Strong security measures in Skopje for the observance of 151st birth anniversary of Gotse Delchev

Strict security measures are already in force in Skopje for tomorrow's celebration of the 151st birth anniversary of revolutionary Gotse Delchev. Because of the expected groups from Bulgaria and threats of roadblocks, the authorities in the Republic of North Macedonia have closed the approaches to the St. Spas Church, where the revolutionary's bones are laid, to traffic. The opposition and citizens organising on social media are preparing various events around the church.

The area around the fortress in Skopje is completely closed to traffic. A few metres away is the church where the remains of Gotse Delchev lie, taken there by the Bulgarian communists in 1947.

Special police units guard the area and access to the church was banned today. Tomorrow, only delegations and people who have registered in advance with the Ministry of Interior, i.e. not all citizens, will be able to lay flowers and wreaths at the sarcophagus. This is being done for the first time this year.

Otherwise, tomorrow, February 4, the President of the country Stevo Pendarovski, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski and ministers will lay wreaths and flowers to honour the memory of the revolutionary. From Bulgaria, Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev, Bulgarian Ambassador Angel Angelov and others will be present.

Against the backdrop of the beating of Hristian Pendikov in Ohrid and the tensions that have been building up between the two countries over the past few months, the opposition VMRO-DPMNE has announced that it will organise a "hero's guard" around the church, that anyone who wants to honour Delchev's memory can come, but without any offensive qualifications to the country and the people.

A group of more than 100 Bulgarians will travel from Bulgaria and, according to media reports, they will be escorted from the border to Skopje. North Macedonia’s Minister of Interior, Oliver Spasovski, who met with Ivan Demerdzhiev and the head of the State Security Service here in Skopje a few days ago to discuss measures to ensure the peaceful conduct of the event, said the delegations would lay wreaths according to a strict plan.

There is also a monument to Gotse Delchev in Skopje, which has a unique story linking it to Bulgaria.

Argir Stumbov, one of the people with Bulgarian identity here, introduced us to this story.

See the history of the monument to Gotse Delchev in Skopje, the work of the Bulgarian sculptor Lyubomir Dalchev

Argir Stumbov is a descendant of Macedonian Bulgarians from Aegean Macedonia.

"Our village was called Bulgarian Platze. This is something important for our history," he says.

After World War I, his family went to Constantinople. Argir himself was born in Istanbul. He now lives in Skopje.

"I'm already used to it all, I know what's going on and we try to coolly meet all that's going on in this country," Argir says.

He shows us the monument to Gotse Delchev in the city park of Skopje: "It was created in 1966 by Ljubomir Dalchev. It was presented to the then People's Republic of Macedonia, but unfortunately in recent years it has not been maintained as it deserves."

Architect Lyubomir Dalchev, brother of the poet Atanas Dalchev, designed and made this monument in honour of Gotse Delchev - a friend of the father of the two great Bulgarians.

"Can you picture if the late Lyubomir Dalchev were still alive, and if he were to come here today for a visit, to touch his monument, and some people not let him touch the monument he himself created. This is very paradoxical," says Argir Stumbov.

Dalchev donated the monument to Skopje and attended its unveiling in person. The inscription on the back - cut into the pedestal - reads. “Foundry Al. Kotev. Sofia". For days, the municipality has been painting the benches and lighting around the monument for tomorrow's commemoration, which journalists and intellectuals on both sides of the border have called for to be peaceful and civilised.

To ensure that there is peace tomorrow, a special checkpoint and a special police force have been set up in the streets around the St. Spas Church, where the revolutionary's remains are. Authorities have urged communities on both sides of the border not to succumb to nationalist rhetoric through hate speech.

Whether Bulgarians will be stopped at the border will be decided at the time, explained Spasovski, who pointed out that the Ministries Interior of both countries are regularly keeping in touch with each other.