SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
SDSM reacted over a photograph published from President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova’s meeting in Sofia with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, at which the two presidents are photographed shaking hands in the Office of President Radev, with two flags of Bulgaria and the EU in the background, and without a flag of North Macedonia.
“The delegation of North Macedonia headed by President Siljanovska Davkova in Sofia were subjected to a humiliation of dimensions unknown in the diplomatic history of the country. The delegation was welcomed like some fringe committee, or local municipal representatives, and not as a high-profile delegation headed by the President of the state.
The proud Gordana agreed to a meeting without a Macedonian flag in sight, and she returned from there without any concrete messages. This is an epic shame. Why are the people of this country paying her for? To just travel around and listen to operas? Does the photograph with Bulgarian flag only means she represents only Bulgaria?” said SDSM MP Bogdanka Kuzeska.
SDSM leader Venko Filipce also criticised President Siljanovska Davkova via Facebook, saying that her accepting to take a photo without the flag greatly degrades the dignity of the state of North Macedonia and its citizens.
From the Office of President Siljanovska Davkova they stated they will seek clarification over the photograph taken in front of the Bulgarian flag in the Office of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, stating that the photographing deviated from the previously agreed protocol, and that it was President Radev who invited Siljanovska Davkova to take a photo together in front of the flags.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Skopje also announced they will call in for consultations on Monday Bulgarian Ambassador Zhelyazko Radukov to explain why the national flag was absent from the photograph. From VMRO-DPMNE they reacted to SDSM’s statements.
“SDS[M] act as if they have taken some LSD and are now tripping, forgetting their shameful history when they humiliated and degraded the state and its citizens like no one else. They signed and endorsed the Prespa Agreement, which demolished the Macedonian identity, while with their support for the Good-Neighbourliness Agreement with Bulgaria, they allowed complete reformulation of the Macedonian identity.
SDS[M] destroyed the national identity, but the people are well aware that we are with them in this challenge for protecting the national interests, and as long as we are together, Macedonia shall win,” they react from VMRO-DPMNE.
