"There are 3,500 Bulgarians in North Macedonia" - this is what the Minister of Foreign Affairs of RNM, Bujar Osmani, told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. EPP MEP Andrey Kovachev objected to these numbers. The Bulgarian MEPs again raised the issue of mistreatment of our compatriots in the Balkan country.

Kovachev called "unprecedented" the accusations of the prosecutor's office of North Macedonia against the presidents of the Bulgarian clubs in Ohrid and Bitola: "They are subjected to persecution of hatred, not the other way around - that they instill hatred towards someone. Our main goal is to overcome all these problems coming from the past, and the rapid membership of the Republic of North Macedonia in the European Union".

Minister Osmani assured that Bulgarians will be included in the constitution and will receive their rights.

In front of the National Radio, MEP Kovachev refuted the words of Minister Osmani about the number of Bulgarians in North Macedonia:

"Historically, the majority of people who lived in the geographical area of Macedonia defined themselves as Bulgarians. After the unhappy fate in 1944, with a lot of violence, and then with a lot of propaganda, a large part of them defined themselves as ethnic Macedonians, but they have kept their Bulgarian roots and a very large part of them have requested Bulgarian citizenship. We know that over 120,000 Macedonian citizens have, based on their Bulgarian ethnic origin, Bulgarian citizenship".

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