Human rights for the Bulgarians in Macedonia

Your Excellency





In 1945 within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was created the so called Socialist Republic of Macedonia known in present days as Macedonia. What followed was 60 years of bloody oppression against the Bulgarian majority inhabiting these lands for more than a thousand years. The communists enacted laws that made it a crime to be Bulgarian. Prosecution, long prison sentences and very often death awaited any Bulgarian from Macedonia who dared to defy the authorities. The puppet communist government in Skopie, obedient servants of the regime in Belgrade, resorted to appropriation and falsification of Bulgarian history in order to enforce separate "macedonian" identity on anti-Bulgarian foundation. But the time has come for the perpetrators of these terrible crimes against humanity to answer for their actions! Communist Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore, and the citizens of Macedonia are not afraid as they were before. They started asking some difficult questions about their historical past. They started to openly embrace their Bulgarian heritage. Today the ruling elite in Skopie feels that they are losing control over the population of Macedonia and they have taken extreme measures to try to salvage what is left from their bankrupt ideology. The brutal attack on peaceful demonstration of Macedonian Bulgarians on 13/01/2007 comes to show how desperate the regime in Skopie is. We, the people of Bulgaria and Republic of Macedonia, want our voice to be heard!!The world must know the truth!! No matter where we live - Sofia, Skopje, old Bulgarian capitals Ohrid and Veliko Tarnovo, Varna or Debar - we have always called ourselves Bulgarians and the lies and intimidation coming from a few relics who want to return the Macedonia back in the dark times of the communism will not scare us. The truth will prevail! We ask you to exercise your influence before the government in Skopje so that this government does the following:





Allow the Bulgarians in Macedonia to express their feelings without fear of intimidation and prosecution. The organization of the Bulgarian majority in the Republic of Macedonia "Radko" for example (which was later banned by the Macedonian Constitutional Court) had been publicly harassed and the perpetrators were acclaimed as heroes by the media. Just a few days ago on 13/01/2007 a peaceful demonstration of Macedonian Bulgarians held in Skopie was brutally dispersed by government-backed militia.





Stop the practice of appropriation and falsification of Bulgarian history in order to enforce separate "macedonian" identity and acknowledge the historical truth about the Bulgarian character of the population of the geographic region of Macedonia.





Apologize for the genocide committed against the Bulgarians in Macedonia during the communist regime.





We appreciate you taking the time to review this petition and we hope that we will enjoy your full support in our struggle to live free and without fear of prosecution.