North Macedonia Jews Condemn Naming Bulgarian Club After ‘Collaborator’ King

North Macedonia's small Jewish community on Tuesday condemned the decision by an association of Bulgarians in Ohrid, North Macedonia to name itself after King, or Tsar, Boris III of Bulgaria - the wartime monarch under whom Bulgaria joined the Nazi-led Axis in World War II and occupied much of today's North Macedonia.

"It is obvious that the registration of associations with Bulgarian self-consciousness that bear names of proven collaborators of Nazi Germany is becoming more common. This represents an intentional provocation and offence for the Jewish community, and an offence for the Macedonian state and its citizens," the community wrote.

"Or maybe someone thinks differently, that by promoting and glorifying Fascism and Nazism, it will help strengthen good neighbourly relations," it added, cynically.

The Jewish Community recalled that in April, when another Bulgarian cultural club was registered in the town of Bitola, named after another Nazi collaborator, Ivan Mihailov, they reacted as well, urging institutions in the country to check whether it is legal to name clubs and associations after such people.

"Our country can and must stand in the way of the more frequent cases of registering these kind of associations, which through their provocations spread hate speech and stay unsanctioned [hiding] under the veil of freedom of speech and good neighbourliness," the community demanded.

The two associations opened recently amid a bitter ongoing dispute between North Macedonia and Bulgaria over history and identity. According to the data in the central registry the Tzar Boriz association has been registered in November last year. However, the wider public in North Macedonia found out about it this week.

Bulgaria insists that...