Hundreds of people demonstrated Thursday, October 6 in North Macedonia against the opening of a Bulgarian cultural center bearing the name of King Boris III of Bulgaria, on the throne during the Second World War and ally of Adolf Hitler.
The demonstrators, carrying flags and placards with the inscription "
we are not fascists
", demanded the closure of this center located in Ohrid, in the south-west of North Macedonia.
"
A democratic country that fought fascism cannot allow the rehabilitation of a fascist by allowing a cultural center to bear his name
," Temelko Muchoski, a resident of Ohrid, told AFP in the crowd.
'Unacceptable provocation'
Quarrels over historical and cultural background sour relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
The opening of the Bulgarian cultural center in Ohrid comes after the opening last April of a similar center in the neighboring town of Bitola.
This center was also named after a Bulgarian Nazi collaborator, which provoked protests.
The building housing the center was vandalized.
Members of the Jewish community in North Macedonia have announced that they will file a lawsuit to have the cultural center in Ohrid closed.
“
This is an unacceptable and more than serious provocation
,” said Rasela Mizrahi, an MP and member of the Jewish community in Skopje.
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Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and changed its name to North Macedonia in 2018 in order to overcome a dispute with Greece which blocked its accession to NATO and the opening of its accession negotiations with the EU.
The door to Europe, however, remained closed due to a Bulgarian veto.
Last July, an agreement between the two countries enabled North Macedonia to open its EU membership negotiations.
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