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TIRANA, June 4 – The building of the Bulgarian Cultural Center “Ivan Mihailov” was burned in Bitola on Saturday morning. “We expect the institutions to fully investigate the case as soon as possible and bring the perpetrators to justice,” it is said in the post of this center on Facebook.
The causes of the fire are not known at the moment and the police are at the scene and are conducting an investigation to uncover the perpetrators of this case.
The opening of this cultural center was the subject of much discussion a few months ago between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Skopje has called it a serious provocation by the neighboring country just before the possibility of opening negotiations of North Macedonia with the European Union, said the portal telegraf.com on Saturday.
The talks have been blocked because of the Bulgarian veto.
In the meantime Bulgaria stated that North Macedonia is inciting hatred against Bulgaria, instigated by political parties, but also by the academic community.
But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia strongly condemned the act of deliberate arson at the entrance of the “Ivan Mihajlov” association in Bitola.
“This vandal attack is another proof that there are many actors who are against the progress in the relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria and our common European future,” said the foreign ministry in a statement, which added that this crime was not committed by chance on this day, when the two countries will have a dialogue to overcome the open issues on the path of European integration of North Macedonia.
The competent state bodies are making efforts to find the perpetrators of this vandal act, the statement concluded. /Argumentum.al
