“We are no longer in the Yugoslav Union, we are entering into an alliance with the Republic of Bulgaria. We have already joined NATO, we are allies in NATO, and we want to join the EU. And we want to build our relationship in that direction. So all the issues inherited from the Yugoslav attitude towards Bulgaria should not be transferred to our independent Republic of North Macedonia,” Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani told BNT.

All this must be corrected through a process of goodwill and trust. We agree to do so, Osmani announced.

According to him, “the new dynamics, the new chapter in our relations, which is now being opened by the two governments - of Sofia and Skopje, should be reflected in the Joint Expert Commission on Historical and Educational Issues: Will this be in the structure of the commission, whether in the way it works, refreshment is needed.”

We need to bring back political cooperation, a positive atmosphere, communication between people. This will create a new perspective - and on the part of historians, said Bujar Osmani.

Regarding the insistence of officials from Sofia on “the full equality of the Macedonian Bulgarians with the other peoples of the Republic of North Macedonia, explicitly written in their constitution”, Osmani commented:

“In the world, the Republic of North Macedonia is known as the country with the highest degree of collective rights of citizens. Here, you know, I belong to the Albanian community in the Republic of North Macedonia. And I can say that we have really achieved ethnic communities to have the highest degree of integration in society and the opportunity to realize their rights to identity, culture, etc. We are proud of this image of us, this opportunity we have created in our society, and we absolutely share the view that this should apply to every group of citizens, every community, including the Bulgarian community. The Ohrid Framework Agreement changed the attitude of the state towards the communities and I think that no one should be excluded. On the contrary, everyone should be able to enter the process of integration of communities into our common multicultural and multiethnic society.”

/OFFNews

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