Culture Min Likens Bulgaria-Vatican Row to 'China-Macedonia War'

Bulgarian Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov appears to have added oil to the flames with perplexing comments on the ongoing diplomatic row with the Vatican over the sending to The Holy See of a new Bulgarian Ambassador who wrote a gay sex story in a novel.

The Vatican has refused to accept the appointment of Kiril Maritchkov Jr. as Bulgaria's new ambassador since the spring of 2012; however, on Tuesday there were reports that this resulted from a gay sex scene in Maritchkov's novel 'Clandestination'.

"Wars always start in the bed, and feature women, while peace treaties are signed on the table," Bulgaria's Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov explained Wednesday in an apparent attempt to come up with a piece of wisdom on the matter of the diplomatic row between Bulgaria and the Vatican.

"Anything can spoil the relations between two nations. Who would beat whom between Bulgaria and the Vatican?! This sounds to be like a question asking whether the Macedonians will declare a war on China, with the greatest problem of the Macedonians being that they will be beaten, dug into the ground. That's their greatest problem – they have no territory," Rashidov elaborated on his diplomatic analysis.

He did state, however, that "there can be no war [between Bulgaria and the Vatican], there can only be some kind of diplomatic, political arguments..."

"The world is a dynamics, relations are spoiled, then there comes new diplomacy, relations are fixed. I absolutely can't say if the relations [between Bulgaria and the Vatican] will be spoiled because of Kiril Maritchkov's book," Rashidov said.

In his words, the Vatican is entitled to choosing whether to accept Bulgaria's ambassador-designate.

"Yes, the Vatican – you know the topic in the book that disturbs them. It is possible that they might be a pretext but this is not a matter spoiling the relations," the Bulgarian Culture Minister concluded.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov denied a freeze in the country's relations with the Vatican as a result of the latter's reluctance to accept the new Bulgarian ambassador, Kiril Maritchkov, because of a gay sex scene in a novel of his.

Borisov's comments come in the wake of a growing diplomatic scandal, after Kiril Maritchkov, a 39-year-old lawyer who speaks five languages including Italian, and is married to an Italian woman, has been rejected by the Vatican even though he was nominated by Bulgaria's Borisov Cabinet as the country's new Ambassador to the Holy See.

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