Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria

Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria (Macedonian: Македонци во Бугарија, romanized: Makedonci vo Bugarija) are a group in Bulgaria concentrated within Blagoevgrad Province and the capital Sofia. Per 2021 Bulgarian census they are 1,143 people but are not recognised as an ethnic minority.

Macedonians in Bulgaria
Македонци во Бугарија
Makedonci vo Bugarija
Total population
1,143 (2021 census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Blagoevgrad Province and Sofia[2] - 25,000 (1998, Kanev est.)[3]
Languages
Bulgarian[3] and Macedonian[4]
Religion
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
A facsimile of a telegram with instructions from the Nevrokop District Governor during the census of the population in the area in December 1946. The instructions read that the official census takers must record as "Macedonians" all locals.
A facsimile of a telegram with instructions about the census in Bulgaria in 1946 with order to the scrutineers all people in Pirin Macedonia to be counted as "Macedonians".
Letter from Bulgarian Education Minister Kiril Dramaliev dated 18 February 1949 informing the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party and Prime Minister Georgi Dimitrov that the students from Pirin Macedonia do not want to study the newly codified Macedonian language.[5]
Order of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of Bulgaria the pupils to begin study the history of Macedonia separately from the history of Bulgaria, 30 January 1948. Instructions are given as to which sections of school material to drop out to fit the new historical narrative for separate history of Macedonia.

According to the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee in 1998, their number ranged from 15,000 to 25,000.[6] In 2006, per the personal evaluation of a leading local ethnic Macedonian activist Stojko Stojkov, they counted already between 5,000 and 10,000 people. The 1992 census indicated 10,830 Macedonians, but in the 2001 census this figure had decreased to 5,071. However, in the 2011 Bulgarian census 1,654 people declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians.

Macedonians were recognised as minority between 1946 and 1958. During this period there was a surge of Macedonistic policies, the government went as far as to declare the newly codified Macedonian an official language of the Pirin region.[7][8] The Bulgarian Communist Party was compelled by Joseph Stalin to accept the formation of a distinct Macedonian nation, in order to create with the Yugoslav and Greek communists a United Macedonian state, as part of a scheduled Balkan Communist Federation.[9][10][11] Although at the 1934 census, no Macedonians were recorded in Bulgaria, at the 1946 and 1956 censuses, the results indicated their number of almost 190,000. There are clear indications that the majority of the population from Blagoevgrad Province then was listed as ethnic Macedonians ex officio by order of the authorities.[9][10][12]

However, differences soon emerged with regard to the Macedonian question. Whereas Bulgarians envisaged a state where Yugoslavia and Bulgaria would be placed on an equal footing,[13] the Yugoslavs saw Bulgaria as a seventh republic in an enlarged Yugoslavia.[13] Their differences also extended to the national character of the Macedonians – whereas Bulgaria considered them to be a national offshoot of the Bulgarians,[14] the Yugoslavs regarded them as people who had nothing to do with the Bulgarians.[15]

Today the Bulgarian authorities deny any existence of Macedonian minority in the country, claiming there is no ethnic difference between both communities, while Skopje insists on the presence of such separate community, with some circles stating on 750,000 oppressed Macedonians there.[16]

Background

Until 1913 the majority of the Slavic-speaking population of all three parts of the region of Macedonia identified as Bulgarian.[6] In October 1925 the Slavic population in the Bulgarian part of Macedonia repulsed a brief invasion by Greece, fighting alongside the Bulgarian army. During World War II, most parts of Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria, and the local Slavic-speakers were regarded and self-identified as Macedonian Bulgarians.[17][18] Not until much later did the process of Macedonian national identity formation gain momentum.[6] After 1944, the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began a policy of making Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of new Balkan Federative Republic and stimulating there a development of distinct Slav Macedonian consciousness.[19] The Communist Party of Greece as well as its fraternal parties in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, had already been influenced by the Comintern and it was the only political party in Greece to recognize Macedonian national identity.[20] The region of Vardar Macedonia received the status of a constituent republic within Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, and in 1945 a separate Macedonian language was codified. The local Slavic population was proclaimed to be ethnically Macedonian - a new nationality meant to be different from the Bulgarians or Serbs.

