Skopje, 20 October 2022 (MIA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said Thursday that it condemns the inappropriate qualifications in the contents of the Declaration made by the Blagoevgrad Municipal Council, concerning the Macedonian people. “It is obvious that such declarations contradict the intentions of the two Governments to build trust between the people of the two countries, as well as the spirit of the Treaty of Friendship and Good-Neighborliness, which aims to promote friendship and mutual respect,” said the Ministry in a statement. The MFA stressed that promoting good-neighborly relations is in the interest of both countries and their citizens. “To that end we encourage the local authorities, as well as all other associations and groups to especially focus on activities contributing to friendship, cross-border cooperation, economic, cultural and tourism exchange, in line with the spirit of European cooperation,” said the MFA. The MFA’s statement is in reaction to the Declaration adopted by the Council of the Bulgarian Municipality of Blagoevgrad, which opposed the opening of Macedonian Culture Club “Nikola Vapcarov” in Blagoevgrad, assessing it as a provocation. “We categorically oppose the anti-Bulgarian provocation of the opening of the so-called Macedonian Culture Club ‘Nikola Vapcarov’ on the territory of the Municipality of Blagoevgrad,” read the Declaration, which further adds that the “Macedonian nation is an artificial creation of the Communist International.” Emphasizing that “Nikola Jonkov Vapcarov is a Bulgarian poet,” the municipal councilors of Blagoevgrad assessed that the establishment of a center named after him in their city, represents a “gross provocation by illegitimate organizations.” “We believe that all actions for the establishment of an organization in which a group of people are declaring themselves a ‘minority’ of our national state are a gross violation of the Bulgarian Constitution and the legislation. At the same time, we believe that these provocative actions grossly violate the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and they dismiss all our previous efforts to improve relations with the Republic of North Macedonia and obstruct its path to European integration and EU membership,” reads the Declaration. The founder of the “Nikola Vapcarov” club is the Association for the Protection of Basic Human Rights, registered in Bulgaria. ad/nn/