site.btaFormer President Stoyanov, Descendants of Macedonian Families Call for Prevention of Tension's Escalation during Gotse Delchev Birth Anniversary's Marking

Descendants of Macedonian families and former Bulgarian president Petar Stoyanov (1997-2002) are calling on the citizens and politicians of North Macedonia and Bulgaria to not allow escalation of the tension in relation to the marking of the 151th birth anniversary of revolutionary Gotse Delchev on February 4, Stoyanov's press office said Wednesday.  

"We should not allow separate groups of people in both countries, consciously or unconsciously, to destroy the work of our ancestors," the call reads.

The appeal was joined by the granddaughter of Skopje-born Bulgarian colonel Boris Drangov (1872-1917), Rayna Dragnova, the granddaughter of Ohrid folklore scholar and ethnographer Kuzman Shapkarev, Elissaveta Shapkareva, the granddaughter of Bulgarian revolutionary Todor Alexandrov (1881-1924), Evelina Alexandrova, the grandson of  revolutionary Mishe Razvigorov, Mihail Razvigorov, the grandson of the director of the Macedonia newspaper Simeon Evtimov, Simeon Evtimov, and the grandnephew of Gotse Delchev, Hristo Hristov.

"Provoking clashes between citizens of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia would be an inadmissible abuse of the memory of Gotse Delchev! That would cast an ugly shadow on the relations between our closest states and on the work and life of the heroes of Macedonia's freedom from Ottoman rule," the appeal says.

President Stoyanov and the descendants of Macedonian families urge the politicians in Skopje and Sofia "to do their best to end hate speech, which is destructive for the two societies and the future of our two countries".