“Regarding the incidents surrounding the memorial plaque which took place on Kajmakcalan, I can neither justify the illegal erection of a memorial plaque for soldiers from other countries who illegally crossed the border and illegally placed a memorial plaque in Macedonia, nor can I justify journalist Milenko Nedelkovski’s individual decision to commit such an act that generates hatred and negative energy”, wrote the VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski on his Facebook profile.
“If Serbia had a memorial plaque at the site, I see no reason, if Bulgaria requested a memorial plaque to be erected legally, for this not to be allowed. Both countries are our neighbors with whom we have many intertwined histories and there is no reason that they would be treated differently when it comes to setting up memorial features of this type, especially outside populated areas, where they will not get in anyone’s way. That is why I think that the problem should have been and should be resolved institutionally, not in a way that would create problems, anger, hatred and accusations among each other”, Gruevski wrote.
He also said that apart from the Republic of Macedonia allowing the Republic of Bulgaria through the institutions to erect such plaques, it is also important to review whether our country would like to erect such symbols at these important locations.
“We are talking about five or six sites, most of them located outside populated areas, which should be marked independently, as those battles took place before the birth of our country, Macedonia. At the least, because in all those battles many Macedonians died, many of our ancestors faced fellow Macedonian brothers on both sides of the frontline, and fought against each other”, read the Facebook announcement.
Gruevski said Bulgaria is our neighbor with whom we have much in common historically and should strive for the history of the two nations to bring us together, and not push us away from each other.
