NEWS

 

 

The Vice President attends the opening of an information centre of the "Horizons" Association for Tolerance and Cooperation

 

Many unsolved problems were shared by our compatriots in Ohrid at a meeting with Vice President Iliana Iotova who attended the inauguration of an information centre of the "Horizons" Association for Tolerance and Cooperation. Its chairman, Lyupcho Kurtelov, is a descendant of the Miladinov brothers. Iotova presented the Association with an icon of St Ivan of Rila, Bulgarian classical literature and a collection of the Miladinov songs.

 

"The Macedonian Bulgarians have a guarantee for their protection in the face of the Bulgarian state. They say that they feel such firm support for the first time in many years," the Vice President told Bulgarian and Macedonian media.

 

Discrimination in the workplace just because you are of Bulgarian origin and identify yourself as Bulgarian is the most common problem faced by our compatriots.

 

"We have learnt disturbing things about the census - the Macedonian authorities have demanded Bulgarian documents. This requirement was not applied to other ethnic groups," Iotova said. She reiterated the Bulgarian position that guarantees for the rights of the Macedonian Bulgarians are expected, the most certain guarantee being their inclusion in the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia.

 

Responding to a question from Macedonian media, the Vice President said that Bulgaria expected clear results as enshrined in the Neighbourhood Treaty. "We expect a change of certain texts in the textbooks. We expect the opening of the archives, the uncovering of the persecutions of people over their Bulgarian identity. It is unacceptable in the 21st century to desecrate monuments just because they are devoted to Bulgarians," Iotova stressed, giving concrete examples shared in her meetings with our compatriots. One of them - a repeatedly destroyed tombstone of a Bulgarian officer who participated in the liberation of these lands in 1903. 

 

Asked by a Macedonian journalist about the recognition of a Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, the Vice President urged him to read the Bulgarian Constitution, which mentions no minorities, and stressed that a decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg was not in favour of recognising a Macedonian minority in Bulgaria.

 

In Ohrid, Iliana Iotova visited a day-care centre for children with autism, funded by the Bulgarian government as part of the Foreign Ministry's "Bulgarian Development Aid" programme. The Vice President presented educational materials for the children.

 

Earlier in the day, Iotova paid tribute at the memorial to the 15 Bulgarian tourists who died on the Ilinden sunken ship in 2009.

 

Bulgaria is increasingly visible on the German investment map and ever more attractive to German companies, many of which reinvest their profits and export research and development centres to our country. This was stated by President Rumen Radev during a meeting in Sofia with the leadership of the Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade (BWA).

The Bulgarian head of state emphasised the importance of global efforts to counter terrorism, while expressing concern about the escalation of tension in the Middle East following the Israeli air strike on the Qatari capital, Doha. Hundreds of our compatriots live and work in the Qatari capital.

Connectivity between the countries in Southeast Europe is important not only for their economic development, but is also a factor in NATO's collective security in the region, the president emphasises during a meeting with NATO's Deputy Secretary General

President Rumen Radev holds a meeting in Berlin with his counterpart, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier