The newly elected Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia Hristiyan Mickovski made a statement a day ago , which usually stirred the spirits in Bulgaria and provoked a response even at the highest state level. Kristijan Mickovski is the leader of VMRO - DPMN, a center-right party, which for a long time was known as a relatively pro-Bulgarian party in Macedonia.
And because we have to express ourselves very carefully when it comes to the relations between the republics of Bulgaria and North Macedonia, let's say that VMRO-DPMNE was the party that avoided anti-Bulgarian talk regarding our common history, avoided talking for fascism, especially Bulgarian, in the period 1941-1944, etc. etc. The former chairman of the party and Prime Minister Lyubcho Georgievski even came later and lived in Bulgaria.
The Republic of Macedonia, with just over two million inhabitants, with a large Albanian minority, does not need outside detractors, especially those with claims to its language, culture, history and at the same time claiming to be a brotherly people.
What the Macedonians have been trying to tell us for a long time, what Hristijan Mickovski is doing right now, is that we, the two countries, the two brotherly peoples, must find some reasonable and “creative solution” of all the contradictions that have arisen between us. Words that still do not reach the ears and minds of Bulgarian politicians, blinded by a primitive nationalism, characteristic of the time of the late socialist people's republic, before 1989.
What does “creative solution“ mean, in this case, and Mickowski said he had at least three? This means that we should not look for a Bulgarian minority in Macedonia, it means a tacit agreement and understanding that Macedonians and Bulgarians are one and the same people and we should not separate them documentarily. Because that's exactly what we're trying to do right now.
Do we Bulgarians know what we want? On the one hand, we claim that Bulgarians and Macedonians are one and the same people, that Macedonian history, language, and culture are practically Bulgarian. On the other hand, we currently want the recognition of the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia! This means that we personally regard the two peoples as different. So, in the end, what do we Bulgarians want – one or the other?
This is what the Macedonians are trying to tell us, and quite diplomatically, and we still see a challenge to us in their messages. They are trying to tell us that we must find a reasonable and delicate formula, according to which the two peoples do not have to be divided. So let's keep good political relations and keep the right to a common history.
The last thing North Macedonia needs right now is the creation of another minority there. And at least we should understand this and show, if not understanding, at least some sympathy. We are relatives, brothers, friends. In North Macedonia, they have enough minorities - Albanian, Turkish, Pomachian, Vlach, Serbian, Jewish, Gypsy, etc. The creation of a Bulgarian minority will be the last nail in the relatively young North Macedonian statehood. Neither Bulgarians nor Macedonians benefit from this, but we simply refuse to understand it.
I hope that the Bulgarian politicians will finally overcome this patriotism, from the time of the socialist State Security, because it is still at that level. Hopefully they will finally open their worldview and understand what the Macedonians are telling them. And in fact, not us, but they offer us a real European and creative solution to the problems that have arisen between the two countries.