Demographic history of Macedonia

A 21-year old Bulgarian man has been arrested in Northern Greece on charges of human trafficking, reported Ekathimerini online edition.

Twenty seven illegal migrants were discovered in the truck driven by the Bulgarian. All of them are Syrian.

The vehicle has been confiscated and the Bulgarian man is expected to be indicted by a prosecutor.

As of the end of September, joint Bulgarian-Greek units will patrol the Bulgarian-Greek and Bulgarian-Turkish borders against the illegal traffic of refugees. In the current situation, there are sections along the Bulgarian-Greek and Bulgarian-Turkish borders which are not secured physically and are being used for the trafficking of migrants.

A Hungarian police unit with full technical equipment will patrol the Serbian-Bulgarian border, announced Serbian Interior Minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic.

 The Minister added that the authorities in Belgrade have already asked the Austrian and French police for assistance. According to him, additional foreign forces will contribute to "the stability and security of state frontiers".

Analysis of data released by the EU statistics body Eurostat shows that in four years, from the start of 2010 to the end of 2013, 58,713 Macedonian citizens obtained permission to stay in or become citizens of EU countries.

The number is more than equivalent to the population of the fifth largest town in Macedonia, Tetovo.

Dozens of economic migrants climbed a wire fence on Tuesday on the Greece-Macedonian border asking to be allowed to enter Macedonia, RTS is reporting.

Also today, Macedonian special forces managed to round up a sizeable group that had managed to circumvent the fence and enter the country.

Bulgaria has started deploying more soldiers on its border with Turkey due to "the complicated situation" related to the migrant crisis.

The Bulgarian army could send up to 1,000 troops to back up border police if needed, the country's defense minister has said.

Macedonian police fired tear gas at crowds of refugees on the Greek border on Friday, to deter them from trying to enter the country. Video footage showed at least several refugees were injured.

The previous day the Macedonian government declared a state of emergency on its southern and northern border following an unprecedented influx of refugees.

A total of 116 222 foreigners have received Bulgarian citizenship in the period between 2001 and May 2015. The information has been confirmed by the Ministry of Justice.

Out of them, 113 647 people have been granted citizenship on account of their origins. The total number of candidates for the same period was 185 447.

Human rights organizations are saying that Macedonia is "one of the worst countries in Europe for migrants," BBC reported.

According to Doctors Without Borders, at least 300 persons died on their way from Greece to Macedonia, in a bid to reach Northern and Western Europe.

A long-awaited book by Temelko Neshkov portraying the sufferings of ethnic Bulgarians in the territory of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia after WWII has left the printing press.