Sinisa Jakov MarusicSkopjeBIRNMarch 17, 202312:23North Macedonia’s Justice Ministry has denied a request by a Bulgarian club to be named after Ivan Mihailov, deeming him a Nazi collaborator, prompting fresh tensions with Sofia.
Members of the Bulgarian club, in the town of Ohrid, North Macedonia, display a big flag of Tsar [king] Boris during the club’s opening in October. Photo by EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI
Sofia has expressed “concern” after North Macedonia’s Justice Minister, Krenar Loga, on Thursday banned a Bulgarian club from being named after a Bulgarian nationalist who became a Nazi collaborator, after a state commission in charge of advising on such issues recommended the move.
It argued that celebrating Mihailov [1896 to 1980] was insulting and provocative for the national feelings of Macedonians.
Its explanation says Mihailov – a pro-Bulgarian nationalist in interwar Yugoslav-ruled Macedonia – became a Nazi collaborator and “was a person close to the Fascist ideology and with his actions, he denied the uniqueness of the Macedonian people”.
“Celebrating and praising Mihailov and his work are causing irritation, intolerance and hatred in Macedonian society,” it added.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry wrote in a press statement that it “follows with concern the developments in North Macedonia related to the right of association of Bulgarians”, especially regarding the latest developments regarding the Ivan Mihailov club in Bitola, North Macedonia.
The opening of the club last year, as well as another in the town of Ohrid, named after the Bulgaria’s wartime King Boris III – who led Bulgaria into the Nazi-led Axis alliance in World War II and occupied much of today’s North Macedonia, sparked protests in North Macedonia.
The moves have been criticised as a threat to attempts to reconcile the two countries’ dispute over history. Sofia insists it is all about the right of Bulgarians to freely form associations.
In a move that followed the ban on the Bitola Club, North Macedonia also said it had rejected a request of the King Boris III association in Ohrid to be officially listed. This time, it cited administrative reasons.
“The Association King Boris III of Ohrid did not submit [its registration] to the Central Registry within the legally stipulated period of 30 days … in accordance with the Law on Associations and Foundations,” the registry in charge of such matters said.
Since 2020, Bulgaria, then led by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, has blocked the start of EU accession talks for North Macedonia over the historical disputes between the two countries.
19th-century Bulgaria laid claim to then Ottoman-ruled Macedonia but lost out in the Balkan wars of 1912-1913, and the territory went to Serbia, later Yugoslavia. Under Tito’s Yugoslavia’s, it became a federal republic and became an independent state in 1991.
Bulgaria recognised its independence but today still insists that the Macedonian identity and language are of Bulgarian origin, a claim that is offensive for most Macedonians.
It also insists that there is no Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, but also claims that there is a big Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia, which is being repressed.
Last summer a so-called French proposal, accepted by both parliaments, aimed to achieve a breakthrough in the dispute.
Bulgaria would conditionally lifted its blockade on North Macedonia’s EU path if the latter changed its constitution to include Bulgarians among the constitutive peoples of the country.
However, the Social Democratic government is Skopje lacks the required two-thirds majority of MPs in parliament to achieve this.
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