Vice President Iliana Iotova visited the districts of Gore and Zhupe in the Republic of Kosovo, where people with Bulgarian identity and consciousness live. She held talks with representatives of the "United Bulgarians in Kosovo" Society in the village of Kerstec, and in Prizreni, she met with members of the "Cultural and Educational Society of Bulgarians in Zhupe, Podguri and the Region."
The Bulgarian community in Kosovo, which numbers about 15 thousand people, is not officially recognised. After the lack of response to the petition submitted to the Kosovo parliament in 2018 for official recognition of the Bulgarian community, the request was repeated at the beginning of this year.
Bulgaria's goal is for Kosovo citizens with Bulgarian identity to receive official community status, which will give them more guaranteed rights and opportunities, said Iotova, who had held talks with President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu in Pristina a day earlier.
In her person, I see a guarantor that the petition will be promoted this time. President Osmani-Sadriu proposed that the Bulgarians should have an informal representative in the Consultative Council for Communities under the President. This is a goodwill gesture, Iotova stressed. She expressed confidence that despite the opposition of other ethnic groups a good result would be achieved. The Vice President assured that Bulgaria would insist that the next census in the Republic of Kosovo should include a column for Bulgarians.
The representatives of the Bulgarian community accepted Iotova's idea to open Bulgarian weekend schools in the areas with a compact population where people have a Bulgarian identity.
Representatives of the Bulgarian community in Kosovo, who have completed their higher education in Bulgaria or are students here, also participated in the meetings. Bulgaria provides opportunities for higher education under Council of Ministers' Letter # 103 for young people from the Republic of Kosovo and every year Bulgarian language courses and entrance exams are organised locally. Last autumn, 42 students from Kosovo were admitted to Bulgarian universities.
Iotova presented books by Bulgarian authors to the representatives of the Bulgarian societies.
Earlier, she also met with the leadership of the Dragashi municipality.