Claims that we are constantly missing documents required for court registration are untrue, as we always submit complete documentation. The problem is that the competent Bulgarian authorities keep inventing new requirements, says Stojko Stojkov, co-chair of the association of Macedonians in Bulgaria, OMO Ilinden Pirin.
Speaking to the Vecher daily news outlet, he responded to a statement made Thursday by incumbent Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova, who claimed that the issue regarding the non-registration of this Macedonian organization in Bulgaria stems from the submission of incomplete documents. Iotova had met with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset; the discussion included the implementation of European Court of Human Rights rulings in favor of the United Macedonian Organization Ilinden.
“The second topic was, of course, the status of the OMO Ilinden case file, and we very much hope that this saga will conclude at one of the upcoming sessions. I emphasized the Bulgarian position so that he [Berset] could hear firsthand that we have implemented all their recommendations to date. We amended the law, in cooperation with the Registry Agency, to enable their registration. Unfortunately, they always seem to be missing a document,” Iotova told reporters in Strasbourg.
However, for the co-chair of OMO Ilinden Pirin, this claim does not reflect the reality of the situation.
“That is completely untrue. When we submit documents, we model them after those of registered organizations that the Bulgarian authorities themselves have recommended as perfect examples. The standards applied are different. When we submit our documents, the court suddenly finds dozens of issues it hadn’t noticed before. Courts at every level raise different objections. Different courts in different parts of the country raise different points, and even if we address them, they find new ones,” Stojkov said.
When asked whether, following Iotova’s statement, this organization of Macedonians in Bulgaria might finally be clearly told exactly which documents are missing, Stojkov remains skeptical.
“The problem is that there is no such thing; we meet all the requirements, but they simply make things up. They need to stop violating the law and register us,” Stojkov pointed out.
The failure to register this and several other organizations representing Macedonians in Bulgaria is one of the major, serious issues affecting relations between Macedonia and Bulgaria. Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski regularly highlights the fact that Bulgaria refuses to implement at least 14 rulings by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
These rulings concern violations of the right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly for Macedonians in Bulgaria, specifically regarding the registration of the OMO Ilinden Pirin association. The PM notes that it is unprincipled for Bulgaria to invoke human rights and demand constitutional amendments from Macedonia while itself ignoring 14 Strasbourg rulings that remain pending and constitute an international obligation for Sofia, as established by the Court in Strasbourg itself.
