site.btaFormer Members of Joint Commission on Historical Issues Say North Macedonia's Public Has Fallen "into Bulgarian Nationalists' Trap"

Former members from North Macedonia's side of the Joint Multidisciplinary Commission of Experts on Historical and Educational Issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia released on Thursday through the country's media outlets their position "regarding the recent events related to the commission - the unfounded statements of [North Macedonia's] Prime Minister [Hristijan Mickoski] and representatives of the government, as well as the subsequent offensive and defamatory texts and statements in some media".

On Wednesday, the government of the Republic of North Macedonia elected new composition of the commission. 

The position states that for them the work in the commission, which is an expert and not a political body, was an opportunity to help overcome the problems that exist between the two countries, "but because of the documents adopted by the government in Sofia - the framework position and the explanatory memorandum, the irresponsible behavior of politicians in both countries, as well as the irresponsible and politicized statements of some of the colleagues from the Bulgarian part of the commission and the politically motivated departure of the new co-chair from North Macedonia's side (Vancho Gjorgjev)," the commission has been abused for political and partisan purposes and interests in both countries.

"Some of the politicians and intellectuals, especially the historians, because of profit and political considerations, but also because of ignorance, adopted the rhetoric and the approach of the Bulgarian side, which without arguments gave the impression to the public that the commission was discussing identity and revising North Macedonia's historiography. In this way, our society naively fell into the trap of the nationalists in Bulgaria and their intention to force a discussion of these issues through the prism of political interests. By doing so, we are actually missing the chance to start a serious academic debate in which we can openly discuss the past, outside the influence of political groups that have profited from the abuse of history in recent decades," the position of the former commission members reads.

According to them, the work of the commission has been the constant target of politically motivated attacks by numerous media and political parties, and its work has been used to achieve political goals. 

According to the North Macedonian representatives, who have been removed from the commission, a change in the methodology of its work is needed by including experts from UNESCO, the Council of Europe or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe *(OSCE), which, they say, will create conditions for "negative political influences to stay out of the commission's work".

Asked to comment on the position, Mickoski said that there was no need to pay more attention to the position of the former members of the commission as decision to change its composition was political due to lack of trust in it.

"Hundreds of thousands of euros have been spent on what amounts to capitulation, accepting what (former prime minister Dimitar) Kovachevski and (former foreign minister Bujar) Osmani accepted. That is the essence of what this commission has done. And whether OSCE representatives will be involved in its work, let them be involved, but now the authorities will be involved to clarify what the fees (of the commission members) were and what the money was spent on - selling national interests and shaming the people," he said in response to a journalist's question.