Skopje, 9 January 2025 (MIA) - SDSM leader Venko Filipche condemned on Thursday the “irredentist statements” made by the leader of the Bulgarian far-right party Revival, Kostadin Kostadinov, and called on official Sofia and the European Union to respond to the statement.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the irredentist statements made by the leader of the Bulgarian far-right party Revival, Kostadin Kostadinov, with which he undermines the sovereignty and dignity of the Republic of North Macedonia and denies the unique Macedonian ethnic identity. Denying the uniqueness of the Macedonian language, identity and history represents a direct violation of the principles of international law and the basic values of the European Union,” Filipche said.

The SDSM leader called on official Sofia to “clearly and unequivocally” distance itself from Kostadinov’s statements which are “opposed to the European values and principles of good neighborliness”.

“I urge the European Union to clearly condemn this attitude, which undermines the universal human rights and European values, and to show that there is no room in the EU for statements like this one,” Filipche stressed.

Filipche also said he expects the Macedonian Government to urgently announce concrete measures aimed at preventing similar irredentist statements and activities and to take action to protect the Macedonian national dignity and interests. 

Earlier on Thursday, the leader of the Bulgarian far-right and ultranationalist party Revival, Kostadin Kostadinov, called on the Bulgarian Government to officially assert its claims on North Macedonia and southern Bessarabia in a post on Facebook, in which he expressed support for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s statements on Canada and the Panama Canal.

“The same situation applies with Macedonia too. There is nothing more logical than two countries with a shared history, shared origin, shared language and peoples to become one country. The case with southern Bessarabia is similar as well. It has been a part of the Bulgarian state for more than 450 years. The Bulgarians have been the native population of this region since the 6th century and continue to be the majority of the population. In comparison, Ukraine has owned southern Bessarabia for only 34 years. That's why there is nothing more logical than Bulgaria and Macedonia uniting in a single state, as well as southern Bessarabia’s return to Bulgaria. Ukraine is falling apart and at the future peace congress that will determine the fate of the unsuccessful so-called Ukrainian statehood, Bulgaria should assert its claims to Bulgarian Bessarabia,” Kostadinov wrote.

Revival is currently the third largest party in the Bulgarian Parliament, holding 35 seats out of 240. At the last general elections, it won 12.92 percent of the vote.

Photo: MIA Archive