We never said we would need to take a unanimous position. The Commission will not resolve historical misunderstandings at any cost, said Dragi Gjorgiev, the Macedonian co-chairman of the Joint Multidisciplinary Commission of Experts on Historical and Educational Issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia at a press conference Monday, confirming that the 19th and 20th centuries would be difficult for members to talk about, transmits MIA. “Undoubtedly, this period will be difficult and painful to discuss,” Gjorgiev said. “If we ultimately agree and manage to find some kind of solution, we will present it to the public. If we don’t, then there is no solution.”
“This Commission does not necessarily have to solve, at any cost, the historical misunderstandings that exist between Macedonian and Bulgarian historiography,” Gjorgiev said in response to a reporter’s question.
He added that the Commission was only discussing how some events and persons were presented in the two countries’ history textbooks and whether these history lessons needed to be framed differently.
“Historiography will continue its research work, historians will state their views on events and persons as they see fit. The Commission will in no way influence historiography, history book writing or research,” Gjorgiev said.
He highlighted that the Macedonian and Bulgarian experts were focusing on history textbooks “to relax the relations between the two nations” and clarify “misunderstandings that can cause tensions and hatred among young generations.”
Asked about deadlines in the Protocol signed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia and Bulgaria, Gjorgiev said those deadlines were simply “encouragement from the politicians.”
How fast the Commission worked and achieved progress, he said, depended only on its members. The Joint Multidisciplinary Commission of Experts on Historical and Educational Issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia presented Monday its recommendations on revising history textbooks for the 6th grade in North Macedonia and the 5th grade in Bulgaria.
It also presented its recommendations on the two countries’ jointly celebrating Ss Cyril and Methodius, St. Clement, St. Naum and Tsar Samoil. The recommendations were published Monday on the Macedonian MFA’s website.