History

Recognition of the minority

For a period of some years after the war, the Yugoslav and Bulgarian leaders Josip Broz Tito and Georgi Dimitrov worked on a project to merge their two countries into a Balkan Federative Republic according to the projects of Balkan Communist Federation. As a concession to the Yugoslavian side, Bulgarian authorities agreed to the recognition of a distinct Macedonian ethnicity and language as part of their own population in the Bulgarian part of geographical Macedonia. This was one of the conditions of the Bled agreement, signed between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria on 1 August 1947. In November 1947, pressured by the Yugoslavs, Bulgaria also signed a treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia, and teachers were sent from the Socialist Republic of Macedonia to Blagoevgrad Province to teach the newly codified Macedonian language.[21][22] The Bulgarian president Georgi Dimitrov was sympathetic to the Macedonian Question.[23] The Bulgarian communist government was compelled once again to adapt its stand to Soviet interests in the Balkans.[22][9][10] At the same time, the organisation of the old nationalist movement the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) in Bulgaria was suppressed by the Bulgarian communist authorities.[24]

Reversal of recognition

However, differences soon emerged with regard to the Macedonian question. Whereas Dimitrov envisaged a state where Yugoslavia and Bulgaria would be placed on an equal footing and Macedonia would be more or less attached to Bulgaria, Tito saw Bulgaria as a seventh republic in an enlarged Yugoslavia tightly ruled from Belgrade.[13] Their differences also extended to the national character of the Macedonians – whereas Dimitrov considered them to be an national offshoot of the Bulgarians,[14] Tito regarded them as an independent nation which had nothing to do with the Bulgarians.[15] Thus the initial tolerance for the Macedonization of Bulgarian Macedonia gradually grew into outright alarm. As result gradual change of that policy came in Bulgaria after the Tito–Stalin split in 1948.

Macedonians in Bulgaria wishing to join Yugoslavia reportedly conducted guerilla warfare in 1951.[25] About 400 Macedonian prisoners were being held in the Belene labour camp in 1951.[26] Modern sources maintain that resistors to the anti-Macedonian policy formed organizations and were sent to Belene.[27][28] However, another modern sources clarify, such people were in fact not ethnic Macedonians who wish to join Yugoslavia, but IMRO right-wing activists, supporters of the idea about an Independent Macedonia. Some of them formed anti-communist detachments, while others were arrested by the communist authorities and interned in labour camps.[29][30][31][32][33] At that time in the Pirin region didn't crystallize such significant collective identity, which may be qualified as a Macedonian minority.[34]

A change of policy came in 1958.[9][10] At the plenum of the Bulgarian Communist Party held the same year, the decision was made that the Macedonian nation and language did not exist.[35][36] Afterwards, the teaching of the Macedonian language was discontinued and the Macedonian teachers from Yugoslavia were expelled.[21] Since 1958, Bulgaria has not recognized a Macedonian minority in the Pirin region and in the following ten years, the 178,862 strong Macedonian population fell to just 1,600.[21] The March Plenum of the Central Committee of the BCP openly denounces any notion of "a separate Macedonian nation" in Bulgaria. However, in 1964 four people were tried for writing: "We are Macedonians" and "Long live the Macedonian nation" on a restaurant wall.[37]

After fall of communism

Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s various associations have been set up to represent the minority, these include the association United Macedonian Organisation (UMO-Ilinden), the political party United Macedonian Organisation: Ilinden–Pirin (UMO Ilinden-Pirin) and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation - Independent (IMRO-I) .[38] These organizations have called for the restoration of rights granted to Macedonians during the 1940s and 1950s.[38] However, such organizations in Pirin were restrained by Bulgarian authorities in the 1990s. Police also prevented ethnic Macedonians from commemorating Jane Sandanski at his gravesite.[39] The Republic of Bulgaria has not recognized the Macedonian language. However, in 1999 the linguistic controversy between the two countries was solved with the help of the phrase: "the official language of the country in accordance with its constitution".[40]

Meanwhile, in 1999, Ivan Kostov and Lyubcho Georgievski, the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Macedonia respectively, signed a common declaration, which proclaimed that no Macedonian minority exists within Bulgaria.[41]

