Saturday, April 21, 2012

Bulgaria lures Albanian Gorani



Bulgaria lures Albanian Gorani
Bulgaria is intensifying its efforts for expanding the minorities in Balkan, including Kosovoa nd Albania, by offering Bulgarian citizenship to the Goran community, according to SETimes.

The same offer goes to the Macedonia Gorans, concentrated in 18 villages in Gora and near the Prespa Lake, on the Macedonian side.

The President of the Macedonian Gorans Association, Avnija Rahti, declared that the Bulgarian state has officially offered the Bulgarian citizenship to this community and free education in Sofia and Plovdiv.

“All people belonging to the Goran community must sign the documents in which they declare their Bulgarian origin and that they feel part of this country”, Rahti declared.

Skopje reacted immediately, considering this initiative as illegal, while the Albanian authorities held no official stance.

The Agency for Bulgarians in the World organized the visit campaigns and the conversion of the Goran communities. The association expresses on its web page that their mission is to join and unify all Bulgarians throughout the world.

More than 16.000 Macedonian received Bulgarian citizenship one year ago, together with 2000 Ukrainian and 1000 Serbs and only 6 citizens from Kosovo.

“1500 citizens in Zhupa and Prespa have received the Bulgarian citizenship”, confrimed Gezim Kurti from the Albanian side, as Chairman of the Bulgarian Association in Albania, when asked by SETimes.

This movement was criticized by the Bulgarian expert for international relations and professor Antoinette Primatarova, who declared in the local media:

“This is a Bulgarian move for winning political advantages in poor Balkan countries, by exploiting the advantages offered by their passports”.

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