Bulgarians in North Macedonia


Bulgarians are an ethnic minority in North Macedonia. Bulgarians are mostly found in the Strumica area, but over the years, the absolute majority of southeastern North Macedonia have declared themselves Macedonian. The town of Strumica and its surrounding area were part of the Kingdom of Bulgaria between the Balkan Wars and the end of World War I, as well as during World War II. The total number of Bulgarians counted in the 2021 Census was 3,504 or roughly 0.2%. Over 100,000 nationals of North Macedonia have received Bulgarian citizenship since 2001 and some 53,000 are still waiting for such, almost all based on declared Bulgarian origin. In the period when North Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia, there was also migration of Bulgarians from the so called Western Outlands in Serbia.

History

Yugoslavia

Until the Balkan Wars the majority of the Slav population of all three parts of the wider region of Macedonia had Bulgarian identity. In 1913, the region of present-day Republic of North Macedonia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbia, thus becoming Southern Serbia. During World War I and World War II, when most regions of Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria, a pro-Bulgarian sentiment still existed among the Slavic majority. However, harsh treatment by occupying Bulgarian troops reduced significantly the pro-Bulgarian orientation of the Macedonian Slavs. After the end of World War II, the creation of People's Republic of Macedonia and the codification of a new Macedonian language, a process of ethnogenesis started and a distinct national Macedonian identity was inaugurated into an established system. The new Yugoslav authorities began a policy of removing of any Bulgarian influence, making North Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of new Balkan Communist Federation and creating a distinct Slavic consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia. The authorities took also repressive measures that would overcome the pro-Bulgarian feelings of the population, such as the Bloody Christmas in 1945. In North Macedonia the Bulgarophobia increased almost to the level of state ideology, and the communists were successful in removing all Bulgarian influence in the region. A special Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour was passed by the government of the SR Macedonia at the end of 1944. The Presidium of Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia established a special court for the implementation of this law, which came into effect on January 3, 1945. Bulgarian sources claim that in early 1945, around 100,000 Bulgarophiles were imprisoned and over 1,260 were allegedly killed due to this Law. However, some Bulgarian researchers have questioned these figures, noting that the assertion that these individuals were persecuted and killed solely on account of their Bulgarian national consciousness is deceptive. In the period between 1945 and 1991, when North Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia, there was also migration of Bulgarian population from SR Serbia to the SR Macedonia. The number of these migrants is unofficially estimated at 20,000.

The Fall of Communism to Present-Day

By the time the then-Republic of Macedonia proclaimed its independence those who continued to look to Bulgaria were very few. Some 3,000 - 4,000 people that stuck to their Bulgarian identity met great hostility among the authorities and the rest of the population. With the fall of Communism the hostility decreased, but still remains. Occasional trials against Bulgarophiles have continued until today. In the period after 1991 ca. 100,000 citizens of North Macedonia have acquired Bulgarian citizenship, almost all of them acquired by descent and always on 1st position by acquired citizenship per country. On 11 December 2020 at the Parliament, the Minister of Justice of Bulgaria Desislava Ahladova reported that from 1 January 2010 to 22 October 2020, 77,829 files have been opened for the acquisition of Bulgarian citizenship by citizens of North Macedonia, 77,762 of them based on declared Bulgarian origin. In 2018 Bulgaria faced a scandal over the alleged sale of citizenship documents. Former Citizenship Council director Katya Mateva exposed a scheme in which the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad issued thousands of falsified certificates of Bulgarian origin to Macedonians and Albanians in exchange for bribes. Macedonian citizens are starting to take out Bulgarian passports due to the fact that Bulgaria is becoming a member of the European Union, and with that, the only prospect for Macedonian citizens is to be able to work and live in European countries where there are greater conditions for prosperity.
YearPeriodAcquired citizenshipsPosition
2002-201222.01.2002-15.01.201244,2111
201223.01.2012-22.01.20138,1851
201323.01.2013-22.01.20144,3881
201401.01.2014-31.12.20141,8741
201501.01.2015-31.12.20154,3151
201601.01.2016-31.12.20166,1961
201714.01.2017-31.12.20171,1501
201801.01.2018-31.12.20183,6191
201901.01.2019-31.12.20195,6281
202001.01.2020-31.12.20209,0981
202101.01.2021-31.12.20217,6961
202201.01.2022-31.12.20221,9921
202301.01.2023-31.12.20232,4221
202401.01.2024-31.12.20241,6984
Total22.01.2002-22.01.2024102,4721

