Ahead of the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, scheduled for June 22-26, Bulgarian lawmaker Denitsa Sacheva sent a letter to PACE President Pablo Espan and members of the EPP/HD Group, warning of what she described as a growing pattern of hostility toward Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia.
According to Sacheva, the recent arson attack on two vehicles belonging to the Bulgarian diplomatic mission in Skopje should not be viewed as an isolated incident. Instead, she argued that it is part of a broader series of attacks targeting Bulgarian institutions, organizations, and citizens in North Macedonia over the past several years.
In her letter, Sacheva referred to several previous incidents, including the attack on the Bulgarian Cultural Center in Skopje in 2023, the vandalism of the Bulgarian Embassy earlier this year, the arson attack on the Ivan Mihaylov Cultural Club in Bitola, and the violent assault on Hristiyan Pendikov, secretary of the Tsar Boris III Cultural Club in Ohrid. She said these cases point to a "persistent and worrying trend of hostility" directed at Bulgarian institutions and members of the Bulgarian community in the country.