In 2006, according to a personal evaluation of a leading local ethnic Macedonian political activist Stoyko Stoykov, the present number of Bulgarian citizens with ethnic Macedonian self-consciousness is between 5,000 and 10,000. He has claimed that the result of the 2011 census, which counted only 1,654 Macedonians is a consequence of manipulation. Stoykov has explained that from this figure, even about 1,000 people were registered as Macedonia citizens.[42] According to the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the vast majority of the population in Pirin Macedonia has a Bulgarian national self-consciousness and a regional Macedonian identity similar to the Macedonian regional identity in Greek Macedonia.[6] Moreover, the majority of Bulgarians believe that most of the population of North Macedonia is Bulgarian.[43] In 2019, Bulgaria adopted a framework position on the EU accession of North Macedonia, in which it demanded that North Macedonia refrain from supporting the Macedonian minority in the country in any way and re-affirmed its non-recognition of the minority.[44]

Census results

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1934not available    
1946169,544    
1956187,789+10.8%
19659,632−94.9%
199210,803+12.2%
20015,071−53.1%
20111,654−67.4%
20211,143−30.9%

Government intervention

From 20 to 31 December 1946, the People's Republic of Bulgaria conducted a census during which, on 27 December the governor of Blagoevgrad districts sent a telegram with an order all Bulgarians (excluding the ones migrated from other regions of Bulgaria) in the region to be counted as ethnic Macedonians, including the Bulgarian Muslims.[45] According to the census results 169,544 [46] people of Bulgaria declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. Of the total 252,908 inhabitants of Blagoevgrad Province 160,541 or roughly 64% of the population declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians.[47] Other areas of Macedonian declaration was 2,638 in Sofia, 2,589 in Plovdiv, 1,825 in Burgas and a further 1,851 were scattered throughout Bulgaria.

The forcible change of the ethnicity of the population was confirmed by the leader of the opposition party BZNS "Nikola Petkov" who on 30 December 1946 stated that "the population is disgusted by this outrageous violation of conscience."[48] This issue was confirmed by the ex-president of the Republic of Bulgaria Petar Stoyanov[49] and Veselin Angelov (аssoc scientist, Ph.D. in history), from the Regional Historical Museum of Blagoevgrad - where the document with the order is kept.[50]

Ethnic Groups in Blagoevgrad (1946 Census) Nevrokop % Gorna Dzumaya % Sveti Vrach % Petrich % Razlog % Total %
Ethnic Macedonians 29,251 45.1% 24 169 47% 41,247 82.5% 42,047 91% 23,837 60% 160 541 63.64%
Bulgarians 14,007 21.5% 24,825 48.3% 7,600 15.1% 2,927 6.4% 5,066 12.8% 54,425 21.5%
Macedonian or Bulgarian Muslims 18,174 27.9% 874 1.7% 55 0.1% 35 0,1% 9,786 24.6% 28 924 3.03%

There are strong indications that the majority of the population from Blagoevgrad Province was listed as ethnic Macedonians against their will in the 1946 and 1956 census.[9][10]

In 1956, 187,789 people of Bulgaria declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. Of the 281,015 inhabitants of Blagoevgrad Province, 178,862 people declared themselves to be Macedonians; a rate which stayed the same at roughly 64% of the population.[51][52] Other areas of Macedonian declaration consisted of: 4046 from Sofia, 1955 from Plovdiv and the remaining 2926 were scattered throughout Bulgaria.

The change in the population came in 1965 census, when the people in the province declared free as Bulgarians, within ten years the 187,789 strong Macedonian minority fell to just 9,632 individuals.[12] The 1965 census counted only 9,632 people declaring themselves to be Macedonians.[21] While the number of Macedonians from other parts of Bulgaria did not change compared to previous censuses (c. 8–9,000), the number of Macedonians in the district of Blagoevgrad fell to 1,432 in the 1965 census. The Communist Party of Bulgaria insisted at the time that the process had been completed in a completely "free" manner, but 20 years later Zhivkov mentioned a "manoeuvre" he had employed, known only to four persons, to turn the all the population of the region of Pirin into Bulgarians "within a few days".[53]

Government intervention withdrawn

In the 1992 census, 10,803 people declared themselves to be Macedonian. Of them, 3,500 registered Macedonian as their mother tongue.[54] According to the President of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Krasimir Kanev, the real number of Macedonians in Bulgaria varies from 15,000 to 25,000.[6]

Results of the 2001 census in the Blagoevgrad region of Bulgaria.[55]

