulgarian formation was created there under the name “Radko“ - this is the pseudonym of Ivan Mihaylov. During her performance in one of the central hotels, something like an imitation of an attack was organized with a smoke bomb thrown inside the hall,“ Dimitrov pointed out.
Lyupcho Georgievski, founder of the defunct Bulgarian Cultural Club “Ivan Mihaylov”, explained that there is a new charge against the person who set the cars on fire - for endangering persons under international protection. The punishment is a minimum of 1 year in prison. “We will see what the court will rule“.
“I don't expect much. I think he will receive the same “award“ as the perpetrator in Bitola received - a suspended sentence. Until the institutions start doing their job and stop the anti-Bulgarian hatred and anti-Bulgarian actions, the life of Bulgarians in Macedonia will be very difficult“, Georgievski explained.
“Knowing the way our courts work, until I see a decision, I don't believe anything. In my opinion, he will be released or receive a suspended sentence. It is not surprising that he will even be turned into a hero“, he commented.
According to him, the government of the Republic of North Macedonia initially presented the case in the same way as in the case of the club. “They were talking about cars set on fire near the Bulgarian embassy, not Bulgarian diplomatic cars. They tried to shift the emphasis“.
“It was the same in the case of the club. The accusation then was that the door of the “Ivan Mihaylov“ club was set on fire. It was even claimed that it was only about the gate, and not the club itself. However, after the international outcry, they changed the terminology“.
Georgievski pointed out that the media is not paying much attention to the case. “The same hate speech continues on social networks. Under the posts it is written that the Bulgarians themselves set their cars on fire to stop the RSM on its way to the European Union“.
MEP Ivaylo Valchev, from the Conservatives and Reformists Group, commented on the progress report, which was considered this week.
“Macedonian diplomacy is working extremely actively, I would even say aggressively. Minutes before we voted on the report on Wednesday, in the wings of the parliament in Strasbourg there were representatives of the Macedonian side, who until the last moment tried to arrange meetings and get in touch with the people who entered the voting hall“, said Valchev.
He explains this diplomacy by saying that there is one basic thesis in the ideology on which the existence of the Republic of North Macedonia is built - that Bulgaria is an enemy. “This thesis must be constantly proven and it must be constantly worked on“.
“It is no secret that our neighbors are investing huge amounts of money in this. It is also no secret that they have special groups of people who monitor what is happening in the European Parliament, what is happening in Bulgaria and what the moods are. "They are working against every Bulgarian idea and against every Bulgarian position," he pointed out.
According to him, in the weeks before the vote on the report, senior representatives of the RSM traveled everywhere where they could be accepted and everywhere they repeated the same thing: "We want to be in the European Union, Bulgaria is hindering us."
“Last year, when journalist Vlado Perev was beaten up, the theory was that he beat himself up or that Bulgaria sent someone to beat him up in order to have a reason to react. Now Bulgaria has set its own cars on fire. This is absolute nonsense that a normal person cannot believe,“ the MEP believes.
“Our colleagues were shocked. They learned about the case mostly from us, but they immediately started looking for confirmation from the media in their own countries. The reaction was that there was no way such things could happen in a civilized country in the 21st century. We told them: “Here it is,“ he pointed out.
According to Valchev, we have managed to provide yet another piece of evidence that hate speech and hateful actions against Bulgaria and Bulgarian institutions have been elevated to the level of a kind of national policy in the RSM.