Sofia, 15 March 2023 (MIA) - For the sake of North Macedonia's European future, it is necessary that the country's bilateral relations with Bulgaria "are freed from totalitarian ideologies, leading to true and full dialogue", said Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on the statement of President Stevo Pendarovski at this weekend's commemoration of the WWII deportation of Macedonian Kews to Treblinka death camp in occupied Poland.

"This is a way to beat everyone. I believe the interest of North Macedonia's President in history is commendable but words must be based on historic truth, while politicians in the neighboring country still owe the truth about their own history to their citizens. A history shrouded by manipulation and falsifications for decades," Radev told reporters.  

President Pendarovski said reconciliation required an apology over the role of the then-pro-fascist government in Sofia over the deportation.

"We are bound to ask the following questions: Do we, the current generations, have the right to calm down someone's guilty conscience over the Holocaust of the Macedonian Jews? Can we stay silent before the historical revisionism that rehabilitates criminals and celebrates perpetrators? Should we forget who signed the systematic deprivation of the Macedonian Jews' civil, economic and human rights and sent them to their death. The authentic meaning of the word 'justice' in both Hebrew and Macedonian points to what corresponds to the truth. Justice means to recognize and name the truth and for it to be respected by all. Reconciliation requires an apology about the role of the then-pro-fascist government in Sofia in the deportation of the Macedonian Jews," noted Pendarovski.

Photo: MIA archive