Ethnic Groups in Blagoevgrad Province (2001 Census) Total %
Bulgarians 286,491 83.97%
Ethnic Macedonians 3117 0.91%
Others 51,565 15.12%
Total 341,173 100.00%

As regards self-identification, a total of 1,654 people officially declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians in the latest Bulgarian census in 2011 (0,02%) and 561 of them are in Blagoevgrad Province (0,2%).[56] There are 1,091 citizens of North Macedonia who are permanent residents in Bulgaria.[57]

Political representation

The UMO Ilinden-Pirin party claims to represent the ethnic Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. In 2007 it was accepted as member of the European Free Alliance. On 29 February 2000, by decision of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court, UMO Ilinden–Pirin was banned, as a separatist party, which is banned by the Bulgarian constitution,[58] which also forbids parties on ethnic and religious grounds. On 25 November, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg condemned Bulgaria because of violations of the UMO Ilinden–Pirin's freedom of organizing meetings.[59] The court stated that Bulgaria had violated Act 11 from the European Convention of Human Rights.[60] UMO-Ilinden has been accused of being funded by the Skopie government,[61] which was confirmed by members of the party itself.[62]

Many other Macedonian organizations have been set up since the fall of communism they include; Independent Macedonian Association – Ilinden, Traditional Macedonian Organization — TMO, Union for the Prosperity of Pirin Macedonia, Committee on the Repression of Macedonians in the Pirin part of Macedonia, Solidarity and Struggle Committee of Pirin Macedonia, the Macedonian Democratic Party and the People's Academy of Pirin Macedonia.[6]

On 30 October 2022, a Macedonian culture club named after Nikola Vaptsarov was opened.[63] Prior to the opening of the club, on 18 October 2022, the Council of the Blagoevgrad Municipality adopted a declaration which banned the opening of the club.[64][65] During the opening a verbal incident occurred, and delegations were blocked laying wreaths on the Gotse Delchev monument in Blagoevgrad by members of VMRO-BND.[63]

On 4 February 2023, the glass façade of the club was smashed by unknown individuals with stones on 4 February 2023.[66][67] Multiple people were arrested.[68] The incident was condemned by North Macedonia's president, Stevo Pendarovski, and by the European Free Alliance.[69][70]

Macedonian-language media

In 1947 the newspaper 'Pirinski Vestnik' (Pirin Newspaper)[71][72] was established and a "Macedonian Book" publishing company were set up.[72][73] These were part of the measures to promote the Macedonian language and consciousness and were subsequently shut down in 1958. In the early 1990s a new newspaper was established for the ethnic Macedonian minority in Blagoevgrad Province, it is called Narodna Volja and its main office is in Blagoevgrad. The ideology of the newspaper is similar to official state policies and historiography in North Macedonia. Among its main topics are the history and culture of Macedonia and the Macedonians in Bulgaria.

European Court of Human Rights Decisions and European Parliament

Macedonians have been refused the right to register political parties (see United Macedonian Organization Ilinden and OMO Ilinden - PIRIN) on the grounds that the party was an "ethnic separatist organization funded by a foreign government", something that is against the Bulgarian constitution. The constitutional court has not however banned the Evroroma (Евророма) and MRF(ДПС) parties, who are widely considered as ethnic parties. The European Court of Human Rights held "unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights."[74]

In November 2006, the members of the European Parliament Milan Horáček, Joost Lagendijk, Angelika Beer and Elly de Groen-Kouwenhoven introduced an amendment to the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union protocol calling "on the Bulgarian authorities to prevent any further obstruction to the registration of the political party of the ethnic Macedonians (OMO-Ilinden PIRIN) and to put an end to all forms of discrimination and harassment vis-à-vis that minority."[75]

On 28 May 2018, the European Court of Human Rights made two decisive rulings against Bulgaria in violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In the two rulings: Case of Vasilev and Society of the Repressed Macedonians in Bulgaria Victims of the Communist Terror v. Bulgaria (Application no. 23702/15);[76] and Case of Macedonian Club for Ethnic Tolerance in Bulgaria and Radonov v. Bulgaria (Application no. 67197/13),[77] the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that Bulgaria violated Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and that Bulgaria must pay a collective total of 16,000 euros to the applicants.

