BBC Macedonian - Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria (1)

The BBC radio in Macedonian language broadcasted 2003 a report about the situation of the ethnic Macedonian minority in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian government refuses to acknowledge the existence of the large Macedonian minority in Pirin Macedonia and continues to violate its basic human rights.

After the partition of Macedonia in 1913, the ethnic Macedonians of Pirin became a minority, within the new Bulgarian borders. The results of the 1946 Bulgarian census concerning the ethnic Macedonian population were never made public by the Bulgarian authorities. However, Yugoslav sources claim that 252,908 people declared themselves as ethnic Macedonians in that census. The Bulgarian census of 1956 recorded 187,789 ethnic Macedonians, over 95% of whom lived in the Pirin region of Macedonia. For some "strange" reason, however, just after less than a decade, in the 1965 census the number of Macedonians dropped to only 8750 and in the district of Blagoevgrad which previously had the highest percentage of Macedonians it was less than 1%. This is also the time of a number of political trials of people accused of activity based on Macedonian nationalism. As example, in 1964 four people from Blagoevgrad were reportedly tried for writing "We are Macedonians" and "Long live the Macedonian nation" on a restaurant wall.

In February 1990, all the spokesmen of the main Bulgarian political parties stressed that there was no "Macedonian Question" and that the Macedonians were Bulgarians. However, developments within Bulgaria pointed to the contrary. In March, a communiqué from an organization calling itself "The Solidarity and Straggle Committee of Pirin Macedonians" appeared claiming to speak for "the 250,000 Pirin Macedonians". On March 11, the Independent Macedonian Organization, Ilinden, which was formed in November 1989, organized a rally in Sofia with demands for cultural and national autonomy of Macedonians in Bulgaria, displaying slogans like: "We are Macedonians and nothing else" and "United Macedonia: a guarantee for peace". A map can also be found in the Hugh Poulton's "The Balkans - Minorities and States in conflict" which shows entitled Minorities in Bulgaria, . At this map the ethnic Macedonians are very clearly recognized as a national minority that occupies the Pirin region.

OMO Ilinden PIRIN is the political party of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. It was registered as a political party in 1999 and participated in municipal elections in October 1999, where it elected five local officials. However, on February 29, 2000, the Constitutional Court in Bulgaria declared OMO "Ilinden" - PIRIN unconstitutional. This was in direct violation of the right to freedom of association and the right to freedom from discrimination.

Members and supporters of OMO Ilinden PIRIN (political party and human rights organization) and OMO Ilinden (human and minority rights organization) have been videotaped, harrassed, beaten, fined, and even imprisoned simply for asserting their ethnic Macedonian identity.

http://www.omoilindenpirin.org/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Ethnic
• Macedonian
• Minority
• Rights
• Makedonski
• Makedonisch
• Mazedonisch
• UMO
• Bulgarian
• Discrimination
• България