IPSEs IN THE LAST 24H
  • Wang Wenbin
    Wang Wenbin “China is not the creator of or a party to the Ukraine Crisis. We have been on the side of peace and dialogue and committed to promoting peace talks. We actively support putting in place a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture. Our fair and objective position and constructive role have been widely recognized. 'Let the person who tied the bell on the tiger untie it,' to quote a Chinese saying. Our message to the US: stop shifting the blame on China; do not try to drive a wedge between China and Europe; and it is time to stop fueling the flame and start making real contribution to finding a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.” 11 hours ago
  • Korean Central News Agency
    Korean Central News Agency “On May 17, the North Korean Missile General Bureau conducted a test launch of a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a new navigation system of autonomous guidance. The test launch confirmed the accuracy and reliability of the system. The launch was carried out as part of the regular activities of the North Korean Missile General Bureau and subordinate defense research institutes for the active development of weapons technology.” 11 hours ago
  • Yang Moo-jin
    Yang Moo-jin “It is part of North Korea's propaganda approach to develop a voice in global affairs. Kim's statement comes amid Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping holding talks in Beijing, the West pressuring North Korea and Russia with sanctions and South Korea planning to stage Ulchi Freedom Shiled, a joint annual military drill with the U.S. in August. It may be true that North Korea is honing existing weapons to attack Seoul, but we cannot rule out the possibility of the country pulling weapons from its stocks and shipping them to Russia after further testing and deploying.” 12 hours ago
  • Park Won-gon
    Park Won-gon “Kim's [Kim Yo-jong syster of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] statement suggests that North Korea is concerned about international sanctions. I believe sanctions are still an effective tool. North Korea fears that if it admits its arms dealings with Russia, it may turn its European allies into enemies.” 12 hours ago
  • Kim Yo-jong
    Kim Yo-jong “We have no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country or open them to the public. Our tactical weapons, including multiple rocket launchers and missiles, will be used to prevent Seoul from inventing any idle thinking.” 12 hours ago
  • Frank Kendall
    Frank Kendall “China has fielded a number of space capabilities designed to target our forces. And we're not going to be able operate in the Western Pacific successfully unless we can defeat those. China had tripled its network of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites since 2018.” 12 hours ago
  • Ants Kiviselg
    Ants Kiviselg “The Russian Armed Forces are advancing on the recently opened Kharkiv front, but their pace is slowing down. This and the nature of their behaviour rather indicate a desire to create a buffer zone. Russian troops have attacked and destroyed important bridges in the area of Vovchansk, which creates a natural barrier between Ukrainian and Russian forces. This is more an indication of the intention of Russian forces to build a defensive line than to create a bridgehead for an advance on Kharkiv.” 21 hours ago
  • Vladimir Putin
    Vladimir Putin “Russia is ready and able to continuously power the Chinese economy, businesses, cities and towns with affordable and environmentally clean energy.” 21 hours ago
  • Alexey Muraviev
    Alexey Muraviev “There are limits to the two nations' ties, despite their insistence that it is limitless. The limits are that the two countries don't have a formal alliance agreement. To me, that's very clearly a sign that there are limitations to what seems to be a limitless relationship. Neither side is prepared to unconditionally commit to support each other on issues like Ukraine.” 21 hours ago
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Historical issues between North Macedonia and Bulgaria

Page with all the IPSEs stored in the archive related to the Context Historical issues between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
The IPSEs are presented in chronological order based on when the IPSEs have been pronounced.