Notable individuals

See also

References

  1. Ива Капкова, Етноанализът на НСИ: 8,4% в България се определят към турския етнос, 4,4% казват, че са роми; 24.11.2022, Dir.bg
  2. "Bulgarian 2011 census" (PDF). Nsi.bg. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2006. Retrieved 24 July 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Macedonian". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  5. Веселин Ангелов, Премълчани истини Лица, събития и факти от българската история 1941-1989. Анико, София, 2005, ISBN 9789549070088, стр. 39.
  6. Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe Archived 23 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine - Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE) - Macedonians of Bulgaria; Greekhelsinki.gr
  7. Bugajski (1995)
  8. Zang, Theodor (1991). "Selective Persecution of Macedonians in Bulgaria," News from Helsinki Watch, No.2, 1991.
  9. Rothschild, Joseph. The Communist Party of Bulgaria; Origins and Development, 1883-1936. Columbia University Press. p. 126.
  10. A. Cook, Bernard (2001). Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 810. ISBN 0-8153-4058-3.
  11. Coenen-Huther, Jacques (1996). Bulgaria at the Crossroads. Nova Publishers. p. 166. ISBN 1-56072-305-X.
  12. Ulrich Büchsenschütz - "Minority Policy in Bulgaria. BKP policy to Jews, Gypsies, Turks and Pomaks (1944-1989), p. 5 (in Bulgarian: Улрих Бюксеншютц - „Малцинствената политика в България. Политиката на БКП към евреи, роми, помаци и турци (1944-1989)“, стр. 5) Archived 20 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine Even today, it is not clear whether Bulgaria has a significant number of people who feel themselves "Macedonians", although the results of Census 1956 indicate the number of almost 200,000 (see Table. 5). These results, however, are grossly falsified - at that time on the population of Pirin Mountain exercised massive pressure to identify itself as "Macedonian". (in Bulgarian:До днес не e ясно, дали в България има значим брой хора, които се чувстват като "македонци", макар резултатите от преброяването през 1956 г. да посочват техния брой на почти 200000 (виж табл. 5). Тези резултати обаче са грубо фалшифицирани - в онова време върху населението на Пирин планина се упражнява масивен натиск да се признаят за "македонци".)
  13. H.R. Wilkinson Maps and Politics. A Review of the Ethnographic Cartography of Macedonia, Liverpool, 1951. pp. 311–312.
  14. Yugoslavia: A History of Its Demise, Viktor Meier, Routledge, 2013, ISBN 1134665113, p. 183.
  15. Hugh Poulton Who are the Macedonians?, C. Hurst & Co, 2000, ISBN 1-85065-534-0. pp. 107–108.
  16. Macedonia's Latest Propaganda Spree Invents 750 000 'Macedonians' in Bulgaria. 16, 2011, Novinite.com.
  17. The struggle for Greece, 1941-1949, Christopher Montague Woodhouse, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2002, ISBN 1-85065-492-1, p. 67.
  18. Poulton (1995), p. 101
  19. Bernard Anthony Cook (2001). Europe since 1945. Taylor & Francis. p. 808. ISBN 0-8153-4058-3.
  20. Incompatible Allies: Greek Communism and Macedonian Nationalism in the Civil War in Greece, 1943-1949, Andrew Rossos - The Journal of Modern History 69 (March 1997): 42
  21. Simpson (1994)
  22. Ramet, Pedro (1989). Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics. Duke University Press. pp. 374. ISBN 0-8223-0891-6.
  23. Simpson (1994), p. 89
  24. Ангелов, Веселин. Хроника на едно национално предателство: Опитите за насилствено денационализиране на Пиринска Македония 1944-1949 г. – София: Гергана, 2004. – 495 с. (ВИБ 21461)
  25. Reports Bulgarian Communists Acting Against Macedonian Guerilla Units (PDF) (Report). Hürriyet. 27 June 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 7 October 2022. The Macedonians, who view this procedure with loathing and hate, wish to join the Yugoslav Federated Republic. With this purpose in mind, units organized in the mountains of Bulgaria are conducting guerrilla warfare against the Communists.
  26. Athens, I Kathimerini (PDF) (Report). Kathimerini. 27 March 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 13 September 2022. there are many foreigners, especially... Macedonians, in this concentration camp. The Macedonians, who were taken prisoner during 1951 on the pretext that they were in contact with Yugoslav Macedonians, number about 400. Even though these prisoners are undernourished, they are obliged to work 8 - 10 hours a day, cutting down trees and constructing roads.
