THE 2021 POPULATION CENSUS IN NORTH MACEDONIA AND THE CHALLENGES FACING THE LOCAL BULGARIAN COMMUNITY

Abstract

Population census is very important for the demographic map of any country. It provides real information about the population structure by ethnicity of the studied country and its regions. After the census, a comparison is made - on the same indicators - with previous events, in order to trace the processes in the past and to update the predictions for upcoming demographic changes. Natural demographic processes occur gradually, but if there are sharp jumps, they are usually a sign of significant socio-political changes, psychological pressure or economic unregulated interests. The purpose of the article is to analyze how the challenges facing the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia affect its results from the national census in 2021.

The significant discrepancies in the number of people who officially identify themselves as Bulgarians and those who have Bulgarian identity documents in North Macedonia are mainly due to the long-term repressions carried out by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the communist regime established after 1944 by J. B. Tito, as well as the governors of the autonomous Yugoslav Federal Republic of Macedonia, established on the basis of the former Serbian Banovina of Vardar. (after the declaration of independence) on citizens with a Bulgarian self-awareness and their family members (including the ongoing actions of the state structures in the country to marginalize the Bulgarian community and limit the civil rights of its representatives), which continue to generate fear of self-determination as Bulgarians; the purposeful manipulation by the authorities of the results of the national censuses, in which the number of self-identified Bulgarians is significantly underestimated, with the aim of belittling and depersonalizing the Bulgarian community and preventing preconditions for weakening the negotiating positions in the dialogue with Bulgaria. Among the main problems of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia are the lack of status established through texts in its Constitution under the principle adopted by Skopje for the recognition of collective rights of the ethnicities listed in the Basic Law, among which the Bulgarian community does not appear, the active campaign for its assimilation and depersonalization, articulated through open language of hatred in the media and brutal physical attacks against North Macedonian citizens who self-identify as Bulgarians, their associations and the monuments of their cultural heritage. These actions are accompanied by the weak popularization of the Bulgarian language, culture, history, customs, etc., as well as the continuing influence of Serbia, which works in the interest of deepening anti-Bulgarian attitudes in the country.