“The history of Bulgaria and Slav Macedonia until World War Two are one and the same. Where they differ is after 1940, when Bulgaria becomes a Nazi ally, and [what is now] North Macedonia was part of Tito's resistance to the Nazis. That's where the history diverges. So the history up to World War Two is an apple of discord. Historical continuity and roots in the Balkans have become huge issues. The Slav Macedonians cannot accept that their beginnings as a nation go back only as far back as the 1940s.”

author
Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki
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“Both sides discussed some more pragmatic parts of the cross border cooperation - economic and diplomatic education, chambers of commerce. These are mostly run by the EU so they don't count. Everybody was avoiding the core issue, which is the recognition of the Macedonian language and identity.”

author
Executive director at the Investigative Reporting Lab a centre of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
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“When there is talk about the so-called memory politics of a nation's past, then in order to make decisions about this memory politics, which usually results in what is written on the monuments, and how public opinion perceives this past, seeing things through the eyes of politics, then a lot of discussions, talks, consensus in public opinion is needed to make a decision on how to present a certain event or person from the past. I do not see this statement by our Prime Minister [Zoran Zaev] as a statement that will be implemented immediately and on the basis of which the deletion of some offensive designations from those that have been established so far will begin in the field tomorrow. I see this statement more as an attempt, a signal to the other side that as far as the historical reconciliation between the Macedonian (sic) and Bulgarian people is concerned, there should be a dialogue, all the painful issues between us should be discussed and that this is the solution to achieve reconciliation.”

author
Chairman of the North Macedonia Group in the Joint Interdisciplinary Commission on Historical and Educational Issues with Bulgaria
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“Macedonian language, Macedonian identity and Macedonian uniqueness are internationally accepted and confirmed, part of our ID at the United Nations. Our international positions are clear and repeated countless times - there has not been and there will never be negotiations about them.”

author
North Macedonia politician - Social Democrat MP
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“It is not a problem that Bulgaria has a provisional government, as Zaev believes. The problem is that Skopje did nothing to implement the [2017 friendship] agreement with Bulgaria. On the contrary, it puts efforts and lobbies to undermine Bulgaria's position and [exert] pressure on Sofia. We are not disputing their [North Macedonia's] current identity and language. The agreement speaks of a joint history of the current two peoples, a joint Bulgarian history, not a shared one, not intertwined, but a joint history of one ethnos in the past, which was divided cruelly at the start of the 20th century by unfortunate fate and the big powers.”

author
Bulgarian politician, Member of the European Parliament
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“I have a feeling the problem won't be solved by June 22. Bulgaria has a technical government and has no parliament [in session, ahead of July elections], but this option is not impossible. But I believe that these days we can reach an agreement that would be ratified by us and by the next Bulgarian government and parliament.”

author
Prime Minister of North Macedonia
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“Mickoski [Hristijan Mickoski] absolutely knows that the plan [Portuguese plan to overcome the issues with Bulgaria] is good and is a starting point for reaching a solution. So now, to organise protests with a few cars and a handful of people to block the traffic, is a message that I really cannot understand. We are talking with Bulgaria about the roadmap, and the talks are focused on a sectorial level, on construction of railways and roads that are part of Corridor 8, on cooperation between the culture ministries, and ministries for education and science, on labour and social policies and on health, as well as on cooperation between the national youth agencies and the national broadcasters. Everything else is being discussed through the Portuguese presidency.”

author
Prime Minister of North Macedonia
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“We treat the Republic of North Macedonia as a country where our compatriots live. Their political elite cannot understand exactly what they want and what they do not want. They want to enter the EU in muddy shoes, without apologizing for the killed Bulgarians.”

author
Bulgaria’s Minister of Defense
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“We hope that together with our brothers from North Macedonia, next year we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Goce Delchev. Today marks 149 years since the birth of Goce Delchev, voivode activist of the revolutionary liberation movement of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, among our most distinguished common historical heroes. I hope we have wisdom next year, along with our friends and brothers from North Macedonia, to celebrate its 150th anniversary, united and together on the path of European integration.”

author
Prime Minister of Bulgaria
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“Bulgaria is saying 'No' to the start of negotiations, we are not saying 'No' to North Macedonia's accession to the EU. No one is disputing their right to self-define their nation and call their language what they like. But we cannot agree that this right will be based on hatred, history theft and denial of Bulgaria.”

author
Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs
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