Several prominent North Macedonia personalities have, however, openly expressed their opposition to the late antibulgarian hysteria. Former right wing Prime minister Ljubcho Georgievski, talked about “chauvinism”, while former left wing Foreign minister Denko Maleski compared the current situation to the public lynching of “traitors” (meaning Bulgarians) during the mid 40’s after the Yugoslav Communists took power. The prominent Macedonian academic and philosopher, professor Katarina Kolozova denounced de collective “craziness” and concluded that with such acts North Macedonia was definitely not ready for the EU.
Antibulgarian propaganda in North Macedonia is rooted in post Second World War historical and nation building narratives, created by the Communist Yugoslav state and aiming to make a clear distinction and artificial opposition between Macedonians and Bulgarians, which historically used to belong to the same nation. This propaganda not only survived the collapse of Communist Yugoslavia in the early 90’s, but has been maintained and even reinforced by North Macedonia political elites from both sides left and right. According this narratives, still present in school manuals and taught to Macedonian kids, Bulgarians are described as aggressors, invaders, occupants, barbarians, fascists and main historical figures who claimed, at their time, their Bulgarian ethnicity are presented as pure ethnic Macedonians. These historical manipulations, appropriations and hate speech have been the main reason for the Treaty of Friendship and Good neighborhood signed by the two countries in 2017. This treaty was supposed to overcome the misunderstandings over the common history, but has not been even partially implemented, due to North Macedonia refusal to change any historical narrative that could connect with past Bulgarian identities and language. North Macedonia authorities seem increasingly joining and self-appropriating the antibulgarian hysteria who was the main trademark for more than 15 years of the main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE. /BGNES