site.btaAssociation of the Descendants of Refugees and Migrants from the Territory of the Republic of North Macedonia and friends: Letter to the editors of the Toronto Star newspaper

Letter to the editors of the Toronto Star newspaper, signed by the leaders of dozens of organizations of Macedonian Bulgarians living in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Northern Macedonia and Bulgaria

The letter is prompted by an article  in Toronto Star by Meto Koloski, co-founder and board member of the Skopje-backed United Macedonian Diaspora.

To the Attention of Ms. Anne Marie Owens

Editor of Toronto Star

1 Yonge St Ste 400, 

Toronto, Ontario

M5E 1E5

city@thestar.ca

lettertoed@thestar.ca

A copy to

S. Exc. М. Gavin Buchan

Ambassador of Canada, accredited in Bulgaria

bucst@international.gc.ca

Dear Ms. Owens,

It was with great surprise that we read Meto Koloski's January 2, 2024 article in the Toronto Star and therefore would like to express our strong disagreement with a number of inaccurate statements and blatant lies about the past and present of the geographical area of Macedonia, parts of which today are located in four countries: Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania. The author falsifies the entire past of the Macedonian population and suggests the centuries-old existence of some „ethnic Macedonians“, although no official statistics had ever recorded the existence of such a population until 1944. What the author does corresponds to the spirit of the Yugoslav communist propaganda that has been forged in Belgrade and Moscow. М. Koloski makes baseless accusations against Bulgaria and Greece, which aim to deepen the instability and confrontation in the Central Balkans, and which serve the interests of Serbia and Russia in the region. At the same time, these falsifications are used to justify the systematic violation of the fundamental human rights of the Bulgarians in North Macedonia, which continues today.

In order not to remain misleading, we would like to emphasise that:

- After the Great Migration of Peoples, when the formation of the modern political and ethnographic map of Europe began, in the geographical area of Macedonia, at that time a part of the Bulgarian state, the Bulgarian nationality was formed based on the common state language and the accepted Christian religion;

- When Byzantium conquered the First Bulgarian state in 1018, it preserved the autonomy of the Bulgarian church, whose seat was in Ohrid, today in North Macedonia. This church, under the name „Archbishopric of Ohrid of the First Justinian and of All Bulgaria“, existed until 1767;

- When the Ottoman Empire ruled Macedonia, it recognized the existence of a Bulgarian people in Macedonia, which had its own schools and churches and published literature in Bulgarian;

- After the partition of the Bulgarian nation in 1878, when Macedonia remained in the Ottoman Empire, the Bulgarians in that area led a struggle – first for autonomy, and then for independence;

- When in 1913 the geographical area of Macedonia was conquered by several Balkan states, the territory of present-day North Macedonia was occupied by Serbia and all Bulgarian schools and churches there were destroyed and the population was not allowed to express its Bulgarian identity. Dissenters were repressed and killed.

Despite this tyrannical regime, those who emigrated from Macedonia and then settled in countries with democratic governments, declared themselves Bulgarians or Bulgarians from Macedonia (Macedonian Bulgarians) and established their own Macedonian-Bulgarian organizations, schools and churches.

The first Macedonian-Bulgarian church „St. Cyril and Methodius“ in Toronto was founded in 1910 and since then the city has attracted more and more immigrants from Macedonia. In the 1960s, the Macedonian immigrants began to arrive. In the 1960s Toronto emerged as the largest overseas center of the Macedonian Bulgarians. They built four Macedonian-Bulgarian churches of their own. Libraries, halls and schools functioned alongside. They maintain their own radio and television broadcasts.

Scientists and politicians in North America have always defended the truth of the existence of a Bulgarian population in Macedonia, in confirmation of which we send you an additional reference (Appendix 1). When the 37th Congress of the Macedonian Patriotic Organizations (MPO) was held in Toronto in 1958, the main speaker was the Canadian Minister of Labor, Michael Starr. In his speech, he stated, „Macedonia, which gave the Slavic-Bulgarian alphabet, reading and writing to all Slavs, Macedonia, which was the cradle of Bulgarian enlightenment and culture, must be free. It is an honour to all of you... that you have not forgotten the fate of your ancestral homeland Macedonia and the slave fate of your brothers and sisters.“ (Appendix 2).

