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Truthmeter.mk: Only Ekaterina Zaharieva sees equality between late Yugoslav President Tito and Hitler

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The historical facts state that Josip Broz Tito was the organizer and the leader of the partisan movement in Yugoslavia starting from 1941 until the end of WWII. Without a doubt, his rule was undemocratic, there were weaknesses and could be criticized, but it is absurd to compare him to Hitler. And even if Tito was really the harshest dictator and killed so many people, as stated by Zaharieva, then why was he a well-respected figure throughout the world? Tito’s funeral, which took place on the 8th of May 1980 in Belgrade, is an unprecedented event of this type in history and is considered as the most attended funeral of a state official , writes Truthmeter in its latest analysis.

In an interview for the German newspaper Welt, the Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister, Ekatarina Zaharieva, spoke about the current dispute with Macedonia, making spins several times. Among other things, she said:

Spin: They were very brutal towards me when I dared to state my opinion about their celebrating the 40th anniversary of the passing of one of the harshest dictators – Tito. In less than 10 years he had killed almost 1.7 million people in former Yugoslavia. And they are celebrating him. The Mayor of Skopje is a member of Zaev’s party. And then I wasn’t as popular as before there. But, it is as if the Mayor of Berlin comes up with the idea to celebrate the day when Hitler died, concludes Zaharieva in the interview for Welt“, that was republished by Deutsche Welle in Macedonian. .
[Source: Deutsche Welle ; Date.15.12.2020]

 

Counter spin: The Head of the Bulgarian diplomacy Zaharieva doesn’t understand why the 40th anniversary of the death of one of the “harshest dictators – Tito“ is celebrated. By indicating the guilty ones for such celebration – Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the Mayor of Skopje Petre Shilegov, she has made a rather strange comparison with a hypothetical celebration of Hitler’s death in Berlin! That is probably why the German “Die Welt has published her interview with the title: ” As if Berlin celebrates the day Hitler died “.

This interview with Zaharieva has many illogical issues. Firstly, in Skopje, there wasn’t any official celebration of the 40th anniversary of Tito’s passing. Such a celebration never happened and if it was organized it wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. At least some of the media would have reported about it.

Even Skopje’s Mayor Shilegov refuted her claims that such a celebration has occurred, when Zaharieva gave a similar statement in the press earlier. Apparently, last month, Zaharieva has stated that “One cannot want to be a part of the EU and to democratize the society and at the same time to celebrate one of the harshest dictators – Tito,” objecting that on the 13th of November Shilegov, apart from celebrating the day of Liberation of Skopje has celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Tito’s passing.

After her statement, the Mayor of Skopje, on the 16th of November replied that the Head of the Bulgarian diplomacy with its stance is only “seeking an alibi for her own stupidity.”

Changing the facts actually is an attempt to find an alibi for stupidity. Every stupidity subsequently demands an alibi. Ms. Zaharieva’s stance is nothing but stupidity. Now, while trying to save Bulgaria’s position. she is trying to twist the facts. What has happened on the 13th of November i.e. on the 14th, is that an exhibition from Belgrade from the permanent collection of the Josip Broz Museum was opened and nothing more. But now, while seeking an alibi for one’s own stupidity, simply, they are twisting the facts and they will be making efforts to explain Bulgaria’s unexplainable positions regarding the start of North Macedonia’s negotiations for a fully-fledged EU membership said Shilegov.

The mayor of Skopje commented (15.12.2020) on Sitel TV’s news about Zaharieva’s last statement, when she indirectly drew a parallel between Tito and Hitler.

I don’t know what emotions are driving the Bulgarian politicians, nor I have the right to deal with that, but their comments are negative and not good-neighbourly, today’s statement included. To compare Tito with Hitler denotes elementary ignorance of the basic history. During the war period Tito, himself led the anti-fascist fight, said Shilegov.

HISTORY, TITO AND ZAHARIEVA

Zaharieva’s conclusion is debatable: “In less than 10 years, he (Tito) had killed almost 1.7 million people in former Yugoslavia. ..“. That is simply not true. It is unclear where did the Bulgarian minister has found this information and what history book she read it in?

The historical facts state that Josip Broz Tito was the organizer and has led the partisan movement in Yugoslavia from 1941 until the end of the WWII in 1945. Under Tito’s command, the partisan resistance had fought against the German occupation that was aided by its allies – Italy and Bulgaria as well as the local chetnik and ustasha groups in Yugoslavia. After the war, he was first elected as a prime minister, and then a president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). Starting from 1943 and until his death on the 4th of May 1980, he was proclaimed the sole Marshall in SFRY and the Supreme Commander of the Yugoslavian People’s Army.

Tito was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned movement, which played a significant role during the Cold War and he was its first secretary. He was the first leader who in 1948 openly opposed Stalin. In the former state of Yugoslavia, Tito is still looked upon with sympathy and most of the population considers him a positive historical figure. It is without a doubt that his rule was non-democratic, there were weaknesses and can be criticized, but it is completely absurd to be compared to Hitler.

But let’s return to numbers.

Yugoslavia is one of the countries with the largest number of casualties per capita in the WWII, which places it after the Soviet Union and Poland. During this war, 1.7 million people in Yugoslavia lost their lives out of 15 million citizens at the time. According to Zaharieva, in less than 10 years, Tito  managed to kill 1.7 millions of people in former Yugoslavia! Apart from not stating to which 10 years she thought of, these numbers are very strange and doubtful. It appears that after the four-year war, which without a doubt took many casualties and enormous sufferings for the population, Titos killed as many people as were killed during the war! This claim is illogical and is ridiculous. It is unfounded and has no backed by facts. Only Zaharieva knows from where she picked up these numbers but they seem to be said out of hand.

And if Tito was really the darkest dictator and has killed so many innocent people, as states Zaharieva, then why was he enjoying such a reputation throughout the world, independently of the countries’ political and state establishment. Tito’s funeral, that took place on the 8th of May 1980 in Belgrade was an unprecedented event of that type in history and it is estimated to be the most attended funeral of any statesman. The funeral was attended by 124 official state delegations that were led by 38 state officials (kings or presidents), 5 princes, 7 vice-presidents, 6 parliament speakers, 10 prime ministers, 3 deputy prime ministers, 12 foreign affairs ministers, 20 government officials, and 21 state officials.

 

WHO IS DENYING THE EXISTENCE OF MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE: THE BULGARIANS OR THE MACEDONIANS?

Apart from these, in the interview, Zaharieva also uttered other spins of the truth. The Head of the Bulgarian diplomacy stated that “Bulgaria isn’t denying the language and the identity of the Macedonians, but, she considers that the process was the other way round“, i.e. as she said “they are denying the Bulgarians their rights “.

But, even this claim is not correct. Contrary to her statements, we are witnesses that her country is denying the rights of the Macedonians for self-identification. This were statements by Bulgarian officials. It is not a secret that the Bulgarian academicians stated дека that the Macedonian language is not a singular language but a Bulgarian dialect. “.

Regarding Zaharieva’s stance, there was a reaction by Professor Simona Gruevska – Madžoska at the Institute for Macedonian Language who also wrote the following on Twitter:

The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences published a book about the official language, adopted 300 declarations, and urged actions to prevent the mentioning of the Macedonian language and in the end, they weren’t denying the language! Does this woman know what she is talking about????

Zaharieva’s motives behind these theses are unclear but they simply do not correspond with the historical facts and the real situations. Her problematic stances that were expressed in the interview have provoked an avalanche of reactions in the social networks wrote Truthmeter in its latest analysis.

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