Country: Bulgaria

Group: Macedonians

Date Finalized: 2/28/2022

Team: Erin Fagan (lead), Ryan Oakley, Hunter Blevins

Content Warning: physical violence, ethnocide, discrimination

Approximate Time Period: 1963-present

The Macedonians in Bulgaria have experienced ethnocide beginning in the 1900s and continuing today.

The Macedonians were first incorporated into Bulgaria between 1912 and 1913 after the Balkan wars. They mainly lived, and still do, in the Pirin region of Bulgaria. During the interwar years in Bulgaria, Bulgarian authorities beat, tortured, and killed many Macedonians (Daskalovski, 2002). After WWII, between the years of 1946-1963, Bulgaria officially recognized Macedonians, allowing them to study Macedonian language, history, folklore, and other cultural practices. However, in March of 1963 Bulgaria changed its policy, essentially denying the existence of the Macedonian ethnicity (Stojkov, 2021). Various campaigns of manipulation and intimidation forced Macedonians to change their ethnicity from Macedonian to Bulgarian, which can be seen in census numbers (Stojkov, 2021). In 1990, Bulgarian authorities also refused to recognize the Macedonian minority living in the Pirin region of their country (Stojkov, 2021). Currently, Bulgaria still refuses to recognize Macedonain minorities. The state ignores international rulings and inquiries to the matter, and does not allow official registration of Macedonian organizations or political parties (Minority Rights Group, 2018).

Data Quality: The data quality is rated a 3/3 because there are multiple sources including peer-reviewed sources as well as reputable organizations.

Sources:

  1. Daskalovski, Z. (2002). Human Rights in the Balkans—The Forgotten Few: Macedonians of Bulgaria. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 9(2), 143–160.
  2. Minority Rights Group. (2018). Macedonians—Minority Rights Group. Minority Rights    Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/macedonians-2/
  3. Stojkov, S. (2021). The continuation of communist-era totalitarian policies in the European Union the case of Bulgaria, the Macedonian minority and Macedonia’s EU integration. Security Dialogues /Безбедносни Дијалози, 12(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.47054/SD211210049s