site.btaRepublic of North Macedonia Marks Its Independence Day

On September 8, the Republic of North Macedonia marks its Independence Day, this country’s national holiday. The celebrations on the occasion started on Saturday, when in North Macedonia’s Parliament taekwondo coach Borche Kostovski was presented the September 8 state award. Kostovski coached athlete Dejan Georgievski, who won this country’s only Olympic silver medal in history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. At the Ilinden barracks in Skopje, the holiday was marked with a gun salute.

The government of the Republic of North Macedonia has organized a programme of festive events to be held on Sunday under the motto "Together We Fight, Together We Will Succeed!".

The referendum on the declaration of independence of this country, which until then was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was held on September 8, 1991. With a voter turnout of 75.7% and approval of 96.4% of those who voted, the local parliament declared independence on November 17, 1991.

Bulgaria was the first country to recognize the new state on January 15, 1992, then named Republic of Macedonia.