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September 3, 2004

Macedonians in Bulgaria have urged the Bulgarian authorities to grant them a status of ethnic minority and the right to speak and educate in their own language, Makfax news agency reported. "We do not share the same feelings as the Albanians in Macedonia because they want to secede. What we want is that our status and civil liberties be recognized, including the use and education in our own language - that is the Macedonian language," said OMO Ilinden leader Jordan Kostadinov at today's press conference in Sofia.

Bulgarian news agency Fokus quotes Kostadinov as saying that Macedonians in Bulgaria have mustered a support by the Macedonian Prime Minister Hari Kostov. "The Prime Minister Kostov has not yet formally declared his support, however, his consent to meeting us in his office is a sufficiently clear fact," Kostadinov said. Speaking about the current events in Macedonia, the political leader of OMO Ilinden, movement founded by Macedonian minority in Macedonia, stressed that OMO Ilinden is against decentralization in Macedonia and it support the referendum against municipal boundary changes.
MakFax