  27. Stojko Stojkov. Macedonian Minority in Bulgaria - From Recognition to Denying 1948 - 1989 (PDF). Goce Delčev University of Štip. p. 70.
  28. Theodore Zang Jr. (12 February 1991). Destorying Ethnic Identity: Selective Persecution of Macedonians in Bulgaria. Helsinki Watch. p. 3. Beginning in the 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, the government tried and imprisoned Macedonian activists who were working underground.
  29. Концлагерът "Белене" 1949-1987, Откъс от изследването на Борислав Скочев, може би най-мащабното цялостно изследване за „острова, който уби свободния човек“. Култура, 14.12.2017.
  30. Даниела Горчева, Забравената съпротива, LiterNet, 11.05.2007.
  31. Михаил Груев, Насилие и идентичност: пиринска Македония в етнонационалните политики на комунистическия режим в България – Част 2. Либерален преглед, 24 Януари 2012.
  32. Nedeva, I., Kaytchev, N. (1999). IMRO groupings in Bulgaria after the Second World War. In: Pettifer, J. (eds) The New Macedonian Question. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230535794_12
  33. Voskresenski, Valentin. (2020). The Goryani Movement against the Communist Regime in Bulgaria (1944–1956): Prerequisites, Resistance, Consequences. In: Violent Resistance From the Baltics to Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe 1944–1956 (pp.388 - 426), Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh.
  34. Чавдар Маринов, От „интернационализъм“ към национализъм – част 1. „Либерален преглед“ 29 Юли 2013.
  35. Shoup, Paul (1968). Communism and the Yugoslav National Question, (New - York: Columbia University Press).
  36. War Report, Sofia, Skopje, and the Macedonian Question, No.35, July/August - 1995.
  37. Poulton (2000), p. 149
  38. Bugajski (1995), p. 252
  39. Henry Sokalski (2003). An Ounce of Prevention. US Institute of Peace Press. p. 56. ISBN 9781929223466.
  40. "1999/02/22 23:50 Bulgaria Recognises Macedonian Language". Aimpress.ch. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  41. "България разсече "македонския" си възел". Capital.bg. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  42. "Бугарија изброи само 1.609 Македонци, весник Нова Македониja, број 22337, петок 22.7.2011". Novamakedonija.com.mk. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  43. Bulgarian "Macedonian" Nationalism: A Conceptual Overview Anton Kojouharov. OJPCR: The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution 6.1 Fall: 282-295 (2004) ISSN 1522-211X
  44. Ulf Brunnbauer (2022). "Side Effects of "Phantom Pains": How Bulgarian Historical Mythology Derails North Macedonia's EU Accession". Comparative Southeast European Studies. 70 (4): 727. doi:10.1515/soeu-2022-0064. S2CID 255394453.
  45. Бърза! Телефонограма до Г Г кметовете на околията: Незабавно свикайте контрольорите и преброителите и им съобщете при попълване на графа 13 от домакинската карта и графа 5 на домакинския лист Б народност да се пише МАКЕДОНСКА, по изключение само евреите, циганите, турците и българите дошли от пределите на България. Българомохамеданите да се пишат по народност македонцоевград, ф.242, оп.1, а.е.25, л.50" (in Bulgarian)
  46. Poulton (2000)
  47. Georgeoff, Peter John (with David Crowe), "National Minorities in Bulgaria, 1919- 1980" in Horak, Stephen, ed., Eastern European National Minorities 1919/1980: A Handbook, (Littleton, Co: Libraries Limited, Inc.).
  48. Newspaper "Macedonia", issue 44, 2 December 1998 - The Party violence against the nation in 1946 (in Bulgarian: в-к "Македония", брой 44, 2 декември 1998 г. - Партийното насилие над нацията през 1946 година)
  49. Phone interview with Petar Styoanov in the TV show of Velizar Enchev "SKAT" Television, 12 August 2009
  50. Veselin Angelov - Demographic census in Pirin Macedonia (25-31.ХІІ.1946 г.) (in Bulgarian: Веселин Ангелов - "Демографското преброяване в Пиринска Македония (25-31.ХІІ.1946 г.)")
  51. Bates, Daniel. 1994. "What's in a Name: Minorities, Identity and Politics in Bulgaria," Identities, Vol.1, No.2, May 1994.
  52. Creed, Gerald W. (1992). "The Ethnic Situation in Bulgaria," Princeton Project of Ethnic Relations, Researches 1992, (Sofia: Club-90 Publishing House — in Bulgarian and in English).
  53. Marinov, Tchavdar (2011). ""Nous ne pouvons pas renoncer a notre histoire": Quand la question macédonienne met à l'épreuve la notion de bloc communiste". Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire. 109: 107. doi:10.3917/vin.109.0101.
