site.btaVazrazhdane Leader Kostadinov: North Macedonia's Leadership Yet Again Showed They Have Inferiority Complex towards Bulgaria

Commenting on Wednesday's claims by North Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov told journalists that North Macedonia's leadership have yet again shown that "they have a single complex - the so-called B [inferiority] complex - towards Bulgaria, which to a large extent determines the Executive's policy at the moment.

In a televised interview on Wednesday, Nikoloski joined an outcry in his country against the absence of the national flag of North Macedonia in a photo of Presidents Rumen Radev and Gordana Siljanovska during Siljanovska's visit to Bulgaria on September 13. Nikoloski said the hosts were disrespectful to President Siljanovska, calling them "neither civilized nor decent, nor respectful." " He also said that his country is being exploited by Bulgarian political parties and President Radev for political gain. His claims caused sharp reactions in Bulgaria.

Regarding the absence of North Macedonia's flag, the international protocol determined the rules in that case: when the meeting is unofficial, even if the place is official, only the flag of the host country should be displayed, Kostadinov said. He presented to journalists a photo from an unofficial meeting of North Macedonia's Prime Minister with his Croatian counterpart where only the Croatian and EU flags are displayed. In Kostadinov's words, that photo is absent from the Macedonian media. In that case there is no problem, he added. That too is an example of the classical B complex, he said.

"In this case, the Bulgarian State acted extremely wisely, because the goal of all these provocations is to instigate how much they hate us, Bulgaria to respond immediately and later this to be expanded further as a campaign," Kostadinov said. Vazrazhdane supports the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry's position, he added.