Interview with Mr. Jordan Kostadinov
Ivanov,
President
of OMO Ilinden in Pirin Macedonia
June
28, 2006
Courtesy
of Liljana Ristova
Editor,
Canadian Macedonian News
Our
Goal is the Renewal of
Cultural Autonomy
of Pirin Macedonia
Biography:
Jordan Kostadinov Ivanov was born in the village of Vrapcha,
near Sandanski, once a district of Melnik. He worked as a teacher
in Blagoevgrad. He had been convicted twice. In 1974, in
front of the Municipal Court in Sofia he said: “I want
a cultural freedom for Pirin Macedonia, teaching of Macedonian history
and culture and stopping of assimilation”. He was sentenced
to three years in prison. In 1981, he was charged again, his
wife and children were ordered out of Blagoevgrad, and his right to
live in Blagoevgrad was also taken away. He stayed in prison
for five years. Twelve times, he was let go of his job and he
had no right to work for seven years. Today he lives in Sandanski.
“On April 19 1992 when
we went to Rozhen Monastery, in the village of Rozhen, the policy
started to beat us mercilessly. One of our members was beaten
so much on the head that after this even this man lived in total
paranoia and fear. Not being able to take it any more, he committed
suicide; he hanged himself two years after this happening.
One evening, in 1998 in Petrich,
the Bulgarian police tried a few times to run down another of our
members. He could not take the abuse so in the end he threaten
them himself. They put him in prison where he was for three
months. However, the police continued to abuse and provoke
him. The young man was psychologically broken.
These are just two examples of many
of the terror that the members of OMO Ilinden have endured over the
years.
This year, at the grave of Jane
Sandanski and for his killing, the mayor gave us permission at the
last moment. When we had to start our cultural program, police
in civil clothes came out and threatened the musicians that they
will be punished. Because of the pressure from the government,
the teacher that directed the children’s choir received a warning
that he will be thrown out of his job by the director of the school.
We are talking about outright premeditated
torture to destroy the Macedonian national movement in Pirin Macedonia”.
CMN: Mr. Kostadinov,
from 1991 until now, OMO Ilinden has tried three times to register
it’s name with Bulgaria and it has been turned down every time. Soon
you will attempt to do that for the fourth time? Are you going
to try again?
Kostadinov: Yes, three
times up to now, in 1991 and then again in 1999 and 2001 we have tried
to be registered on a cultural basis. The Bulgarian government
rejected our application and justified itself in front of the European
Court for Human Rights, stating that we have political demands in our
program and Statute. Finally, last year, the European court voted in
favor of OMO Ilinden.
Our latest request is to be registered with the Bulgarian government
and the European Court for Human Rights as a political party with the
same name and same demands.
CMN: Soon you will start with the
campaign for collecting membership?
Kostadinov: According to the
legal procedure, we will need 60 signatures from members, with all
of their personal details, who will give their assent to publicize
the Declaration in the Bulgarian means for communication, which will
inform the broad Bulgarian public that OMO Ilinden is seeking to be
registered on a political basis
The next step is a meeting on which
500 members will sign the Declaration, which means they agree with
the program and Statute of OMO Ilinden, and that they are not members
of any other parties.
Then we will have a meeting with about
5,000 members, which is an essential number for the registration of
the party. After this, with all of the necessary documents we
should call upon the Municipal Court in Sofia, which will make a decision
regarding the registration in 15 days.
CMN: Besides OMO Ilinden,
as a first formed Macedonian organization in Pirin at the beginning
of the 90s, there are several other parties. However, there
is no collaboration and a joint appearance in public. What
is the reason behind that?
Kostadinov: In 1991-92 there
was a fraction in OMO Ilinden from the side of Ivan Singartiski and
Stojan Georgiev. On April 20th, 1991, at the grave
of Jane Sandanski, on the Rozhen Monastery, we read a declaration asking
for our national rights, according with the international law. In
the Declaration, we were asking for the return of the cultural autonomy
for Pirin Macedonia, which existed couple of years after the Second
World War and was revoked with a nationalist decision from the Bulgarian
government, the same time when the negative rapport towards the Macedonian
nation had started.
After the Rozhen Declaration the Bulgarian
authorities begun with a strong propagation against our demands, and
unfortunately, the cowards from our membership could not hold themselves,
they provoked the declaration and they formed another faction that
was in direct opposition of our request for national rights. Even
though 16 members signed the Declaration, 4 of them reversed their
decision and stood on the Bulgarian side. Soon after that OMO
Ilinden Democratic Movement was formed, then OMO Ilinden Pirin and
OMO Pirin. It is of interest to note that they all use our name
because of the authority of our organization. Nonetheless, in
1996, we had tried to unite and we had invited all those new-formed
parties to participate on our Congress, which was not successful because
they did not come and the Bulgarian police did everything in their
power to dissipate the Congress.
In 1997, we did four meetings for unity. The
first one was in Petrich; the next two in Blagoevgrad and the fourth
was on 24 August 1997 in the city of Goce Delcev. We had our
own protocol, which was given to their representatives to read and
sign it. They also had their protocol, but they wanted us to
sign it without reading its contents. That is how this fell this
attempt for unity.
CMN: It is obvious
that we are talking about two different steps towards resolving the
Macedonian problem in Bulgaria. What is the difference?
Kostadinov: The program
of OMO Ilinden contains components as they were in the Ramkovo convention
for minority rights, article 5, that governments should allow minorities
to practice religion, language, traditions, and cultural heritage. Our
requests are very clear and precise: cultural autonomy of Pirin
Macedonia, adherence to international laws, because Pirin Macedonia
was given to Bulgaria with autonomic status, which was good for Greece
and Yugoslavia. From 1946-1948 when the Bulgarian president was
Georgi Dimitrov, of Macedonian origin, our Macedonians in Pirin had
autonomy, however in 1962 a new law was brought canceling the existence
of cultural autonomy for Pirin Macedonia.
As a comparison to OMO Ilinden, the
other Macedonian parties appear as loyal Bulgarian citizens, requesting
only minor human rights, without mention of the most important national
components.
CMN: Therefore, it is understood
that OMO Ilinden is requesting restoration of the cultural autonomy
in Pirin Macedonia?
Kostadinov: For many years
Bulgaria incorrectly is accusing us in front of the European Court
that we are some separatists and that we want to separate Pirin Macedonia
from Bulgaria and to join Republic of Macedonia. They also produced
some document in which we threaten to send all Bulgarians to Asia. However,
such document never existed it was only made-up by OMO Pirin to negate
OMO Ilinden. That made-up document against us, OMO Pirin had
sent to the European Court in Strasburg. It is more than obvious
that Bulgarian bodies have deeply infiltrated the Macedonian movement
in Pirin Macedonia.
I personally was present in the court
where the president of the European Court addressed the defending counsel
of the Bulgarian government and asked him “Tell us how many members
of OMO Ilinden have been sent to prison for wrongful acts of separatism?” The
Bulgarian defending counsel got confused and started to talk about
something unclear. The Judge repeated the question and requested
a precise answer. At that, the Bulgarian counsel said that no
members of OMO Ilinden have ever been arrested for separatism. The
judge’s decision was quick and precise: that the Bulgaria
has been using made-up and falsified documents against OMO Ilinden
and brought a judgment in our favor.
Liljana Ristova
Translated by: Vida Savino
Article published in June issue |