The Republic of Macedonia officially celebrates 1991 with regard to the referendum endorsing independence from Yugoslavia, albeit legalizing participation in future union of the former states of Yugoslavia. The Macedonian Slavs of the Republic of Macedonia have demonstrated without any exception a strong and even aggressive at times Macedonian consciousness.[89] Any ties with the Bulgarians have been denounced. During this period it has been claimed by Macedonian scholars that there exist large and oppressed ethnic Macedonian minorities in the region of Macedonia, located in neighboring states. Because of those claims, irredentist proposals are being made calling for the expansion of the borders of the Republic of Macedonia to encompass the territories allegedly populated with ethnic Macedonians.[90] The population of the neighboring regions is presented as subdued to the propaganda of the governments of those neighbouring countries, and in need their incorporation into a United Macedonia. The supporters of these ideas, so called Macedonists generally ignore censuses conducted in Albania, Bulgaria and Greece, which show minimal presence of ethnic Macedonians. They consider those censuses flawed, without presenting evidence in support, and accusing the governments of neighboring countries of continued propaganda. By the time the Republic of Macedonia proclaimed its independence those who continued to look to Bulgaria were very few.[91] Some 3,000 - 4,000 people that stuck to their Bulgarian identity met great hostility among the authorities and the rest of the population. Occasional trials against Bulgarophiles have continued until today.[92][93] The Constitutional Court of Republic of Macedonia banned the organization of the Bulgarians in the Republic of Macedonia-Radko as promoting racial and religious hate and intolerance.[94] In 2009 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, condemned Republic of Macedonia because of violations of the European Convention of Human Rights in this case.[95] Nevertheless during the last few years, rising economic prosperity and the EU membership of Bulgaria has seen around 60,000 Macedonians applying for Bulgarian citizenship; in order to obtain it they must sign a statement declaring they are Bulgarians by origin. Probably the most prominent Macedonian that applied for and was granted Bulgarian citizenship is former Prime Minister Ljubčo Georgievski.[96][97] An estimated 500 Macedonians receive Bulgarian citizenship every week. This aggregates to about 50,000 Macedonian nationals who have received Bulgarian citizenship in the past 20 years.[98] The Bulgarian governments justifies this policy because they regard Macedonians as ethnopolitically disoriented Bulgarians.[99]
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:25:09 +0000
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