Repatriation of a diplomat is the last step before breaking off relations
To return to Bulgaria for consultations – our ambassador in Skopje, Angel Angelov, received this order on the first working day of the week and less than 24 hours after the visit of Macedonian Foreign Minister Buyar Osmani to our country.
Osmani went together with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov to the VMA to see the beaten secretary of our club in Ohrid, and vowed that the authorities would not tolerate any aggression. One attacker has already been arrested. But at the same time, contrary to the pledges to end hate speech, he called on Bulgaria to change the names of its clubs to RSM.
“The reason for the temporary return to the country is the serious situation regarding the rights of the Bulgarians in North Macedonia and the escalation of manifestations and hate crimes against them in recent months,” explained the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From there, they recall the chronology: the arson of the “Ivan Mihailov” Cultural Club in Bitola in June 2022, three consecutive attacks on the building of the “Tsar Boris III” organization in Ohrid, including shooting with a firearm on 24.11. 2022, an aggressive anti-Bulgarian campaign in social networks, the cruel attack of 19.01. 2023 above Hristiyan Pendikov. As well as the adoption of the new Law on Foundations and Associations in November 2022, which forbids clubs in the RSM to be named after “controversial personalities”.
Christian has a broken jaw, vertebra and ribs and was operated on yesterday at the VMA after the authorities sent us the government plane for him. Apparently, however, this attack also broke the fragile diplomatic relations, which cycle at the freezing point despite Bulgaria’s compromise according to the French proposal to lift the veto for the start of the negotiations for EU membership in Skopje. (Which also completely “broke” the relations in the ruling quadruple coalition at the time, as well as those between the president and some parties.)
Summoning an ambassador “for consultations” is one of the penultimate steps before breaking diplomatic relations.
“The purpose of the consultations is to discuss the possibilities of stopping the dangerous trend of increasing pressure on the citizens of the RSM with Bulgarian self-awareness and the prospects for further development of bilateral relations,” said Vutsno.
Usually, such consultations last from several days to several weeks. Which means that at a time when both sides have announced their intention to work to reduce tensions, Bulgaria is demonstratively lowering the level of representation in Skopje. The job there will now be taken over by a temporary head of the embassy.
In March 2022, our first diplomat in Russia, Atanas Krastin, was ordered to return to our country. Then Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova compared the liberation of Bulgaria with Putin’s actions in Ukraine and announced that “the people of Bulgaria do not support the rhetoric and actions of their government regarding the special operation.” He called our authorities “NATO stooges”.
The “Petkov” cabinet was then debating whether to expel her, but applied a “softer approach” and summoned Krastin to Sofia. The hope was that Moscow would also take Mitrofanova home, but that did not happen.
Now, getting used to Angelov is the most serious demonstration to Skopje that Sofia has made. Bulgaria has handed over protest notes several times because of what is happening in the RSM, but has never left the embassy without a first diplomat. Even during the 2 years in which Skopje refused to send an ambassador after the expiration of the mandate of Maryan Gorchev in 2020. The same year, Sofia imposed the veto.
Foreign Minister Osmani explained that “the feeling to a greater extent in North Macedonia was that the names of our clubs are provocations”. He planned to invite the Bulgarian associations to a meeting this week. According to him, there is no drama in the return of our ambassador to Sofia – he linked it to the hearing of Minister Milkov, which will take place at the extraordinary session of the parliament called for today. He promised a fair trial against Pendikov’s attackers.
“The border of freedom of speech is crossed when speaking against the Bulgarian people, against Bulgaria, against certain scientists and politicians. Freedom of speech is not an obstacle to having the appropriate attitude of the official authorities of the RSM against the language of hate and those who spread it. There are few signs from their side in this regard. The type, style and tone of communication largely depends on management. This language of hatred, which pours from many directions in the RSM, is the direct cause of events such as the beating of Hristiyan Pendikov”, commented Vice President Iliyana Yotova.
