Reactions to BAN’s Positions on Macedonian language Continue

The Bulgarian Ambassador to Macedonia Angel Angelov says that the official position of Bulgaria in relation to the Macedonian language is the one contained in the Declaration of the Bulgarian Parliament adopted in October 2019. Last week, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAN) came out with a conclusion that the Macedonian language does not exist, and that the ethnic Macedonians speak a regional variety of Bulgarian language. The Declaration of the Bulgarian Parliament on the other hand states that Bulgaria supports the full integration of Macedonia in EU, but conditions its support with a series of conditions related to the history of the two countries and the status of Macedonian language. The PM Zoran Zaev informed on Friday that the government has not sent a protest note to official Sofia in relation to BAN’s positions. “I recently spoke to Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov, and we agreed to meet at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020, and we shall discuss this matter. We are European, we want to be part of EU. Bulgaria is our friend and dissonant tones of communications such as these should not jeopardise our friendship. We are Macedonian, and we speak Macedonian language,” Zaev said. According to President Stevo Pendarvoski, it is absurd for scientists to discuss the existence of Macedonian language in the 21st century. “The Macedonian language and the Macedonian nation are facts which cannot be denied that easy. Even the Prespa Agreement cites the UN Conference from 1979, when the UN officially recognised Macedonian as an independent and unique language,” Pendarovski says.