There were 37 ethnic Bulgarians born in North Macedonia who lived in the United States of America in 2015.
In 2021, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev claimed that some 120,000 Macedonian citizens held Bulgarian passports and insisted on putting them into North Macedonia's constitution, which lists the Albanian, Serbian, Bosniak, Turkish, Romani peoples, as well as the other peoples inhabiting the country. A total of 169 people in North Macedonia voted in the 2023 Bulgarian parliamentary election.

Politics

Bulgarians in North Macedonia do not have their own political parties, but still have political activity. Many politicians have revealed their affiliation to Bulgaria after leaving the political stage, such as Ljubčo Georgievski.

Association Radko

Association Radko is an illegal Bulgarian political organisation in North Macedonia. The "Radko" association was registered in Ohrid in 2000. In 2001 the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia banned the organization Radko as "promoting racial and religious hate and intolerance". The association is named after the conspiration pseudonym of Ivan Mihailov, leader of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization during the interbellum. In official Macedonian historiography, Mihailov is a terrorist and a Bulgarian chauvinist. In 2009 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, condemned North Macedonia because of violations of the European Convention of Human Rights in this case.

Bulgarian clubs

In the autumn of 2022, the parliament of North Macedonia adopted changes to the Law on Associations and Foundations in which clubs and organizations cannot be registered if their names reference fascism and national socialism or if they incite religious, national or racial hatred or intolerance. This change came after the opening of two Bulgarian clubs - one named after Ivan Mihailov and the other named after Tsar Boris III. There was also an attempt to register a third club, named after Tsar Ferdinand I. After the opening of the two clubs, protests were organized and the clubs were attacked. The Commission for Protection against Discrimination concluded that the club names discriminate against the Macedonian public on national and ethnic grounds. The Commission was referred by the Association of Fighters the National Liberation War and the anti-fascist war. According to the Bulgarian co-chairman of the common Bulgarian-Macedonian historical commission Angel Dimitrov, the arguments for these changes remind him of the Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour, which allowed the sentencing of Yugoslav citizens from SR Macedonia for pro-Bulgarian leanings. Per Dimitrov, this shows that the Macedonians still use propaganda from the early times of Communist Yugoslavia. The leader of the Cultural Club in Bitola was accused of inciting xenophobia and ethnic hatred after publishing quotes by Ivan Mihailov on the club’s Facebook page. In 2025 he was sentenced to one-year prison suspended sentence with a two-year probation period.

Ethnically motivated attacks

On 5 June 2022, the entrance of the "Vancho Mihaylov" club was set on fire. The attacker, Lambe Alabakovski was swiftly apprehended and was given a 6 months suspended sentence. On 12 October 2022, the sign above the front door of the "Boris III" cultural club in Ohrid was smashed. On 20 November 2022, the glass façade of the same club was smashed by three masked men throwing stones, an incident that was followed by gun fire opened at the club from a car on 22 November. On 30 January 2022, the car of the Chairman of the Association of Macedonian-Bulgarian Friendship in Skopje was vandalised. On 20 January 2023, the secretary of the club in Ohrid was attacked. Three suspects have been apprehended, one of them has Bulgarian citizenship. On 8 February 2023, the Ohrid District's Attorney charged the detainees with an "ethnically-motivated hate crime". The motive „ethnically-motivated hate crime“ before the court was not proven, and the two defendants received an effective 8-month prison for inflicting severe bodily injury. The President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski condemned the incident and stated that certain political subjects in Bulgaria have used this case for their political goals. Similar expression to the incident was given by Daniel Lorer, current Member of the National Assembly of Bulgaria and former Bulgarian Minister of Innovation and Growth, where he claimed that the incident has been politicized.