Ethnic groups in Greece

About 10 black-clad individuals belonging to a far-right group barged into a municipal gallery in Thessaloniki exhibiting the work of an artist from North Macedonia, harassed the artist and the staff and ordered them to pull down the works. 

"There are 3,500 Bulgarians in North Macedonia" - this is what the Minister of Foreign Affairs of RNM, Bujar Osmani, told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. EPP MEP Andrey Kovachev objected to these numbers. The Bulgarian MEPs again raised the issue of mistreatment of our compatriots in the Balkan country.

Many decades ago, mainly between 1948 and 1975, orphanages and families that could not afford to raise them sent some 4,000 Greek children to the United States, the Netherlands and other countries for adoption. The children themselves were never asked if they wanted to leave, or if they agreed to lose their Greek citizenship. They knew nothing about the circumstances of their departure.

"Respecting the rights of Bulgarians in the 'Western regions' (eastern Serbia) is an element of the criteria we observe when it comes to Serbia's negotiations for membership in the European Union." This was stated by Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov to Milena Milotinova in the program "Brussels 1" on "BG on Air".

"North Macedonia has undertaken the commitment to amend its Constitution to include citizens living within the country's borders who are part of other nationalities such as Bulgarians."

Sofia has expressed "concern" after North Macedonia's Justice Minister, Krenar Loga, on Thursday banned a Bulgarian club from being named after a Bulgarian nationalist who became a Nazi collaborator, after a state commission in charge of advising on such issues recommended the move.

Macedonian and Bulgarian members of the joint history commission - established to find common ground between the two radically different views on history - differ sharply on the external pressures that they say are hampering progress.

The 151st birthday of an Ottoman-era hero claimed by both Macedonians and Bulgarians threatens to further worsen already ice-cold relations between the two neighbours.

January 30 was the centenary of the signing of the Lausanne Convention (also known as the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations) on the compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey.

North Macedonia's government has ordered heightened security on February 4, when the country celebrates 151 years since the birth of its biggest hero, the Ottoman-era revolutionary Goce Delcev.