site.btaVice President Iotova in Macedonia: Bulgaria Will Continue Working for Joint Projects and People on Both Sides of the Border

Skopje/Sofia, July 22 (BTA) - Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova Sunday attended the marking of the 115th anniversary of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in the village of Smilevo, Macedonia, the President's press secretariat said.

Speaking in front of the monument to revolutionary Dame Gruev, Iotova said: "Bulgaria is the best promoter of the Republic of Macedonia's interests in the EU. When other European countries talk about the Western Balkans, they stick to their own agenda. What matters to Bulgaria are people and their prosperity. Bulgaria will continue working for people on both sides of the border, for the joint projects and our shared future."

Iotova also noted that the Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation Treaty marked a new beginning in relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia. "It is time to think of young people on both sides of the border, who want to work together, to help one another and to prosper," she said.

At the same time in Smilevo, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Bulgarian National Movement marked the anniversary with the traditional march commemorating the heroes of the liberation movement, the party's press office said. The party's deputy leader Angel Djambazki, Bulgarian MPs and sympathizers from Bulgaria participated in the event.

Djambazki stressed the importance of good neighbourly relations between the two peoples and recalled the common history Bulgaria has "with our brothers in Macedonia".

He said: "We are marking the anniversary of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising because it transformed the history of the Bulgarian nation, manifesting the cause of a free people that wanted to live by its own rules - freedom, national unity and unification. It brought together us, the free Bulgarians, and the Bulgarians in Macedonia and Thrace. This struggle is going on because the geopolitical manipulation of the historical truth is continuing. We have recognized the constitutional name of Macedonia and will not have anyone arrogantly order what Macedonia should be called, especially those in the north."

The Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising was an organized revolt against the Ottoman Empire, prepared and carried out by the predominantly Bulgarian Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization with considerable support from local Bulgarian peasants. It managed to place the Macedonian question on the agenda of international diplomacy.