Skopje, 17 February 2023 (MIA) - The issues related to the history textbooks in North Macedonia and Bulgaria were discussed at the 23rd meeting of the Joint Multidisciplinary Commission of experts on historical and educational issues between North Macedonia and Bulgaria that took place in Sofia on February 16-17.

The members of the Commission exchanged ideas and arguments on how to improve history textbooks and exchanged several proposals-recommendations that remain the basis for further discussions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

The next regular meeting of the Joint Multidisciplinary Commission of experts on historical and educational issues is set to be held on March 30-31.

The commission held its most recent meeting last November in Sofia, focusing on the role and place of the Ohrid Archbishopric and the manner of its representation in the seventh grade textbooks in North Macedonia.

Commission co-chair Dragi Gjorgiev then stated that the meeting had taken place in a positive and constructive atmosphere, but an agreement was not reached due to misunderstandings about sources and different interpretations of the past.

Gjorgiev said last week that latest developments in Macedonian-Bulgarian relations also affect the commission's work. According to him, there's a tendency for relations between Skopje and Sofia to be cyclically attacked at certain times in order to disrupt a brief continuity of a peaceful period.

"We cannot be immune to what is happening in society. All the unrest, tension, misunderstanding, daily political bickering, coming cyclically in Macedonian-Bulgarian relations, undoubtedly affects the commission's work. Almost regularly all the bickering and political statements made, mention the commission, the history, the topics which the commission itself is working on, and all this affects the atmosphere in the commission itself," Gjorgiev said.

According to him, it's as if there's a tendency to disrupt the continuity of peaceful periods in Macedonian-Bulgarian relations. As regards whether a solution can be reached over Goce Delchev, he says that topic has hardly been given a serious discussion in the past year. He believes that in the current situation of cold relations and very high tension, it is very difficult for the commission to work calmly and peacefully on the topic of Goce Delchev.

"The idea of jointly celebrating any figure, not just Goce Delchev, is based on further calming and relaxing the relations between the two countries, contributing to a better understanding of the two peoples and the two societies. And that is the basic idea not only of our commission, but also of all commissions that work in this way, i.e. in addition to textbooks, they have as their agenda joint celebration of certain figures, around whom there are different views, but they are shared historical figures. At this point, I don't think the situation is such to enable any solution by the commission which will contribute to further calming the relations and moving them in the right direction. So the political situation, the political relations between the two countries must be at a high level in order for the commission to achieve certain progress, above all in relation to sensitive topics such as the topic of Goce Delchev," Gjorgiev said.

However, Gjorgiev also points to what the Macedonian and Bulgarian historians have so far agreed upon, which is a recommendation for joint celebration between the two countries for Cyril and Methodius, Clement of Ohrid, Naum of Ohrid, and Tsar Samuil. Regarding recommendations for the textbooks, recommendations for the fifth grade in the Bulgarian education system and for the sixth grade in the Macedonian education system have been adopted.

Joint Multidisciplinary Commission of experts on historical and educational issues was established in accordance with the 2017 Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation signed between the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria.