Ivan Mihailov

A damning report from the US State Department has unveiled a troubling reality of systematic racial and ethnic violence and discrimination against Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia. The document, part of the State Department's 2023 report on human rights, sheds light on concerning incidents of violence and oppression targeting Bulgarians in the country.

The chairman and secretary of the "Ivan Mihailov" Bulgarian cultural center in Bitola, closed by the authorities in North Macedonia, will receive Bulgarian citizenship. President Rumen Radev will present Bulgarian passports to Lyubcho Georgievski and Blagoi Shatorov at a ceremony in the "Coat of Arms" Hall of "Dondukov" 2 street.

Ten days after closing down the "Ivan Mihailov" Bulgarian Club in Bitola, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of North Macedonia issued an order for the closing of the "Tsar Boris III" Bulgarian Club in Ohrid, reports BGNES.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) defined as unprincipled and tendentious the decision of the authorities in North Macedonia to erase from the central register the Bulgarian association "Ivan Mihailov" Cultural Center in Bitola.

"The names of the Bulgarian clubs in the Republic of North Macedonia must be changed." This is what the foreign minister of the state Bujar Osmani told bTV. In recent months, two Bulgarian clubs were opened - "Ivan Mihailov" in Bitola and "Tsar Boris III" in Ohrid.

The secretary of the Bulgarian cultural club "Tsar Boris III" in Ohrid was beaten, the MEP Andrey Kovachev announced on his Facebook profile.

A Macedonian cultural club was opened today in Blagoevgrad. Unlike the opening of the Bulgarian clubs in North Macedonia ("Tsar Boris" III in Ohrid and "Ivan Mihailov" in Bitola), everything happened without provocations from the Bulgarian side.

Today, the Bulgarian cultural center "Tsar Boris III" in Ohrid was attacked, which was opened only a few days ago by Dr. Milen Vrabevski - the main supporter of the Bulgarian associations in North Macedonia.

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.

The court in Bitola has ordered 8 days of arrest for the Macedonian singer Lambe Alabakovski, who was detained yesterday for setting fire to the front door of the Bulgarian Cultural Center "Ivan Mihailov" in Bitola. The attack took place in the early hours of June 4.