The Encyclopaedia Canadiana of 1960 states: “The number of Bulgaro-Macedonian immigrants increased after the Second World War and especially after the end of the civil war in Greek Macedonia. Thus, by I960, the number of Bulgaro-Macedonians in Toronto was 16,000. Many of the immigrants adapted rapidly to the Canadian way of life.” (Appendix 3).

In 1978, the 57th MPO Congress was held in Toronto. At that time, the Toronto Star reported that “More than 6,000 Macedonian-Bulgarians in Canada and the United States gather in Metro during this Labor Day Holiday weekend for the annual convention of the Macedonian Patriotic Organization of North America at the Harbour Castle Hilton Hotel.” (Appendix 4).

The guest and main speaker of this congress was the Canadian Minister of Multiculturalism, Norman Cafik. On this occasion, one of the delegates stated: „We were… tremendously impressed with Mr. Cafik – his warmth, sincerity and obvious belief in the Multicultural policy of our Canadian Government – a policy which we, first as Canadians, and also, as Macedonian-Bulgarians, appreciate and benefit from so much – a policy which we wish was afforded to every society today.“ (Appendix 5).

Unfortunately, these human rights have not been granted to the Bulgarians in North Macedonia after its secession from Yugoslavia in 1991. Today, the struggle continues to recognize the human rights of those citizens of North Macedonia who, despite the ongoing repressions, still preserve their Bulgarian identity and wish to express it freely. Unfortunately, the authorities in Skopje continue to refuse to include in their constitution the part of the Bulgarian people that lives on their territory. Moreover, this is the main condition that the EU sets as a must for North Macedonia to be able to start EU membership negotiations.

Given the facts presented here, we urge the Toronto Star to publish our position as a right of reply to Meto Koloski's propagandist text.

Signatories:

Lyubcho Georgievski - Chairman of the Bulgarian Cultural Club „Ivan Mihailov“ in Bitola, banned in 2023 by the authorities in North Macedonia.

Hristian Pendikov - Secretary of the Bulgarian Cultural Club „Tsar Boris III“ in Ohrid, banned in 2023 by the authorities in Northern Macedonia.

Vida Boeva-Popova, personal assistant of Ivan Mihailov, who died in 1990 in Rome, the last leader of the Macedonian Liberation Movement founded in 1893.

Bill George, chairman of MPO „Lyuben Dimitroff“, Toronto.

Pierre Gavrile, chairman of MPO „Todor Alexandrov“, Brussels.

Boshko Dobrevski, chairman of MPO „Strumishkata Petorka“, Brasil.

Georgi Zaharieff, chairman of MPO „Asen Avramov“, New York.

Elitsa Rizova, chairman of MPO „Simeon Radev“, London.

Tsanko Serafimov, chairman of MPO „Ivan Mihailov“, Gotse Delchev (Nevrokop).

Nikolay Yovev, chairman of MPO „Boris Sarafov“, Blagoevgrad (Gornda Djumaya).

Nick Bonev, representative of Macedonian Bulgarians in Los Angeles.

Alexander Dimitov, nephew of the secretary of MPO and editor-in-chief of „Macedonian Tribune“.

Iva Belitchka, chairman of Canadian-Bulgarian Center „Zornitsa“ and MPO “Montreal”.

Goran Serafimov – Chane, representative of the New political immigration from North Macedonia in Bulgaria.

Spas Tashev, Co-chairman of the Association of the Descendants of the Resettlers and Refugees from the territory of North Macedonia, Sofia, Bulgaria.

The undersigned consent to be represented by:         

Alexander Karadjov, chairman of MPO „Justice“, Toronto.

+1647 5051047           

akaradov@rogers.com

237 Sackville Street

Toronto

ON

Canada            

January 26, 2024