site.btaNorth Macedonia's Foreign Ministry to Summon Bulgarian Ambassador on Monday over Absent Flag Case

North Macedonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade will summon Bulgarian Ambassador to Skopje Zhelyazko Radukov on Monday, MIA reported Sunday. Radukov is to explain why the national flag is absent in a photo of the Presidents of North Macedonia and Bulgaria taken in Sofia on Friday.

In the photo, Rumen Radev of Bulgaria and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova of North Macedonia are seen standing in front of the flags of Bulgaria and the EU, but not North Macedonia.

On Saturday, the cabinet of North Macedonia's President said they would demand an explanation from the Bulgarian side.

Because of the photo, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) called Siljanovska-Davkova's visit to Sofia a diplomatic fail, and diplomats commented for TV Telma that what happened was dismissive and demeaning towards North Macedonia.

Other diplomats from Skopje, however, commented that Siljanovska-Davkova's visit to Sofia was not official and was not at the Bulgarian side's invitation, therefore her meeting at the President's Administration building was informal and the protocol did not require the placement of North Macedonia's flag in the room.

Siljanovska-Davkova visited Sofia on the occasion of the Skopje National Opera and Ballet’s tour, which performed Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco at the Sofia Opera and Ballet. She was accompanied by Minister of Culture and Tourism Zoran Ljutkov and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mucunski.