Skopje, 27 January 2023 (MIA) – President Stevo Pendarovski said nowhere in the world is persona non grata caused because of political statements, but indications of threat to national security.  

“I want to clarify what I said at the press conference after the Security Council. I see that some of the famous experts, analysts, professors and even politicians who understand the Bulgarian-Macedonian complex that goes back for decades don’t see the distinction. I am not calling for expulsion and I am not calling for a ban on entry to Macedonia for people who say we are Bulgarians. They have the right to say that,” Pendarovski said in an interview with Telma TV, adding that North Macedonia is a democratic state and strives to be a true European democracy.  

The President stressed that “if public order, and peace, the national security of Macedonia or our international position are threatened, in that case we should deny on those grounds”.

“So the guy you mention doesn’t bother me no matter how much he shouts in the center of Skopje that I am not Macedonian. It only speaks for him. These are political charlatans who say things that the entire world, first of all, feelings of the Macedonian people deny. However, if someone says they will come with an organized transport, calls on all Bulgarians in Macedonia, outside Macedonia to come by the thousands to show the people who they are as if they don’t know who they are, then it is a threat to public order. And that is a threat to the national security of Macedonia,” said Pendarovski, adding that at such a point he would react and recommend such a set of measures to the Government.