site.btaFormer Ambassador of N Macedonia in Sofia: Bulgaria's Offensive Rhetoric Due to Macedonian Disorganized Diplomacy

In a discussion on the "alarming situation in Macedonian diplomacy", organized by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE on Sunday, former diplomats and ambassadors of the country strongly criticized the work of North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry. The country's diplomacy is not coherent and ad hoc and the fact that, according to the Foreign Ministry of North Macedonia, "the Macedonian nation ends with the borders of the Macedonian state” is something unacceptable in the context of Balkan geography and the development of the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula, which has always been multi-ethnic, former ambassador to Bulgaria Marjan Gjorcev pointed out.

"It is not possible that all other neighbouring nations have minorities in North Macedonia and only we, as the Republic of North Macedonia, have no right to talk about our minorities in Greece and Bulgaria. We have shown a huge weakness as a state and one of the reasons for Bulgaria's offensive rhetoric is that they have experienced diplomats and have realized that they are dealing with a disorganized diplomacy that is not even interested in what is happening with the Macedonians in Bulgaria," Gjorcev said.

According to former Ambassador of North Macedonia to NATO Zoran Dabik, party affiliates are appointed and promoted in North Macedonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

"This is how you literally go from a low-ranking diplomat to mid-ranking diplomat in one year, or from mid-ranking diplomat to top-ranking diplomat, even though in diplomacy, as in the army, there are certain periods of time for obtaining a higher rank," Dabik added.

The Foreign Ministry reacted with a statement saying that the institution faces serious systemic shortcomings "which are the result of years of unprofessional work and a deeply partisan approach in the management at a time when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was governed by VMRO-DPMNE ministers". The Ministry underlines that "the former diplomat" Dabik has completely abandoned the principles of diplomacy as his statement at the debate "happened only a few days after his retirement and not in a professional, objective debate, but at a party meeting from which it is unlikely to get an objective picture of North Macedonia's diplomacy."