It has not been scientifically proven that the remains Sofia is set to receive on Saturday belong to Tsar Samuel, nor do Bulgaria and Greece have a legal basis for their transfer, historian Stojko Stojkov told the MKD news website on Wednesday.
Stojkov, a professor specializing in medieval history and co-chair of OMO Ilinden-Pirin, believes that the transfer is not merely a historical issue but a legal one as well.
The historian says that the ceremony will take on a political dimension and be exploited to bolster the historical narratives Bulgaria and Greece maintain regarding Macedonia.
“This act of transferring Tsar Samuel’s remains, agreed upon by Bulgaria and Greece, is not just a historical matter, but a legal one too. Bulgaria has no legal grounds to claim these remains: they were neither found on nor removed from its territory, nor did they ever belong to Bulgaria, and it has not even been confirmed that the remains actually belong to Tsar Samuel. They were discovered on the Greek side of the Prespa region, on the island of Saint Achillius, about fifty years ago, and it has never been confirmed whether they are Tsar Samuel’s. They might be, or they might not be,” notes the historian.
Stojkov also places the announced exchange within the broader context of the long-standing cooperation between Sofia and Athens. He points out that discussions regarding the exchange of historical artifacts have been ongoing since Bulgaria joined the EU. He believes that Macedonia should also raise the issue of artifacts that, according to him, were removed from its territory during the Bulgarian occupations.
“Bulgaria has already looted many artifacts from Macedonia during the occupations it carried out on Macedonian territory. While the occupations may not have lasted long, the time was sufficient for the looting of artifacts under the pretext that they were ‘Bulgarian.’ As a state, Macedonia should demand the return of those artifacts stolen from its territory,” Stojkov claims.
According to Greek media cited in the original article, Bulgaria is expected to hand over to Greece, in return, Orthodox cultural and historical artifacts that were removed from two monasteries in the Drama region during World War I.