  54. Kanev, 1999
  55. "POPULATION AT 01.03.2001 BY DISTRICT AND ETHNIC GROUP". Nsi.bg. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  56. Население с чуждо гражданство по страни Archived 4 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  57. "РЕШЕНИЕ N: 1 от 29 февруари 2000 г.по конституционно дело N: 3 от 1999 г.(Обн., ДВ, бр. 18 от 07.03.2000 г.)". Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  58. European Court Condemns Ban on Bulgarian Party Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  59. Two ECHR judgments find Bulgaria violated freedom of assembly and association Archived 28 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  60. "Skopje gave €75,000 to a Macedonian party of ours". Dneven Trud. 26 June 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2006.
  61. "Днес+ :: Политика". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
  62. "Отворен македонскиот клуб "Никола Вапцаров" - во Благоевград тензии". Радио Слободна Европа (in Macedonian). 30 October 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  63. Ивановиќ, Срѓан (18 October 2022). "Македонистите не се добредојдени во Благоевград". Слободен печат (in Macedonian). Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  64. "Благоевград го забрани отворањето на Македонски културен клуб Никола Вапцаров". kanal5.com.mk (in Macedonian). Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  65. "Каменуван македонски клуб во Благоевград, ОМО Илинден бараат истрага". Радио Слободна Европа (in Macedonian). 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  66. "Каменуван македонскиот клуб "Вапцаров" во Благоевград". Telma (in Macedonian).
  67. "МВР: Приведени неколку лица за оштетувањето на македонскиот клуб во Благоевград". Радио Слободна Европа (in Macedonian). 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  68. "Пендаровски остро го осуди каменувањето на македонскиот клуб, бара да се најдат виновниците". Nezavisen. 5 February 2023.
  69. "EFA calls for dignity and human rights for Macedonian political prisoners". 7 February 2023.
  70. Pribichevich, Stoyan (1982). Macedonia: Its People and History, (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press).
  71. Poulton (1995), pp. 107–108
  72. Jelavich, B. (1991). History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
  73. "IWPR: European Court Condemns Ban on Bulgarian Party | The Tharwa project". 28 September 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  74. "Amendments 1-37, Draft Report by Geoffrey van Orden on the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union". European Parliament. 28 May 2020.
  75. Case of Vasilev and Society of the Repressed Macedonians in Bulgaria Victims of the Communist Terror v. Bulgaria (Application no. 23702/15), European Court of Human Rights
  76. Case of Macedonian Club for Ethnic Tolerance in Bulgaria and Radonov v. Bulgaria (Application no. 67197/13), European Court of Human Rights
  77. TJ-Hosting. "НАРОДНА ВОЛЈА". Narodnavolja.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  78. ""Македонско сонце" број 672, Скопје, 2007" (PDF). Makedonskosonce.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  79. Добринов, Дечо. ВМРО (обединена), Университетско издателство "Св. Климент Охридски", София, 1993, стр. 226.
  80. "ЗОШТО ГО САКАМ СКОПЈЕ-ИВАН КАТАРЏИЕВ, историчар и академик, Скопје е моја судбина". Star.vest.com.mk. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  81. TJ-Hosting. "НАРОДНА ВОЛЈА". Narodnavolja.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  82. "Lenkova, Mariana. MINORITIES IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE: Macedonians of Bulgaria, Center for Documentation and Informationon Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE), стр.11-13". Scribd.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  83. "Utrinski Vesnik". Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  84. Балкански, Т. Никола Вапцаров. България и българите..., В. Търново, 1996, с. 36.
  85. Георги Сталев "Литература на македонскиот јазик", Просветно Дело, Скопје, 1995, 157 стр.
  86. "Правата на човека в България през 1998 година, БХК, стр.11" (PDF). Bghelsinki.org. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  87. "Kulture studdings". Balkans21.org. Retrieved 28 August 2017.

Bibliography

Notes

  1. Ethnic identity disputed, see the relevant article.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.