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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, Buyar Osmani, said that his expectations were that the meeting with representatives of the Bulgarian community in the country would be with him, "and not in Sofia or Brussels", and all the time he insisted that the citizens of the Republic North Macedonia, "regardless of their ethnic origin, have their own government and institutions where they can address their problems and questions," BTA reported.

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Relations Bulgaria - Republic of Macedonia 885

In response to a journalist's question as to whether and when he will meet with representatives of the Bulgarians in North Macedonia, Osmani replied that this possibility remains always possible, but due to the deterioration of communication with Bulgaria in recent days, he is waiting for emotions to subside "so that the normal agenda can of the state to its citizens to continue".

"The arguments are on our side.

We must be wise and mature and maintain the support of our European partners.

It is not in our interest to get into the whirlwind of the Bulgarian elections.

We respond to everything that comes from Bulgaria with all diplomatic instruments, including in the EU, so that the European countries can be informed, but we should not involve the citizens as well.

They should be calm that they have institutions that take care of them", Osmani pointed out.

In his words, the Republic of North Macedonia is known for its attitude towards the collective and individual rights of citizens, and this is "the brightest point of the country's image".  

"The state treats and will treat all citizens equally, regardless of their ethnic community.

The Bulgarian community shows more interest in being cared for by the state and that is what all these attempts to communicate are for, but not to abuse it through isolated incidents to create an image in the world that there is a systematic repression of communities here, because this is not that's right", pointed out Osmani.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, over the past years, North Macedonia and Bulgaria have created a framework "through which the differences and communication between the two countries should be channeled", but it has not always been dominant, as one of the reasons according to it is the frequent elections in Bulgaria.

The EC urged: Bulgaria and North Macedonia to respect each other

"In two years, since I have been a minister, there will be elections in Bulgaria for the fifth time, and this will be the fifth minister of foreign affairs with whom I will work.

This creates unpredictability in communication and maintaining that goodwill.

Usually, the electoral processes are the ones that heat up the situation, because there are politicians who, in their inability to offer something to the citizens, grab hold of the spare topics that create emotions.

And this is not only in our country and in Bulgaria", pointed out Osmani.

According to him, it is important how the official authorities treat "these ambitions of individual politicians to feed on conflicts and bad relations between states and societies" and whether they will succumb to such provocations.

"I think that in these years the Republic of North Macedonia has shown wisdom and maturity not to succumb to what is dictated by the political electoral processes on the one hand, and on the other hand, as I have said, supported by an invisible hand that tries in this region to have constant latent conflicts.

From here, my appeal to Bulgaria is that it is time to break this cycle of negative relations, which is not in the interest of both countries and both societies.

I hope that this will be accepted by Bulgaria and the positive agenda in our relations will return", Osmani said during a press conference after his meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavski, who is visiting Skopje. 

"I am glad that after the first intergovernmental conference, preparations for the accession of North Macedonia began during our EU presidency.

I hope the country will continue with the reforms and make changes to the constitution.

I assured my colleague that he can count on continuous Czech support on the way to the EU," Lipavsky stressed for his part.

Relations between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia

Buyar Osmani